en-US Fri, 07 Feb 2025 14:39:28 -0800 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 53642699 250 Brianna Wiest Vince 0 to-read 4.08 2020
author: Brianna Wiest
name: Vince
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/07
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]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile�� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 528 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Vince 5 4.56 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Vince
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
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]]> 42369980
Hello! I’m Brian Limond, aka Limmy. You might know me from Limmy’s Show. Or you might not know me at all. Don’t worry if you don’t.

They asked me to write a book about mental health, because I sometimes talk about my mental health in tweets and interviews, like suicidal thoughts and anxiety, and what I’ve done to try and deal with it.

I said to them, oh, I don’t know if I could fill a whole book with just that. But how’s about I write a general autobiography type of thing, and all the mental health stuff will naturally appear along the way? I could talk about growing up and slashing my wrist and taking acid all the time and getting done for car theft and feeling like a mad freak that would never amount to anything.

And then how I made my own sketch show. I directed it and everything. Plus I’m a dad. I’m an adult. But I still feel like that mad freak from years ago. I still feel like chucking it all away, for a laugh.

I asked them if they wanted me to write about all that, plus some other stuff. Like being an alky. And my sexual problems. Stuff like that.

They said aye.

So here it is.]]> 353 Limmy 0008294682 Vince 5
Also includes a section that made me cry with laughter (first time a book has ever done so).]]> 4.34
author: Limmy
name: Vince
average rating: 4.34
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
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The most honest and down to earth autobiography I have ever read.

Also includes a section that made me cry with laughter (first time a book has ever done so).
]]> 59685038 193 Gary John Bishop Vince 5
A truly life changing book and one that has given me an insight into love I never had before.]]> 3.75 2022
author: Gary John Bishop
name: Vince
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:
I wish I’d have read this as soon as it came out.

A truly life changing book and one that has given me an insight into love I never had before.
]]> 60726415
In this book, you'll discover the root cause of all psychological and emotional suffering and how to achieve freedom of mind to effortlessly create the life you've always wanted to live.

Although pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

This book offers a completely new paradigm and understanding of where our human experience comes from, allowing us to end our own suffering and create how we want to feel at any moment.

No matter what has happened to you, where you are from, or what you have done, you can still find total peace, unconditional love, complete fulfillment, and an abundance of joy in your life.

No person is an exception to this. Darkness only exists because of the light, which means even in our darkest hour, light must exist.

Within the pages of this book, contains timeless wisdom to empower you with the understanding of our mind’s infinite potential to create any experience of life that we want no matter the external circumstances.

Don’t Believe Everything You Think is not about rewiring your brain, rewriting your past, positive thinking or anything of the sort.

We cannot solve our problems with the same level of consciousness that created them. Tactics are temporary. An expansion of consciousness is permanent.

This book was written to help you go beyond your thinking and discover the truth of what you already intuitively know deep inside your soul.]]> 99 Joseph Nguyen Vince 5
Nguyen offers us nothing new in the fields of contemporary self-help, Stoicism and CBT he draws from, yet manages to repackage these key lessons in a straightforward and bombastic way.

As he promises at the start, I am not the same person I was when I started this book and the PAUSE method will make a big difference in my life.

Highly recommended.]]> 3.79 2022
author: Joseph Nguyen
name: Vince
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves:
review:
A superbly delivered simple message to escape your toxic thoughts.

Nguyen offers us nothing new in the fields of contemporary self-help, Stoicism and CBT he draws from, yet manages to repackage these key lessons in a straightforward and bombastic way.

As he promises at the start, I am not the same person I was when I started this book and the PAUSE method will make a big difference in my life.

Highly recommended.
]]> 41733839 here and here.

James L.W. West III to include the author’s final revisions and features a note on the composition and text, a personal foreword by Fitzgerald’s granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan—and a new introduction by two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,�� it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald Vince 0 currently-reading 3.95 1925
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Vince
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1925
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 199344873
She’s unprepared, though, for what comes next: a surprise announcement from her straight-arrow son, an impending separation from her spikey teenaged daughter, and a seductive resurgence of the past, all of which threaten to draw her back into the patterns that had previously kept her on a razor’s edge.

Same As It Ever Was traverses the rocky terrain of real life, —exploring new avenues of maternal ambivalence, intergenerational friendship, and the happenstantial cause-and-effect that governs us all. Delving even deeper into the nature of relationships—how they grow, change, and sometimes end—Lombardo proves herself a true and definitive cartographer of the human heart and asserts herself among the finest novelists of her generation.]]> 498 Claire Lombardo 0385549555 Vince 0 to-read 3.82 2024
author: Claire Lombardo
name: Vince
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> 62929342 Real Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn't be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love.

In 2021, fifteen-year-old Nick Chen has never felt like he belonged on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can't shake the sense she's hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than answers.

In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance—a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home.

Exuberant and explosive, Real Americans is a social novel par excellence that asks: Are we destined, or made, and if so, who gets to do the making? Can our genetic past be overcome?

From the award-winning author of Goodbye, Vitamin: How far would you go to shape your own destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family, and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures? ]]> 399 Rachel Khong 0593537254 Vince 0 to-read 3.94 2024
author: Rachel Khong
name: Vince
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach Vince 0 to-read 4.11 2024
author: Alison Espach
name: Vince
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/05
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]]> 201465867
Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he’ll do anything to avoid his empty house.

Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she’s battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it’s passing her by.

When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of ten-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Michael and Marnie are on the precipice of a bright future . . . if they can survive the journey.]]> 368 David Nicholls 0063394057 Vince 5
The tale of Michael and Marnie is one that is sure to resonate well with all of us who have loved, lost, then loved again. ]]> 3.97 2024
author: David Nicholls
name: Vince
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves:
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This is another bittersweet and raw depiction of love by Nichols, who continues to write of love in a manner no other modern British author can match.

The tale of Michael and Marnie is one that is sure to resonate well with all of us who have loved, lost, then loved again.
]]> 61958363
Did you know that eating chocolate can help your heart, that singing can give you a natural "high" and that having more houseplants can boost your productivity and brain power?

Dr Michael Mosley unearths a range of Just One Things, whose impacts are so surprising and intriguing you will be desperate to try them out. He chats to experts, road tests all his tips and even enlists the help of some special guests to help you find that one small thing that could really make a difference to how you feel every day.]]> 206 Michael Mosley Vince 5
Most self-help books have A LOT of filler. From personal anecdotes about the author, to their upsells for further products or unnecessary scene setting, there’s a often a great deal of fluff and a little bit of wisdom.

This book turns that old maxim on its head and is all the better for it.

Short, sharp and practical chapters each setting out a new routine or activity that might just help make things better. There’s a lot to love there.]]> 4.02 2022
author: Michael Mosley
name: Vince
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/02
date added: 2024/01/02
shelves:
review:
Solid advice for a better life (without the waffle).

Most self-help books have A LOT of filler. From personal anecdotes about the author, to their upsells for further products or unnecessary scene setting, there’s a often a great deal of fluff and a little bit of wisdom.

This book turns that old maxim on its head and is all the better for it.

Short, sharp and practical chapters each setting out a new routine or activity that might just help make things better. There’s a lot to love there.
]]> 43621841 "How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?"
�� Epictetus, Stoic philosopher

Where can you find joy? Gain strength? How should we face our fears? Deal with the death of a loved one? And what about those reoccurring depressing thoughts?

While traditional schooling doesn't address such questions, it's exactly what ancient schools of philosophy were all They taught you how to live. Even though these schools don't exist anymore, you and I and most people are in as much need of a philosophy that guides us through life as we ever were.

This compelling, highly actionable guide shows you how to deal more effectively with whatever life throws at you and live up to your best self.

A mix of timeless wisdom and empowering advice, The Little Book of Stoicism will point the way to anyone seeking a calm and wise life in a chaotic world.]]> 287 Jonas Salzgeber 3952506915 Vince 5
A superb piece of work and excellent insight into the workings of stoicism plus, more importantly, have to live by them in person.]]> 4.17 2019
author: Jonas Salzgeber
name: Vince
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/26
date added: 2023/05/26
shelves:
review:
I’ve read a lot of books about Stoicism and this one crams more into its pages than any other.

