Self-Help Book Reviews

Jason Maxham, one of life’s polymaths, has put together a system to troubleshoot and fix just about any breakdown. Interviewing engineers, mechanics, mathematicians and IT experts, Maxham firstly philosophizes on the way things are put together and operate, and our expectations as an operator and how they relate, to form strategies on the best approach to identifying and solving an issue. Citing the most well-known troubleshooting question, “Is it plugged in?” he unravels his own industry experience with start-ups and baptisms of fire to distill knowledge into this engrossing study.

This is an unusual book in a way, because normally […]

Adventure Inward is a collection of inspirational quotes by mountain climber Jonathan Wunrow. I should preface this review by saying I’m not an avid rock or mountain climber or extreme sports enthusiast of any kind. Actually, more than that: I’ve never been climbing once. That might actually put me in a good place to review this book, as it’s a test if it can appeal to someone outside the niche. While this is a niche book, it’s not so niche as to not be interesting to, well, virtually anyone. The reason is that everyone has challenges. So really, you can […]

At least since the first Taoist masters cavorted in China’s misty mountains, people have been trying to find ways to live more authentic and joyful lives. They have been trying with varying degrees of success to work out just what it takes to be free.

In this short, punchy essay, Tia Reiss, a certified yoga teacher, meditation teacher, and Reiki Master, who describes herself as a mystic and a scientist, argues that we are all naturally equipped with the ability to live authentic lives, but are constrained by social rules, expectations, and judgments. She calls these constraints The Game. The […]

This book is the ponderings on life by pharmacist John D Mosley, a thinker who has written several of these monologue style works on his opinions about life, with handy points to remember at the end of each section.

Written in the Kahlil Gibran style, the book is separated into several themes, including how to make your life better by best action, simplifying goals for focus and how to be aware of those around you and how to cope with diversity in the modern world around us, including what we eat, how we treat each other and how we deal […]

Marcus Engel was only 18 years old when, as a well-liked sports student on a night out, the car he was in collided broadside with a drunk driver, flinging him from the vehicle and causing eye injuries so severe he lost his sight completely. This book is his autobiographical work describing the journey to accept blindness at the peak of his youth, and the tremendous lessons Marcus learns as he struggles with the inevitable truth: he will now live without sight for the rest of his life.

From the outset, it is clear Marcus is a talented storyteller. He is […]

This book begins with blurbs from some very heavy hitters, and some of my favorite writers, on the subject of new media – writers like Douglas Rushkoff and Erik Davis.  Erik Davis, in particular, writes on the more-esoteric take on the rise of technology, in books like Techgnosis.  It could help to have some familiarity with esoteric spirituality before approaching this book.  It would also help to keep a very open mind. The basic premise is that by having our heads lodged in the materialist world of the web and the tech we use to navigate the web, we […]