How to Keep House While Drowning by K.C. Davis

I really liked that Davis give you options for how to read her book. She very much says right off the bat to take the things that help you and leave the rest behind. I liked that she said to decide what is care and what doesn't actually need to be done. Being organized does NOT equal being clean. Nor is staying organized as easy as some authors would have you think.

There is a difference between rhythm and routine: if you get off beat for a little bit, you can always get back into the rhythm. I especially liked the three rules at the end of the book: I rule the list, the list does not rule me; Missing days off your list is not good or bad but morally ambiguous; I do NOT have to complete the whole task. A very refreshing turn from the books, etc. that say that we have to be perfect in order to be "good." 

Four stars

This book came out April 26, 2022

Borrowed as audibook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Girl Walks Into a Bar... by Rachel Dratch

Most famous for being on Saturday Night Live, Dratch is also known for not having been on 30 Rock even though she started off as one of the stars. In the book, she tries to emphasize that that is just how it works in Hollywood but she was still disappointed that she was replaced. But most of the book isn't supposed to be about her time on television but more about what happened in her midlife when, at 43, having given up hope of having children, she suddenly found herself pregnant by a man with whom she was in what could best be called a friend-with-benefits-when-they're-in-the-same-town. 

I do like autobiographies, especially when they are read by the authors. The book was a little thin but I found myself identifying with Dratch in various places of her life, including being a single, childless woman at baby showers.

Four stars

This book came out March 29, 2012

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Scientific Keys: The Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga Scientific Keys: The Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga by Ray Long

This is definitely a book to have as a hard copy. There is a LOT of great information about muscles, their placement in the body, antagonists and agonists, etc. It is a little overwhelming, and thus me saying that it would be good to have on hand to re-read often. For yoga teachers, this book is incredibly handy. 

I loved the introduction and opening chapters. They set the book up well. The illustrations are also a major plus. But again, so much to learn.

Four stars

This book came out November 1, 2009

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Making Things Right at Work by Gary Chapman, Jennifer M. Thomas, Paul White

The authors say that the goal of this book is to minimize conflict at work. They acknowledge that conflicts will happen, even in the healthiest of workplaces and even start the book off with common conflicts that happen in the workplace. Some of the conflicts include miscommunication, having different viewpoints or communication styles. They also cover mistakes both intentional and unintentional. And of course, there is the ever popular feeling offended for which there are five languages. Interestingly, if you know the five languages of appreciation, it is often that the person's way of receiving appreciation is the same that they are most easily offended. If you haven't read the five love languages, there is a quick recap of the languages in the second section. 

Luckily, the authors include some hints on ways to avoid conflict. Of course, communication is the first up. But the emphasis is on effective communication and there are subcategories for ways to actually be effective.

The third section addresses what in other books is called "The stories we tell ourselves." They talk about the ways that we can clear up misconceptions and ways that we might misperceive others motives or values.  

Indirect communication was an interesting issue to me that I haven't seen in other leadership books.The authors highlight it as a symptom of a toxic workplace. Indirect communication includes not saying what you mean, gossiping, going above someone's head: basically, it is any time you don't talk to the person you actually need to address. Any time you do this, you undermine trust which and create more problems. 

Other sections talk about deception (even white lies aren't really okay) and making sure that we try to put ourselves in the place of other people.

Of course, they go over what the Seven Guest Service Gold Standards call "Recovery." In this book it's called by its more popular name "apologizing." This is such a big part of making things right at work that there are two long chapters about how to effectively apologize and what to do when an apology isn't enough. There are even parts of an apology outlined (apology languages): expressing regret, accepting responsibility, making restitution, planned change, and asking for forgiveness. 

Another section of interest to me was the part about forgiveness or letting things go.

This book would be best for group work rather than self study. 

Four stars

This book came out January 25, 2022

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Fierce * Conversations Achieving Success at Work & in Life by Susan Scott

This book hasn't aged particularly well (sexism and ageism are the basis of some of the examples) but some of the points are good ones. One takeaway I liked was asking anyone after a meeting, based on what you discussed, they will be implementing in the next thirty days. Many of the other thoughts 

This would be a good book for a new manager in a corporate setting who needs some reminding that hard conversations are best done quickly and done well.

Three stars

This book came out in 2002

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Drop the Ball by Tiffany Dufu

I had read about this book on a blog site but I forgot to pin which one it was. I do remember the article

was about ways for women to succeed. I don't know if the author described exactly how much this book skews toward assuming that the reader is in a hetero-normative relationship. There is good advice but it won't work if you are single or same sex because so much of it skews on assuming that the partners align along stereotypes. 

I also wasn't expecting dropping the ball to be so much work. Work that still needs to be initiated by the woman.

