June 2023 MBR The Self-Help Shelf

The Self-Help Shelf

Quitting: A Life Strategy
Julia Keller
Balance
c/o Hachette Book Group
www.hachettebookgroup.com
Blackstone Audiobooks
www.blackstoneaudio.com
9781538722343, $29.00, HC, 256pp

https://www.amazon.com/Quitting-Strategy-Perseverance_and-Science-Giving/dp/1538722348

Synopsis: Simone Biles quit the Olympics. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quit The Firm. Millions of people have quit their jobs, seeking happiness and defining success on their own terms. Is it a mistake? With the publication of "Quitting: A Life Strategy: The Myth of Perseverance -- and How the New Science of Giving Up Can Set You Free", Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Julia Keller reveals that it's not! And, in fact, it might even save your life.

Diving into the neuroscience of nope and the cultural messages that drive our reluctance to throw in the towel, Keller dismantles the myth of perseverance once and for all. Because grit isn't always great. Sticking it out doesn't always pay off. And quitting can be an unexpected act of self-love.

"Quitting: A Life Strategy" humanely reminds us that, in order to live meaningful, satisfying lives, sometimes we have to say "no" -- full stop. With Keller's guidance, readers will learn the art of the quasi quit, see how quitting makes space for key breakthroughs, navigate the relationship between quitting and our public lives, manage quitter's guilt, and more.

As she weaves reportage from the front lines of scientific research, incisive pop culture commentary, and conversations with people who have made profound change in their own lives, Keller gives her readers the rationale and confidence they need to pull the plug. Ultimately, quitting becomes a chance to shape our lives without fear -- at work, at home, in our relationships, and beyond.

Critique: An original, thought-provoking, deftly written, and iconoclastic contribution to the every expanding library of self- help books, "Quitting: A Life Strategy: The Myth of Perseverance -- and How the New Science of Giving Up Can Set You Free" stands out. With a very special recommendation as a pick for personal, professional, community, and academic library Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections, "Quitting: A Life Strategy" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99) for readers with an interest in success/motivation/happiness DIY instructionals. It should also be noted for librarians and the general public that "Quitting: A Life Strategy" is also available as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9781668631058, $40.00, CD).

Editorial Note: Julia Keller (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Keller) is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a former cultural critic at the Chicago Tribune. She is the author of many books for adults and young readers, including A Killing in the Hills, the first book in the Bell Elkins series and winner of the Barry Award for Best First Novel (2013); Back Home; and The Dark Intercept.

The Well-Lived Life
Gladys McGarey, MD
Atria Books
c/o Simon & Schuster
www.simonandschuster.com
Blackstone Audiobooks
www.blackstoneaudio.com
9781668014486, $27.99, HC, 256pp

https://www.amazon.com/Well-Lived-Life-102-Year-Old-Doctors-Happiness/dp/1668014483

Synopsis: Dr. Gladys McGarey (co-founder of the American Holistic Medical Association), began her medical practice at a time when women couldn't even own their own bank accounts. Over the past sixty years, she has pioneered a new way of thinking about disease and health that has transformed the way we imagine health care and self-care around the world.

With the publication of "The Well-Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor's Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age", Dr. McGarey shares her six actionable secrets to enjoying lives that are long, happy, and purpose-driven:

1. Spend your energy wildly: How to embrace your life fully and feel motivated every day.

2. All life needs to move: How to move - spiritually, mentally, and physically - to help let go of trauma and other roadblocks.

3. You are here for a reason: How to find the everyday "juice" that helps you stay oriented in your life's purpose.

4. You are never alone: How to build a community that's meaningful to you.

5. Everything is your teacher: Discover the deep learnings that come from pain and setbacks.

6. Love is the most powerful medicine: Learn to love yourself - and others - into healing.

Here Dr. McGarey shares her own extraordinary, practical, and inspiring stories providing the reader with a kind of 'eternal wisdom' drawn from her early childhood in India and a chance encounter with Mahatma Gandhi, to her life as a physician and a mother of six, to her survival of both heartbreak and illness. And she doesn't just look backwards, she looks forward. At over a one hundred years old, Dr. McGarey has an inspiring plan for a healthier and more joyful future for all.

