Inspirational/Self-help

Steve Kamb’s book Level up Your Life is one of those rare self-help books that manages to be a page-turner. As an avid gamer, Kamb’s approach to gamifying goal-setting really resonated with me, and his journey from “shy, risk-averse nerd” to diving with sharks on the Great Barrier Reef inspired me to start my own bucket list.

One thing to keep in mind before picking up this book is that a substantial portion focuses on achieving fitness-related goals. Kamb is, after all, the founder of a Nerd Fitness, a website geared towards helping gamers and comic book fans have fun getting fit. Although my own reasons for reading Level up your Life weren’t related to fitness, I enjoyed this section all the same. Still, I felt it was worth noting since this book isn’t specifically marketed as a fitness resource.

With that said, the principles Kamb discusses can be applied towards accomplishing any goal, whether it’s learning a language or writing a book. And indeed, Kamb includes stories from members of his own community (the Rebellion) which show them using gamification to do everything from designing apps to traveling around the world.

While Kamb’s primary audience is undoubtedly gamers and comic book fans, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in self-improvement.

I really loved this book. It really hit home for me and made me think and examine some things in my own life. I would highly recommend this book to other women.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever done something awkward. Now, raise your hand if you enjoyed that moment.

I’m willing to bet there’s not a single person in the world who would raise their hand in response to the second question. All of us hate awkward moments because they’re… well… awkward.

But in her hilarious book Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness, Melissa Dahl proposes that we learn to laugh at our awkward moments. In doing so, we can feel less alone.

Sounds pretty interesting, right? But Dahl goes one step further. She says that by actively seeking out awkward activities, we can diminish the power they have over us.

Some examples of these deliberately awkward activities include singing “Mary had a Little Lamb” in public, going to a crowded restaurant and asking a group of complete strangers to listen to your maid of honor / best man speech, and reading an embarrassing entry from your diary out loud to a live audience.

If the idea of doing any one of these activities sounds terrifying to you, you’re not alone. Indeed, the book opens with Dahl feeling like she’s in a waking nightmare as she reads an entry from her middle school diary out loud to a live audience.

But as Dahl later explains, these deliberately awkward activities are a form of exposure therapy prescribed by cognitive behavior therapists to help their patients navigate the realm of social anxiety. And it’s in anecdotes like these that the book’s strengths really shine through, as Dahl does an excellent job of balancing her own experiences of awkwardness with the more scientific aspects of social anxiety. The result is a book that’s both refreshingly honest and unusually grounded for a topic as seemingly trivial as awkwardness. Highly recommended for anyone who’s ever experienced the
discomfort of awkwardness (which is everyone… right?)

This book was amazing. From a Christian standpoint, Lysa really gets into disappointments in the faith that I feel people are too shy to talk about. It is a very honest book with personal accounts of disappointments and fears. It isn't preachy, it is matter-of-fact. I have a hard time with general christian books because they can often times sugarcoat or completely ignore the stuff no one wants to talk about; so this book was very promising and refreshing!!

I wish this had been the book for my high school Health Class. The authors' light tone and sense of humor made the often dry subject enjoyable. I appreciated that these doctors tell you when the science is being heavily debated or is currently just a hypothesis. The title could just as easily be "What Western Medicine Has Learned So Far". That is absolutely a compliment to these doctors and their commitment to the idea that every patient is different and each of us is ultimately responsible for our own health care.

Loserthink is a fascinating book that anyone can learn something from. Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert comics, has written several books that deal with a variety of topics such as the art of persuasion. In Loserthink, Adams talks about the ability to think critically to avoid "mental prisons" and ineffective ways of thinking he calls loserthink. Adams says that avoiding loserthink allows us to win arguments and speak more intelligently on complicated topics. I found Loserthink to be the perfect blend of humor and real-life application as well as very useful. While I don't agree with everything Adams says, he offers a balanced perspective of many political views and he gave several mechanisms that I wish to apply to my thinking. Overall, I enjoyed Loserthink and recommend it to any reader that wishes to be improve their intellectual prowess.

After reading the critically-acclaimed book WONDER by R.J. Palacio, a family member bought me this book for Christmas. It technically has no plot but instead gives you a positive quote for every day of the year. Each quote and the book included is displayed creatively and colorfully to really amp you up all day every day. This book is called "Mr. Browne's Book of Precepts"
so, at the end of each month, there is a short story told by Mr. Browne teaching the audience lessons. I would recommend this book to any age group, if you're into life-lessons and positive quotes, then surely you should barrow this book (or buy it for year-round use). Reviewer Grade: 8

Tuesdays with Morrie is the most moving and sentimental novel I have ever read. The first person narrative told by the author Mitch Albom, walks through Albom’s life changing journey with his old college professor, Morrie. Albom spends a series of Tuesdays learning from Morrie, who had been diagnosed with ALS and has a very limited time to live. In this true story Morrie Schwartz speaks valuable truth and offers insight into what is important in life and why he wasn’t scared to die. My favorite quote from the novel is “Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” Tuesdays with Morrie teaches all its readers how important everyday truly is, and how to not take life for granted.

Reviewer Grade:12

In her book, Ms Oettingen teaches readers how to use the science of positive thinking to their advantage. After years of research, she has found that mere "positive thought" does not produce optimal results for people's lives. Instead, a specifically targeted approach to positive thought and positive action is best. This is what she teaches readers. I would recommend this book to people seeking to improve their lives through targeted approaches of thought and action. Readers 16 and up are appropriate.

In her book “The Tapping Solution For Weight Loss and Body Confidence”, Jessica Ortner guides readers through a step-by-step process for not only losing weight but also for increasing self-compassion and thus increasing self-confidence and self-esteem. Tapping, also known as EFT (emotional freedom technique), is a method of lowering cortisol levels in the body. By tapping on specific meridian acupressure points on the face, neck, and underarms while describing the issue or stressor, it has been scientifically proven that the brain re-wires and cortisol reduces. In her book, Ms Ortner not only teaches readers how to tap in order to aid weight loss, since low cortisol levels have been linked with greater weight-loss success. She also helps readers to learn how to be more self-compassionate in their weight-loss journey, thus decreasing stress and increasing self-confidence.
I enjoyed this book for its positive message to women to be confident in who they are at this and every moment of life, even within the challenges we face. I would recommend this book to readers from ages 16 and up, especially young women or women looking to increase their self-compassion.