One thing I did like was the idea of thinking about, "Is what I am working on the highest and best use of my time?"

Three stars

This book came out February 5, 2017

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Memoirs of a Professional Cad by George Sanders

I cannot remember why I added this book to my TBR but I do regret that it took me so long to read it. Sanders (or perhaps his ghost writer) is incredibly witty with a very dry sense of humor. If every story in this book is true, he lived an amazing life. If only half of the stories in this book are true, Sanders still lived an amazing life. 

His life began in Russia where his family wasn't wealthy but they were well-off. At least, they were until they were drummed out of the country. From there, he lived in England and then traveled many places, never holding down a job but having experiences that very few others in life would be able to have. He fell into acting and says that it was mostly because it allowed him to remain lazy. 

His views on women were of the time and probably exaggerated for the book but... eh. 

I will say that the narrator added to the enjoyability.

Four stars

This book came out in 1960

Borrowed as an audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

The Office BFFs by Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey

If you listen to the "Office Ladies" podcast, you will already know many of these stories. But there is enough new content and the stories are edited and polished for a book versus off-the-cuff conversations on the show.

Discussions include story lines, the people they worked with, becoming mothers while on the show, and much more. The great tie is that this is not only a behind-the scenes of The Office, but of their friendship as well. 

I highly enjoyed this book and think that listening to the audiobook was the best way to go.

Four stars

This book came out May 17, 2022

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Lead from the Outside by Stacey Abrams

I made it through three chapters of this book and was doing okay. Stacey Abrams has led an interesting
life and has worked really hard to get to where she is in life. I had picked up this book as a leadership book and was beginning to think about whether I wanted to keep listening when Chapter 4 came up. LOVE IT. You should read this book for this chapter alone. And, if you pick up the book, know that you will be getting more about Abrams' life than a straight leadership book usually offers. 

There may be other books that talk about mentorship out there but I haven't read one that lay out such a great way to look at the process of finding and keeping mentors. And I've read a ridiculous number of leadership books.

She talks about the types of mentorship: sponsor (who speaks up for you and opens doors), Advocate (someone who looks out for your success), peer (people who understand your problems.)

She mentions that you should build your network and to be intentional about how you do it. Find time to have informational meetings and make them be with a variety of people. At least one of the people in your network should not look like you. Make sure to include someone whose skills you admire. Also, you should be the one to plan the questions both in the informational meetings and with your mentor. That means that you will be finding out the things you need to know.

One great way to find mentors is to become a mentor yourself as people who help others are more likely to receive help in return.

Abrams talks about knowing things - finances (your own and corporate), understand what it is that you want, and that winning is not the goal.

Four stars

This book came out March 26, 2019

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Shady Characters by Keith Houston

Each chapter of this book dives deeply into the history of a particular typographical mark. How is it used today? Why is it used that way? When did we start using the mark? Was that it’s original use? All of these questions are considered and most are responded to for each symbol.

I never knew that a * preceding a date meant birth while a dagger meant death. 

A series of microhistories, this book is a fascinating read though I would recommend it more as something to read a chapter of each night rather than devouring it in one sitting. I also learned that, in modern-day, an em dash is equal to the height of the font-size. An en dash is now half of that of an em dash. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out September 24, 2013

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Welcome to Dunder Mifflin by Brian Baumgartner, Ben Silverman

Brian Baumgartner narrates the bulk of the stories though Ben Silverman and Greg Daniels contribute as well. Of course, we don't hear from many of the other actors from the series (I imagine it was cost prohibitive) but it is a nice history. Nothing really ground-breaking and some different stories from the Office Ladies podcast which was nice.

Three stars

This book came out October 19, 2021

Audiobook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

I really thought that I had read this book before. Maybe I did and didn't put it in Goodreads but some of this did sound new. Overall it was definitely a good read. I just came out of a job where I was uncertain of my skills but feel like I actually did implement a lot of the things that Brene mentions in this book.

Some of her ideas include:

Always assume that people are trying their best. It requires trust but, if it is true, you can open your heart and your eyes and lets you help them better

Being BIG-

Boundaries-these are across the board; if you talk about other people, they may not trust you not to talk about them

Integrity-keep your 

Generosity-(requires boundaries)

Four stars

This book came out October 11, 2018

Audiobook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile

I honestly wasn't sure who Brandi Carlile was but the NPR Best Books of 2021 made it sound so good. And it really was. With the story of Carlile's life interwoven with songs that she wrote and that meant something to her, we learn about her own history from her own mouth. I highly recommend listening to the audibook because I just don't think reading it would be the same. Especially when so many of the stories are so personal including growing up so poor, working through her own fame, and falling in love with a good friend.