A superb piece of work and excellent insight into the workings of stoicism plus, more importantly, have to live by them in person.
]]> 170448 Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.

A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned –a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.
When Animal Farm was first published, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today it is devastatingly clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked, under whatever banner, the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell’s masterpiece have a meaning and message still ferociously fresh.]]> 141 George Orwell 0451526341 Vince 5
The facts are there for all to see that socialism has never worked and will never work, and Orwell’s seminal satire sets out why.

This is a book for the ages and one that still resonates many years later.]]> 4.07 1945
author: George Orwell
name: Vince
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1945
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/25
date added: 2023/05/25
shelves:
review:
A timeless and powerful rebuke of socialism.

The facts are there for all to see that socialism has never worked and will never work, and Orwell’s seminal satire sets out why.

This is a book for the ages and one that still resonates many years later.
]]> 1837402 277 Felix Dennis 009192166X Vince 3
This book is a product of its time and its author- published in 2006 and written by a man who, by his own admission, is somewhat unhappy and unhealthy.

There is plenty of good advice, yet I was left with the feeling I’d much rather not be rich of it sees me ending up like poor old Felix.]]> 4.15 2006
author: Felix Dennis
name: Vince
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/18
date added: 2023/05/18
shelves:
review:
Refreshingly honest, but outdated and grim.

This book is a product of its time and its author- published in 2006 and written by a man who, by his own admission, is somewhat unhappy and unhealthy.

There is plenty of good advice, yet I was left with the feeling I’d much rather not be rich of it sees me ending up like poor old Felix.
]]> 41881472 242 Morgan Housel 0857197681 Vince 4 4.27 2020
author: Morgan Housel
name: Vince
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/23
date added: 2023/04/23
shelves:
review:
An interesting look into the reasons why we handle money the way we do, and what we can do better.
]]> 205541 2. Develop Fruity Thinking - change your thinking and change your results.
3. Hippo Time is OK - understand how setbacks affect you and how to recover from them.
4. Remember the Beachball - increase your understanding and awareness of other people's world.
5. Learn Latin - change comes through action not intention. Overcome the tendency to put things off.
6. Ditch Doris Day - create your own future rather than leave it to chance. Forget the attitude 'que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be.' "A superb book. It combines honesty, humour and inspiration to help people move ahead in life."
—Allan and Barbara Pease, authors of Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps "Powerful, simple and effective. A highly engaging and thought provoking book. Anyone who reads it is sure to look at themselves and the world differently as a result."
—Octavius Black and Sebastian Bailey, The Mind Gym The S.U.M.O. guy is Paul McGee, an international speaker and author. He has been developing the S.U.M.O. principles over the last five years.]]> 212 Paul McGee 1841127116 Vince 2
The author speaks to the reader like they’re a child or, at least, a simpleton.

There are some nuggets of information but nothing that hasn’t been done far better elsewhere.

One to avoid.]]> 3.81 2015
author: Paul McGee
name: Vince
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2023/04/13
date added: 2023/04/13
shelves:
review:
Outdated and overly simple.

The author speaks to the reader like they’re a child or, at least, a simpleton.

There are some nuggets of information but nothing that hasn’t been done far better elsewhere.

One to avoid.
]]> 39078159
In How To Be Right, James provides a hilarious and invigorating guide to talking to people with faulty opinions. With chapters on every lightning-rod issue, James shows how people have been fooled into thinking the way they do, and in each case outlines the key questions to ask to reveal fallacies, inconsistencies and double standards.

If you ever get cornered by ardent Brexiteers, Daily Mail disciples or little England patriots, this book is your conversation survival guide.

‘I have had a ringside seat as a significant swathe of the British population was persuaded that their failures were the fault of foreigners, that unisex lavatories threatened their peace of mind and that ‘all Muslims�� must somehow apologise for terror attacks by extremists. I have tried to dissuade them and sometimes succeeded�� The challenge is to distinguish sharply between the people who told lies and the people whose only offence was to believe them.��
James O’Brien]]> 100 James O'Brien 0753553112 Vince 3
This isn’t a book about how to be right, but rather one on how to be left- and JOB’s kind of left to be precise.

That being said, it is insightful and persuasive and well worth a read.

Just don’t go thinking this book is anything other than JOB’s takes on a handful of topical matters from 2018.]]> 4.06 2018
author: James O'Brien
name: Vince
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/28
date added: 2023/03/28
shelves:
review:
An interesting book that doesn’t quite know its place.

This isn’t a book about how to be right, but rather one on how to be left- and JOB’s kind of left to be precise.

That being said, it is insightful and persuasive and well worth a read.

Just don’t go thinking this book is anything other than JOB’s takes on a handful of topical matters from 2018.
]]> 59616977
Now, this eye-opening and accessible guide shows how you can easily create your own personal system for knowledge management, otherwise known as a Second Brain. As a trusted and organized digital repository of your most valued ideas, notes, and creative work synced across all your devices and platforms, a Second Brain gives you the confidence to tackle your most important projects and ambitious goals.

Discover the full potential of your ideas and translate what you know into more powerful, more meaningful improvements in your work and life by Building a Second Brain.]]> 272 Tiago Forte 1982167386 Vince 0 to-read 3.98 2022
author: Tiago Forte
name: Vince
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> 615570 The Artist’s Way is the seminal book on the subject of creativity. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist’s life. Still as vital today—or perhaps even more so—than it was when it was first published one decade ago, it is a powerfully provocative and inspiring work. In a new introduction to the book, Julia Cameron reflects upon the impact of The Artist’s Way and describes the work she has done during the last decade and the new insights into the creative process that she has gained. Updated and expanded, this anniversary edition reframes The Artist’s Way for a new century.]]> 237 Julia Cameron 1585421464 Vince 0 to-read 3.93 2002
author: Julia Cameron
name: Vince
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/03/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> 9762
In the midst of a normal life, Katie became increasingly depressed, and over a ten-year period sank further into rage, despair, and thoughts of suicide. Then one morning, she woke up in a state of absolute joy, filled with the realization of how her own suffering had ended. The freedom of that realization has never left her, and now in Loving What Is you can discover the same freedom through The Work.

The Work is simply four questions that, when applied to a specific problem, enable you to see what is troubling you in an entirely different light. As Katie says, “It’s not the problem that causes our suffering; it’s our thinking about the problem.�� Contrary to popular belief, trying to let go of a painful thought never works; instead, once we have done The Work, the thought lets go of us. At that point, we can truly love what is, just as it is.

Loving What Is will show you step-by-step, through clear and vivid examples, exactly how to use this revolutionary process for yourself. You’ll see people do The Work with Katie on a broad range of human problems, from a wife ready to leave her husband because he wants more sex, to a Manhattan worker paralyzed by fear of terrorism, to a woman suffering over a death in her family. Many people have discovered The Work’s power to solve problems; in addition, they say that through The Work they experience a sense of lasting peace and find the clarity and energy to act, even in situations that had previously seemed impossible.

If you continue to do The Work, you may discover, as many people have, that the questioning flows into every aspect of your life, effortlessly undoing the stressful thoughts that keep you from experiencing peace. Loving What Is offers everything you need to learn and live this remarkable process, and to find happiness as what Katie calls “a lover of reality.”]]> 321 Byron Katie 1400045371 Vince 0 to-read 4.07 2002
author: Byron Katie
name: Vince
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 63836692 Learn how to never feel tired again with the life-saving toolkit to regaining your energy and finding happiness - the book everyone NEEDS in 2023

'It's a cracking book, a cracking, cracking book' CHRIS EVANS, Virgin Radio
'This practical five-step guide to tackling tiredness combines coaching-based methodologies, useful reflections, tips and lifestyle changes' Your Healthy Living
'Simple tips to boost your energy levels' THE TIMES
___________

It isn't normal to feel tired all the time.

In fact, tiredness is one of your body's key ways of telling you that something isn't right, but many of us trudge through life feeling some level of fatigue or lethargy every single day.

Registered nutritionist and executive coach Karina Antram will help you to identify and understand these symptoms and their causes, as well as providing the tools to reclaim the energy that is so fundamental to health, happiness and mental wellbeing.

Fix Your Fatigue will lead you through these five simple and achievable steps . . .

