List Lit: Short Reviews
By Julie Sara Porter Bookworm Reviews
Green Your Routine A Transition from Mindless Consumerism to Mindful Consumption by Omar Abad
While governments and corporations need to become aware of creating policies that will help improve our environment, as individuals we also have to make a commitment to help decrease our carbon footprints. Green Your Routine: A Transition From Mindless Consumerism to Mindful Consumption by Omar Abad offers some helpful suggestions on how we can make a commitment to improve our connection to the Earth.
Abad explains the suggestions in easy to follow examples. He also provides charts, infographics, and statistics on how these ideas add to the overall picture of helping conserve the Earth's resources. For example, instead of using disposable water bottles, bringing one and using it regularly saves up to 350 bottles made per year adding up to 16,000 in 45 years.
There are also personal stories and anecdotes of people who tried these suggestions and the benefits of how their lives were improved. For example, a chapter that suggests taking public transportation, carpooling, or walking and biking to work includes a story from someone who used the alternative ways of going to work. This person lived in urban areas so they walked or cycled to work. When they moved to Manhattan but worked in Brooklyn often taking a 45 minute subway ride. They decided to move to Nikita to lessen their commute by 20 minutes. Now,they live in Toronto and make sure that their home and workplace are close enough for public transportation or walking. Even their spouse is compromising their down distance as long as their partner compromises on home decor.
Green Your Routine is a short book but it leaves a lot of good advice on what we as individuals can do to make the world a cleaner and better place.
Success and Happiness A Complete Thoughtful Approach by Achal Kumar
Achal Kumar's Success and Happiness: A Complete Thoughtful Approach is a short but informative book on how to change one's outlook to achieve their dreams.
Some of the advice is practical such as practicing better communication skills to improve interpersonal relationships at work and at home. There are also suggestions about the ways that one can take professional, personal, and moral responsibility in their lives.
Kumar provides some activities on how we behave in our lives and what areas need improvement. For example, he offers a chart for people to estimate what their relationship is like with their spouse and how they spoke or acted around each other. These activities provide a more interactive experience for the Reader's learning experience.
There are also exercises for one's professional life such as problem solving and teamwork. These exercises are designed to build communications within the workplace.
There are sections that account for everything from home safety to personal finance, networking, database management, maybe to remove any stressors in life that could hinder chances for success. For a small book, Success and Happiness asks Readers to look at many areas of their lives and seek ways to improve them.
The Injun' and The Owlhoot by Brandon Tolin
The Injun' and The Owlhoot by Brandon Tolin is a rip roarin' yarn of a Western with a very creepy supernatural edge.
Bipin, a young man from an Apache family is sickened by the fights between the Caucasian and Native Americans, particularly by the brutality of his own family. He decides to leave despite objections from his father and sister. He eventually finds his way to Georgia and accepts a commission as a bounty hunter. He accepts an assignment to look for the members of the O'Brien gang. Unfortunately, outlaw gangs and gun toting desperados aren't the only danger out there. There is something supernatural and terrifying that is taking out victims one by one.
Most of the book is a typical Western with the law and bounty hunters chasing desperados and plenty of shootouts. Western lovers should enjoy the action spread throughout the book as Bipin, The O'Brien gang, and Bipin's boss, Sheriff Wales play cat and mouse searching for each other.
One of the nice things is that the lead character is Native American so we get some perspective on how Native Americans were treated in this time period. In an early chapter he gets tired of someone assuming that he hunted buffalo in the Plains. He gets irritated and thinks that not all Natives are from the Plains and that he's never even seen a buffalo. In fact it's clear that the first half of the title is ironic since that is how Bipin is usually viewed by the white people around him. It opens up the truth that many of the people that lived out in the West were often Black, Latino, or Native American. This is a history they should be remembered and recognized.
What stands out in this book are the supernatural elements that are present. They slowly emerge at night and out of the water, ready to attack anyone near them. At first, it's unclear what they are, whether they are some kind of animal or human predator but when members of the O'Brien gang get swallowed up by the river leaving blood, things become more terrifying. There is a creepy atmosphere as Tolin delays the appearance of these creatures for a long time, so we fear the unknown assailant almost as much as the characters do. When they do appear, they make quite an impression because of the subtle buildup beforehand.
The Injun'and The Owlhoot is a very exciting western with a great supernatural horror edge.
Hacking Your Destiny by Karl Lillrud
Karl Lillrud's Hacking Your Destiny is a brilliant self-help book about reaching one's personal and professional goals.
The book is designed to be a guide in which Lillrud uses examples from his own life to help the Reader come to terms with struggles and conflicts in their lives.
For example in a section in which refers to limitations, he honestly describes his own struggles with dyslexia and how that contributed to others perception of him and his own struggles with self worth. He cited his father's perseverance to help him recognize his own talents and how to apply them.
The book is arranged in a Q and A format with plenty of exercises called "Glues" for easy reading and following. For example, a section on money begins with the question of "Why do I not treat money as sacred as other people?" Lillrud offered a way of looking at money as "happiness coupons." Despite the overtly cutesy title, it suggests altering one's outlook towards money and how it could deliver personal satisfaction. He then offers an exercise for the Reader to itemize how much money they need to take care of their personal needs and be comfortable.
There are other chapters focusing on moving out of one's comfort zone, setting goals, and communications. A personal favorite activity is "doing what you love" suggesting that the Reader itemize a list of the things that they enjoy doing and finding ways that they could be financially, professionally, and personally beneficial. Many subsequent exercises offer ways of fine tuning that list by identifying values, offering ways to present and market oneself as an "expert" in that field, and turning that interest from a side hustle into a full-time career.
Hacking Your Destiny is an interesting book that offers suggestions on how to change one's life for the better.
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