Happier- Ben Shahar (Book #88)

I truly enjoyed this book written by a Harvard professor on the science of happiness. The book emphasizes finding meaning and purpose in your life, that money does not equate happiness, and remembering that this is it, this life we have, and to be happy we need not wait for a goal to be fulfilled, life is the journey. All of this is cliche but he does it a lot more thoroughly. I think its a must read for people who are confused about where they are in their lives and are searching for what they must do to be happy.

Get Off Your 'But'- Stephenson (Book#46)

This book is a very inspiring and easy read about ditching your excuses and making the most of your life. Stephenson is a motivational speaker and a psychotherapist. He also has a rare condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta also known as brittle bone disorder. As a result he has always been in a wheelchair and dealt with a lot in his life. However, in his book, Stephenson talks about how he never let his disability become an excuse for him not to make a good life for himself. The book has seven topics to motivate you to better you life and let go of the fears and inhibitions holding you back. I found it an interesting read and I know I will certainly be re-reading this book again.


Pain is inevitable. Eventually, it touches us all. Suffering, however, is optional. -Stephenson

For Writers Only- Burnham (Book #40)

This is a book for writers who need a bit of encouragement. Burnham has quotes on every page from different writers on the art of writing and she talks about different aspects of writing and provides some of her own personal reflections on the topics. Her writing is gentle and soft. I think the second half was better than the first half but this could be because the second half resonated more with me at where I'm at as a writer. The first half is about finding the proper space, finding time, etc. The second half is fear of rejection, re-writing, etc. Those apply to me more. It was a nice book, not a book to get real advice though, its along the lines of a "quotable quotes" book or "words of wisdom" gift books that help inspire you but won't take you past the gate. Good for what it is.

78 reasons why your book will never be published and 14 reasons why it might (Book #8)

Reason #1: You haven't written it yet. When I read this book about six years ago I read that paragraph and set the book down in the Border's book shelf, because he was right, it will never be published if I have not written it. Now that I have written it I found his words of wisdom useful, slightly discouraging but strangely motivating as well. Some of his advice is repetitive, but overall the messages contained in the book are important for aspiring writers.

The Four Agreements- Ruiz

A friend told me this was a good book so I checked it out. I think its message is important 1) Be impeccable with your word (i.e. use it for good and to say good and do good) 2) Dont make assumptions (we hurt ourselves with assumptions sometimes, just look at actions and what people say, clarify if you misunderstand) 3) Don't take things personally because its usually not about you and 4) Always do your best so you live without regret or guilt.

These are great things to live by but the book has a hard time really making these concrete principles. I wish it had been longer and not quite so repetitive.

Mindless Eating- Wansink

This is a good book to help you realize you are not as in control of what you eat as you might think through very thorough explanations of his research in various universities determining many things such as how accurately we assess calories in our foods, which situations are most likely to enable us to mindlessly eat. I really like this book for its information but I felt it was a bit too apologist to the food industry claiming that they do not have bad intentions in feeding us as they do (five servings on one package of chocolate that everyone knows you will eat in one gulp, etc) but I don't find his reasoning very convincing. Still, its a good book and very interesting.

Pritikin Weight Loss Breakthrough

I began reading this book after reading Pollan's books "In Defense of Food" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma" (both reviewed on this site below). While Pollan never mentioned Pritikin, I found that Pritikin's ideas reflected very much what Pollan had to say (i.e. avoid processed food, easy on the heavy meat emphasis, eat more plants, etc.). The principle seems fascinating but this particular book is not the one to read to get an idea of the details of his plan as only one or two chapters are truly devoted to it. I really enjoyed reading about his explanation of why we crave fats and sweets and how to try and outsmart it. It really makes great sense that you will feel fuller eating a huge salad as compared to a 3 oz steak though the salad had infinitely less calories.

People keep saying Pritikin is really strict and not realistic but I dont see how? You never go hungry, you can eat sweet things like oranges and other fruits, you can eat even after dinner. I think its a much better alternative to many diets out there today.

All this being said there are a few things I disagree with Pritikin about:
1. Some of his meal plans include diet coke. You can read here why I disagree with that. Plus if we're supposed to avoid processed food well, diet coke is processed food!
2. He advocates using low fat dressing. Research has shown that we absorb more nutrients in our veggies through some fat in the dressing. Also, most dressing is incredibly processed, there should have been some caution about this included. I think olive oil, some feta and freshly ground peppers and salt with a hint of lime mixed together and poured over a salad is unbeatable.

My rating of this book is for this book in understanding the Pritikin principle and not a statement of the diet in general, principles of which, I intend to incorporate myself.

Skinny Beeyotch

This book is misleading. You think its going to be about how to lose weight. It starts off strong telling you stay away from sugar, don't drink alcohol, and fruits are your friend... but really, just a few chapters in you realize this is PETA propoganda in disguse, it should have been titled "How to become vegan". At one point the authors actually say that the only way to get skinny is to become vegetarian. WHAT? The authors also say that humans are not made to eat meat? WHAT? Overall its not the book that you think it will be. And for this reason I do not recommend it (unless you are considering going vegan).

The Green Book

If I could use one book to sum up this book it would be: DUH! Seriously! This book is about how to save the environment in the little ways we live our lives. This might be useful to someone between the ages of 8-15. Outside of that, its... well, DUH!

Some useful nuggets:
1. Turn the water off while brushing.
2. Recycle your paper clips.
3. Take shorter showers.

Who doesn't know these things? Everything they had to contribute could have been stated in a tiny little pamphlet. THAT would have saved the environment and would have been a better conservation of my time!

Bird By Bird, by Ann Lamott

This is a book with advice by analogy on the art of writing. Her stories were okay and she does a decent job helping a writer who is still at the stage of not being able to write because of their self doubt on their ability. It helped me in this area as she reminds us to push out those voices when we are first drafting. She empathises we must write for ourselves and says that you can find joy without being published. This is true but she overstates this point in my opinion and provides scant advice on how to publish. Her analogies are how her agent liked her books, but if she's writing to people who are scared to put even pen to paper, why is she giving advice on how to negotiate with your agent before giving advice on how to get an agent in the first place?? I also was not amused by her attempts at humor and advice which resorted to being a bigot against Islam and Muslims. She made a lot of jabs and it was so unnecessary because it was a book about writing and her analogies came out of nowhere. I did not appreciate that and I lost respect for her as a person for having to resort to that.

My advice would be if you are seeking a book on writing that writes to the novice writer but also provides you with excellent advice on publishing would be to read Stephen King's book "On Writing" that is absolutely superb.

Eats Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss

A humorous book on punctuation. You have to be a good writer to acheive that oxymoron! This is a book on the rules of punctuations such as commas, semicolons, and periods. How they work, where they go, when to use them and when not to use them but told with many stories and analagoies that make you laugh out loud and smile. If you're looking to brush up on your punctuation, or get really annoyed by punctuation errors in our daily lives, you will love this book!