Category: Blog
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BR347) “Poverty, By America” Book Review
Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond. 2/5 rating. 189 pages. Book #9 of 2024. Finished February 19, 2024. This book talks very openly about poverty: its causes and why it is perpetuated. The topic is very interesting, but I struggled soooo much to get through this book. It just wasn’t written in a very engaging…
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BR344) “The Secret Life of Bees” Book Review
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. 4/5 rating. 302 pages. Book #6 of 2024. Finished January 31, 2024. This is the beautiful tale of a girl named Lily, and her former housekeeper, Rosaleen. Lily has had a hard life, she has been treated terribly by her father for as long as she…
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BR343) “Quit” Book Review
Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away by Annie Duke. 3/5 rating. 247 pages. Book #5 of 2024. Finished January 28, 2024. This book focuses on Annie’s idea: “Success does not lie in sticking to things. It lies in picking the right thing to stick to and quitting the rest.” We give a…
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BR342) “Raising Lazarus” Book Review
Raising Lazarus: Hope Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis by Beth Macy. 3/5 rating. 293 pages. Book #4 of 2024. Finished January 25, 2024. This is the follow-up to the incredible book (and later Hulu series) about the opioid crisis, “Dopesick”. Beth is a great writer who covers a vast swath of happenings…
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BR341) “The Hobbit” Book Review
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. 4/5 rating. 277 pages. Book #3 of 2024. Finished January 19, 2024. This is Bilbo Baggins’ tale about his incredible adventures to slay the dragon Smaug. I feel like by now, this is a modern classic. With all of the re-tellings and adaptations into movies and shows, a lot of…
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BR340) “The Psychology of Money” Book Review
The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel. 3/5 rating. 81 pages. Book #2 of 2024. Read January 15, 2024. This is a short book about why we make the decisions we do about money, and how we can make better ones. I liked a lot of Morgan’s ideas…
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BR339) “Bewilderment” Book Review
Bewilderment by Richard Powers. 3/5 rating. 278 pages. Book #1 of 2024. Read January 5, 2024. This is a novel about an astrobiologist, Theo Byrne and his son, Robin. The book picks up not too long after Theo’s wife dies. She was an environmentalist who was beloved by all. Unfortunately, her remaining family is really…
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BR338) “The Vertical Farm” Book Review
The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century by Dr. Dickson Despommier. 2/5 rating. 268 pages. Book #54 of 2023. Read December 28, 2023. This book talks about the idea of building vertical farms within urban settings as a way to counteract the problems with farming today. This idea of Dickson’s has intrigued…
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BR337) “Chasing the Scream” Book Review
Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari. 4/5 rating. 298 pages. Book #53 of 2023. Read December 25, 2023. This book completely changed how I look at addiction and gave me a fuller view of the War on Drugs. The most important quote was: “The opposite…
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BR336) “How to Change” Book Review
How to Change: The Science of Getting From Where You are to Where You Want to Be by Katy Milkman. 4/5 rating. 201 pages. Book #52 of 2023. Read December 11, 2023. This is a fantastic book with real, science-backed tools for change. I found this really useful in thinking through the goals I have…