Books

Television critic David Bianculli reviews "The Secret Life of Ian Fleming," a telemovie on the man who created James Bond. It stars Jason Connery, the son of Sean Connery, the first 007. And it shows the real-life inspirations for some of the characters who peopled the 007 movies and stories. Bianculli says it's enjoyable if you approach it with the right attitude. It airs over the TNT cable network.

Critic Laurie Stone comments on a successful little book being sold at bookstore cash registers. It's called "A Kiss is Just a Kiss" and it's a collection of photographs of people kissing. Laurie says the book could have been too sappy, but it's not.

Book critic John Leonard reviews presidential speechwriter Peggy Noonan's book "What I Saw At the Revolution" about her experiences writing speeches for Ronald Reagan and George Bush. Some of their most memorable lines, like "Read my lips" and "A thousand points of light" were written by Noonan. (Published by Random House).

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews a new book, "Uncommon Genius: How Great Ideas Are Born." It examines creativity and how to nurture it by talking to some MacArthur Prize winners. The MacArthur Prize is an award of approximately $50,000 over 5 years to people who have demonstrated genius in their work.

Book critic John Leonard reviews economist John Kenneth Galbraith's first novel in 22 years.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Ann Beattie's new novel, "Picturing Will." (It's published by Random House).

Book Critic John Leonard reviews the book, "The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance" by Henry Petroski.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan shares her thoughts on David Lodge's "Souls and Bodies."

Book critic John Leonard reviews two new mysteries, "The Good Fight," by Lia Matera, and "Devices and Desires" by P.D. James.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg reviews a new book called "Doublespeak" by William Lutz, chairman of the Committee on Public Doublespeak of the National Council of Teachers of English. Lutz has been keeping files with examples of doublespeak used in politics and advertising and has compiled some of them in his book.