The Book of Sheen by Charlie Sheen

An interesting listen. Sheen did a good job as narrator and hearing the stories in an author's own voice always makes it a little more real.

We get to hear about his childhood, a little bit about working on various films, and a lot about his drug use. His many varied types of drug use. We also hear about his attempts at getting sober. 

There is also some frank discussion about his... relationships (?) with women. He's up front and fairly honest about who he dated, who he just had sex with, and the scandal in the nineties when he was tied to Heidi Fleiss. 

Four stars

This book came out September 9, 2025

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Entitled by Andrew Lownie

An interesting look at the relationship of Prince Andrew and Fergie. There was a lot of information but it felt somewhat surface level (which it probably will be unless you get to interview the people themselves.) I think part of my fatigue in listening is that thewriting followed a specific, rather repetitive pattern that I don't think I would have minded if I had read the book as  a hard copy. It was interesting how much there was about Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein. 

Three stars

This book came out January 1, 2025

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

100 Rules for Living to 100 by Dick Van Dyke

stars

This book comes out November 18, 2025

ARC kindly provided by Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara

Will outlines his moves throughout the restaurant industry, even working for Danny Meyer who is famous for his own book about hospitality.

Leader's job is to find the strengths of everyone on their team, no matter how buried those strengths might be.

Talks about the 1-Minute Manager

Chapter 7 really speaks to me and my work. Our managers/employees both live and work together so it can be really hard to address problems with people, because you like them and you want them to like you. But suddenly, one small problem becomes a thorn in the manager's side when the employee never knew that the problem was an issue. 

Not everyone can (or should) read their own story, but Will did an amazing job on narrating this book. 

Four stars

This book came out October 25, 2022

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell

I was really expecting more with a subtitle like "Notes on Modern Irrationality." Really, most of this boiled down to concepts that have been around for... quite awhile. Like "Sunk Cost Fallacy" or the "Recency Illusion." Neither are new in the scope of humankind. 

Montell is a good writer but I wish there had been either a warning that this was more memoir than I was expecting or a deeper dive into some of these concepts. Montell generally defines them but doesn't give the same rigor to these as she had in previous books. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out April 9, 2024

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff

 This is a really interesting book that I hope to have the chance to read again. I highly recommend getting a copy of your own to be able to really dive into Le Cunff's suggestions.

Too much of our life is centered on "productivity" or "career" where we could be working toward happiness. There are a LOT of examples which dilutes the message a little but I overall enjoyed this book. 

Four stars

This book came out March 24, 2025

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Find Your Why: A practical leadership book to bring purpose to your team by Simon Sinek, David Mead, Peter Docker

This is a companion book to Sinek's "Start with Why." This book helps you to define and refine your why. It's a long process (estimated needing at least 3 hours for individuals, 4 for teams.) It starts with stories and discovering what themes are in the stories you remember the most, what gives you pride or regret. This is best done with a facilitator and there are notes throughout the book to help them. 

One thing that stuck with me is that people's whys may sound the same on the surface and that's okay. Hows and whats will provide variety to everyone. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out September 5, 2017

Connect to Start with Why

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Cher: The Memoir, Part One by Cher, Stephanie J. Block (Narrator)

There are very few people who are mononyms and Cher is possibly the most famous. She has had hits that span multiple decades, had a hit TV show, and won an Oscar for her movies. This book covers a bit of her grandmother's story, some of her mother's, and then into her own birth. 

She had a peripatetic childhood, moving with her  mother as she married and divorced and married and divorced... quite a number of times. At one point, Cher was even left in an orphanage for months after her father ghosted the family.

Her story is fascinating and she is an incredibly strong woman to have made her way through so many hardships in life. I'm looking forward to Part Two. 

Four stars

This book came out November 19, 2024

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Smart Brevity by Roy Schwartz, Jim Vandehei, Mike Allen

Write less, get more readers. Basically the theme of this book. And it's true. I especially liked the admonition to never have more than 20 words on a PowerPoint slide. My organization tends to present with walls of text that are thoroughly unhelpful. I also liked the info on how to run a short and effective meeting. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out September 20, 2022

Borrowed as hard copy from the library

Opinions are my own

Don't Be Yourself Why Authenticity Is Overrated (and What to Do Instead) by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

I've always thought that the admonition to "just be yourself" doesn't make sense in the workplace context. Chamorro-Premuzic agrees whole-heartedly. There are definitely some... interesting examples given in this book. 

And a lot of these examples do make sense. How showing up authentically as a leader is a proof of privilege or how authenticity can be lost if a diversity program is not set up correctly. The author also tells us about the four authenticity traps and how to avoid them. 

Overall, the end of the story is not to be inauthentic but to show up as your best self. That may mean faking it some days. He argues that focusing on emotional intelligence will help you more and that if you learn to understand your coworkers, it will create a better work environment. 

Three stars

This book comes out October 7, 2025

ARC kindly provided by Harvard Business Review Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

A coworker mentioned reading this book but that she was having a hard time getting through it. I've been on a streak of business-related books and the parts that she described sounded interesting. 

I totally get it what she means about the slog. It took me a long time to get through this book. It's not just the fact that this book is almost 20 years old and that life has changed so much. While Ferris has a number of thoughts that sound good on the surface, it's like listening to a car salesman. It's all too good to be true. Ferris has a giant blindspot in regards to his own privilege that makes it hard to think that everyone could follow his suggestions and get to where he is. 

