I read 3 books in July. Here is a blurb about each of the 3 books I read in July.
“Lessons from My Teachers” was written by Sarah Ruhl, a playwright, poet, teacher, and professor at the Yale School of Drama. This book expands the definition of “teacher” beyond traditional academics to include parents, children, mentors, etc. Here are some lessons that stood out to me.
Is all of school a way of saying goodbye to your parents to make room for other teachers in life? Is the beginning of school a way of saying your parents can’t teach you everything, and you need independence of mind to go on your way through the world?
You never know where rejection might lead. Sometimes a rejection leads you to your next collaborator or friend.
Piano/band teacher – taught us we were worth teaching, how to practice, how to sit up straight, how to show up every week, how much dull repetition it takes to make something beautiful, and how to make a mistake in the music and keeping playing and keep moving forward.
You are the expert of your own story.
The very young and very old remind us to be in the moment. They walk slowly and look around as they walk.
Students sometimes make the best teachers.
So many events, rituals, and practices that seemed essential pre-pandemic turn out now to be optional.
We need to keep finding teachers over the course of our lifetime. Finding a teacher is also a process of letting oneself be taught – which is a kind of bravery.
One’s attitude toward almost any situation can make it an occasion for a teaching or a learning. What am I teaching right now? What am I learning right now?
Always be deeply interested in other people and the world.
The blue whale swims and swims, and when she wants to eat, she simply opens her enormous mouth and water and garbage and krill flow in. That big blue whale has an automatic sieve system to sort out what’s food and what’s waste. Be like a blue whale. Listen to all criticism, but filter out what doesn’t serve you.
One of the simplest paths to deep change is for the less powerful to speak as much as they listen, and for the more powerful to listen as much as they speak.
4 out of 5 stars
“Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic – And What We Can Do About It” was written by Jennifer Breheny Wallace, an award-winning journalist and a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Jennifer spent three years traveling across the U.S. interviewing parents and students. What she found is sobering: our culture’s obsession with optimizing performance has contributed to rising rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm among young people. Here are some main takeaways.
At the heart of toxic achievement culture is a painful message kids are absorbing – that their worth depends on what they produce: their GPA, the number of social media followers they have, college admissions, and resume-building activities. They have become proxies for their identity, and many students feel they only matter when they succeed.
Parents, often with the best intentions, unintentionally reinforce this mindset. Wallace describes how families “weave individualized safety nets,” making constant day-to-day decisions aimed at maximizing achievement and preventing anything that might derail future success. In a hypercompetitive world, it’s easy to believe that a “good” college is the gateway to a good life.
Wallace argues that the antidote to toxic achievement culture is mattering – the belief that you are valued for who you are at your core, not for your output.
Ways parents can show kids they matter
respond in a warm and sensitive way
explicitly tell kids how much they matter to you
express unconditional acceptance – even after a failure
show warmth through affection
engage in mutual activities
teach kids how to ask for help when they need it and model these skills yourself
make chores mandatory without an allowance – giving kids real responsibilities builds resilience by showing that their existence and actions genuinely impact others
make volunteering mandatory and widen their circle of concern and caring
Avoid engaging in harsh criticism, invalidating emotions, and comparing kids negatively to others.
As parents, we sometimes think our role is to help fuel and support our kids’ ambition. In a hypercompetitive culture, kids sometimes need the opposite. They need adults to prevent them from sacrificing their minds and bodies on the altar of achievement and to teach them how to build a life they won’t need substances to escape from.
Wallace also highlights what truly predicts long-term well-being for college graduates, and it’s not prestige. Students who reported the highest life satisfaction had deeply engaging college experiences, such as:
taking a course with a professor who made learning exciting
having a professor who cared about the student personally
having a mentor who encouraged the student to pursue personal goals
working on a meaningful project across semesteres
participating in an internship
being active in extracurricular activities
What stayed with me most from this book is Wallace’s reminder that beneath all the pressure, fear, and competition, parents ultimately want the same thing: for their children to live meaningful lives filled with connection, purpose, and joy. We want them to feel valued, and to help others feel valued too. We want them to live lives that truly matter.
This book was fascinating, eye-opening, and deeply relevant.
4 out of 5 stars
“The Truth in True Crime: What Investigating Death Teaches Us About the Meaning of Life” was written by J. Warner Wallace, a cold-case homicide detective. In this book, Wallace recounts true crime stories from his real-life experience and provides readers with applicable life-changing truths. This book can be considered a practical wisdom book and a Christian evidence book. Honestly, I didn’t really like the style of writing. It came across as didactic and pastoral, and every chapter aggressively pivoted into a sermon. This was a formulaic hybrid of true-crime and heavy-handed pastoral sermonizing. With that said, here are some lessons:
Embrace friends who hold an objective view of virtue. Identify friends who care about all of you: spiritual well-being, physical well-being, emotional well-being, and ethical well-being.
Your marriage preaches. Preach the right message. Your marriage is an image of Christ’s love for the church. Commit to communication.
Constructing an identity based on shifting cultural trends rather than objective moral truth leaves individuals fragile and lost.
Healthy guilt acts as an internal alarm signaling a need for grace and correction, whereas destructive shame isolates or distorts identity.
Your worship decides your destiny.Where do you spend your money? How do you spend your time? On what do you spend your talents and abilities? What captivates your thoughts and attention? What do you trust/on what do you rely? What do you publicly proclaim? How do you behave?
Trauma occurs when our perceptions of the world and our role in it (our “global” beliefs and goals) are disrupted, especially if we assumed nothing bad would ever happen to us. Traumatized people find themselves “reappraising the traumatic event to perceive it as more consistent with their pre-trauma global beliefs and goals . . . or revising their global beliefs and goals to accommodate their experience.”
Resilient people aren’t permanently paralyzed by the stress of their trauma. Some rebound and continue moving forward. Some flourish, rebounding to levels far above where they were prior to the traumatic event.
People who make sense of and find meaning in their suffering express better psychological and physical well-being and are less likely to be depressed, mentally ill, or experience PTSD. They are also less inclined to overdrink or become addicted to medication and less apt to commit suicide.
3 out of 5 stars
I look forward to reading, learning, and sharing more with you soon!
I read 3 books in June. I realized that I inadvertently didn’t include a book I read in May 2026 (“Who is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service” edited by Michael Lewis) in my last blurb, so I am including it in this blog post. Then, I will blurb about each of the 3 books I read in June.
“Who is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service” was edited by Michael Lewis and revealed that the human beings behind government institutions – dedicated professionals whose work often goes unrecognized despite its critical importance. Here are some parts that stood out to me:
Democratic government isn’t really designed to highlight the individual achievement of unelected officials. This book reframed government as people who work is largely invisible but essential – civil servants whose decisions impact public safety, economic stability, and national well-being.
The National Cemetery Administration has received the highest rating of any entity, public or private, in the American Consumer Satisfaction Index for 7 consecutive years. The National Cemetery Association has standardized cemetery operations, developed innovative memorial programs, and has created opportunities for unhoused veterans while ensuring that all veterans receive identical honors regardless of rank. There are 155 national cemeteries across the U.S.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) makes government records accessible to all U.S. citizens regardless of geography through the Citizen Archivist Program and History Hub. Anyone can submit a query on History Hub and a roster of NARA archivists, other federal staffers, and citizen volunteers will chime in with answers or advice on where to look to find out more.
I also enjoyed reading about a mining engineer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the Consumer Price Index.
