Reading Fanatic Reviews
All Nonfiction ReviewsEmpath Awakening by Kara Lawrence
Available at Amazon only
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Empath Awakening*
Information and Self-Care for Empaths
Have you ever thought that you were an empath? The author states in the subtitle that this book will help you with the negative aspects that that (though more is covered). The first chapters of this book explore the typical traits that empaths possess as well as the different types. Next, she looks at what empathic abilities are and how empaths can avoid negative energy so they don’t feel overwhelmed. But as empathy is not something that can be switched off, she next offers ways of self-healing. Chapter 6 has the same title as the book and discusses how to grow as an empath and learn to read energy. The next chapter is an interesting look at the different types of alternative healing like reiki and reflexology. Not all healers are empaths nor are all empaths healers, but I found this to be an interesting look at how empathy can relate to a variety of healing modalities. The end chapters look at energy shielding, the possibilities of forming toxic relationships with narcissists, and other pitfalls.
I think the book is basically well organized, though I might have put energy shielding along with the earlier chapter on negative energy and self-healing with energy healing. The author has a friendly and accessible style. She identifies as an empath, so the information she shares has a ring of personal authenticity, not just a repackaging of topics gleaned from other sources on the internet—which, unfortunately, books like these often are. The chapter on empaths and narcissists correlates to another book of hers, Toxic Magnetism, and a section within that chapter also reflects another of the author’s books on codependency. If you believe you might be an empath, you might find this helpful read so that you can protect yourself even if you align with others on a variety of levels.
The PCOS Diet by Jane Kennedy
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The PCOS Diet*
Clear Bias Shown
After just having read the PCOS book by this author, I find myself surprised by this one. The book doesn’t really live up to the title, subtitle, or what the author states in the introduction. She shows a clear bias for and against particular ways of eating that don’t seem appropriate in a book that should be objective so it could help the most people.
She states in the introduction that she really won’t be discussing PCOS in general as she has another book for that. However, a large chunk of the book is precisely about that and not about diet in particular. If you’re hoping for one particular PCOS diet, she doesn’t offer that here, not even in the chapter labeled The PCOS Diet. In fact in the chapter summary of that section, she stays that there is no one PCOS diet. After discussing generalities—like an introduction to PCOS, insulin resistance, exercise, and androgens—she finally moves on to more information about nutrition as she looks at the anti-inflammatory, Keto, and plant-based vegan diets. The author clearly favors the anti-inflammatory and keto diets. The chapter on the vegan diet was so biased that I actually had a hard time reading it. Clearly, the author loves meat and cannot fathom that people would stay on a vegan diet long term. She goes so far as to state it is radical, not realistic, and requires too much sacrifice to be viable. Honestly, I could say the same thing about keto, as I find its love of fat and eschewing of carbohydrates to be extreme. I would have preferred some objectivity in a book like this. A few other concepts are discussed, like diet breaks and mindset.
I don’t know how many books are out there about nutrition and PCOS, but I would imagine that there are better books that don’t have quite the biases that this one has.
A Warrior’s Ride to Shine by Camilla Patten
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A Warrior's Ride to Shine*
Book Not as Described
I enjoy a variety of self-help and motivational books, so I was definitely intrigued by the title and concept of this book. However, I find myself disappointed by its contents. The subtitle says it is a guide to awaken your inner strength (on a bicycle no less), but I found nothing of the sort in the book. The first full half of the book is just a variety of stories from the author’s life with nothing said about how this can parallel the reader’s life or how the reader could learn from such an experience in her life. After the middle point, the book does start to talk about some issues from the reader’s perspective, but every chapter is really mostly about the author’s story. If you enjoy books where someone talks about their life and some lessons they’ve learned, you might enjoy this book. But if you are expecting it to live up to its subtitle, you will be disappointed.
Where Can I Find Wi-Fi? by Kayla Kurin
Available at Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
Where Can I Find Wi-Fi?*
Want to Be a World-Traveling Nomad?