Critique: A simply fascinating read from cover to cover, "The Well-Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor's Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age" by Dr. Gladys McGarey is an extraordinary, unique, and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, community, and academic library American Biography and Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Well-Lived Life" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9781797162591, $39.99, CD).

The Inward Outlook
Laura Basha, PhD
www.whitebirdrising.com
She Writes Press
https://www.shewrites.com
9781647424732, $16.95

https://www.amazon.com/Inward-Outlook-Conscious-Choice-Practice/dp/1647424739

The Inward Outlook: Conscious Choice as a Daily Practice promotes a new outlook on life based on intersecting personal messages and perspectives with influences from within. It advocates tapping into internal thinking, data, and information which belays repetitive automatic thinking routines in favor of a more mindful approach to life. The exploration and definition of an "inward outlook" and how it can appear on many different levels (through interactions that become more compassionate and kind to self as well as others) creates an invaluable dialogue that leads to new insights and focusing methods. Self-help libraries interested in transformational encouragement and processes that support it will find The Inward Outlook a fine catalyst for supporting and identifying revised and more effective approaches to life and self.

Finding Clarity
Marc Lesser
New World Library
www.newworldlibrary.com
9781608688333, $18.95

https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Clarity-Compassionate-Accountability-Relationships/dp/160868833X

Finding Clarity: How Compassionate Accountability Builds Vibrant Relationships, Thriving Workplaces, and Meaningful Lives considers professional communication and basic concepts key to fostering compassion and accountability, using mindful concepts as a building block for facing and directing emotional conflicts for long-term benefit. From understanding and honing new values and approaches and supporting them to engaging readers on the subject of personal and professional communication breakthroughs, Marc Lesser creates a method for getting unstuck. This opportunity promotes a new vision of interpersonal and business communications, drawing important links between achieving clarity and being more effective in the world. Business and self-improvement libraries alike will find these processes invite discussion and change.

Mentors and Tormentors: On the Journey to Self-Respect
Tim Jones, MD
Christian Faith Publishing
https://www.christianfaithpublishing.com
9781639032587, $18.95, PB, 232pp

https://www.amazon.com/Mentors-Tormentors-Self-Respect-Tim-Jones/dp/1639032584

Synopsis: Don't be fooled. At first glance, Wendall is just another middle-class fourteen-year-old. But on closer inspection, he is so much more.

Wendall is naive, sheltered, and insecure. But fortunately, he discovers a cure for his youthful shortcomings. He cannot control his curiosity. No matter how embarrassing, Wendall must know why people think, feel, say, and do sometimes-crazy things.

During a span of four inquisitive years, his view of the world is transformed by a colorful cast of small-town characters. Some are mentors; others are tormentors. However, each is a specialist who thoroughly comprehends a specific facet of human nature: happiness, manipulation, and saying no, to list only a few.

But Wendall isn't just a passive student. He gets his hands dirty when his father transplants the family to a rundown farm. Our nosey hero then battles a sadistic psychopath, gets cheated by a con man, and talks a best friend back from a botched suicide attempt.

Mentors and Tormentors is not just another predictable, coming-of-age story. Rather, it is an instruction manual detailing how to handle yourself and other people. Wendall's adventures add some fun and entertainment, which balance and reinforce the seriousness of the lessons.

Think of "Mentors and Tormentors" as a collection of modern fables with each chapter having a specific, applicable message. But unlike Aesop's fables, these truths don't stand alone. They coalesce and reveal the secret to enjoying life with complete peace of mind.

