Malcolm Gladwell digs into tough issues & how miscommunications can lead to disaster as we navigate a world where people understand social and cultural cues, body language & tone differently. Starting with the arrest of Sandra Bland, Gladwell reviews these misunderstandings through stories of Cuban spies, college-age binge drinking & date rape, Chamberlain‘s interactions with Hitler, and crimes of Bernie Madoff, Larry Nassar & Jerry Sandusky.

😆 just starting this… I guess I‘m in for a ride. Some reviews saying “wtf did I just read?”

I ❤️ this. So many literal & figurative car wrecks. Amazing character development with complicated histories & relationships. In chapter 1, Dominic‘s identical twin Thomas amputates his own hand in a public library, sending him to a psychiatric hospital. The story tracks present time & jumps around their history, as Dominic tries to make sense of their lives & make it through, all while concerned what could trigger his potential schizophrenia.

The audio is a lovely discussion between the two authors about hope through trying times and overcoming.

Intense stories of the journey of how our food makes its way to our table.

Very tragic reflection of life after being lobotomized at 12 years old. Howard Dully created an NPR segment that I‘ll also have to check out. Very sad. Tissues needed.

For a book written in 1951, this is modern-feeling and so relevant. I can‘t believe I haven‘t read this before now. So good and at times I couldn‘t put it down. What a sad world to live in. Gives me the same feeling of societal dread as Handmaid‘s Tale and 1984.

Decent read and suggestions for living a worry free or less worryful life.

It‘s hard to get into reading Shakespeare. My 9th grader is reading this next semester, so I dragged myself through the 92 pages. I‘ll have to watch a movie or go see the play…

Checking off another one from the “self-help” list I found. I actually thought this one had some really great information of how to keep love strong after the honeymoon. Focused to married couples, but I saw he has some others focused on singles, for teens and for giving love to kids. My only complaint is it seemed a bit antiquated with a lot of examples of stay-at-home wives ironing, cooking and cleaning for their hard working husbands.

I especially enjoyed the two title stories in this collection. Metamorphosis is probably the weirdest story I‘ve ever read. In the Penal Colony was a bit crazy, and both pretty dark. I liked the Country Doctor, and also REALLY enjoyed the Foreword by Ann Rice. It was a great intro and loved how she explained her inspirations from Kafka.

Checking off the list I found of books to make you the most interesting person in the room… I‘ll give this a “meh”. I recall thinking some good points made, but none memorable enough to recall at the moment. It was hard to follow what key was being talked about throughout a section, and another would be mentioned, but I wasn‘t sure what was being referred to in the discussion. Meh.

Not sure if I was feeling extra emotional, but I was tearing up throughout most of this audio. She is bringing attention to the problem of US hostages in her story, telling the account of uncertainty when imprisoned overseas. Happy for Brittney and her family that she is home.

This is a beautiful, enlightening book of healing, effective communication as taught by a Buddhist monk.

This book is way too long (23 hrs audio) and the extensive historical contexts are unnecessary to me. I would like to hear a more succinct version where I could focus more on the actual “laws”. The book also has a very spiteful theme, as if everyone is out to get others in their pursuits for power, however, it did give me perspective of how some may think. If I hadn‘t put this on audio for my commute to work book, I never would have finished it.

I like to read the books my kids are assigned for the year, if I haven‘t yet. This is an assignment for my son‘s 9th grade lit. I think this is very good literature, but very heavy topics. I am also not for censoring, but maybe too much for 9th grade? What do you all think if you‘ve read it? Dealing with some serious violence, it makes me worry how impressionable 14 year olds are. Kind of a mix of Clockwork Orange and The Car Thief.

Sad story of African colonialism through the guise of Christian missionaries. I did not enjoy this as much as some other Achebe, but a great piece of important literature.

An easy read of mutiny on the sea with a mysterious devil wreaking havoc.

As a recovering scientist working in more of a business world now, I enjoyed how this book compared laws of business through each section to different practices of science. Relating laws of business to laws of science.

I enjoyed the insights & found this book relatable as my mom suffered a brain tumor in 2015 & recently an aneurysm with a small stroke. It is very scary knowing someone you love could never be the same while they keep on being there physically. This is explored from the first person & scientific perspective. As a director at the NIMH, studying mental health, the author did not recognize symptoms or feel anything unusual while losing her own mind.

The poem “Brain Radiation” composed by Barbara Lipska while in treatment.

I‘m about 75% through this book and doing some googling about the book & author, I came across the linked NYT article by the author‘s son-in-law. Sad update to her condition, but our own decline is a part of everyone‘s life. We can only try to do our best to stay healthy. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/opinion/cancer-mental-health-wisdom.html?smid...

A few of my favorite lines from “the Toast”.

I had to push myself to finish this but glad I read to the end to get to the conclusion and understand the full intent of the letters. It‘s a short read with old English. I enjoyed the P.S. of “Screwtape Proposes a Toast” a bit more than the letters themselves, and the Preface to them where Lewis provided context of his metaphor to his views on American education. My mom gave me this copy with some of her notes about the book. A few of mine added.