4 out of 5 stars
“No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson” was written by Gardiner Harris, who was the public health and pharmaceutical reporter for The New York Times and is now a freelance investigative journalist. This book was fascinating and frustrating; it took me 16 days to read it, mostly because I became frustrated reading about Johnson & Johnson’s repeated negligence, manipulation, and coverups.
Johnson & Johnson has been beloved for generations, and many Americans use its products daily: Johnson’s baby shampoo, Johnson’s baby oil, and dozens of other baby lotions, conditioners, and sprays: Aveeno, Neutrogena, Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec, Benadryl, Pepcid, Sudafed, Imodium, Listerine, and Nicorette. Many of the company’s products are lifesavers, including medications to treat HIV, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis. 7 in 10 patients globally who undergo surgery are stitched up with Johnson & Johnson sutures. Johnson & Johnson is the largest healthcare conglomerate in the world. Still, this book’s main theme is that Johnson and Johnson has knowingly contributed to the deaths and grievous injuries of millions.
Here are some of my many takeaways:
The Talcum Powder Cover-Up: Johnson’s baby powder contained talcum powder and asbestos, which led to mesothelioma, lung cancer, and ovarian cancer. J & J knew this but repeatedly lied about it.
The Tylenol Danger: Johnson & Johnson heavily advertised Extra Strength Tylenol as the “most potent pain reliever you can buy without a prescription.” At least 150 Americans die every year and 30,000 are hospitalized from taking too much acetaminophen, and acetaminophen has been the nation’s leading cause of acute liver failure for decades, yet J & J has refused to put a product warning about not exceeding recommended dosage due to the risk of severe liver damage.
Procrit & Risperdal Exploitation: EPO Procrit stimulates red blood cell production and J & J promoted it aggressively to cancer patients emphasizing increased energy, reduced fatigue, and improved quality of life, yet many of these benefits weren’t demonstrated in rigorous clinical trials. Instead, multiple studies showed increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, blood clots, higher mortality, and simulation of tumor growths. Risperdal was originally approved to treat schizophrenia, but was promoted for treatment of symptoms such as anxiety, hostility, impulsiveness, and agitation, and serious side effects were minimized: rapid weight gain, strokes, death, metabolic problems, diabetes risk, elevated prolactin levels, and breast development in boys.
Defective Implants & Devices: Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants caused metal surfaces to wear against each other, damaging surrounding muscles and bones, triggering inflammatory responses, elevating cobalt and chromium levels, and requiring complex revision surgery.
Risks to Women’s Health: The Ortho Evra birth control patch resulted in inconsistent hormone delivery, blood clots, strokes, and other serious cardiovascular events. The Prolift vaginal mesh caused a sharp increase in painful sex and mesh protrusions in vaginal canals that required surgery.
All in all, Johnson & Johnson concealed clinical trials that yielded unfavorable results, manipulated literature and hired ghostwriters to publish biased, favorable studies, and used aggressive legal maneuvering and heavy-handed PR strategies designed to silence whistleblowers and intimidate media outlets with financial ruin.
Some of my reflections:
“Every drug has risks” became an excuse to tolerate any risk whatsoever for the sake of not risking the chance of making as much money as possible.
Consumers cannot afford to give blind trust to healthcare conglomerates or rely entirely on federal watchdogs to protect them.
The sad truth is that the FDA is chronically underfunded and consistently outmatched by the legal and lobbying power of multi-billion-dollar conglomerates, and the FDA ignored, enabled, and encouraged every Johnson & Johnson disaster in this book.
This book is an urgent, real-world warning to be vigilant and question the safety, research, and marketing behind every day medical products.
I highly recommend this book!
5 out of 5 stars
“The Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You’ve Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended” was written by Sheila Wray Gregoire, Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach, and Joanna Sawatsky. The authors conducted extensive research through a survey of 20,000 women, focus groups, and interviews, alongside a deep-dive review of bestselling Christian sex & marriage books. Through this data, they identify how common marriage narratives have damaged women’s sexual well-being, pleasure, and marital satisfaction. This book was incredibly eye-opening and offers a vital correction to some of the harmful perspectives many Christian women have been taught to beleive.
What is most stark throughout the authors’ findings is the sheer contrast between how much is expected of women versus how little is expected of men in mainstream Christian marriage literature.
The Double Standard: Of the 13 Christian bestsellers the authors analyzed, only 3 books asked all of the following of husbands: stay faithful (without offering caveats), make sex pleasurable for her, do not insist or expect sex of any kind whenever your wife is physically or emotionally unwell, and seek consent from your wife. Meanwhile, these same books asked, on average, over 5 of the following of women (and 5 books asked all of them): have intercourse as frequently as the husband would like to have intercourse even if he is watching porn or has a lust problem; understand that without intercourse, her husband is more likely to have an affair, and it will at least partly be her fault; help him reach climax in some way even when she is on her period, recovering postpartum and not sleeping, or during any other problem she may face, since her problems are not reasons to refuse sex; prevent weight gain to stay attractive; let her husband feel that he is a good lover; and initiate intercourse and be enthusiastic.
The Harm of “Duty Sex”: Church culture and Christian books frequently emphasize, “Do not deprive your husband” rather than recognizing that a woman’s sexual pleasure matters. When the message focuses strictly on a husband’s fulfillment while ignoring the wife’s, it breeds resentment, anxiety, and a higher rate of physical pain for women.
The Cycle of Pain: Believing the obligation-sex message makes women more vulnerable to sexual dysfunction. Forcing oneself to “muscle through” painful sex strengthens the biological association between intimacy and pain, making physical recovery and treatment much more difficult. True intimacy must be freely chosen and mutually desired.
Redefining Satisfaction: Evangelical culture has used frequency as the primary measure of marital success, but research proves it is a poor predictor of actual relationship health. Interpersonal dynamics, mutual respect, and emotional safety are far superior measures.
Some of my reflections:
A healthy view of intimacy should be personal, pleasurable, pure, prioritized, pressure-free, passionate, and focused on putting the other person first. Women’s experiences, emotions, and bodies matter just as much as men’s.
If your body isn’t working as it should, please seek out medical help. To ignore physical pain or dysfunction hurts both partners.
While a spouse is receiving treatment for sexual dysfunction, it should be viewed as an opportunity to extend deep, Christlike patience and love toward them.
Many more topics, myths, and cultural paradigm shifts were discussed in this book, and I highly recommend it to Christian women.
5 out of 5 stars
“10 Simple Things to Remember: An Inspiring Guide to Understanding Life” was an easy read written and illustrated by Marci. Here are some main lessons.
Love is forgiving. Only God can love you unconditionally. The rest of us are human. Do not ask for perfection from others because they will make mistakes.
The happiest moments in life take place in the context of relationships.
If you always do your best, you will not have regrets.
In spite of your best efforts, some things are just out of your control.
Often we find it is only when we look back that we can see that what we thought was a “wrong turn” has brought us to exactly the right place and every step was a right one after all.
Some of the most important ways we define ourselves come from the obstacles we face, the challenges we overcome, and the losses we sustain, as it is most often the difficult times in our lives that call us to understand what we are made of.
True friends share your joy, see the best in you, and support you through your challenges.
Friendship is a gift of commitment, trust, listening, and encouragement.
Whatever is happening in your life, keep these things in mind:
Big problems can be solved in small steps.
When you are still, the gentle voice from within will guide you. Listen carefully.
Remember to pray and let God take the burden of worry from your heart.
Accept that we each learn life’s lessons in our own way.
A lot of people love you more than words can say.
4 out of 5 stars
I look forward to reading, learning, and sharing more with you soon!
