Do you find that the cuddly, coddling type of self-help book eitherlulls you into a merely temporary state of well being, or makes you wantto throw up? Then take on the bracing, no-nonsense approach: The PrimalShrug! No touchy-feely, milk-toast twaddle here! You will learn how tounload the excess baggage of unfruitful seriousness and fearfulanticipation of what others will say and think, and get on with your ownlife, not just the world's idea of what you should be. Through manyhumorous yet useful examples, a series of situations that relate toalmost everyone's everyday life, and some specific techniques that youcan practice on your unwary friends, co-workers, and loved ones, youwill learn to rise above the usual run of tedious life experience, andfind fresh interest in things that you used to think weren't at allabsurd -- until now. Apply the Primal Shrug to all aspects of the worldaround you, learn its very simple yet potent principles, and see what afacelift the world and everything in it will get!
Ryan Layne Whitney was born in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., in 1953, and has lived in the environs of that city all his life---he lives there now, and will probably die there. A degree in music composition is the official result of his university education, but he is also an avid and reasonably accomplished classical pianist, clavichordist, and harpsichordist: one can see many of his videos on YouTube under the channel name "teafruitbat." His favorite composers range from Bach, Purcell, and Scarlatti to Rachmaninoff and Scriabin---and many in between.
A devoted reader and collector of books, Mr. Whitney has written various things which have so far not found their way into print, save The Primal Shrug, a humorous but eminently useful self-help book. (This lack of publication may change, now that he has retired from a long career as---among other duties---an editor in a federal government scientific research laboratory; nonetheless, it is the writing itself rather than the publishing that most satisfies him.) His interests in literature include ancient classics (and his study of ancient Greek language, though somewhat desultory, is sincere and absorbing), philosophy, mostly 17th- through 19th-century literature (English, Russian, Portuguese, French, German, and American, mainly), and poetry from Homer to Wallace Stevens. As for writing poetry, he has no talent for it, save for doggerel verse of a peculiarly unedifying nature.
His quiet life, devoted to music, books, and a few friends, is greatly at variance with the fast-paced world of the present time, and if he seems to be a living anachronism, he does not dispute that impression.