If you have ever considered traveling the world or living in a foreign country (not just as a tourist), this book gives not only one woman’s personal story, but her personal hints, tips, and tricks learned from a life living and working on the road. The book is well organized. The first section is about being just a regular nomad, either volunteering or find work in other countries. The bulk of the book is about being a digital nomad, whether as a freelancer, an entrepreneur, or working remotely for a company. The author has set up several businesses that have allowed her to add to her bank account while still enjoying travel around the world. I like how she interweaves her personal experiences with the tips, techniques, and the knowledge you need if you are going to consider this kind of lifestyle. Before you book your first plane ticket for the new nomad life you envision for yourself, I recommend reading this book to get a sense of what it is really like as well as some ideas that will help you make the transition more smoothly.
Forex Trading for Beginners by Darcy Malone
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Forex Trading for Beginners*
General Information Good But Not Actionable
I have read a couple of books on different types of trading and one specifically on Forex trading. Compared to other types of investing, Forex trading seems particularly fraught with peril, including the high risk of losing a fair amount of money in a short time. As such, I believe it takes true knowledge and skill to work the market to your advantage. This book to me seems to be more about educating about what Forex trading is, including are the terms and concepts you need to understand. But it falls short on actually giving you actionable steps if you want to dip your toe into this volatile market, despite what the subtitle says. The background information isn’t bad, with its definition of what the market is, trading pairs, terms like pips, margins, and spreads; the types of risk involved; different ways of trading; choosing a broker; and analysis and automation tools—among other topics. But you certainly won’t have enough information to even start thinking about truly trading. The book is good as far as it goes, but I would caution any potential reader to not act without doing deeper study and paper trading.
Toxic Magnetism by Kara Lawrence
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Toxic Magnetism*
Needs Organization and Focus
The title and subtitle of this book do not wholly accurately reflect what the contents are. The author seems to imply in the subtitle that this is about the why and how of the toxic relationship between empaths and narcissists. It does include elements of both of those, but they don’t seem to be the main thrust of the book, which appears more to be about what a toxic relationship is and the dynamics of it.
I thought the book had some good information, even though I thought some topics were too short. I also think it needed better organization. The book starts with 15 danger signs of a toxic relationship. Given what the subtitle is, I think it would have been better to start with defining the terms, which comes a bit later in the book, as well as an introductory foreword aimed at the empath, the target audience of this book. This opening section could discuss some of what the book description talked about; namely we can sometimes have toxic patterns in our relationships that repeat over and over with different partners and that this book aims to help break a person out of that mold. Then she should have gone on to the definitions and set up what an empath-narcissist relationship looks like before teaching about how to escape this toxic pattern.
Instead, we are given a loosely organized and somewhat disjointed grab bag of information about empaths, narcissists, and what relationships between them look like. A little at the end has some about getting out of such relationships. Again I thought some information was a bit too skimpy, but there is definitely much food for thought here, especially if you are trapped in a cycle of this kind of destructive relationship and haven’t been able to see the patterns. This book could help you understand them more clearly. All in all, I think this was a good effort that needed more focus.
Work from Home by Michael Cobble
Available at Amazon only
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Work from Home*
Too Short and Generic
This book is so short that it could almost be considered a pamphlet. The author touches on some very basic ideas about how to make money from home. Honestly, so little is said in the book, that you can just about read the table of contents and take away about as much as if you had read the book itself. The subtitle seems to imply that he will mention specific companies that you can work for from home, but the only ones that I saw were the common freelancer sites (like Fiverr and Upwork) and an affiliate marketing hub. He very briefly goes over ideas like freelancing, selling online, blogging, and affiliate marketing among a few others. When I say briefly, I mean very, very briefly–he touches on ideas but gives no true guidance or blueprint if you are interested in a particular idea. Scattered throughout the book are a variety of affiliate links like to Aweber and Bluehost. To me, the book almost feels like it is just there to get you to click on his affiliate links. If you’re interested in working from home, I would suggest a different book that will help put you more firmly on the path to what you are hoping to achieve.