I read 3 books in May. Here is a blurb of each of the books I read in May.
“Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering” by Malcolm Gladwell, the bestselling author of seven New York Times hits, is filled with insights and the kind of social-science storytelling Gladwell is known for. Some sections fascinated me, while other parts seemed to drift into tangents.
Here are the concepts that stood out most:
Contagious beliefs — When we look at a contagious event, we assume that there is something fundamentally wild and unruly about the path it takes. However, contagious beliefs often unite people and often stop neatly at community boundaries. His example: vaccine skepticism among Waldorf school parents.
Monocultures — Epidemics thrive in sameness, and so do we. Malcolm explores how our tendency to build social monocultures can unintentionally put our own communities at risk.
The “Magic Third” — When a group reaches roughly one‑third minority representation, its culture and performance can shift dramatically. Malcolm uses this to explain why some institutions change and others resist change.
Superspreaders — During COVID‑19, superspreaders were individuals who emitted far more aerosol particles than average. Malcolm expanded the idea of superspreaders to social life: charismatic criminals, influential ideologues, and powerful institutions that accelerate the spread of ideas.
Institutional engineering — One of the most fascinating examples was Harvard’s use of varsity sports to maintain certain demographic proportions, such as the women’s rugby team that consists of mostly white upper middle-class students. He contrasts this with Caltech, which does not engineer its student body, resulting in rising Asian enrollment. He also notes the tension between the Supreme Court’s ban on race‑based affirmative action and the continued acceptance of athletic admissions that disproportionately benefit privileged students.
Media is a contagion engine. Media shapes language, beliefs, and the speed of social contagion. Will & Grace was a cultural tipping point for public support of gay marriage. This book explored how narratives — not facts — often drive behavior. We see this in fear-driven media cycles, corporate culture, political polarization, school environments, online communities, viral content, and misinformation.
Overall, the book is an examination of how ideas spread, who accelerates them, and how institutions and media shape the social ecosystems we live in.
4 out of 5 stars
“Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language“, by linguist and creator Adam Aleksic, who is known to millions online as the Etymology Nerd, is a fascinating deep dive into how algorithms are reshaping the way we communicate. Adam has lectured on language and social media at Stanford, Yale, Georgetown, and other universities. This book was fascinating and insightful. Here are the ideas that stood out most:
Algorithm‑shaped language — Anytime language spreads online, people unconsciously mold their speech around what algorithms reward. Algorithms influence who sees which words, how they spread, and which ones become mainstream.
Censorship‑driven vocabulary — To avoid moderation, users invent euphemisms like unalive (for suicide) or seggs (for sex). Emojis such as 🍆🍑🌶🍒🌽 often stand in for sexual content.
Creators must mold themselves to the algorithm to have the best chance at capturing our attention, so they adapt their speech patterns:
superlatives, second‑person pronouns, and catchy phrasing
uptalk, which adds a rising intonation
influencer accents, where extra words are stressed for emphasis. Adam even explained different influencer accents across entertainment, lifestyle, and educational niches.
Group belongingness has become automated around your receptivity to consuming certain content. Your engagement tells the algorithm whether to let you further into a group or gatekeep access. Since we build identities around group belonging, this means that the algorithm plays an important role in shaping our perceptions of who we are, mimicking the positive feedback loop you experience in real-life in-groups.
Linguistic appropriation online — The internet accelerates the repurposing of language from one group to another, especially African American English (bae, fleek, fam, cap, bussin) and LGBTQ slang (slay, serve, tea, throw shade, icons, yass). Online spaces expose users to many in‑groups while removing the social cues that normally regulate when appropriation becomes disrespectful.
Identity as a commodity — Social platforms create new micro‑identities because niche aesthetics are profitable. The explosion of “‑core” categories and hyper‑specific goth subtypes reflects the intersection of algorithmic incentives and our instinct to form in‑groups.
Aleksic’s central argument is striking: your aesthetic, your language, and even your sense of self are shaped by the positive‑feedback loops of social media algorithms. It’s a provocative, eye‑opening read, and I highly recommend this book!
5 out of 5 stars
“Tiny Pep Talks: Bite-Size Encouragement for Life’s Annoying, Stressful, and Flat-Out Lousy Moments” was written by Paula Skaggs and Josh Linden, who are Chicago-based writers, comedians, co-hosts of a podcast, and co-creators of the game No Wrong Answers: Cards for Better Conversations. This was an easy read. Here are some pieces of advice that stuck with me:
For when your clothes don’t fit – They’re just clothes. There are so many articles of clothing that will fit you comfortably, are going to make you feel good, and won’t bum you out when you try to wear them. And you deserve to find those. Donate your old clothes so they’re not serving as a daily reminder of the size you arbitrarily think you should be.
For when you have to make that appointment you’ve been putting off for months – We’re all walking around with a nagging feeling about that appointment we really should have made months ago. The five minutes that the call is going to take might suck, but it’s the feeling after the call that’s going to make it all worthwhile. No matter what else you do today, you’ll have crossed something big off your to-do list.
For when you’re going to a party and you only know one person – whoever invited you to this party must really like you, and they think everyone else is going to like you, too. People get invited because they’re smart, funny, and interesting.
For when you forgot their birthday – It happens! You can’t be expected to keep track of every significant date for every person you care about. Text them, call them, write them a card, whatever you want to do – but do it now. No matter if you’re a few days or weeks late, they will be delighted to hear from you. Plus, this way, you’re extending their birthday celebrations.
For when the news is too much – No matter how passionate you are about the issues, this isn’t on you alone to solve. Constantly refreshing your phone to stay updated on news alerts will just send you into an endless spiral. You brain isn’t meant to constantly consumer information on every global tragedy all at once. In order to do good in the world, you have to do good for yourself, too. Stop doomscrolling and find something that will make your day better. Remember that even as breaking news unfolds in real time all around us, the world is still full of good people and everyday acts of kindness.
Grief is like a toddler. At any given moment, it might be messy, it might kick and punch you in the gut, and it might refuse to go to bed when all you want is to go to sleep. But sometimes, it might be filled with laughter, it might be inquisitive, and it might do something that stops you in your tracks with awe.
This was an easy read, and I recommend it for a quick pick-me-up.
4 out of 5 stars
I look forward to reading, learning, and sharing more with you soon!
I read 4 books in March. Here is a blurb of each of the books I read in March.
“Nobody Wants Your Sh*t: the art of decluttering before you die” was written by Messie Condo. This book was inspired by The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning and contains funny, unpretentious advice you need to hear most. Here are some main points.
Clutter is nothing but delayed decisions.Delay long enough, and someone else will have to make those decisions. It’s not going to get any easier while you keep accumulating crap. You’re never going to “get around to it.” If you want a clutter-free house, you have to make it a priority, or someone else will be forced to when you’re gone.
A thing is not a memory. It’s just a thing. You can share your memories long after a thing is gone. Ex: people, pets, vehicles, toys. Your need to hold onto things was always about the feelings those things inspired. The things themselves are just conduits.
It’s time to let go of who you used to be and embrace who you are now. Get rid of clothes that haven’t fit you in ages, sports equipment you no longer use, and anything else from your past life. Let go of old dreams and hobbies and make room for new ones.
Stuff that stirs up good memories is only worth the space it’s taking up if you’re able to actively enjoy it. Attics, basements, garages, and storage units are prime locations for lazy clutter – the kind you allow to take up space because it’s not in your direct eyesight nagging you. Just because you have the space to store something doesn’t mean you should. You won’t miss what you haven’t laid eyes on in years. By decluttering from a place of appreciation, you free yourself from the hold your stuff has over you.
