By Paul Conti It was brief. It was light. I didn’t get much from it. I thought from the title that it would be more slanted to positive psychology or gratitude. Perhaps it would turn away from the standard self-help of fixing problems and lean into strengths. It felt much more standard than that. But […]
By Michael Booth I enjoyed this. It’s the kind of infotainment I appreciate. Booth covered the realities of the Nordic/Scandinavian people with a sense of humor. They received credit for the things they are doing well, but also criticism for the less fun parts of their culture and geography. I picked up the book because
By Malcolm Gladwell This one was ok. I thought the same about the original. I loved Outliers and Talking to Strangers, but tipping point talk is only so-so for me. In this one I learned: I was less interested in the medicare fraud of Florida or the difference in surgical practice between Buffalo and Boulder.
By JK Rowling He completado el tercer libro de la serie de Harry Potter. Aún entiendo la mayoría de la historia, aunque hay muchas palabras que no conozco. Las cosas todavía no se han puesto muy oscuras para Harry. No recuerdo en cuál libro su vida empieza a ponerse muy difícil. No practico escribir lo
By Brene Brown I enjoyed listening to the book. It’s good to be reminded what good behavior looks like, especially for the parts that don’t come naturally. Having read most of her other books and listened to many of the podcasts, there wasn’t a lot of information that felt fresh and new. It felt more
By Gabor Mate Heather selected this one for our book club. I listened to it again in preparation for that discussion. With an audiobook, it’s harder to grab specific quotations that stand out. I appreciate the acknowledgement of “little t trauma” and challenges that would apply to people who would describe their childhood as good.
By Robert Putnam This was my nomination for the personal development book club. It is not really a personal development book. I chose it partly because of that. Other writers/thinkers have more harshly criticized the whole genre of self-help. Putnam only mentions it briefly in a couple points but it is to highlight the swing
By Cal Newport I was familiar with Newport already through multiple reads of Digital Minimalism. I also listened to a recent podcast where he was a guest. I listed to this audiobook pretty quickly. I agreed with the premise and most of the ideas before I got into the book. It’s one of those where
By Mel Robbins This was another one that leans really hard into branding. The messaging wasn’t bad. It also wasn’t new such that it constitutes a new “theory.” Robbins adds a new label to ACT and stoicism. Don’t fight your emotions, accept them. Don’t fight other people, accept them. I would have enjoyed it more
By W. David Marx I read this one after having breakfast with Brad and learning that it was next on his reading list. As someone who has been mostly checked-out from popular culture for my entire adult life, it was a little weird to read history of times I lived but have the information still
by bell hooks This was identified as one of my coworker’s top reads in 2025. I listened to the audiobook in one day. I was underwhelmed. I appreciate a feminist author acknowledging where other feminists had presented an adversarial position between men and women. Instead, hooks describes patriarchal systems and thinking and causing harm to
By Patt Flynn Not much in this one. When people make fun of self help books for being money making schemes light on actual help, they describe books like this. A large portion of the book involves the author patting himself on the back for his many successes. Hooray. There is some common sense good
By Ayn Rand This one was grueling, even listening to the audiobook at double speed. It is SO LONG. It feels even longer. The same verbose interactions happen over and over. The plot and Rand’s message don’t need endless words, but they’re there anyway. It comes across as the immature ramblings of a person who
By Ramit Sethi Like my recent read of The Simple Path to Wealth, I was interested in personal finance advice. Again, there was nothing revolutionary. Some of the fine details are different in this one compared the to previous book, but they mostly agree with each other and with what I’ve already been doing. It
By George Orwell Like The Giver, this is one that many other people covered during their schooling, but somehow I missed it. I’m familiar with references to it, and I was aware that “some animals are more equal than others” but I finally consumed the book. It was a quick listen on audio book that
By Russ Harris I liked the premise. I agree that I struggle with acceptance and that causes more pain. At the beginning of the book while that was being described, I found myself appreciating the text. Defusion and expansion guidance seemed helpful. I enjoyed the book less as it went on. I didn’t care for
By Lois Lowry I’ve been hearing about this book since I was in elementary school. Somehow nearly everyone around me read it, but I never did. It was never required reading for me. Now that I’ve gotten in the habit of using Libby aggressively and really leaning into audiobooks, I decided that I should fill
By Don Miguel Ruiz The four agreements are: Those are all good enough. I have no objections to those agreements. The rest of the text around it didn’t add anything for me. Talk of “black magic”, societal expectations as a parasite, and the notion of 2 year olds as the ideal, free people didn’t sit
By JK Rowling He terminado recién el siguiente libro de la serie Harry Potter.Disfruto leer las historias, aunque hay algunas palabras que no entiendo todavía.Deseo que fuera más fácil buscar palabras en el diccionario cuando estoy leyendo, pero no me gusta interrumpir el libro. resumen breve: Harry regresa a Hogwarts para su segundo año, a
By J.L. Collins This wasn’t very long or intense. I think I listened to the whole thing in one or two days. There was nothing mind blowing in it (which of course fits with the “simple” concept). I appreciated hearing some rationale for basic financial moves and getting confirmation that I’m not missing the mark