Critique: Although "Mentors and Tormentors" is a work of compelling fiction, it is based upon author Tim Jones personal experiences, with the lessons and characters being loosely based those of thousands of emergency room patients he has treated as a physician for more than thirty years. A fascinating, informative, insightful, and memorable read from first page to last, "Mentors and Tormentors" will prove to be a welcome addition to community library collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Mentors and Tormentors" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.49).

Editorial Note: Tim Jones is an emergency room physician. The greatest tragedy that he sees in that capacity is when a young person who attempts or commits suicide. What went wrong? How did this happen? How did they get overwhelmed and how could they have been helped? I have learned that a person's self-respect determines the quality of every aspect of their life. Many of the patients he treats in the ER are manipulated, unable to say no, overloaded by the demands of others, bullied, conned, or beaten down physically and emotionally. Over the past thirty years, he have given the same advice to thousands of people to help them build their self-respect and take control of their lives. "Mentors and Tormentors" is the summary of that advice told by remarkable people who teach their lessons to a young teenager. To learn more his readers are well advised to visit www.mentorsandtormentors.com

Who You Are Is How You Lead
Rachel L. Rider
Muse Literary
https://museliterary.com
9781958714720, $24.99 Hardcover/$14.99 Paper/$4.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Who-You-Are-How-Lead/dp/1958714720

Who You Are Is How You Lead is for any leader who has felt exhausted by the effort, and who seeks insights on how to better guide others without impacting personal survival mechanisms or sacrificing personal life outside the company. As Rachel L. Rider says, this book is a tapestry of experiences reflected not just by the author, but those around her.

It echoes her years of working with executives frustrated by their successes as much as their failures and surveys the patterns of achievement that demand a more complex skill set from business leaders.

The premise of her guide is clearly stated from the start: "No one tells you that there is an unwritten part of your job description as a leader. At the highest levels of the organization, there is an implicit list of skills required to succeed, skills that you've likely spent little time developing. It was most likely your ability to execute that drove your progress and promotions until now." These undiscussed skills can lead to success conundrums that stymie leaders unless this book is employed as a guideline for identifying, understanding, and ultimately disrupting the patterns that can stymie upward-bound leaders in many different ways.

Examples abound, from survival mechanisms that translate to superpowers to handling company acquisitions challenges and considering the lessons of adaptation that lie in seeming untenable situations. All these issues are cemented by real-world experiences from Rider's life and those around her, bringing a grounded sense of life experience to the table that reflects not just one, but a range of business and personal adaptation processes.

Libraries and readers from business circles would seem the likely audience for Who You Are Is How You Lead, but ideally the concept of leadership patterns and lessons won't be limited to this audience alone. Many a collection and book reading group devoted to empowerment and pattern-breaking choices will find much fodder for discussion in this book's premises on how to "dream bigger" rather than just being known as an "anchor in the storm."

How to Love Yourself: In Less Than a Week & Also for the Rest of Your Life
Rachel Madorsky, LCSW
Muse Literary
https://museliterary.com
9781958714119, $10.99 Hardcover/$4.86 Paper/$4.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1958714127

How to Love Yourself: In Less Than a Week & Also for the Rest of Your Life provides readers with permission to love themselves more fully, which translates to a less judgmental attitude and more acceptance and love for others, in turn. Self-love does not usually come as an inherent part of nature, but is a practice that needs honing and exercise like any other routine. How to Love Yourself provides short, simple, but powerful admonitions designed to teach readers this process of greater self-love throughout the day.

These hard-hitting insights are useful whether contemplated individually to help drive the day's decisions and experiences, or utilized in a group setting either by book club discussions interested in self-improvement routines or in psychological circles: "In any given moment we can love ourselves more by reminding ourselves to let it be easy." As easy as it should be to self-love, many similar-sounding titles make such a production out of the effort that ordinary readers may be stymied by the process. How to Love Yourself creates quick, inspirational, digestible insights in how to incorporate these practices into daily routines and the busiest of lives. Its messages make How to Love Yourself a strong recommendation for any self-help, self-improvement, or group effort.

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