Getting rid of stuff you don’t want, need, or use isn’t wasteful. Letting it take up space in your home or keeping it when someone else could be using it is. You paid good $ for it? You paid good $ for your home.
Benefits of declutttering:
better sleep and overall mental health
more energy and creativity
a deeper appreciation for what you have
more control over your life
fewer arguments with loved ones
more self-confidence
more time, room, and $ for what you want
easier decisions
clearer priorities
less laundry
fewer things to dust = fewer allergens
the ability to quickly find what you need
a sense of accomplishment
a clutter-free space you can be proud of
I highly recommend this book, especially to maximalists.
4 out of 5 stars
“Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy” was written by Mary Roach, author of seven best-selling works of nonfiction. This book was fascinating, although, admittedly, some parts were a bit over my head. Here are some interesting takeaways:
With major burns, surgeons quickly run out of graftable (unburned) skin. Sometimes they have to use the soles of the feet, the scalp, or even the scrotum. Areas that have been harvested can be reharvested after they’re healed, but that can take 2-3 weeks. In the meantime, an allograft (skin from another human, typically a deceased tissue donor) or a xenograft (skin from another species) protects the wound. Eventually, an allograft for a bad burn will be replaced with a permanent graft of the patient’s own skin.
China has a lack of organ donors. Also, in China, death is still defined by cessation of the heartbeat rather than by brain death. Thus, the only potential organ donors are terminally ill patients on life support whose families agree to have that support shut off inside an operating room set up for organ recovery. Also, Confucian tenets include reincarnation, so people want to go to heaven with an intact body for the next life.
The cornea is one of the few body parts that can be transplanted without strict immune matching because it has no blood vessels.
Cataract surgery is one of the most successful medical procedures worldwide, yet access varies dramatically by region.
Skin is the largest organ and one of the hardest to replace because it must stretch, sense, protect, and regulate temperature. Synthetic skin exists but lacks the full functionality of natural skin, especially sweat glands and hair follicles.
Feet are sold separately. A prosthetic foot and ankle attach to a prosthetic leg, and over the foot goes a “foot shell” to fill out a shoe. Shells come in a palette of skin tones, and if you like, you can buy a pair with a space between two toes for wearing sandals. Prosthetists make, fit, and adjust the sockets. The socket is the cup or bucket into which one slides one’s residual limb. A socket will need to be adjusted as the muscles of the residual limb atrophy and if the wearer gains or loses weight. This prevents rubbing, blisters, and ingrown hairs.
Demand for donated human tissue is high. Donors aren’t scarce, but eligible donors are. 96% of people who consent to donating tissue are ruled out because some element of their medical history or social behavior has created an unacceptable risk for the people who would receive their tissue. Regardless of a person’s wishes or the dot on their driver’s license, tissue cannot be recovered until the next of kin has answered the eligibility questions.
I recommend this intriguing book for anyone who wants to learn more about the science of replacing body parts.
4 out of 5 stars
“The Let Them Theory” was written by Mel Robbins and Sawyer Robbins. Mel is a New York Times bestselling author and host/producer of The Mel Robbins podcast, which airs in 194 countries and is one of the top-ranked podcasts in the entire world. I got a lot out of this book and wish I had read it earlier. It would have saved me so much time and energy when I was trying to control things I couldn’t. Here are some key points.
There has been online discussion suggesting that Mel Robbins’ Let Them Theory resembles ideas previously shared by other creators. These claims are circulating on social media and in commentary spaces, but they have not been substantiated by verified evidence.
The Let Them Theory is about freedom. It will free you from the burden of trying to manage other people. When you stop obsessing over what people think, say, or do, you finally have the energy to focus on your own life.
If someone is not showing up how you need them to show up, do not try to force them to change. Let Them be themselves because they are revealing who they are to you. You get to choose what to do next.
Humans have a hardwired need for control. No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to control or change another person. The only person you are in control of is you – your thoughts, actions, and feelings.
The urge to control things comes from a very primal place: fear. Fear of being excluded, of not being liked, of things falling apart if we’re not in control. Control gives us the illusion of safety. We can’t control people. They will do what they want to do. The more you try to control something you can’t, the more anxious and stressed out you become.
It is not your responsibility to manage another adult’s emotional reactions. Most adults have the emotional capacity of an eight-year-old and you can’t change that. Most people have never done the work to understand themselves, heal their past, or manage their own emotions. If they haven’t done that for themselves, they are incapable of doing that for you and showing up in a way that you deserve.
When you say Let Them, you make a conscious decision not to allow other people’s behavior to bother you. You acknowledge that you can’t control the situation.
When you say Let Me, you take responsibility for what you do next. It’s all about self-awareness, compassion, empowerment, and personal responsibility.
Someone is always going to be disappointed by the decisions you make. Don’t let it be you. Don’t let guilt drive your decisions.
There are 3 pillars to adult friendship: proximity, timing, and energy.
When you say Let Them, you release the need to cling to friendships that no longer serve you, making space for connections that truly matter.
When you say Let Me, you take charge of your social life, reaching out, initiating, and cultivating the kind of friendships that reflect your values and bring you happiness.
The connection you have with another person rarely breaks. It’s just the proximity and timing that make you lose touch with them.
The more you try to rescue someone from their problems, the more likely they will continue to drown in them. When you enable others with your money, words, and actions, you hinder their healing and prolong their suffering, their debt, their breakdown, and in turn, your own. Stop rescuing people and start acting as if you believe in their ability to face them. Teach them that they are capable of doing hard things themselves.
People only heal when they are ready to do the work. You will be ready for them to heal before they are. Constantly stepping in to solve their issues creates dependency and frustration and hinders their ability to take responsibility for themselves. Don’t shield them from the consequences of what they choose. $ without condition is enabling.
Let Them be who they are. Let yourself prioritize your own happiness, pursue your dreams with passion, set boundaries that protect your peace, choose relationships that uplift and inspire you, and love yourself enough to walk away when it no longer works.
I highly recommend this book! 4.5 stars
“Pick a Color: a novel” was written by Souvankham Thammavongsa and contained a sharp look at immigrant labor and power but left more to be desired. Here are some things that stood out to me.
“In our line of work, you better get used to hearing about babies, affairs, love, married people, weddings. And you better look interested when it comes up.”
“A lot of people are mothers, and you don’t get paid for any of it. Seems like a lifetime internship. You never know if you’re doing things right, and someone is always telling you the ways you’re doing it wrong.”
“I live in a world of Susans. I got name tags for everyone who works at this nail salon, and on every one is printed the name Susan. So many girls come and go. I don’t want to bother getting new name tags each time. Besides, you know, it’s never difficult to pronounce a name like Susan. None of our clients notice. They come in and we are ready and set to work. That’s all that matters to them.”
My biggest gripe — which is also, ironically, part of the author’s point — is the deliberate lack of character development and the recurring image of the missing finger. One character, a retired boxer, is repeatedly described as missing a finger, yet the book never explains why. After digging deeper, I learned that the absence is symbolic: a reminder of everything the world doesn’t bother to know about her, and a reflection of how her identity is invisible to others.
This is the novel’s central point: immigrant women are flattened into roles rather than recognized as full people. The interchangeable “Susans,” the sparse backstories, the unexplained injuries . . . all of it underscores how society reduces them to function rather than individuality. Even a character who insists she’s “in charge” does so while kneeling at a client’s feet.
3 out of 5 stars
I look forward to reading, learning, and sharing more with you soon!
