Author name: Mike

By Jamil Zaki The title spoke to me directly at a time I needed such a thing. Zaki distinguishes cynicism from skepticism and hope from optimism. The aim is to be skeptical and hopeful while avoiding a spiral into destructive cynicism and without being naive.

By Robert Sapolsky I just finished Determined. I had no choice, lol. It started to drag a bit. I was already receptive to the premise, so it spent more time than I needed detailing all of the ways outside factors shape our brains and their decisions. I wanted more after that. I do what I

By Haemin Sunim It was short and easy to read, but I’m not sure I got much out of it. There were a few reminders that felt helpful in the moment. A few things that seemed like bad advice. The rest (most of the book) seemed like mostly good advice, but simple/familiar enough that it

By Michael Pollan After years of telling us to eat plants, he wrote a book about eating mushrooms. I didn’t receive anything too mind-blowing in the book although I enjoyed it anyway. Pollan was a good messenger for me. He self described as an atheist, materialist, without any prior enthusiasm for drugs. That fits me.

By David Brooks I got through this one pretty quickly via the audiobook. The author concedes that understanding the points in the book doesn’t make it easy to implement them in day-to-day life. He still struggles, as I’m sure I will. One point that stood out to be was the degree to which people are

By Jonathan Haidt This didn’t introduce a lot of ideas that I didn’t already have. It really just added some data to justify the damage caused by social media and inescapable screens. The focus was on adolescents, but it’s a reminder for me to unplug as much as I can. I’m glad to be in

Bruce Coville We did a nostalgia book share at the Personal Development Book Lovers meetup a couple months back. I talked about The Plant that Ate Dirty socks, but I had also checked out this series from the library while I was retrieving that. I still really enjoyed this series. The premise is that aliens

By Daniel James Brown It tells the story of an 8 man rowing crew that won gold in the 1936 (Hitler’s) Olympics. The team came from the University of Washington and was composed of poor, working class guys. Overall, it’s a reminder of what humans are capable of in terms of work ethic and perseverance.

By Thomas Shor I enjoyed it more for being a true story. The author described a superstitious world that seems to belong in the distant past but was actually the 1960s. In this remote part of the world, lamas were everywhere, making proclamations and performing rituals to bring good fortune. As a fan of science

By Henry Cloud and John Townsend   I didn’t know going into it that it was bible based. The bible is not a credible source of guidance to me, but the book was still pretty agreeable. I don’t recall anything groundbreaking and new, but it was still helpful. I appreciated the reminders about how to

By Nancy McArthur We did a childhood nostalgia book club. I chose this one since I loved it so much as a kid. It was not as hysterically funny to me as an old man, but it was fun and silly enough. While preparing for this book club meeting, I looked up this series. Apparently

By James McBride Oof. I had a tough book club month. While I was hating No Bad Parts for one club, I was also slogging through this one. It was long. It had a lot of characters with their own backstories. Nothing happens. The reader just gets fed backstories of new characters over and over

By Richard Schwartz I did not care for this one. It makes a lot of claims about the magic of his Internal Family Systems approach but it was painfully light on both evidence and helpful instruction. The included patient dialogues read like a faith healer, novelty hypnotist, or medium who talks to ghosts. A few

By Bee Wilson This is an Armchair Adventure Book Club selection. The first non-fiction in a few months. I am again taking it in via audiobook because Spotify was the one place I could get the book without additional cost. It also helps to be able to listen during cardio to multitask. I prefer non-fiction

By Edward Snowden I just finished the audio book since it was a book club selection for the Personal Development Book Lovers club. I didn’t get much new from it. Having already watched Citizenfour, read This is How They Tell Me the World Ends, and generally lived in the cybersecurity space for the last 15

By Kristin Hannah This was the next Armchair Adventure Book Club selection. It reminded me of the prior selection In the Time of the Butterflies. Again, sisters were forced into tough circumstances by hostile governments. One sister was quickly drawn into rebellion where the other more cautious sister wanted to keep the family safe by

By Stephen Covey This is only my second time through this one, although I think of it as the book that started my self improvement reading. The first time I read it, I was inspired to maintain an aggressive reading schedule and to consume the top titles in management, leadership, and personal growth. This time

By Cal Newport This was another selection of the Self-Improvement book club. Like the previous selection, The Untethered Soul, I had already read this twice and I consumed it a third time on audiobook. I did the full digital detox the first time. I did not do that this time. I agree with the author