Is anything imminently wrong? No, but hindsight (and probably even a bit of thought at the time) shows that most of his suggestions aren't going to work in the ways that he is promising.

Two and a half stars

This book came out January 1, 2011

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek

Sinek argues that we think of too many things in life, including life itself, as a finite game. As if there is a goal to get to and then you're done. He argues that we should, in fact, be thinking as if there are things in life that are infinite, that we are going to be continiually working towards goals that may be moving. 

This is a typical business-type nonfiction book with stories carefully picked to ensure that they are going to support the author's versioni of how we should be working. An interesting read and somewhat atypical in that it's not asking businesses to set a specific goal but it is another in a set of books that could have been done as a Ted Talk and didn't need to try and force an expansion.

Three stars

This book came out January 1, 2017

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The House of My Mother by Shari Franke

Shari Franke’s face was known to millions of people as her mother’s vlogging channel took off on YouTube. For a lot of her life, Shari’s most humiliating moments were taped and then broadcast to the world. But behind the scenes, there was a lot of turmoil. She and her five siblings were physically and emotionally abused, especially once her parents (whom she refers to as Ruby and Kevin), fell under the spell of a con artist. 

The book skims the surface of what happened to Shari. She only tells her stories and a few of her brother Chad’s, not wanting to be yet another adult who makes money off her younger siblings. The writing was pretty good although the editing was not great (a lot of spelling mistakes that took me out of the story.) 

Four stars

This book came out January 7, 2025

Borrowed as hard copy from the library

Opinions are my own

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

A friend of mine REALLY enjoyed this as an audiobook. I am a little more lukewarm. McConaughey is definitely an actor, not an audiobook narrator. His reading often sounds almost like he is singing with the cadence that he gives his stories. That being said, I do often enjoy the authors reading their own books, especially when it's a biography so I tried to immerse myself in it. 

It is very raw, honest, and real, based off the journals McConaughey has been keeping his whole life. There are definitely interesting stories here (including the infamous bongo incident) and his voice definitely lines up with the experiences my friends had when he visited our town. 

Three stars

This book came out October 20, 2020

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The 5 Resets by Aditi Nerurkar

I've read any number of books that are self-help or related to yoga or about how to decrease your stress. This one isn't necessarily groundbreaking, but it is put together really well and I like the suggestions. The one that comes up the most is don't start All The Things at once when you're trying to make a change; choose one or two and start with them. Once they are part of your normal routine, you can add more things. 

There are 5 resets but then each one has techniques of how to implement each. Different topics will appeal to different readers but it can also be a little overwhelming with all of the options. 

Four stars

This book came out January 16, 2024

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Don't Overthink It by Anne Bogel

I enjoy Bogel's podcast and figured I'd listen to her book before it left Audible Plus. Is there brand new research or anything particularly startling? No. But there are many good reminders that are all gathered into one book. None of which I can remember a day later but it was nice to listen to it. The three main sections were How We Spend Our Time, Take Charge, and Let the Sun Shine In. It was a nice companion to listen two right after I finished The 5 Resets. 

Three stars

This book came out March 3, 2020

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own

Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives by Gretchen Rubin

I had heard the description of this book but had sort of forgotten that it's a book of aphorisms. If you listen to Rubin's podcast, you know that she's been collecting these for years. She finally decided to put them all in one place. 

Ranging from one sentence to shortish stories, the truths of life are gathered into categories. It's a fast read if you do it all at once, but this could also be portioned out to one a day.

Three and a half stars

This book came out April 1, 2025

Borrowed as hard copy from the library

Opinions are my own

The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life by Anu Partanen with narrator Abby Craden

This is one of the books that probably could have been a Ted Talk (and maybe it was.) Partanen has personal experience with moving from a Nordic country and now living in the United States and her comparisons are very interesting. When they're initially stated. But then there's not much depth. It seems like some sentences and ideas are just restatements. 

I enjoyed her explanation of the Nordic theory of love.

Three stars

This book came out June 28, 2016

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Hey, Hun by Emily Lynn Paulson

Paulson was deep into the Rejuvenate multi-level marketing (MLM.) She was one of the few people who actually made it to the top of the heap. And yet, it was a harder place to be than she thought. Paulson can give firsthand examples of the mean-girl culture that tends to proliferate. Women are drawn to a chance to make money and make friends. But, as Paulson outlines, that is not what happens behind the scenes. She compares the methods of MLMs to cults and shows how the methods tend to overlap.

Each chapter is preceded by a quote from another person who has been burned by joining an MLM. 

Four stars

This book came out May 30, 2023

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Just F**king Say It Susie Ashfield

Written in an engaging style with good information, Ashfield's books covers any number of situations where it might be hard to speak. For each of the situations, she gives examples of what you should say, and sometimes what you shouldn't.  

The book starts with how to have general confidence. Then examples of when she used each of these in her job as a speech coach are added for things like self-promotion, presentations, interviews, and even personal instances like giving a wedding speech or a eulogy.

Four stars

This book came out May 22, 2025

ARC kindly provided by Elliott & Thompson and NetGalley

Opinions are my own