1. Fuel your body
2. Support your gut
3. Supercharge your sleep and exercise
4. Energise with supplements
5. Harness the power of your brain

. . . to reinvigorate and stabilise your energy levels.]]> 243 Karina Antram 140595471X Vince 5
This is an approachable book that gives straight-forward advice which anyone can follow.

I appreciated how it jumps straight into offering practical and applicable advice, that avoids too much jargon or focus on the author’s own back story (which many similar books are bloated with).

Instead of filler, you get actionable knowledge you can apply straight away that makes a real difference; all written in a friendly way by the author.

A superb read all round.]]> 3.80
author: Karina Antram
name: Vince
average rating: 3.80
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/26
date added: 2023/03/26
shelves:
review:
An excellent guide to healing from burnout.

This is an approachable book that gives straight-forward advice which anyone can follow.

I appreciated how it jumps straight into offering practical and applicable advice, that avoids too much jargon or focus on the author’s own back story (which many similar books are bloated with).

Instead of filler, you get actionable knowledge you can apply straight away that makes a real difference; all written in a friendly way by the author.

A superb read all round.
]]> 29626618 THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERThe Trophies �� The Tuesday Club �� The Prawn Crackers �� Marc Overmars may have given him the nickname, but the Romford Pele is a legend in his own right. Over 16 action-packed years, from a trainee scrubbing the boots of the first XI, to a record-breaking 333 Premier League appearances, Ray Parlour’s never-say-die performances, curly locks and mischievous sense of humour have gone down in Arsenal history.Battling tirelessly on the pitch, often in the shadows of his star-name teammates, Parlour won three premier league titles and four FA Cup trophies with the Gunners. But he was also the heart and soul of the dressing room, the training ground and the after work drink. From nights out with Tony Adams, to teaching Thierry Henry cockney rhyming slang, from playing golf with Dennis Bergkamp to trading Inspector Clouseau jokes with Arsène Wenger, this wonderfully funny and candid autobiography looks back on a golden age of the beautiful game, reliving the banter, the stories and the success.Ray Parlour is an Arsenal legend. During his 16-year career he won 3 Premier League titles, 4 FA Cups and the UEFA Cup. One of the most underrated players of his generation, he was also part of Arsenal’s famous Invincible team of 2003/4, which went the entire Premier League season unbeaten. He is now a regular pundit for TalkSport and Sky Sports. He enjoys a short back and sides.]]> 251 Ray Parlour Vince 4
You’ll have heard the best anecdotes before on TalkSport but that doesn’t take too much away from this book.]]> 4.02 2016
author: Ray Parlour
name: Vince
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/15
date added: 2023/03/15
shelves:
review:
A nice insight into the life of a footballing character.

You’ll have heard the best anecdotes before on TalkSport but that doesn’t take too much away from this book.
]]> 57914933
'If you read only one book by Josh Widdicombe this year, make it this one' Jack Dee

'Beautifully written, cleverly crafted and charmingly funny' Adam Hills

'This is a book about growing up in the '90s told through the thing that mattered most to me, the television programmes I watched. For my generation television was the one thing that united everyone. There were kids at my school who liked bands, kids who liked football and one weird kid who liked the French sport of petanque , however, we all loved Gladiators , Neighbours and Pebble Mill with Alan Titchmarsh (possibly not the third of these).'

In his first memoir, Josh Widdicombe tells the story of a strange rural childhood, the kind of childhood he only realised was weird when he left home and started telling people about it. From only having four people in his year at school, to living in a family home where they didn't just not bother to lock the front door, they didn't even have a key.

Using a different television show of the time as its starting point for each chapter Watching Neighbours Twice a Day... is part-childhood memoir, part-comic history of '90s television and culture. It will discuss everything from the BBC convincing him that Michael Parkinson had been possessed by a ghost, to Josh's belief that Mr Blobby is one of the great comic characters, to what it's like being the only vegetarian child west of Bristol.

It tells the story of the end of an era, the last time when watching television was a shared experience for the family and the nation, before the internet meant everyone watched different things at different times on different devices, headphones on to make absolutely sure no one else could watch it with them.]]> 304 Josh Widdicombe Vince 5
I loved this book and it genuinely made me ‘LOL�� on many occasions.

A must read for 90s kids and a welcome trip down memory lane.]]> 3.85
author: Josh Widdicombe
name: Vince
average rating: 3.85
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/15
date added: 2023/03/15
shelves:
review:
A laugh out loud dose of nostalgia for all 90s kids.

I loved this book and it genuinely made me ‘LOL�� on many occasions.

A must read for 90s kids and a welcome trip down memory lane.
]]> 1052
The Success Secrets of the Ancients��
An Assured Road to Happiness and Prosperity

Countless readers have been helped by the famous “Babylonian parables,�� hailed as the greatest of all inspirational works on the subject of thrift, financial planning, and personal wealth. In language as simple as that found in the Bible, these fascinating and informative stories set you on a sure path to prosperity and its accompanying joys. Acclaimed as a modern-day classic, this celebrated bestseller offers an understanding of—and a solution to—your personal financial problems that will guide you through a lifetime. This is the book that holds the secrets to keeping your money—and making more.

The Richest Man in Babylon
Read it and recommend it to loved ones��
and get on the road to riches.

MORE THAN TWO MILLION BOOKS SOLD]]> 194 George S. Clason 0451205367 Vince 4
Firstly, this book is good and offers solid timeless advice that, if followed, will give a sound financial footing.

Indeed I could have done with this advice as a younger man given how feckless and wasteful my parents were.

But there are many more recent books I’d recommend over this (Dave Ramsey’s for one) that offer the same advice but with a more modern take.]]> 4.25 1926
author: George S. Clason
name: Vince
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1926
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/09
date added: 2023/03/09
shelves:
review:
Timeless wisdom that’s a little unwieldy and showing its age.

Firstly, this book is good and offers solid timeless advice that, if followed, will give a sound financial footing.

Indeed I could have done with this advice as a younger man given how feckless and wasteful my parents were.

But there are many more recent books I’d recommend over this (Dave Ramsey’s for one) that offer the same advice but with a more modern take.
]]> 60018575 In his New York Times bestselling book Courage is Calling, author Ryan Holiday made the Stoic case for a bold and brave life. In this much-anticipated second book of his Stoic Virtue series, Holiday celebrates the awesome power of self-discipline and those who have seized it.

To master anything, one must first master themselves–one’s emotions, one’s thoughts, one’s actions. Eisenhower famously said that freedom is really the opportunity to practice self-discipline. Cicero called the virtue of temperance the polish of life. Without boundaries and restraint, we risk not only failing to meet our full potential and jeopardizing what we have achieved, but we ensure misery and shame. In a world of temptation and excess, this ancient idea is more urgent than ever.

In Discipline is Destiny, Holiday draws on the stories of historical figures we can emulate as pillars of self-discipline, including Lou Gehrig, Queen Elizabeth II, boxer Floyd Patterson, Marcus Aurelius and writer Toni Morrison, as well as the cautionary tales of Napoleon, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Babe Ruth. Through these engaging examples, Holiday teaches readers the power of self-discipline and balance, and cautions against the perils of extravagance and hedonism.

At the heart of Stoicism are four simple virtues: courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. Everything else, the Stoics believed, flows from them. Discipline is Destiny will guide readers down the path to self-mastery, upon which all the other virtues depend. Discipline is predictive. You cannot succeed without it. And if you lose it, you cannot help but bring yourself failure and unhappiness.]]> 312 Ryan Holiday 0593191692 Vince 5
Holiday is the GOAT of modern Stoicism and everything he delivers in gold.

This is no different.]]> 4.24 2022
author: Ryan Holiday
name: Vince
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/07
date added: 2023/03/07
shelves:
review:
Another stirring call to action from Ryan Holiday.

Holiday is the GOAT of modern Stoicism and everything he delivers in gold.

This is no different.
]]> 35209767 This evidence-based, user-friendly guide presents a 30-day digital detox plan that will help you set boundaries with your phone and live a more joyful and fulfilling life.