Here is a complete list of the 50 books I read in 2025, listed in the order that I read them. This was the least number of books I have read in recent years. Although I maintained a habit of reading every day, I was very busy with work, school, and other commitments in 2025 and did not post many detailed book reviews. When I created this blog, my intention was to read, learn, and share about the books I read. In 2026, I plan to get back to posting more detailed book reviews about books I rated 5 out of 5 stars.
1. Built to Move: The 10 Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully by Kelly Starrett & Juliet Starrett
2. While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence by Meg Kissinger
3. Riding the Lightning: A Year in the Life of a New York City Paramedic by Anthony Almojera
I read 6 books in October! Here is a blurb of each of the books I read in October.
“Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues” was written by David Bradford and Carole Robin, who have taught interpersonal skills to MBA candidates in their legendary Stanford Graduate School of Business Course, Interpersonal Dynamics, and have coached and consulted hundreds of executives for decades. This book was a transformative guide to building more fulfilling relationships and focused on cultivating authenticity vulnerability, and honesty while being willing to ask for and offer help, share a commitment to growth, and deal productively with conduct. I learned so much from this book. Here are just a few takeaways:
Exceptional relationships involve mutual commitment, a steady and ongoing process of increasing self-disclosure, stretching beyond your comfort zone, and seeing setbacks as something to explore and learn from rather than as a reason to retreat.
Feedback is the breakfast of champions. Feedback starts a conversation. It doesn’t end it. Building relationships where each person feels free to give and ask for feedback is key both to preventing pinches from becoming crunches and to helping each person develop in new and more effective ways.
Each person can initially only know 2 of the 3 realities. You have to stay on your side of the net. You may know their behavior and impact, but you don’t know their intent. Sooner or later, the other person will tell you (or continuously show you).
This is just a glimpse of the many lessons in this book. This book caused me to reflect on some of my past friendships and what exceptional friendships should consist of. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about building exceptional relationships and being a better friend, coworker, and partner.
5 out of 5 stars
“We’ve Decided to Go in a Different Direction: Essays” was written by Tess Sanchez, who spent more than 20 years in the entertainment industry as a casting director. This book was funny, insightful, and contained amusing essays that examine the aftermath of a major life shift that took the author from fully in control and plunged her into unfamiliar chaos. This book examines how we claim our identity and how we choose to define ourselves. This was an easier read. Here are some lessons:
Water the flowers, not the weeds. Nurture and grow the good in your life, and dehydrate the weeds.
The key to success, fulfillment, and happiness is flexibility – embracing the now – however that may look.
Career loss isn’t the end. It’s a pivot point. It can be painful, but also freeing.
Identity is bigger than your job title. Rediscover who you are outside of your professional role.
Resilience is messy, not linear. Change comes with backslides, confusion, and emotional turbulence.
One of my favorite lessons from this book is the concept of a “painful favor.” The author used the phrase “painful favors” to describe pivotal moments in her life that felt harsh and disruptive at the moment but ultimately led to personal growth and new opportunities. I love this concept, and there have been several “painful favors” in my life that I am grateful for.
4 out of 5 stars
“Reconnected” was written by Carlos Whittaker, a bestselling author and storyteller who averaged 7 hours 23 minutes a day on his phone before this experiment. Carlos went screen-free for 7 weeks to see what screen time was doing to his head, hands, and heart; he spent 2 weeks with Benedictine monks, 2 weeks with Amish in Ohio, and 3 weeks at home with family. I enjoyed reading about his experiment. Here are some of the many lessons:
We don’t wonder any more.How many times are you in a conversation when somebody wonders something only to stop wondering because they can look it up on their phone? We’ve lost the ability to not know, and we now feel like we must know everything. We can’t, but we feel like we need to. If we can’t admit that we don’t know something, suddenly we are creating experts who aren’t actually experts. Ex: TikTok
Recovering our ability to have regular solitude is so important for our mental health and overall well-being. Let your mind wander, do a digital detox, and experiment with tech-free hobbies.
How many times do we pull out our phones when we get uncomfortable with our present circumstances? Jesus made a habit of being fully present with people that hardly anyone wanted to be present with. Our presence has the ability to change not only our lives but the lives of others. You could change another’s life – someone that you might not even notice if you weren’t looking up.
The table is one of the most intimate settings we have for sharing our lives. The table is one of the best tools we have to get to know someone well and to discover the heart of somebody. Try going phone-free and allotting more time for meals.
Not every argument is worth having and not every comment deserves a rebuttal. Choose where to invest your energy. Respond with reason, not with rage.
One of the most interesting lessons was that the Amish allow some pieces of technology that aren’t going to grow them apart. They weigh the potential value of every piece of new technology before allowing it. Community is more important than anything else. They don’t think cars are evil, but they know that if they started using cars, their community would no longer be a community.
This book was intriguing and filled with lessons about the impact of technology.
5 out of 5 stars
“The Not-Quite States of America” was written by Minnesota author Doug Mack. This book was boring at times and reads like a history textbook. This book covered some interesting tidbits about the territories of the Virgin Islands of the United States, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico. Here are some facts:
Residents of the territories cannot vote for president. They can run for president.
The Virgin Islands of the United States (USVI) are heavily reliant on tourism and imported goods. Agriculture is only 1% of USVI’s overall budget. With the blessing of the U.S. Treasury and Congress, the islands offer a 90% reduction in U.S. corporate and personal income taxes. The appeal of the USVI for the United States was its utility as a coaling station.
People born in American Samoa are U.S. nationals, not U.S. citizens, making them the only group on U.S. soil without automatic citizenship. To gain citizenship rights, they must become naturalized like any immigrant. Tuna canning is the largest private-sector employer. American Samoans who oppose birthright citizenship value 3 traditions that might be deemed unconstitutional:
The Native Land Ordinance – only individuals with at least 50% Samoan blood may own native land
Matai-only Senate – traditional chiefs, not elected by popular vote
Sa – the roads are closed when prayer time is observed in some villages
Military bases occupy nearly 1/3 of Guam’s land, but much of this land is not actively used by the military; the military simply controls the land.
The Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) rely heavily on tourism and foreign labor. The Northern Mariana Islands are a U.S. commonwealth, meaning the residents are U.S. citizens, but CNMI has local self-government, including its own constitution, legislature, and governor. The U.S. Congress selectively applies some federal laws.
Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens but can’t vote for president. Puerto Rico has 10x more people than all the other territories combined. The Spanish and American cultures intertwine, creating a unique identity.
3 out of 5 stars
“Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths For Our Complex Lives” was written by Gretchen Rubin, who has authored many books and hosts the top-ranking, award-winning podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin. This book was not quite what I anticipated. It contained valuable information, but it was more like a listicle or what you may find in a fortune cookie. Here are some “secrets” of adulthood:
If you find it hard to take good care of yourself, care for yourself like a toddler: Don’t let yourself get too hungry, too tired, too uncomfortable, too bored, too lonely, or too overwhelmed.
The traffic changes, the weather changes, yet the same people are always late, and the same people are always on time.
More trial, more error – and more accomplishment.
Nothing is more exhausting than the task that’s never started.
By giving something up, we may gain. Briefly depriving ourselves of a pleasure often has one of two good results: either it reawakens our enjoyment or reveals that we’re happier when we don’t indulge.
If we take the credit, we must accept the blame.
Don’t buy things until you need them. Store things at the store.
If you can’t think of a topic of conversation, ask, “What’s keeping you busy these days?”