Four stars

This book came out April 6, 2021

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Drive by Daniel H. Pink

It seems to be common knowledge that people work better if they have some sort of carrot that they're striving toward. Say, monetary compensation. But there is a LOT of evidence that seems to point out that this is one of those "known facts" that just isn't true. We reward the good and punish the bad, but is this really the best way to encourage people? How would this explain things like Wikipedia or Firefox where people are being neither tangibly rewarded nor punished. Instead, they participate because it's good for the programmer community, it will boost their knowledge, and because it helps boost their creativity and it's fun ("flow").

Even more surprising, studies have shown that incentives often cause people to do <i>worse</i>. But not all extrinsic incentives are bad. Mixing rewards with inherently noble tasks usually keeps people working. 

The ingredients for genuine motivation are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. If people have these (either already set in place or can create them for themselves), they tend to work harder.

Pink also discussed "Type I" people (intrinsically motivated, more concerned about the happiness found in doing the project) vs. "Type X" people (extrinsically motivated, done for personal gain).

There's a nice chapter-by-chapter review at the end. 

Is it riveting? Not really. Did I forget that I had listened to it before? Yes, I did. But some of the ideas are interesting and it is something to listen to.

Three and a half stars

This book came out December 29, 2009

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price

In America, (I can't speak for other countries) it is thought that if you aren't doing SOMETHING, you are lazy. And even those "somethings" are rated. Bubble bath? Not important. Working every minute of every day? Incredibly important. No matter whether you are becoming irritable or unmotivated.  And the truth is, now we're being told that we need to make sure to take time for "self-care". More work! But Price, very convincingly, argues that laziness (at least as it is often defined), does not actually exist. The whole book is worth a read but there were a couple of points that I really resonated with. Burnout is very real and can cause people to act in both small and big ways, from small, petty actions to larger scale. I really loved the point in Chapter 2 that said, if you fail to meet a goal and don't feel guilty about it, it might not actually be a priority.

Four stars

This book came out January 5, 2021

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Breath by James Nestor

Elizabeth Baker's review on the NPR Book Concierge from 2020 made this book sound really interesting. And it was, to a point. I like a nonfiction book where the author is a nonbiased reporter and Nestor actually took place in a lot of the experiments himself. And I sometimes like that but the back and forth between the two was not well-woven together. A lot of the findings were things that I already knew about from yoga and I found myself racing to finish the book rather than really trying to read and retain it.

Three stars

This book came out May 26, 2020

Borrowed as hard copy from the library

Opinions are my own

Please Don't Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes by Phoebe Robinson

Phoebe Robinson is a phenomenal writer who is tackling the hard topics with grace and humor. Does all of it hit? Maybe not but it's all entertaining. And I've learned about things that I never knew before like 4C hair and outside clothes. I guess I knew about outside clothes before but this was an even deeper dive into that topic as well as things like racism, living duringba pandemic and a host of other topics.

Four stars

This book came out September 28th 2021

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Healthy Happy Sexy by Katie Silcox

If you want to read a white woman writing about an ancient practice from another culture, this will be the book for you. This book has some obvious and glaring errors ("eskimos" do not have over a hundred words for snow; women do not sync cycles) and definitely wouldn't be an effective tool for anyone who has even a basic knowledge of Ayurveda already. It does serve as a very surface-level exploration of what the Western world thinks Ayurveda means but doesn't provide anything new to the subject.

Three stars

This book came out January 13, 2015

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Make Your Bed by William H. McRaven

Another book that has been adapted from a commencement speech. Most of what you will read is contained in the speech which is widely available on the web. A lot of what you read is common sense but McRaven manages to wrap in compelling stories from his days as a Navy SEAL. There are things like never leaving a friend behind, making sure that you are taking some risks, standing your ground, and, of course, making your bed (because then you have done at least one thing well in the day.)

Four stars

This April 4th, 2017

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Mind of the Leader by Rasmus Hougaard

I read this book for work and think that it will work well for me. However, this book is very geared toward "mindfulness" i.e. there are a lot of exercises that ask you to stop, take a moment, and listen to what your brain is saying. This may turn some other people off. 

Mindfulness - makes sure your people are seen and heard; in one survey, making sure that you were present for your team was the most important part of being a leader (not on the phone, not on email, not letting your mind wander)

Selflessness - give people space to develop; Leaders who take blame and pass on praise have employees who will take risks and be creative

Compassion- be able to have the hard conversations when needed; be able to have compassion for self as well as for your team; be able to handle the highs and the lows of life and the job, to acknowledge but then let go of mistakes; be able to understand other people's viewpoints without taking on their emotions

We need to make sure that, as leaders, we are not in a bubble -- we do not have so many people who are catering to us that we think that everything is going fine.

Look for unconscious biases -- use the beginner's mind

Four stars

This book came out March 13th, 2018

Borrowed as audibook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own