“I wrote The Anxious Generation to help adults improve the lives of children. Many readers have asked me for a version of the book aimed at helping adults and teens help themselves. Catherine Price has written the best such book.”—Jonathan Haidt

Do you feel addicted to your phone? Do you frequently pick it up “just to check,�� only to look up forty-five minutes later wondering where the time has gone? Does social media make you anxious? Have you tried to spend less time mindlessly scrolling—and failed? If so, this book is your solution.

Award-winning health and science journalist and TED speaker Catherine Price presents a practical, evidence-based 30-day digital detox plan that will help you break up—and then make up—with your phone. The goal: better mental health, improved screen-life balance, and a long-term relationship with technology that feels good.

This engaging, user-friendly guide explains how our smartphones and apps are designed to be addictive and how the time we spend on them is increasing our anxiety and damaging our abilities to focus, think deeply, form new memories, generate ideas, and be present in our most important relationships. Next, it walks you through an effective and easy-to-follow 30-day plan that has already helped thousands of people worldwide break their phone addictions and feel more fully alive.

Whether you need help for yourself or for your family, friends, students, colleagues, clients, or community, How to Break Up with Your Phone is the ultimate guide to digital detoxing. It’s guaranteed to help you put down your phone—and come back to life.]]> 184 Catherine Price 039958112X Vince 4
I liked the straightforward approach the author takes in offering advice and setting out a clear 30-day plan for change.

She also offers tips on apps and tools, whilst underpinning all of her advice with knowledge established earlier in the book.

A good read.]]> 3.91 2018
author: Catherine Price
name: Vince
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/26
date added: 2023/01/26
shelves:
review:
A practical and straight-forward guide to cutting down your phone use.

I liked the straightforward approach the author takes in offering advice and setting out a clear 30-day plan for change.

She also offers tips on apps and tools, whilst underpinning all of her advice with knowledge established earlier in the book.

A good read.
]]> 42041926 The Scout Mindset, Galef shows that what makes scouts better at getting things right isn't that they're smarter or more knowledgeable than everyone else. It's a handful of emotional skills, habits, and ways of looking at the world--which anyone can learn. With fascinating examples ranging from how to survive being stranded in the middle of the ocean, to how Jeff Bezos avoids overconfidence, to how superforecasters outperform CIA operatives, to Reddit threads and modern partisan politics, Galef explores why our brains deceive us and what we can do to change the way we think.]]> 288 Julia Galef 0735217556 Vince 1
This book could have been a 1500 word blog post given that the conclusion chapter tells you everything you need to know.

The author spends most of the book bizarrely combining long trite diatribes about contemporary identity politics, stories from her personal friends, overused lessons from the hyper-successful (Musk and Bezos) with run downs from Star Trek episodes (yes, really).

Probably one of the worst books I have ever endured.

I should have stopped after the first chapter, more fool me.]]> 4.09 2021
author: Julia Galef
name: Vince
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2023/01/20
date added: 2023/01/20
shelves:
review:
Useless and boring.

This book could have been a 1500 word blog post given that the conclusion chapter tells you everything you need to know.

The author spends most of the book bizarrely combining long trite diatribes about contemporary identity politics, stories from her personal friends, overused lessons from the hyper-successful (Musk and Bezos) with run downs from Star Trek episodes (yes, really).

Probably one of the worst books I have ever endured.

I should have stopped after the first chapter, more fool me.
]]> 78427
Build up your money muscles with America's favorite finance coach.

Okay, folks, do you want to turn those fat and flabby expenses into a well-toned budget? Do you want to transform your sad and skinny little bank account into a bulked-up cash machine? Then get with the program, people. There's one sure way to whip your finances into shape, and that's with "The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition".

By now, you've heard all the nutty get-rich-quick schemes, the fiscal diet fads that leave you with a lot of kooky ideas but not a penny in your pocket. Hey, if you're tired of the lies and sick of the false promises, take a look at this--it's the simplest, most straightforward game plan for completely making over your money habits. And it's based on results, not pie-in-the-sky fantasies.

With "The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition," you'll be able to:
Design a sure-fire plan for paying off all debt--meaning cars, houses, everything
Recognize the 10 most dangerous money myths (these will kill you)
Secure a big, fat nest egg for emergencies and retirement!]]> 229 Dave Ramsey 0785289089 Vince 5
This was exactly the kind of book I needed to get my finances back on track. Ramsey’s common sense and hard working approach has helped me set out a plan for my future.]]> 4.20 1994
author: Dave Ramsey
name: Vince
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1994
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/17
date added: 2023/01/17
shelves:
review:
Common sense financial planning for the frugal.

This was exactly the kind of book I needed to get my finances back on track. Ramsey’s common sense and hard working approach has helped me set out a plan for my future.
]]> 58145670 The instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestseller!

Ryan Holiday's bestselling trilogy--The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego is the Enemy, and Stillness is the Key--captivated professional athletes, CEOs, politicians, and entrepreneurs and helped bring Stoicism to millions of readers. Now, in the first book of an exciting new series on the cardinal virtues of ancient philosophy, Holiday explores the most foundational virtue of all: Courage.

Almost every religion, spiritual practice, philosophy and person grapples with fear. The most repeated phrase in the Bible is "Be not afraid." The ancient Greeks spoke of phobos, panic and terror. It is natural to feel fear, the Stoics believed, but it cannot rule you. Courage, then, is the ability to rise above fear, to do what's right, to do what's needed, to do what is true. And so it rests at the heart of the works of Marcus Aurelius, Aristotle, and CS Lewis, alongside temperance, justice, and wisdom.

In Courage Is Calling, Ryan Holiday breaks down the elements of fear, an expression of cowardice, the elements of courage, an expression of bravery, and lastly, the elements of heroism, an expression of valor. Through engaging stories about historic and contemporary leaders, including Charles De Gaulle, Florence Nightingale, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Holiday shows you how to conquer fear and practice courage in your daily life.

You'll also delve deep into the moral dilemmas and courageous acts of lesser-known, but equally as important, figures from ancient and modern history, such as Helvidius Priscus, a Roman Senator who stood his ground against emperor Vespasian, even in the face of death; Frank Serpico, a former New York City Police Department Detective who exposed police corruption; and Frederick Douglass and a slave named Nelly, whose fierce resistance against her captors inspired his own crusade to end slavery.

In a world in which fear runs rampant--when people would rather stand on the sidelines than speak out against injustice, go along with convention than bet on themselves, and turn a blind eye to the ugly realities of modern life--we need courage more than ever. We need the courage of whistleblowers and risk takers. We need the courage of activists and adventurers. We need the courage of writers who speak the truth--and the courage of leaders to listen.

We need you to step into the arena and fight.]]> 278 Ryan Holiday 0593191676 Vince 5
Nobody does modern stoicism better than Holiday and this is another excellent addition to his work.

The chapter on the Spartan 300 is perhaps his finest singular piece of writing ever.]]> 4.00 2021
author: Ryan Holiday
name: Vince
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/14
date added: 2023/01/14
shelves:
review:
Another superb slice of stoicism from Ryan Holiday.

Nobody does modern stoicism better than Holiday and this is another excellent addition to his work.

The chapter on the Spartan 300 is perhaps his finest singular piece of writing ever.
]]> 18378023
These beautifully rendered tales illuminate the fundamental pathways of life from birth to death.

A woman finds herself daydreaming as she returns home from a business trip; a young man loses his wallet. We learn, too, from more extreme examples: the patient who points an unloaded gun at a police officer, the compulsive liar who convinces his wife he's dying of cancer. The stories invite compassionate understanding, suggesting answers to the questions that compel and disturb us most about love and loss, parents and children, work and change.

The resulting journey will spark new ideas about who we are and why we do what we do.]]> 240 Stephen Grosz 0393349322 Vince 4 3.95 2012
author: Stephen Grosz
name: Vince
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/09
date added: 2023/01/09
shelves:
review:
A quirky and interesting look at therapy through the eyes of the practitioner.
]]> 33538599 THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER and 2017 Humour Book of the Year pick

'Laugh-out-loud hilarious' - Chortle

'I don't think I've ever read a book that has made me cry with laughter as much as this one. It was very difficult reading it in public as I looked like a madman' - Richard Herring

'James Acaster has a brilliant comic mind, crackling with energy every bit as much as his corduroy slacks' - Milton Jones

James Acaster has been nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award five times and has appeared on prime-time TV shows like MOCK THE WEEK, LIVE AT THE APOLLO and RUSSELL HOWARD'S STAND UP CENTRAL.