3 out of 5 stars
“Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV” was written by Pulitzer prize-winning New Yorker author Emily Nussbaum. The book covered the history of reality tv, starting from its contentious roots in radio, and Emily conducted in-depth interviews with more than 300 sources to gather information for this book. Here are some key points:
Reality TV didn’t just appear. It evolved from radio call-ins, prank shows, and experimental documentaries.
Reality TV thrives on presenting “real life” while heavily manipulating footage. This results in ethical dilemmas. Producers edit raw footage to craft narratives and often distort reality. This raises questions about consent, exploitation, and how much “truth” audiences really want.
The launch of Survivor in 2000 marked reality TV’s explosion into mainstream dominance. It taught networks that unscripted formats could be cheap to produce yet massively profitable.
Reality TV influences politics and celebrity culture. As an example, Donald Trump leverages reality TV fame from The Apprentice into political power.
Some interesting tidbits:
By the 1960s, Candid Camera had become a major hit on radio, but on TV, the show’s subjects weren’t anonymous anymore. Some laughed, others got angry, and many experienced a messy blend of feelings.
The Dating Game required no background checks. One of the show’s winners, Rodney Alcala, turned out to be a serial killer, was also a convicted sex offender, and paroled twice. At the time he filmed his segment, he was in the midst of a murder spree.
The People’s Court was the first television show to feature binding arbitration.
America’s Funniest Home Videos was unusually easy to produce since it relied on videotapes sent in by viewers and filmed on camcorders. It cost ABC almost nothing – no actors, directors, or stunt professionals. Together with America’s Funniest Home Videos, Cops jump-started the reality genre, which had been static for nearly a decade.
Survivor was the first series to take the reality genre mainstream in the United States. It stood out because it united 3 key traditions: prank show, game show, and real-life soap opera.
By 2002, casting a reality show had become a science, down to the thick contracts contestants signed, granting editors total control. There was also a natural next step after the finale aired: move to Los Angeles.
In 2006, with the rise of The Real Housewives, cast members of reality shows began to identify as influencers, viewing themselves as performers and collaborators, brand representatives of the shows they appeared in.
4 out of 5 stars
I look forward to reading, learning, and sharing more with you soon!
I read 4 books in September. I really enjoyed the books I read, and I gave 3 out of the 4 5-star ratings! Here is a blurb of each of the books I read in September.
“Open When: A Companion for Life’s Twists and Turns” was written by Dr. Julie Smith, who has over 10 years of experience as a clinic psychologist and is one of TikTok’s top 100 creators. You can find Dr. Julie on Instagram/TikTok/Youtube at drjulie. This book covered advice for navigating anger, setting boundaries, comparison, confidence, friendships, parenting, arguing, seeking help, overwhelm, priorities, grief, apologies, and much more. Here are some of the many insights that resonated with me.
Whether it’s the good news or the bad, if you have to keep parts of your life under wraps to fit in, that’s not a friendship that is going to nourish and bring out the best in you. Search for acceptance and belonging in the right places. Consider: Is this a place I truly want to belong? Would being recognized as part of this group be a positive in my life? How much of myself, my beliefs, or my values would I be expected to change in order to be accepted? Is that okay with me?
Comparison can lead to constructive forward motion and be a good thing. If it leads to envy, resentment, bitterness, and a loss of self-worth, then we are getting it all wrong, and both our efforts and our attention have been misplaced. Questions to ask yourself: What do I feel envious of specifically? What specific skills do they have that I would like to have also? Would learning those skills help me with achieving my own goals? How did they get there? Can I imitate any of that process to help me get closer to my personal goals?
Confidence is the bus that never arrives while you sit waiting. It usually makes an appearance after you have decided to walk and you’re almost at your destination. So get to work on making some progress, and the bus will likely arrive once you’re a little way down the road.
I highly recommend this book!
5 out of 5 stars
“The Cure for Burnout” was written by Emily Ballesteros, who has a burnout management coaching business. This book outlines five areas in which you can build healthy habits to combat burnout: mindset, personal care, time management, boundaries, and stress management. I learned so much from this book. Here is just a snippet.
Burnout is a state of exhaustion, stress, or misalignment with the direction your life is heading in for an extended period of time. Tangibly, burnout will consume your calendar, sabotage your relationships, and harm your physical health. Intangibly, it will steal the best years of your life while you have your head down in survival mode. It will destroy your mental health and cause exhaustion and possibly depression.
There are three kinds of burnout, and people can suffer from more than one type:
burnout by volume – burnout as a result of a high volume of responsibilities, a compact schedule, and very little downtime
social burnout – burnout as a result of interpersonal demands that exceed your available social resources – these people become the person everyone confides in, vents to, or asks for favors because they are pleasant and reliable
burnout by boredom – burnout as a result of chronic disengagement and disinterest in the items in your life
Think of personal care as the equivalent of getting gas on a road trip: there is never a convenient time to stop. The personal care pillar mandates that we go out of our way, stop to refuel, and sacrifice the time we could spend “productively” on something else.
Think of your minimum non-negotiables – getting a minimum amount of sleep, eating food at certain intervals, getting movement, having alone time, etc.
To manage stress, pause/postpone projects that you’ve loved but are currently bringing more stress than joy, simplify projects, delegate/outsource tasks, and quit doing unnecessary tasks.
Set boundaries. What boundaries might help reinforce the changes you want to make?
This book was packed with information, and I highly recommend it!
5 out of 5 stars
“The Note” was written by Alafair Burke, an Edgar-nominated New York Times bestselling author of fifteen novels of suspense and professor of Criminal Law. The main storyline of this book is that a vacation in the Hamptons went terribly wrong for three friends with a complicated history. A prank involving a mysterious note led to a missing tourist and a police investigation, unraveling layers of secrets and betrayals. I don’t typically read fiction books, and I won’t spoil this one. Overall, it was an interesting changeup from the books I typically read. This book kept me interested, but it contained overloaded themes of cancel culture, racism, anti-Asian hate, true crime obsession, and more. It seemed that the author wanted to mention many different issues in the book.
4 out of 5 stars
“Build the Life You Want” was written by Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey. Arthur C. Brooks is a professor at Harvard Business School and teaches courses on happiness and is also an acclaimed author and speaker. Oprah Winfrey is a global media leader and public figure. This book covered the four big happiness pillars: family, friendships, work, and faith. Here are some of my many takeaways:
Ask yourself the good questions: What does living well mean – for me, not according to someone else’s model – and how do I do it? What is genuinely worth striving for? What can I offer, and how can I serve? What lessons can I glean from my experiences, especially the toughest ones? How do I make the best use of my limited time on this earth?
Stop caring what others think. “We all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinions than our own.” “Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner.”
The key to finding meaningful work is to feel a sense of accomplishment and to believe that your job is making the world a better place. Look for a fundamental match between an employer’s values and your own. At the same time, put some space between your job and your life, and make friends and spend time with people who have no connection to your work.
Our impulses, amplified by the consumer economy, entertainment, and social media push us to spend our time idolizing money, power, pleasure, and prestige. These idols all stand in the way of enjoyment, satisfaction, and purpose. They substitute pleasure for enjoyment, make satisfaction harder to attain and keep, and focus us on things that are trivial and not meaningful. The four idols are distractions to numb us to emotional circumstances we dislike and feel we can’t control.
I highly recommend this book for those interested in learning more about finding happiness in family, friendships, work, and faith.
5 out of 5 stars
I look forward to reading, learning, and sharing more with you soon!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted on this blog since I have had other priorities. I read 4 books in July. Here is a blurb of each of the books I read in July.
