HBR Daily Leader by Harvard Business Review

I read this as an ebook and think it would be better as a hard copy; something to keep by your bed or another easy place to open up and read an entry every day. 

Basically, this is almost a calendar of information to use to become "an exceptional leader." Each of the daily snippets come from a longer article (that you can read online. 

An interesting concept with bite-sized information. May also drive traffic to their website when people would like to know more. 

Four stars

This book comes out December 3, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Harvard Business Review Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi

I listen to the Lazy Genius podcast and thought I might read Adachi's books. I like reading about ways to simplify life, especially if I can do it lazily. Are any of the ideas really new in the realm of self-help? Not the overall pictures. But I did like the subset of "Let People In" that mentioned not telling people that you're sorry. Don't pre-apologize for things that don't matter.

Three stars

This book came out August 11, 2020

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte

I can't remember why I put this on my TBR list. It's fine (telling you how to better organize your self and your life by using technology). However, I feel like this is one of a number of books that was probably a 10 minute speech that someone enjoyed and had the author try and build it into a larger book.
While none of Forte's ideas are particularly new, they actually acknowledge that by talking about where they got their ideas from.

Three stars

This book came out August 2, 2022

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

The Third Gilmore Girl Kelly Bishop

Has Kelly Bishop been in everything? No. But she sure has done a lot. From starring in the opening of "A Chorus Line" to starring in the seminal "Dirty Dancing" to the namesake of her book's title, "Gilmore Girls." We get to see a lot of the behind the scenes to the production of each of these as well as many more. While she does seem a little blasé about some things (working with Woody Allen) and glosses over other (totally her perogative), even if this book was written by a ghostwriter, you really do get the sense that tone is hers. 

Definitely get this as an audiobook if possible because it is great to hear her words in her voice.

Four and a half stars

This book came out September 17, 2024

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Christmas Movie Ultimate Trivia Book Test by Neal E. Fischer

This is another book that will probably be better as a physical book than as an ebook. The answers are often on another page and flipping back and forth can get a little hairy. 

The trivia in this book is... amazing. There are So Many movies included in this book. Yes, some of them may be argued as Christmas-adjacent, but the author does address this. There are twelve different categories including thrillers, animated movies, and even a whole section devoted just to Christmas Carol adaptations. It's a fun book with a lot of great trivia. There are even little mini sections in between. 

Other than the navigability issues, it's quite a nice book. 

Four stars

This book came out October 1, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Quarto Publishing Group - becker & mayer and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Give and Take by Adam M. Grant

If you really thought about it, you might assume that people who hog all the glory or keep all the money for themselves are the only ones who get ahead. Grant uses this book to argue that the opposite is true, that we need to look for the givers in our lives. The chapters are split into topics like influencing people,  recognizing potential, and burn out and each looks at how givers and takers approach each. Each chapter also provides real-world examples.

Chapter 5 specifically talks about how to approach communication from a place of non-dominance. That an average interviewer was looked down on when they spilled coffee but it made an expert more relatable. In this chapter, he also references "powerless speech"- hesitations, hedging, disclaimers and more. Normally, you might think this displays a sense of inferiority but it can make people more receptive than a forceful arguement would.

Grant does a deep dive to understand why some people succeed and others fail. His theory? There are givers and takers in the world. The people who lift up everyone around them and the ones who are only in it for themselves. 

Grant weaves together stories of both givers and takers and why they succeeded and what they did to help or hinder others. My biggest surprise is that successful givers aren’t immune from self-interest, they just help others succeed as well.

Four stars

This book came out in 2013

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Grit by Angela Duckworth

The title pretty much says it all. If you have stick-to-it-tive-ness, it will generally take you farther than innate skill. Duchworth's own father used to tell her that she was no genius but she stuck to it and turned out fabulous.
Do the stories start to sound the same? Yes. Does Duckworth tell you that you need to cut your losses sometimes? Yes. Did she tell us how to identify when that is? Not really.
I did overall enjoy this book but there is nothing new for regular self-help readers.