But behind the fame and critical acclaim is a man perpetually getting into trouble. Whether it's disappointing a skydiving instructor mid-flight, hiding from thugs in a bush wearing a bright red dress, or annoying the Kettering Board Games club, a didgeridoo-playing conspiracy theorist and some bemused Christians, James is always finding new ways to embarrass himself.

Appearing on Josh Widdicombe's radio show to recount these stories, the feature was christened 'James Acaster's classic scrapes'. Here, in his first book, James recounts these tales (including never-before-heard stories) along with self-penned drawings, in all their glorious stupidity.]]> 320 James Acaster 1472247183 Vince 5
I laughed out loud during this book more than any other before it.

A superbly uplifting book to start the new year off with.]]> 4.21 2017
author: James Acaster
name: Vince
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/03
date added: 2023/01/03
shelves:
review:
The funniest book I’ve ever listened to.

I laughed out loud during this book more than any other before it.

A superbly uplifting book to start the new year off with.
]]> 57727826
Brian Johnson was born to a steelworker and WWII veteran father and an Italian mother, growing up in New Castle Upon Tyne, England, a working-class town. He was musically inclined and sang with the church choir. By the early ��70s he performed with the glam rock band Geordie, and they had a couple hits, but it was tough going. So tough that by 1976, they disbanded and Brian turned to a blue-collar life.

Then 1980 changed everything. Bon Scott, the lead singer and lyricist of the Australian rock band AC/DC died at 33. The band auditioned singers, among them Johnson, whom Scott himself had seen perform and raved about. Within days, Johnson was in a studio with the band, working with founding members Angus and Malcolm Young, Cliff Williams, and Phil Rudd, along with producer Mutt Lange.

When the album, Back in Black, was released in July—a mere three months after Johnson had joined the band—it exploded, going on to sell 50 million copies worldwide, and triggering a years-long worldwide tour. It has been declared “the biggest selling hard rock album ever made�� and “the best-selling heavy-metal album in history.��

The band toured the world for a full year to support the album, changing the face of rock music—and Brian Johnson’s life—forever.]]> 320 Brian Johnson 0063046385 Vince 5
I love that this book gives an insight into Brian’s life before AC/DC and the focus is predominantly on the ‘lives�� he had before the big breakthrough.

As a North-East resident, the tales of the local area and recognisable places were particularly special.]]> 4.47
author: Brian Johnson
name: Vince
average rating: 4.47
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/28
date added: 2022/12/28
shelves:
review:
A stunning autobiography.

I love that this book gives an insight into Brian’s life before AC/DC and the focus is predominantly on the ‘lives�� he had before the big breakthrough.

As a North-East resident, the tales of the local area and recognisable places were particularly special.
]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Vince 5
This book captivated me in a way that is most reminiscent of my love for The Time Traveller’s wife in the late 00s. Not until now has another time spanning book enraptured me in the lives of such rich and loving characters.

I loved this book and it is well-deserving of its success.]]> 4.12 2022
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Vince
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/26
date added: 2022/12/26
shelves:
review:
The deserved winner of ŷ�������� book of 2022.

This book captivated me in a way that is most reminiscent of my love for The Time Traveller’s wife in the late 00s. Not until now has another time spanning book enraptured me in the lives of such rich and loving characters.

I loved this book and it is well-deserving of its success.
]]> 55678368
In this beautiful and uplifting book, Bill Bailey explores all this and more while delving into the nature of happiness, all in his own, remarkable, way.


Packed with wisdom and humour, and with delightful illustrations by the comedian himself, Bill Bailey aims for the heart of pure joy and contentment - and how we can all achieve it.]]> 193 Bill Bailey Vince 3
This book is okay but its premise for finding happiness is doing what Bill Bailey, a millionaire celebrity, likes.

Not sure how practical all his advice on holidays to far flung places of the world is for mere mortals.]]> 4.05
author: Bill Bailey
name: Vince
average rating: 4.05
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2022/12/19
date added: 2022/12/19
shelves:
review:
A list of things that Bill Bailey likes.

This book is okay but its premise for finding happiness is doing what Bill Bailey, a millionaire celebrity, likes.

Not sure how practical all his advice on holidays to far flung places of the world is for mere mortals.
]]> 8143909
Winner of the Davy Byrnes Memorial Prize, Foster is now published in a revised and expanded version. Beautiful, sad and eerie, it is a story of astonishing emotional depth, showcasing Claire Keegan's great accomplishment and talent.]]> 89 Claire Keegan 0571255655 Vince 4
Whilst not as moving as Keegan’s most recent work, Small Things Like These, this was nonetheless a captivating story of one girl’s summer and the loving care she found within it.

]]> 4.32 2010
author: Claire Keegan
name: Vince
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/12
date added: 2022/12/12
shelves:
review:
A rich and heartwarming tale of rural Ireland in the early 80s.

Whilst not as moving as Keegan’s most recent work, Small Things Like These, this was nonetheless a captivating story of one girl’s summer and the loving care she found within it.


]]> 142464
Flashman, the arch-cad and toady, matches his wits, his talents for deceit and malice, and above all his speed in evasion against the most brilliant European statesman and against the most beautiful and unscrupulous adventuress of the era.

From London gaming halls and English hunting fields to European dungeons and throne rooms, he is involved in a desperate succession of escapes, disguises, amours, and (when he cannot avoid them) hand-to-hand combats. All the while the destiny of a continent rests on his broad and failing shoulders.]]> 304 George MacDonald Fraser 0006511260 Vince 5
I was recommended this series back in 2006 and, sone 16 years on, have finally gotten into them.

I love the first one and I loved this too.

Flashman is, dare I say it, becoming an (anti) hero of mine.]]> 4.12 1970
author: George MacDonald Fraser
name: Vince
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1970
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/08
date added: 2022/12/08
shelves:
review:
Another rip-roaring adventure from old Flashy.

I was recommended this series back in 2006 and, sone 16 years on, have finally gotten into them.

I love the first one and I loved this too.

Flashman is, dare I say it, becoming an (anti) hero of mine.
]]> 52085903
Being a stoic means embracing positivity and self-control through the ability to accept the uncertainty of outcomes. With this stoicism guide, the beginner stoic will learn how to take charge of their emotions on the path to sustained happiness and satisfaction.

This easy-to-navigate stoicism guide gives you the emotional tools needed to let go of the things you can’t control and find joy in what you have. Through thought-provoking strategies and exercises, this book helps you find contentment so you can build closer relationships and become an active member of society.

The Beginner’s Guide to Stoicism includes:

- Evolution of stoicism—Discover the history of stoicism and how its principles can help you find peace.
- Complete the mindset—Find acceptance using an essential emotional toolkit based on the disciplines of Desire, Action, and Assent.
- Time to reflect—Apply what you’ve learned to your own life with ethical questions, quotes, and exercises.

Change your perception, focus on positivity—become the best version of yourself with The Beginner’s Guide to Stoicism.]]> 179 Matthew Van Natta 1641527226 Vince 4
This book gets straight down to business and I like how it avoids the lengthy personal anecdotes and diversions found in similar offerings.

As someone who has read many modern Stoic books before there was little new here, however it did offer further reflection on salient points and gave me some reminders of where I have often strayed.

I’d recommend to anyone with an interests in Stoicism.]]> 4.04 2019
author: Matthew Van Natta
name: Vince
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/01
date added: 2022/12/01
shelves:
review:
A good introduction (or reminder) for Stoics.

This book gets straight down to business and I like how it avoids the lengthy personal anecdotes and diversions found in similar offerings.

As someone who has read many modern Stoic books before there was little new here, however it did offer further reflection on salient points and gave me some reminders of where I have often strayed.

I’d recommend to anyone with an interests in Stoicism.
]]> 6288
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,�� are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.]]> 241 Cormac McCarthy 0307265439 Vince 4
I liked this book and found its foreboding and bleak nature quite captivating.

I also took warmth from its portrayal of fatherly love.]]> 3.99 2006
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Vince
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2022/11/29
date added: 2022/11/29
shelves:
review:
A haunting and lingering book.