“Sovereign: Reclaim Your Freedom, Energy, and Power in a Time of Distraction, Uncertainty, and Chaos” was written by Emma Seppala, a Yale lecturer and international keynote speaker. This book was insightful! It was packed with tips to recharge your life and change the way you think and act – from your emotions, mind, relationships, intuition and body. Here are some of my many takeaways:
Sovereignty is reclaiming your right to exist as you. It involves courage, awareness, and self-honoring. Consider what would happen if you loved and cared for yourself as much as you do for others.
What would it look like if you took care of yourself as you would an infant, attentive to its every need? Be mindful and aware of your emotions and ask yourself “What do I need right now? A hug? A walk? A break? A nap? A cry? A meal? A friend? Something else?”
Some of the many tips covered:
Sovereign self
Listen to the state of your mind and body. Ask yourself what you need.
Prioritize what fills your cup – what brings you rest, rejuvenation, energy, vitality, upliftment, inspiration, and joy.
Sovereign emotions
Remember: when you run from your feelings, you run from your healing. Feel instead of suppressing.
Remember that emotions are energy in motion. Take care of your basic needs: sleep, diet, exercise, and yourself.
Sovereign mind
Create boundaries around your media. Don’t go on social media to look at what other people are doing or selling.
Observe and discern: What are the intentions of the messaging. Is it giving you freedom or binding you in fear? Do you wish to engage with it?
Sovereign relationships
6 keys of positive relational energy
caring for, being interested in, and seeing the best in others
providing support for one another, including offering kindness and compassion
avoiding blame and forgiving mistakes
inspiring one another and focusing on what’s going right
emphasizing meaningfulness
treating others with basic human values like respect, gratitude, trust, honesty, humility, kindness, an integrity
Sovereign intuition
Consult your gut feelings.
Unplug from technology. Create opportunities for contemplation. Schedule idle time.
Sovereign body
Relate to your body as your best friend because that’s what it is. Learn to love it, care for it, listen to it, and live in harmony with its needs.
Reflect on these questions: Do you honor and care for your body the way you would a child? If not, what would it look like if you did?
This is one of the best books I have read this year, and I highly recommend it to everyone!
5 out of 5 stars
“Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words” was written by Anne Curzan, professor of English Language and Literature, Linguistics, and Education at the University of Michigan. This book was intriguing, although some readers may find it overwhelming or too academic. Here are some things that resonated with me:
One key point for everyone who uses dictionaries is that dictionary editors are trying to walk a fine line between capturing words as they are used and providing guidance about the contexts in which some words are generally accepted or not accepted. While the editors of today’s dictionaries are usually trying to describe actual usage, we as dictionary users often erroneously assume that they are prescribing correct usage. Attitudes at the language change over time!
English has lots of synonyms in many areas of the lexicon, and they demonstrate the remarkable creativity we as humans bring to language, the many languages that have contributed to the English lexicon, the diversity of our linguistic identities, and the nuanced choices we get to make as speakers and writers.
Dictionary editors determine which pronunciations get recorded as standard and which get labeled as nonstandard – and which don’t get included at all.
What’s correct depends on where, when, and to whom you’re speaking. Formal writing has different expectations than casual conversation.
Many grammar rules are based on tradition, not logic. Usage evolves, and what was once “wrong” can become accepted over time. Examples:
“Peruse” has long meant “to read thoroughly” – but now people use it to mean “to glance over, skim” – which is becoming more acceptable.
“Literally” is used to mean “in the literal sense” AND “figuratively.”
4 out of 5 stars
“The Things You Can Only See When You Slow Down” was written by Haemin Sunim and contained so many life lessons and a guide to mindfulness. I got a lot out of this book. Here are some takeaways:
Do not try to control those around you. When you cannot control even your own mind, what makes you think you can control others?
According to some psychologists, happiness can be assessed with two simple questions: First, do you find meaning in your work? Second, do you have good relationships with those around you?
We like to get involved in other people’s business, thinking we are doing so for them. We offer unsolicited help and interfere with their lives. We take away their power and make them feel incapable. This stems from our desire for control and recognition. It has little to do with love.
A bad driver brakes often. A bad conversationalist also brakes often – interrupting the flow with his own stories.
Being a good boss requires much more than just having a lot of technical knowledge. It is important to have integrity and a positive relationship with the staff, to give timely feedback and professional mentoring, and to advocate for what the team needs.
As my prayer deepens, I hear more of His voice than my words. As my humility grows, I feel more of His love overflowing in my heart. As my mind quiets down, I sense more of His presence in every moment.
I really enjoyed the lessons from this book and highly recommend it.
5 out of 5 stars
“I Could Live Here Forever: a novel” was written by Hanna Halperin. This is a fiction book and is not what I typically read. This book was described as “a gripping portrait of a tumultuous, consuming relationship between a young woman and a recovering addict.” I agree with that description. Since this was a fiction book, I didn’t take many notes, but these quotes resonated with me:
“The nice thing about writing was it took pain and warped it into something useful. I could shape it into a beginning and a middle and an end. It was manageable that way . . . by the time I was done with it, it was just a story.”
I never actually knew what he was doing. I was outside his world, even though he was inside of mine. Really, he was my entire world.”
Overall, I wanted more character development.
3 out of 5 stars
I look forward to reading, learning, and sharing more with you soon!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted on this blog since I have had other priorities. I read 3 books in June. Here is a blurb of each of the books I read in June.
The novel “Motherhood” by Sheila Heti follows a woman in her late 30s as she grapples with whether or not to have children. This book was not plot-driven; it was more like a long internal monologue in which the woman constantly questions what it means to be a mother and whether motherhood would enhance or diminish her life. I didn’t like the writing style, but it was thought-provoking at times. Here are some key lessons from this book:
the pressure of societal expectations for women to have children
motherhood as a choice, not an obligation
motherhood is often tied to a woman’s identity
the cost of motherhood – sacrifice of time, freedom, and sometimes the dreams or ambitions women may have for themselves
Women are often expected to become mothers, while men are not held to the same societal standards.
Quotes that stood out to me:
Do I want children because I want to be admired as the admirable sort of woman who has children? Because I want to be seen as a normal sort of woman, or because I want to be the best kind of woman, a woman with not only work, but the desire and ability to nurture, a body that can make babies, and someone who another person wants to make babies with?
We are miserly with ourselves when it comes to space and time. But doesn’t having children lead to the most miserly allotment of space and time? Having a child solves the impulse to give oneself nothing. It makes that impulse into a virtue.
Whether I want kids is a secret I keep from myself. On the one hand, the joy of children. On the other hand, the misery of them. On the one hand, the freedom of not having children. On the other hand, the loss of never having had them.”
To clear things up, these quotes stood out to me, but these are not my personal thoughts.
3 out of 5 stars
“Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow: 12 Simple Principles” was written by Karen Casey, a speaker and author of 16 books. Here are some lessons that resonated with me:
Tend your own garden. Focusing outside ourselves and attempting to control other people is a clever avoidance technique that helps us escape having to look at our own sometimes troubling behavior.
We are not in charge of others! Not their behavior, their thoughts, their dreams, their problems, their successes, or their failures.
Let go of outcomes. No matter what we do or how perfect our input, we are never in control of the outcome of any situation. You are responsible for making the effort – nothing more.
Don’t let the mood swings of others determine how you feel.
Any thought can be released. We are fully responsible for our thoughts and can take charge of them whenever we need or want to. No one can take charge of your thoughts, and thus your life, without your compliance.
