I heard about this book when two people at the book swap recommended it. Alas, it wasn’t one of the books that was being swapped so instead of getting and reading it immediately, I ended up putting it on my TBR list until I couldn’t ignore it any longer. How Iceland Changed the World is… Read More Book Review: How Iceland Changed the World by Egill Bjarnason
I first heard about How to Change when The Indicator podcast re-published their episode on “How to keep your New Year’s resolutions“. It sounded helpful and since I wanted to take advantage of the ‘fresh start’ effect that January provides, I decided to read it ASAP (it may or may not be important to note… Read More Book Review: How to Change by Katy Milkman
I heard about this book from Sumedha over at The Wordy Habitat and since it’s the new year, I thought this would be a good book to help me make the most of 2023. Simply put, Building a Second Brain is a book on how to make the most use of the information we encounter… Read More Book Review: Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
I did not plan out my books properly. If I had, I would have read this right after The Accidental Influencer, since Hype (being about scammers and grifters), also talks a lot about influencers and it would have been interesting to consider the two books in tandem. Hype is an ambitious book, trying to explain… Read More Book Review: Hype by Gabrielle Bluestone
I had pretty much forgotten why I had this book on my TBR list but I needed a few more books to read and this was available. Turns out, I was fooled by the subtitle “A book of Storytelling” because this is really a book about biographies and people. Facts and Fiction is a collection… Read More Book Review: Facts and Fiction by Michael Holroyd
I really like quirky books, and so something that’s described as “a circular stroll through the hidden connections of the English Language” is definitely going to appeal to me. But first, let’s talk about what the book is not: What this book is: an exploration of the origin of words and how two seemingly unrelated… Read More Book Review: The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth
Even before I read this book, I knew that I am someone who’s the prime target for a gamified life. After all, I spent months trying and failing to get the motivation to re-start exercising regularly. But after I bought a second-hand Apple Watch and downloaded the Lumi app, I started going to the gym.… Read More Book Review: You’ve Been Played by Adrian Hon
I first heard about Der Ling when a friend mentioned that there was a Manchu “princess” who spoke English, Chinese/Manchu, and French. She was given the title “Princess” when she served as Lady-in-Waiting to Empress Dowager Cixi, and she also lived overseas for a significant period of time before and after entering the palace. Her… Read More Book Review: Two Years in the Forbidden Palace by Der Ling
After yesterday’s review of how social media and influencing could harm someone, I thought it would be interesting to review another book on influencers; this time looking at how influencing can harm others. This book is about Belle Gibson, the wellness influencer who was found to have faked a cancer diagnosis (meaning her story of… Read More Book Review: The Woman Who Fooled the World by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano
I’ve followed Claire for a while now because I find her enneagram approach to writing characters to be really helpful (I’ve had alignment sessions with her before as well); it focuses on the core desires and fears of a character and feels a bit more intuitive than deciding what a character’s MBTI is (or however… Read More Book Review: Reclaim Your Author Career by Claire Taylor