I liked this book and found its foreboding and bleak nature quite captivating.

I also took warmth from its portrayal of fatherly love.
]]> 63269765 Martin O’Neill has had one of the most incredible careers in football �� winning European Cups, captaining his country at a world cup, and decades as a hugely successful manager. On Days Like These tells his fascinating story in his own words for the first time.

'Entertaining . . . An extraordinary career' �� The Guardian

A key part of Brian Clough’s legendary Nottingham Forest team in the ��70s and early ��80s, Martin also represented Northern Ireland more than 60 times and led them at the 1982 World Cup. As a manager he took Leicester City to two League Cups, Celtic to seven trophies, and the Republic of Ireland to the European Championship in 2016.

Martin tells of his exhilarating highs and painful lows; from the joys of winning trophies and promotion to making the difficult decision to retire as a player, boardroom drama, relegation scraps and being fired.

Written with his trademark forthright honesty and humour, On Days Like These is a must-read for any fan of the beautiful game.]]> 362 Martin O'Neill 1035008491 Vince 5
Martin O’Neill has delivered a sublime and superb book that is honest, insightful, funny and detailed.

He gives a decent and open view of his sporting life that sheds light on a truly remarkable career at the very top of the game.

A must read for anyone with a interest in football.]]> 4.12
author: Martin O'Neill
name: Vince
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/27
date added: 2022/11/27
shelves:
review:
The best sporting autobiography I have ever read.

Martin O’Neill has delivered a sublime and superb book that is honest, insightful, funny and detailed.

He gives a decent and open view of his sporting life that sheds light on a truly remarkable career at the very top of the game.

A must read for anyone with a interest in football.
]]> 59829996
If you were told you were going to die tomorrow, what would you regret?

Ten years ago, without time to think or prepare, Georgina Scull ruptured internally. The doctors told her she could have died and, as Georgina recovered, she began to consider the life she had led and what she would have left behind.

Paralysed by a fear of wasting what seemed like precious time but also fully ready to learn how to spend her second chance, Georgina set out to meet others who had faced their own mortality or had the end in sight.

The people she met taught her what it feels like to know you're running out of time, what tends to stays with you, what you should let go of, what everyone wishes they'd done differently and what it means to have a life well-lived.

Regrets of the Dying is a powerful and hopeful meditation on life and what really matters in the end.]]> 320 Georgina Scull 1787396835 Vince 5
I cried four times whilst reading this book, which is likely a record.

This book has impacted upon me like hardly others ever have before and I was enthralled throughout.

At points I was so moved that it made me reevaluate my whole life, at one specific point I read advice that helped me resolve guilt I have carried for two years about my own father’s death.

The best book of 2022 by far.]]> 3.84
author: Georgina Scull
name: Vince
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/17
date added: 2022/11/17
shelves:
review:
A captivating and inspiring book that moved me to tears.

I cried four times whilst reading this book, which is likely a record.

This book has impacted upon me like hardly others ever have before and I was enthralled throughout.

At points I was so moved that it made me reevaluate my whole life, at one specific point I read advice that helped me resolve guilt I have carried for two years about my own father’s death.

The best book of 2022 by far.
]]> 41713581 Faber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles.

The evening is fine. In the sky a few early stars are shining of their own accord. She watches the dog licking the bowl clean. This dog will break her daughter's heart, she's sure of it.

Claire Keegan's mesmeric story takes us into the heart of the Wicklow countryside, and of the farming family of Victor Deegan, with his 'three teenagers, the milking and the mortgage'.

When Deegan finds a gun dog and gives it as a present to his only daughter, his wife is filled with foreboding at this seeming act of kindness. As the seasons pass, long-buried family secrets threaten to emerge.

Bringing together past, present and future in our ninetieth year, Faber Stories is a celebratory compendium of collectable work.]]> 68 Claire Keegan 0571351859 Vince 0 to-read 4.05
author: Claire Keegan
name: Vince
average rating: 4.05
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58662236
Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.]]> 128 Claire Keegan 0802158749 Vince 5
This book has echoes of Steinbeck in the way it brings beauty and grandeur into the tales of everyday folk.]]> 4.13 2021
author: Claire Keegan
name: Vince
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/14
date added: 2022/11/14
shelves:
review:
A rich and absorbing piece of writing.

This book has echoes of Steinbeck in the way it brings beauty and grandeur into the tales of everyday folk.
]]> 33776764
The Mindfulness Essentials series introduces beginners and reminds seasoned practitioners of the essentials of mindfulness practice. This time Nhat Hanh brings his signature clarity, compassion, and humor to the ways we act out in anger, frustration, despair, and delusion. In brief meditations accompanied by whimsical sumi-ink drawings, Thich Nhat Hanh instructs us exactly how to transform our craving and confusion. If we learn to take good care of our suffering, we can help others do the same.

How to Fight is pocket-sized with two color original artwork by California artist Jason DeAntonis.]]> 128 Thich Nhat Hanh 1941529860 Vince 3 4.30
author: Thich Nhat Hanh
name: Vince
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/13
date added: 2022/11/13
shelves:
review:
A short but sweet look at how to resolve matters peacefully and keep calm in heated moments.
]]> 61062194 From the magical moments on set as Draco Malfoy to the challenges of growing up in the spotlight, get a backstage pass into Tom Felton’s life on and off the big screen in this #1 New York Times bestseller.

Tom Felton’s adolescence was anything but ordinary. His early rise to fame in beloved films like The Borrowers catapulted him into the limelight, but nothing could prepare him for what was to come after he landed the iconic role of the Draco Malfoy, the bleached blonde villain of the Harry Potter movies. For the next ten years, he was at the center of a huge pop culture phenomenon and yet, in between filming, he would go back to being a normal teenager trying to fit into a normal school.

Speaking with great candor and his signature humor, Tom shares his experience growing up as part of the wizarding world while also trying to navigate the muggle world. He tells stories from his early days in the business like his first acting gig where he was mistaken for fellow blonde child actor Macaulay Culkin and his Harry Potter audition where, in a very Draco-like move, he fudged how well he knew the books the series was based on (not at all). He reflects on his experiences working with cinematic greats such as Alan Rickman, Sir Michael Gambon, Dame Maggie Smith, and Ralph Fiennes (including that awkward Voldemort hug). And, perhaps most poignantly, he discusses the lasting relationships he made over that decade of filming, including with Emma Watson, who started out as a pesky nine-year-old whom he mocked for not knowing what a boom mic was but who soon grew into one of his dearest friends. Then, of course, there are the highs and lows of fame and navigating life after such a momentous and life-changing experience.

Tom Felton’s Beyond the Wand is an entertaining, funny, and poignant must-read for any Harry Potter fan. Prepare to meet a real-life wizard.]]> 288 Tom Felton 1538741369 Vince 5
This was a refreshing and open look at Tom’s life from childhood through to the man he is today.

His no hold approach to telling the tale of his time before, during and after Harry Potter is as endearing as it is funny. I loved every second of it.]]> 4.28 2022
author: Tom Felton
name: Vince
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/11
date added: 2022/11/11
shelves:
review:
Heartfelt, honest and humorous.

This was a refreshing and open look at Tom’s life from childhood through to the man he is today.

His no hold approach to telling the tale of his time before, during and after Harry Potter is as endearing as it is funny. I loved every second of it.
]]> 23607149

With his trademark wit, opinion and candour, The Secret Footballer will guide the reader through: The pass - geometry and positioning and intelligence; Fitness; Skills & dribbling; Power & passion; When to listen to your gaffer and when to ignore him; Data and how it is used on the pitch/in transfers; Football academies; Match fixing, diving and other dark deeds; Tunnel vision - what it takes to be a pro; What the pundits say and what they really mean; top 11s (goals to scapegoats, chants to stadiums); 'Bouncebackability' and other words that just aren't acceptable.]]> 256 The Secret Footballer Vince 2
I liked the first book as it was interesting and timeless.

This one is limited in comparison and very outdated if being read several years after publication.]]> 3.57 2014
author: The Secret Footballer
name: Vince
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2022/11/05
date added: 2022/11/05
shelves:
review:
Outdated and lacking in detail.