Good messages to help professionals, parents, teachers and kids not get stuck in positive or negative mindsets, either of which can cause people to be stuck and stagnant in life.

I love this & want more! I can‘t wait for The Testaments tv series. Aunt Lydia told her own story & history, and confessed her motivations. The story of Agnes/Hannah (although she does not get the name Hannah as she has in the series) beyond Handmaid‘s Tale, as well as Nicole/Holly (also never mentioning the name Holly) navigating some time as a teenager, & eventually meeting her half sister. I hope the series gives more like Handmaid‘s Tale did.

The author tells his journey of being a reporter and becoming the champion of the US memory competition, through a fluke of chance encounters during research for an article. He tells about the techniques he learned from European competitors and how after one year of training, beat the past US champions and other favorites.

I couldn‘t actually find the right book to post about… the actual book “Master the Art of Networking for Meaningful Connections” by Lysander Bexley, pictured, was so repetitive and sounded like the audio was read by an AI bot. Not sure why I got this one. I guess the title sounded promising and it was too short to quit.

This was okay. Some good pointers for time management and accomplishing life goals.

A friend recommended this after we had some deaths in my family. I enjoyed the perspective of the afterlife from a near-death experience of a neurosurgeon including his own doubts and scientific frame of reference.

This book confronts environmental justice for native people and the truth of America‘s many founding horrors.

Insightful perspective of how big ideas get their teeth and take hold in society.

I love old, well-read copies of books. This mass market copy is from 1989 and the 20th printing. It started tattering from dry rot while I was reading it. Loved this, but I will say I think the series is actually better. I have never said this about a screen adaptation, but this one. Love how the series builds from the book. Can‘t wait to keep watching!

Good guidance for life.

The facts of American white supremacy with necessary honesty, asking white people to take ownership and work toward doing better. I got the companion journal to allow some thoughtful reflection.

At times very forest science technical, the author weaves her research with her own memoir. Very well written and I enjoyed it, although at times it didn‘t grip me as a page-turner.

At times I loved her story and found her relatable, but others I felt annoyed by excessive millennial energy. This is a modern rags to riches story of the creator of the Nasty Gal clothing brand.

So glad to finally be done with this. I loved Chabon‘s Summerland and this was nothing like it. I thought there may be some fantasy, but pretty purely a detective murder mystery. Some uniqueness in the setting, being in Sitka, Alaska, and a large community of chess-playing Jewish Alaskans, along with the organized crime and police detective theme. Some, but little suspense. I had to push myself to get through. It never really gripped me.

This book is intense. Frankl, a psychiatrist, describes his experiences in concentration camps in Nazi Germany. The book tells how he maintained his sense of meaning, and helped others discover that they still had their own, to make it through the tragedies of starvation, death and uncertain futures. The main message is there is not one meaning to life, but each of us have our own meanings, and where there is a why, there is a how to survive.

The author thoughtfully reviewed how habits affect positive and negative aspects of lives, from work ethic to addiction and gambling, and how to get into the good and break the bad.

I loved the characters and arc of the story. It was a touching and creative civil rights era period fiction. I followed with watching the movie, which was also good, but as usual, not as complete or as good as the book.

This book was all over the place. The rules are OK, but too cryptically silly for the purpose. A chapter starts with a rule, but once he got into the context, I forgot what the rule was so it was hard to follow the point he was trying to make. The book was VERY religious at times, which I don‘t really relate with. I also strongly disagree with some of his takes on gender roles. Some good points of advice are clouded by the book‘s shortcomings.

I had heard references to this book so many times, wanted to see what it was about. Thought it would be better after hearing it was some people‘s favorite book. It was just okay to me. Kind of boring, but noble Siddhartha learns his own lessons too late in life, and I can see the morals in it.

This is quite possibly the worst book I‘ve ever listened to. It is a fictional story masquerading as a self-improvement book. The main characters don‘t even have names and are just referred to as The Entrepreneur and The Artist throughout with a ridiculous series of events and chance encounters that are predictably ludicrous, with the idea that we will all find unimaginable fortune by getting our day started at 5 AM.

Has anyone read the Bible as a literary book, not religiously? My dad gave me this version years ago, and it‘s been a goal of mine to read, so starting it… he passed in December and this is one of the only things he ever really gave me. I also have a Koran I would like to read someday, from a non-religious perspective.

Some decent pointers for working with people you don‘t get along with or like, but also too many self-aggrandizing tangents.

Eye opening account of the author‘s experience fighting for wrongly convicted and over sentenced people on death row and with life sentences. Even after commuting, years or decades of life has been lost to the prison system with rarely any compensation for the lives damaged. In some cases, innocent people and even children have been executed in American prisons.

Beautiful book written of love and for self and nature. I could feel this book in my soul. Loved it.

This audiobook was okay and had some good pointers for handling business situations and ways to shine. I can find some value in the tips within, but glad the audio was the older version of “62 tricks” instead of the newer “92”. As I‘ve seen in some other reviews, I would agree it is outdated/old fashioned.