Speed Reading by Michael Cobble
Available at Amazon only
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Speed Reading*
Standard Speed Reading Fare with One Twist
I have read a variety of books about speed reading as it is a topic that I find interesting as a reader and a writer. This particular book is a very quick read. I think the subtitle is a little overblown; reading faster doesn’t always necessarily lead to learning faster or achieving more. The author gives you a bird’s-eye view of a variety of common speed reading techniques and exercises. The ones shared are the ones typically found in books about speed reading. Interestingly, the author did share one idea I don’t typically see in speed reading books. He has a chapter on expanding your vocabulary as a means of improving your reading speed. The connection, of course, is not as direct as specifically working with the written page in a variety of ways, as you do with the techniques and exercises. But as I am a word person, I like the idea of anyone expanding their vocabulary, and if it serves the purpose of helping reading speed, that’s fine. Other than that, no new ground is really covered here, and some descriptions of what to do are too sparse for someone who is new to speed reading techniques and exercises. There were also issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage scattered throughout the book. I found it interesting, too, that this book seems to be a lead magnet to get you to buy a speed reading course, to which there is a link at the back of the book. If you are interested in speed reading but haven’t done much with it, I would recommend a more detailed book than this one.
A Year of Creativity by Petra Koeksema et al.
A Year of Productivity*
Craft Date Ideas
The subtitle of this book states that it is a “craft date planner.” I believe the authors misspoke. When I think of a planner, I think of something that I can write in as I strategize something, whether it’s my day or a project. This is really more of a book that introduces the concept of a craft date if you aren’t familiar with it and gives some ideas for projects for the group.
The idea of a craft date is to get together with like-minded friends and craft together. Sometimes, the group might work on a single project together, like a gift for a mutual friend. Other times, the group might work individually, each participant making the same project but fashioned for her own likes and dislikes. Another possibility would be to work on a variety of small projects during the craft date time. As you can see, it really depends on what the group wants to do in general and on a particular day.
The bulk of the book is pictures of and directions for a variety of projects that a craft date group could do. In the table of contents, these are color coded to show whether they are short, longer, or cooperative projects. In flipping through the book, none of them looked particularly difficult, which I imagine would be a criterion for a craft date project. The crafts in this book include crochet, knitting, sewing, and even a little straight-up crafting, like making a wooden coat rack or a tool station. Each project has packaging instructions—some very creative—if you are planning to give the item as a gift.
When looking at the projects themselves, some were wholly contained within the main portion of the book, while others had directions (partial or complete) in the back of the book. I know this is a long-standing tradition in craft books, but I’m not a particular fan of it, and I don’t think it was well done in this book. It made for a very picture-heavy central portion and a very text-heavy end section. There was one project where all it showed were pictures in the main part—four pages worth—and had the directions only in the back. I would have loved to have seen all the directions integrated into the main part with the photographs scattered throughout the project’s section. It just breaks up the tedium of the pages and helps you to see what a project should look like, from a variety of angles, when the directions and the picture are on the same page.
I am a knitter and crocheter, but I do not sew nor do I do the other types of crafts that are in this book. In looking at the directions for the knitting and crochet projects, I found them to be straightforward and easy to read. I also like the diagrams for crochet. I thought that the way the patterns were written was a little odd. Having crafted since I was a teenager, I am very familiar with pattern shorthand (i.e., dc for double crochet or K5 to mean “knit 5 stitches”). This book didn’t use that, and it actually felt strange to see all those words written out. Perhaps if the authors had used the standard shorthand, they could have included the full directions in the main part of the book like I mentioned before.
The book definitely has some projects that look like they are worth doing, either alone or in a group. As someone who has crafted off and on throughout her life, this is just the sort of book to fire up my imagination and make me want to break out my favorite crafting tools and have a go. They would be more fun to do with others, that’s for sure, especially if the group is made up of truly like-minded individuals.