I liked the first book as it was interesting and timeless.

This one is limited in comparison and very outdated if being read several years after publication.
]]> 50884566
"Kevin's immense knowledge shines on every page." Gary Lineker

"A football book by a fan for the fans. A treasure trove..." Alan Davies

"An entertaining romp through the back alleys and glamour parks of English football." FourFourTwo

Partly autobiographical, partly polemical, but mostly funny, Who Are Ya? is a snapshot of modern football, exploring the history of all 92 English Football League clubs.

During his time as a broadcaster, Kevin Day has spoken to thousands of football players, managers and most importantly fans from across the generations. He spent thousands of hours crossing the country on trains, planes, automobiles, coaches �� and once a donkey called Lightning �� watching football at all levels. This book is the result of a tale of being chased down a railway line at Cardiff, a story of meeting George Best, an account of a lady getting her first Hull City tattoo at the age of 80!

Crisply funny and with a host of celebrity football fan contributors �� including Stephen Fry, Jo Brand, Alfie Boe, Eddie Izzard, Gabby Logan, and Romesh Ranganathan �� Who Are Ya? celebrates the joys and miseries of being a football supporter.]]> 320 Kevin Day 1472980646 Vince 5
I really liked this book and learned a lot more about the football league teams- even my own!]]> 3.94
author: Kevin Day
name: Vince
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/27
date added: 2022/10/27
shelves:
review:
A funny and insightful look at the football league teams.

I really liked this book and learned a lot more about the football league teams- even my own!
]]> 119502 63 Ted Hughes 0571226124 Vince 4
I remembered reading this in school many years ago and returning to it was a joy.]]> 3.88 1968
author: Ted Hughes
name: Vince
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1968
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/10
date added: 2022/10/10
shelves:
review:
A classic that turned back the clock.

I remembered reading this in school many years ago and returning to it was a joy.
]]> 278958 David's extraordinary odyssey is dramatically chronicled in Anne Holm's classic about the meaning of freedom and the power of hope.
]]> 256 Anne Holm 0152051600 Vince 4
I enjoyed this book and was taken aback by several important life lessons it imparts along the way.]]> 3.97 1963
author: Anne Holm
name: Vince
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1963
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/09
date added: 2022/10/09
shelves:
review:
A heartening tale with some surprisingly deep lessons.

I enjoyed this book and was taken aback by several important life lessons it imparts along the way.
]]> 19217133 111 Craig Beck 1304207412 Vince 1
The author spends 50% of their time sharing irrelevant mundane stories from their own past, 25% speaking with American terms (despite being British) and 25% trying to sell you his other books (which, on the basis of this offering, surely can’t be any worse).

Genuinely one of the worst books I’ve ever bought and a waste of 3 hours.

The author ought to be ashamed of himself for his shoddy cash grab. I’ll be seeking a refund.]]> 3.92 2013
author: Craig Beck
name: Vince
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2013
rating: 1
read at: 2022/10/03
date added: 2022/10/03
shelves:
review:
Rambling and irrelevant with no practical advice.

The author spends 50% of their time sharing irrelevant mundane stories from their own past, 25% speaking with American terms (despite being British) and 25% trying to sell you his other books (which, on the basis of this offering, surely can’t be any worse).

Genuinely one of the worst books I’ve ever bought and a waste of 3 hours.

The author ought to be ashamed of himself for his shoddy cash grab. I’ll be seeking a refund.
]]> 61328607
Length: 3 hours and 40 minutes]]> Alan Partridge Vince 5
This audiobook was hilarious from beginning to end, the production was superb, and it was another big fat slice of Partridge pie.

Aha!]]> 4.39
author: Alan Partridge
name: Vince
average rating: 4.39
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/29
date added: 2022/09/29
shelves:
review:
Laugh out loud funny.

This audiobook was hilarious from beginning to end, the production was superb, and it was another big fat slice of Partridge pie.

Aha!
]]> 28 "Suddenly, in the space of a moment, I realized what it was that I loved about Britain-which is to say, all of it."

After nearly two decades spent on British soil, Bill Bryson - bestselling author of The Mother Tongue and Made in America-decided to return to the United States. ("I had recently read," Bryson writes, "that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, so it was clear that my people needed me.") But before departing, he set out on a grand farewell tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home.

Veering from the ludicrous to the endearing and back again, Notes from a Small Island is a delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation that has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie's Farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey. The result is an uproarious social commentary that conveys the true glory of Britain, from the satiric pen of an unapologetic Anglophile.]]> 324 Bill Bryson 0380727501 Vince 3
Funny in parts but the overall tone was a little too negative about Britain for my liking.]]> 3.93 1995
author: Bill Bryson
name: Vince
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1995
rating: 3
read at: 2022/09/27
date added: 2022/09/27
shelves:
review:
A little too negative.

Funny in parts but the overall tone was a little too negative about Britain for my liking.
]]> 61053457 Out the autobiography of the legendary sports promoter, Barry Hearn.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'I am the largest sports promoter in the world. I promote 11 sports to a global audience of billions of people every day of my life'
__________

A larger than life working class hero, Romford born and bred - always ready with the perfect soundbite - Barry Hearn was famously described as 'roguish but never a rogue'.

Hearn is credited with turning snooker into one of the biggest sports in Britain. He essentially turned a sport in which competitors wear bowties into a massive, globally televised event. Away from the table, his promotions empire casts its net over a dozen sports - from professional boxing to darts, fishing to ten-pin bowling - and his career spans four decades. He also previously owned Leyton Orient football club.

Packed with hilarious anecdotes from the golden age of snooker, and behind-the-scenes insight into boxing negotiations and darts bust-ups, Hearn's book is a joy to read from start to finish.]]> 417 Barry Hearn Vince 4
I really liked this book and found it honest and down to earth.

Great to see the rise of Matchroom and the sports it showcases from the man himself.]]> 4.18
author: Barry Hearn
name: Vince
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2022/09/19
date added: 2022/09/19
shelves:
review:
An interesting and honest insight into Barry’s life.

I really liked this book and found it honest and down to earth.

Great to see the rise of Matchroom and the sports it showcases from the man himself.
]]> 31423133

If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.
On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. Taking inspiration from the university's slogan, "What starts here changes the world," he shared the ten principles he learned during Navy Seal training that helped him overcome challenges not only in his training and long Naval career, but also throughout his life; and he explained how anyone can use these basic lessons to change themselves-and the world-for the better.

Admiral McRaven's original speech went viral with over 10 million views. Building on the core tenets laid out in his speech, McRaven now recounts tales from his own life and from those of people he encountered during his military service who dealt with hardship and made tough decisions with determination, compassion, honor, and courage. Told with great humility and optimism, this timeless book provides simple wisdom, practical advice, and words of encouragement that will inspire readers to achieve more, even in life's darkest moments.]]> 2 William H. McRaven Vince 2 3.99 2017
author: William H. McRaven
name: Vince
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2022/09/07
date added: 2022/09/07
shelves:
review:
Save your time and listen to the speech on YouTube instead.
]]> 52107109 For over a quarter of a century, Warcraft and World of Warcraft players have been treated to a treasure trove of artifacts, gear, weaponry, and trinkets of both awe and amusement. Now players can get an in-depth look at the items they have collected…and the fearsome powers they hold.

From the shining towers of Silvermoon to the sulfurous Blackrock Mountain to the white stone castles of Stormwind, the Eastern Kingdoms are vast and full of wonder. Every corner of the majestic isle contains countless stories, treasures, and more than a few secrets that some would prefer stay buried. Follow Spymaster Mathias Shaw and Captain Flynn Fairwind on an expedition across the Eastern Kingdoms for king and country as they chronicle its history and catalog the weapons, armor, and powers untold that are scattered across this sprawling dominion. Penned by New York Times bestselling author and Blizzard Entertainment writer Christie Golden, Exploring Azeroth: The Eastern Kingdoms is your first step on a truly remarkable journey across the beloved lands of Azeroth]]> 144 Christie Golden 1950366278 Vince 5
I loved this as it brought back many fond memories from WoW back in 2006.]]> 4.36 2020
author: Christie Golden
name: Vince
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/06
date added: 2022/09/06
shelves:
review:
A nostalgic journey through Azeroth.

