WINGING IT: EVERYBODY'S GUIDE TO MAKING SPEECHES FLY WITHOUT NOTES Keith Spicer. Garden City (NY), Doubleday, c1982. Distributed by Doubleday Canada. 244pp, paper, $19.95 (cloth), $9.95 (paper). ISBN 0-385-15764-9 (cloth), 0-385-18225-2 (paper). Grades 11 and up. Reviewed by Susan Ratcliffe. Volume 11 Number 6. 1983 November. Keith Spicer, an experienced journalist and public speaker, has written an antidote to "fear of flying," i.e., public speaking. In a style reminiscent of tent crusades and current pop psychology, he presents a method and practical advice for speaking on any topic, for any occasion or audience. His ideas are well organized, and he illustrates them with many examples and gives detailed exercises for putting his suggestions into practice. The technique for overcoming shyness by talking noteless in public is clear and, once mastered, is applicable to any situation. He shows how to get to the essence of a topic, how to reassemble it logically, and how to present it to the audience persuasively and entertainingly. Also included are suggestions for assessing the audience, dealing with hecklers, and improving the language used. The major drawback of the book is its rather cutesy style ("let's do a little shrink job on your listeners"). It may be a relief from stiff elocution texts, but it becomes tiresome and undermines the good points of the method. The book would be most useful for the self-motivated reader with the discipline, opportunity, and desire to put it into practice. It could also serve as the basis for teaching senior students to speak more effectively, both formally and informally, in any subject. Susan Ratcliffe, Centennial C. V. I., Guelph, ON.