Be vigilant about your choices. If what you are seeking is peace, you must be vigilant about the choices you make. The ego will often beckon you to choose gossip, criticism, comparisons, judgements, jealousy, fear, and anger – none of these choices will lead you to peace.
4 out of 5 stars
“The Mindful Catholic” is based on an eight-week program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and was written by Gregory Bottaro, the director of the Catholic Psych Institute and the developer of the Catholic Mindfulness Online Course. Here are some takeaways:
Mindfulness = paying attention to the present moment without judgment or criticism. Curiosity is the disposition of mind that we are seeking to cultivate when we practice mindfulness. Mindfulness does not mean turning off the thoughts in your mind but using them as a door to greater awareness of yourself.
Tendencies vs. Mindfulness:
analyzing vs. sensing
striving vs. accepting
thoughts are real vs. mental events
avoidance vs. approaching with curiosity
mental time travel vs. present moment
depleting vs. nourishing activities
This book also covered mindfulness exercises. As someone who isn’t experienced with mindfulness, here is my favorite:
Sacramental pause – Start with prayer (“Ever-present God, here with me now, help me to be here with you“). Open your awareness to any thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations, then narrow your focus to the physical sensation of your breath alone, and finally expand the focus to the physical sensations of your whole body.
4 out of 5 stars
I look forward to reading, learning, and sharing more with you soon!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted on this blog since I had other priorities in March. I read 5 books in March. Here is a blurb of each of the books I read in March.
“We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships” was written by Kat Vellos. Kat’s writing is read in over 100 countries and she has been featured in several news outlets. Find out more at katvellos.com. This book helps adults create fulfilling friendships that last a lifetime and tackles challenges of adult friendships and how to make and maintain friendships through more meaningful conversations, identifying quality connections, and prioritizing them. Since starting school, many of my friendships have changed. I got a lot out of this book, but here is just a handful of tips:
Friendship factors: compatibility, proximity, frequency, and commitment. We show our commitment through 5 core behaviors: openness, caring, trust, dedication, and reciprocity.
One of the biggest complaints that comes up when people talk about friendship during adulthood is that everyone’s so busy all the time – work, school, kids, marriage, etc. Maybe the reason we’re “so busy” is because we’re binging shows and endlessly scrolling through social media. Take control of your time. Do you lack the time or the dedication?
Ask open-ended questions and follow-up questions to pull you deeper into conversation. Some fun ideas:
What’s the weirdest job you’ve ever had?
What’s a book that you think everyone should read?
If you had to spend one hour a day studying a topic or practicing a skill, what would you pick up and why?
If you had to be a teacher for the rest of your life, what would you teach?
What were three songs that you loved as a teenager?
What was a low point during this year for you? How did you handle it?
What excites you?
I highly recommend this book and will post more about it in a future blog.
5 out of 5 stars
“The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Libraries: True Stories of the Magic of Reading” was arranged by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann. James is the most popular storyteller of our time and has received several awards. This book consisted of short essays from booksellers and librarians. Here are some of my many takeaways:
Having a good library is not political. A good library will have books on vegetarianism and hunting. A good library will have books on every religion. A good library will have books about all eras of history, from ancient Rome to the Civil War to the Holocaust. A good library will have books about different countries, different cultures, and different life experiences.
“I don’t see the library going away at all. We’ll just have to keep up with whatever comes next and evolve with what the citizens want. We hope they continue to want what we provide: lifelong learning and joy.”
Public libraries are open to everyone. And free. There aren’t that many public spaces left where you can go without the expectation of spending money.
I highly recommend this book to get perspectives from booksellers and librarians.
5 out of 5 stars
“The Unplugged Hours: Cultivating a Life of Presence in a Digitally Connected World” was written by Hannah Brencher, a writer, TED speaker, and entrepreneur. Hannah challenged herself to 1,000 unplugged hours in one year – taking back a life that had slowly become less present, less awake, and less vibrant over time. This book was a weaving of a memoir, cultural commentary, and spiritual insights. Here are some takeaways:
What would happen if we checked into the lives we’re building as much as we checked into other people’s lives online?
Think about something you’ve been wanting to do for a long time – something you keep pushing off because of e-mail, mindless scrolling, or yet another binge-worthy show. Whatever it is, power down your phone and do that thing you’ve been wanting to do. After one hour, turn your phone back on. You’ll have missed out on nothing, but gained something back instead: a piece of your time, a tiny sliver of your life.
Before taking the challenge, define what “unplugged” means to you. For the author, it means not using your phone, internet, social media, tv, or consuming any form of digital media. Build your boundaries intentionally.
Don’t believe the lie that you don’t have enough time. Instead, acknowledge that exercising, reading, etc. just isn’t a priority for you right now. Scrolling on your phone takes up a lot of time. The time is there; it’s just waiting to be reclaimed.
The double-edged truth about the devices we hold is that there will always be something to check. Something to read. Some way to improve. Something to watch. Another thing to reply to. Something to share. Another comment to make.
Scrolling in bed in morning: “I was allowing other people’s fingerprints – their agendas, opinions, praise, and problems – to get all over my day before my feet even touched the ground.”
There’s often a disconnect between the life people are living and the life they’re curating for others to see. In the unplugged hours, ask yourself: Does this moment still matter to you if no one else knows you went, saw, lived, ate, loved, fought, and tried? Does this moment still matter to you if you never pull out your phone to tell people that it happened?
I highly recommend this book for anyone feeling like they are on their phones too much and that they don’t have time to do things they’ve been putting off, including maintaining friendships.
4 out of 5 stars
“What If YOU Are the Answer? And 26 Other Questions That Just Might CHANGE YOUR LIFE” was written by Rachel Hollis, a speaker, podcast host, entrepreneur, and #1 New York Times bestselling author whose work has impacted millions of readers worldwide. This book was thought-provoking. Here are some things that resonated with me.
What Who are you waiting for? Live your life. Try new stuff and see if you like it. Learn to look at other humans as individual plays in their own stories without feeling the need to write yours the same way. Listen to your heart, your gut, and your inner knowing. Give yourself permission to change lanes, directions, occupations, beliefs, and other things you need to on the journey of trying your best to do your best.
Realize that no one else can solve our problems, heal our wounds, or make the most of the opportunity we’ve been given. You are the hero you’ve been waiting for.
What must you let go of to be the person you want to be?
What’s bigger, your dreams or your excuses?
Knowing what you know today, would you sign up for this again? Job, friends, relationships, projects, etc. If not, what are you going to do about it?
Who would you be without your fear?
There are two kinds of fear: 1) clear and present danger of a very real threat 2) imaginary fear we create by dreaming up what might happen – anything you’ve never done, places you’ve never gone, conversations you’ve never had, and people you don’t know
Anything you’re curious about or interested in but don’t pursue because of what might happen is you allowing your fear to control you.
I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to reflect on their lives and personal growth and make changes.
4 out of 5 stars
“Burps” is a children’s book written by Grace Hansen. I wanted to learn more about burping since this is new to me. Here are some tidbits:
When we eat and drink, we swallow food and water, but we also swallow air. Air contains gases like nitrogen and oxygen.
Too much gas in the esophagus and stomach can be uncomfortable. Burping releases this excess gas.
Carbonated drinks contain carbon dioxide and can cause us to burp.
Bacteria in our digestive tract helps break down food. Hydrogen peroxide can be made int he process. This gas smells like rotten eggs.
Burping is our body’s way of releasing excess gas.
Although this book said that everyone burps, that is not true! Some people have a condition called RCPD (inability to burp).
4 out of 5 stars
I look forward to reading, learning, and sharing more with you soon!
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