Tag: Meditation

Books

Book 865: The Secret to Superhuman Strength – Alison Bechdel

Geoff W

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this one, I just knew I would absolutely read it as I’ve read everything else by Bechdel.

I knew it was nonfiction and that it more than likely was going to chronicle her life. I mean, that’s her on the cover AND she’s a serial chronicler of her life and what she’s experienced. With Fun Home being about her dad and their relationship, and Are You My Mother? about her mom and their relationship, I honestly wasn’t sure where she’d go next.

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Books, Professional Development

Book 830: 10% Happier – Dan Harris

Geoff W

I honestly had zero expectations going into this book. During the pandemic my employer provided us free access to the 10% Happier app which I took advantage of and have used sporadically (really need to get better at that). I enjoyed both Harris and Joseph Goldstein’s insights on mediation in the various getting started sessions and was curios if there was more out there.

I vaguely knew Harris had written a book, but it was never an OMG I have to read this type book, but when it randomly came across my screen one day I requested it from the library and saved it for a vacation read.

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ARC, Books

Book 497: Ordinary Goodness – Edward Viljoen

Geoff W

Now that I’m starting to settle into my new job (and have two weeks of vacation—when this posts I’ll be somewhere between Seattle and Alaska), I’m starting to catch up on galleys/ARCs that I received at the end of 2016.*

This is one of those books that goes in the pile of I would probably never pick up on my own, but since the publisher sent it and it was vaguely interesting to me I read it. I found the concept interesting and the idea of goodness outside of institutionalized religion is something I “believe in,” so I figured why not.

The book itself was easy to read and I enjoyed Viljoen’s writing style and the bits of himself he let seep into the book, but overall this was just a meh book for me. I’ve definitely read books that were much more focused than this one and maybe that’s what it was for me, what felt like a lack of focus.

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ARC, Books

Book 470: The Power of Kindness – Piero Ferrucci

Geoff W

Similar to Finding the Blue Sky, I’m not sure whether this one was great because of its own goodness or because of the three bad ones I read before by Miguel Ruiz.

The publisher, Tarcher Perigee sent me an unsolicited copy of this book and I’m glad I read it.* They’ve really got either a good editorial team or a great lineage of what to print because they’ve been much more hit than miss, which I know I’ve mentioned previously.

It’s going to be hard not to compare this one to Finding the Blue Sky for two reasons: I read them back-to-back and they’re very similar. I almost wish the two authors worked together on the book because they both would’ve been strengthened by it.

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ARC, Books

Book 469: Finding the Blue Sky – Joseph Emet

Geoff W

Unlike the last three books by Miguel Ruiz, this book seemed to really make sense to me and didn’t offend me with it’s contradictory stories and lessons.

I didn’t plan to end the year with a bunch of self-help books, but because work took up so much of my time in the last third of the year I’m just now catching up on all the galleys I received.* That’s a sentence I never expected to write.

As someone who is incredibly skeptical of self-help books, religion, psychology, psychotherapy or really anything doing with the mind or the ethereal, I’m not only surprised at how many I’ve read this year, but I’m also surprised at how many I appreciated. I still think there is a time and place for all of the thing above, but I’ve found that when they are well written (which most of Tarcher Perigee’s seem to be) they’re worth some time investment, but not too much!

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