The Visual Guide to Easy Meal Prep by Erin Romeo
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
The Visual Guide to Easy Meal Prep*
Useful Tips and Healthful-Sounding Recipes, But…
Do you have a hard time getting dinner or other meals on the table every day? In this book, the author introduces her take on the concept of advance meal preparation and gives her five steps for meal prep success. The introductory sections of the book do provide a firm foundation in what you need to consider if you decide to attempt this advance meal prep. I have occasionally done multi-meal food prep, so I know that organization and planning is a key to success (along with sturdy shoes). The author goes into a little about how to grocery shop for healthful ingredients and even do some pre-preparation before your cooking day.
The author espouses what she calls healthy cooking, and for the most part, I would say that it is. Although, when I looked over her “approved food list” (and something about that rankles my independent, don’t-tell-me-what-to-eat mentality), I was somewhat dismayed to find that potatoes were not on it. I am not one who believes that potatoes are inherently evil, unlike some, and I believe they have a place in a well-rounded, healthy diet so long as you are not following a low-carb or anti-inflammatory diet plan.
Speaking of plans, the author does give four meal prep plans that you can follow depending upon your dietary preferences or needs: low carb, vegetarian, gluten free, and dairy free. For each plan, she gives a couple of breakfasts, mains, and snacks. Each plan has enough for four days of food, with the three main meals and one or two snacks covered. While the author does discuss how to strategize your cooking day in general in the introduction, she goes into greater detail in each of the plans. She tells you precisely which recipes, or parts of recipes, to do and in which order so that you make the most efficient use of your time and resources (like oven or stovetop time). I think both these detailed plans and the more general plan are a fantastic way to get you thinking about how to structure your own meal prep sessions with your family favorite recipes.
The recipe portion is divided into just a few basic sections like breakfast, mains, snacks and sides, and dressings, dips, and sauces. Unfortunately, the author does not give any sort of nutritional information for any of the recipes. I think this is odd for a cookbook that is meant to be healthy. Everybody has a different approach to what they think healthy eating is. Some watch their carbs while others watch fat, amongst other things. It would have been nice to have the macronutrient breakdown as well as the calorie count. Even though she gives meal prep plans for four very specific diets, she doesn’t label the recipes as being friendly to them. Sometimes, of course, this is easy to figure out (no chicken for a vegetarian, no cheese for someone who’s dairy free), but other times, it is more tricky and perhaps even impossible if you are, say, really eating low-carb since she doesn’t give any nutritional counts.
For each recipe that needs to be reheated on eating day, the author gives brief but useful instructions. I will admit I have a hard time imagining some of these recipes being good warmed up, like an omelet. Eggs always seem to be the best right after they’ve been cooked. So I wonder how the egg dishes would actually be on day three or four.
One thing that I found kind of funny is that there is no specific dessert section, but dessert recipes are definitely included in the snacks and sides section. I’m wondering if the author thought that she couldn’t have an official dessert chapter in a healthy cookbook or if she didn’t have enough healthy desserts to warrant an entire chapter. Surely, she is not saying that one should snack on dessert foods? For some reason, in what is meant to be a healthy cookbook, I find that kind of funny.
I feel like this book could have been organized better, though I’m not quite sure what should have been done. I’m wondering if perhaps the plans should have been at the back, as I often see in cookbooks, and the recipes clearly marked with what diet(s) they would work with. Perhaps, too, she could have had hyperlinked master lists of recipes for each diet. I just feel like this book needs some better organization since it seems to be appealing to at least four different and distinct crowds as well as the general cook. Maybe the book would have been better split into four separate books based around the different diets, with only the recipes that would be suitable for it. Maybe she could have had a fifth cookbook that was more about the generalities of meal planning with multiple plans to really help the cook-reader get a sense of how to strategize and execute multi-meal cooking, based not just around diets but seasons and holidays as well.
All in all, I think this cookbook shares some good tips and techniques if you want to try prepping and cooking ahead. Some recipes are complicated, which could be hard to do on a big cooking day, but some look relatively straightforward. The organization is a little confusing, and there are issues with the recipe information, as I stated. I would call this cookbook a mixed bag, so to speak, with some good information and recipes but definitely lacking in a few areas.
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