Three and a half  stars

This book May 3, 2016

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

The Lost Art of Connecting by Susan McPherson, Jackie Ashton

People today are doinga connections all wrong according to McPherson. This book was written in the midst of COVID and, of course, people were isolated. But it started before that (and, according to many has worsened since.)

McPherson talks about having the right kind of connections, getting into them for the right reasons, and having the right depths. She talks about ways to build connections and how to do so purposefully.

Four stars

This book came out March 23, 2021

Audible book of mine
Opinions are my own

Randomistas by Andrew Leigh

Leigh REALLY likes randomized testing. In this book, he explores how it has changed politics, philanthropy, and even grocery stores. 

The book is a bit dense and took me a long time to get through. The premise was interesting for a few chapters at a time and the stories were interesting but it got a bit repetitive. And Leigh seemed a little skeptical of any other kind of testing. I mean, random testing is great, maybe the best of all testing, but other methods are equally valid. 

Three stars

This book came out October 9, 2018

Audible book

Opinions are my own

What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

I enjoyed this book and think I will look for it in a hard copy. 

Goldsmith talks not only about the things that you SHOULD do but also the things you should NOT do. He mentioned that too many of us fall into the trap of thinking that we can just do MORE of the thing that got us to a particular point to help us get to the next level. There is also a lot of food for thought about how we talk to the people around us, being realistic without too much positivity or negativity.

Four stars

This book came out January 9, 2007

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson

This book is told mainly from the third person omniscient for Kat and Dorothy, both of whom live in Shelley House. Kat has only recently moved in but Dorothy has lived their most of her life. What brings the two together? The threat of eviction. Well, Dorothy doesn't believe it will happen and Kat is cynical about what they can do. But then someone in the building is attacked and the two, as well as the other people in their apartment building will band together and form a community.
I don't love time jumps but, other than that, this was a nice, easy read even though it dealt with some tough topics.

Three and a half stars

This book came out 

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Joyful Recollections of Trauma by Paul Scheer

I really enjoy "How Did This Get Made" but wasn't sure I wanted to read about someone else's trauma. I did like that Paul Scheer read his own book. And it was spliced together with clips of Paul reading sections at various podcast shows. 

There was quite a bit of trauma but Paul tells the stories with a bit of humor (thus the title). But there are also a lot of stories just about Paul's life.

Four stars

This book came out May 21, 2024

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Slow Productivity by Cal Newport

Technology was touted as making our lives easier but that is often not what has happened. Instead, we are working harder than ever, often, without considering what it's doing to our mental health. there is an overwhelm of emails.
Newport brings together the works of many other authors who have written similar themes. There are stories of people who have worked both slowly and productively. He also presents ideas on how achieve productivity without burning yourself out.
This book was fine but it felt like a lot of filler- references to other similar books or the author's own writings.

Three stars

This book came out March 5, 2024

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Sure, I'll Join Your Cult by Maria Bamford

Definitely absorb this as an audiobook. Maria Bamford's voice is so distinctive and it's a delight to listen to her. Her tone is wry, her stories sometimes hard to digest but she does, indeed, have a rich history of joining various groups that could be classified as cults whether it's a religion, a diet scheme, or any number of "anonymous" organizations. 

Four stars

This book came out September 5, 2023

Book borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Move the Body, Heal the Mind by Jennifer Heisz

Heisz talks about the notion of a Lazy Body, that we need to make ourselves move. Movement can help us in any number of ways.
It's an interesting book but a little down on any other methods outside of exercise. Preferably the exercise outside in this book.

Three stars

This book came out March 8, 2022

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg

I was hearing about this book on a number of different podcasts so I thought I'd pick it up. I love a good book on communication and was pleasantly surprised that this one, while still picking up threads that I've read in numerous other books, brought some new things to the conversation.

The thought is not only do we need to listen, but we need to understand. First, we need to understand what kind of conversation are we having? A tool teachers use is actually asking students if they want help, a hug, or to be heard (is this practical, emotional, or social). Knowing what you want the conversation to be is going to help you be more productive in reaching a conclusion. 

We need to know where we ourselves are coming from but also where others are coming from. Duhigg uses gun control to show that we don't always know everything that we think we know.

Lastly, we need know ourselves. Our social identities are the ways that we frame ourselves and our own histories. They help us to relate to others but they can also serve as barriers to true connection. 

There was a little too much going on in this book but I overall enjoyed this one. 

Four stars

This book came out February 20, 2024

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Playful Intelligence by Anthony T. DeBenedet

It looks like this book is being re-released as it originally came out on May 1, 2018. There are no notes on this being a new edition so, if you've read this before, I don't think anything has changed.

The author dives into the idea that people with rich imaginations, who are able to re-frame their stressors, are able to go far in life. He talks about Bill B whose job was in danger of being cut every day for ten years. We look at Sheila whose life is one catastrophe after another starting from her birth. These two are just the start of example after example of people who used some form of imagination to make it through hard times.

DeBenedet argues that empathy is a part of imagination and that exercising that muscle can help us to connect with others. That putting ourselves in their shoes can help make us better at our jobs and at life. He also argues that having imagination can help us avoid "anchoring," when our thoughts are so rooted in what we've seen in the past that we can't come up for solutions what is in front of us now. 

For a book that relies on what seem to be true stories, the writing style reminded me of nothing so much as The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. 

Three stars

This book came out May 1, 2018

ARC kindly provided by Santa Monica Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

How to Walk into a Room by Emily P. Freeman

I completely missed that this book was based in Christianity but that doesn't necessarily turn me off reading a book. 

I liked the author's posit that endings don't have to be sad. That this may just be a place that we shouldn't be any more. This book is really about finding those times that it's time to leave a place and head to a new one. I have read almost all of the books that Freeman references and enjoyed the way that she wove in the lessons that she had learned from each and why those stories worked with what she was trying to build in her book. 

Four stars

This book comes out March 12, 2024

ARC kindly provided by HarperOne and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Atomic Habits by James Clear

A coworker of mine was talking about this book so I picked it up. It was an interesting premise, boiling down to four steps to develop better habits, all of which seem fairly obtainable. Clear also brings up some other ideas that resonated with me. One was the "Plateau of Latent Potential." He mentions that this is a place where you've been working hard for awhile but not seeing any results. But if you keep plugging away, it will seem like you have sudden results.

Another idea that Clear brings up is the idea of systems vs. goals. Goals are what you are trying to achieve, systems are the way that you get to those goals. These are actually MORE important than the goals themselves as they are markers of how you get to what you need to do.

An idea that really hit home for me is that your identity is tied to the things that you do regularly. That means, the best habits are the ones that help you to define your identity. 

The rest of the book (the bulk of the book) is set on defining the four laws (and their inverses): Make it obvious (invisible); make it attractive (unattractive); make it easy (difficult); make it satisfying (unsatisfying.)

These all made a tone of sense and seem like they could be easily actionable. 

Four stars

This book came out October 16, 2018

Borrowed as hard copy from library 

Opinions are my own

Death and the Victorians by Adrian Mackinder

If you've studied the Victorians at all, you will probably know a lot of these stories. It is, not surprisingly, very Euro-centric. Very focused on England with all of the, what we would call nowadays, weirdness: seances, memento moris, and the scare of Jack the Ripper.

I was disappointed that there were topics that weren't more deeply delved into (not Jack the Ripper, as Mackinder says, that has been well-covered.) This book is shorter than many nonfiction books and could have stood with more pages. I did appreciate that one chapter was mainly dedicated to books of the time that focused on death. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out January 30, 2024

ARC kindly provided b Pen & Sword and NetGalley

Opinions are my own