I loved this as it brought back many fond memories from WoW back in 2006.
]]> 43226870
Recent studies have shown that 800 calories is the magic number when it comes to successful dieting - it’s an amount high enough to be manageable but low enough to speed weight loss and trigger a range of desirable metabolic changes.

The secret of this new programme is that it is highly flexible - depending on your goals, you can choose how intensively you want to do it.

Along with an accompanying PDF featuring delicious, low-carb, Mediterranean-style recipes and menu plans by Dr Clare Bailey, The Fast 800 offers an effective way to help you lose weight, improve mood and reduce blood pressure, inflammation and blood sugars. Take your future health into your own hands.

PLEASE When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our Desktop Site. ]]> 262 Michael Mosley Vince 4 3.61 2018
author: Michael Mosley
name: Vince
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/30
date added: 2022/08/30
shelves:
review:
An interesting book with some inspirational tips.
]]> 56669595 farming was much better left to someone else

Then one day he decided he would do the farming himself.

After all, how hard could it be?

Well . . .

Faced with suffocating red tape, biblical weather, local objections, a global pandemic and his own frankly staggering ignorance of how to 'do farming', Jeremy soon realises that turning the farm around is going to take more than splashing out on a massive tractor.

Fortunately, there's help at hand from a large and (mostly) willing team, including girlfriend Lisa, Kaleb the Tractor Driver, Cheerful Charlie, Ellen the Shepherd and Gerald, his Head of Security and Dry Stone Waller. Between them they enthusiastically cultivate crops, rear livestock and hens, keep bees, bottle spring water and open a farm shop. But profits remain elusive.

And yet while the farm may be called Diddly Squat for good reason, Jeremy soon begins to understand that it's worth a whole lot more to him than pounds, shillings and pence . . .
]]> 208 Jeremy Clarkson 0241464501 Vince 3
I enjoyed this and, having not previously read the columns it’s drawn from, didn’t feel too ripped off.

However it is very short and it would have been better to have had a wider overview of Clarkson’s entire farming experience instead of a series of short (but funny and insightful) collated columns.]]> 4.09 2021
author: Jeremy Clarkson
name: Vince
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/08/25
date added: 2022/08/25
shelves:
review:
Funny but short.

I enjoyed this and, having not previously read the columns it’s drawn from, didn’t feel too ripped off.

However it is very short and it would have been better to have had a wider overview of Clarkson’s entire farming experience instead of a series of short (but funny and insightful) collated columns.
]]> 29072594 Born to Run

In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl’s halftime show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it. That’s how this extraordinary autobiography began.

Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life, bringing to these pages the same honesty, humor, and originality found in his songs.

He describes growing up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey, amid the poetry, danger, and darkness that fueled his imagination, leading up to the moment he refers to as “The Big Bang��: seeing Elvis Presley’s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work, and shows us why the song “Born to Run�� reveals more than we previously realized.

Born to Run will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed Bruce Springsteen, but this book is much more than a legendary rock star’s memoir. This is a book for workers and dreamers, parents and children, lovers and loners, artists, freaks, or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock and roll.

Rarely has a performer told his own story with such force and sweep. Like many of his songs (“Thunder Road,�� “Badlands,�� “Darkness on the Edge of Town,�� “The River,�� “Born in the U.S.A.,�� “The Rising,�� and “The Ghost of Tom Joad,�� to name just a few), Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography is written with the lyricism of a singular songwriter and the wisdom of a man who has thought deeply about his experiences.]]> 528 Bruce Springsteen 1501141511 Vince 5
I loved this book. I love the Boss.]]> 4.16 2016
author: Bruce Springsteen
name: Vince
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/18
date added: 2022/08/18
shelves:
review:
A powerful and poetic look at the life of the Boss.

I loved this book. I love the Boss.
]]> 142458 This is an alternative cover edition for ISBN 9780006511250

Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world.

Can a man be all bad? When Harry Flashman’s adventures as the reluctant secret agent in Afghanistan lead him to join the exclusive company of Lord Cardigan’s Hussars and play a part in the disastrous Retreat from Kabul, it culminates in the rascal’s finest �� and most dishonest �� turn.]]> 323 George MacDonald Fraser Vince 5
An old friend encouraged me to read Flashman over 15 years ago and I finally got around to following his advice.

What a jolly good friend he was.

I loved this book and cannot wait to see what Flashy gets up to next.]]> 4.07 1969
author: George MacDonald Fraser
name: Vince
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1969
rating: 5
read at: 2022/07/25
date added: 2022/07/25
shelves:
review:
A rip roaring adventure.

An old friend encouraged me to read Flashman over 15 years ago and I finally got around to following his advice.

What a jolly good friend he was.

I loved this book and cannot wait to see what Flashy gets up to next.
]]> 18909938 Ever dreamed of owning your boyhood football club? Be careful what you wish for...Simon Jordan grew up a stone's throw from Crystal Palace Football Club. As a boy he used to break into the Palace ground for a kick-about on the hallowed turf. On leaving school he entered the mobile phone business. By the age of thirty-two, he'd built a company from nothing, sold it for £75 million and bought his childhood club. By the age of forty-two Palace was in administration and Jordan had lost nigh on everything.Be Careful What You Wish For lifts the lid on the owner's story and reveals for the first time how the national game really works. Jordan spares no one, least of all himself, as he takes us inside a world where hopes and aspirations sit alongside greed, self-interest, overpriced players, dodgy transfers and top-level incompetence. He doesn't hold back.Breathtakingly honest, highly controversial, humorous and full of jaw-dropping anecdotes, Be Careful What You Wish For is far more than a football book. It is a social commentary on the culture of great wealth and ambition; a Shakespearean tragedy that exposes the dark side of chasing a dream. 'One of the best football books you will ever read' Birmingham Post]]> 430 Simon Jordan Vince 5
I have a lot of time for Simon Jordan and find the analysis he offers on Talksport interesting and unique. With that fondness in mind, this book did not let me down.]]> 4.23 2012
author: Simon Jordan
name: Vince
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2022/07/10
date added: 2022/07/10
shelves:
review:
A captivating and insightful look into the ownership of a football club.

I have a lot of time for Simon Jordan and find the analysis he offers on Talksport interesting and unique. With that fondness in mind, this book did not let me down.
]]> 50496881
In Unfu*k Yourself, Gary John Bishop taught millions of readers how to silence the negative, self-sabotaging voice in their head to thrive. In  Wise As Fu*k  he expands on his ideas, redefining what it means to be wise and showing how to tackle problems and improve our lives and those of others.  When the shit storms of life hit us, many of us don’t know what to do—whether it’s losing a job, suffering a broken heart, or just feeling a lack of purpose. We need wisdom to help us navigate forward. While the internet is full of seemingly good advice, it isn’t helping us actually change our lives.  Wise As Fu*k  breaks through the bullshit, providing insight to inspire us in the four areas we need it most: love, loss, fear, and success.  Written with his widely admired no-nonsense style,  Wise As Fu*k  provides a welcome fresh perspective to help us transform how we approach a variety of life’s problems. But Bishop makes clear, the work doesn’t stop there. Now that you’ve unfu*ked yourself and and are wise as fu*k about these touchy areas, you can apply the lessons to make a positive impact on the world.]]> 224 Gary John Bishop 0062952277 Vince 5
Whilst not quite as groundbreaking as his first three books (I mean, what are?) this is nonetheless another grand call to action for all who want more from life.

A bold and stunning piece of work.]]> 3.81 2020
author: Gary John Bishop
name: Vince
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/30
date added: 2022/06/30
shelves:
review:
Another wake up call from the Bishop.

Whilst not quite as groundbreaking as his first three books (I mean, what are?) this is nonetheless another grand call to action for all who want more from life.

A bold and stunning piece of work.
]]> 41180663 New York Times and international bestseller Unfu*k Yourself, Gary John Bishop presents a no-holds-barred guide to breaking through our cycles of self-sabotage to get what we want out of life.

In Unfu*k Yourself, Gary John Bishop told us it was time to stop making excuses—to recognize and take responsibility for the negative self-talk holding us back.

In Stop Doing That Sh*t, he builds on that message, teaching us how to stop self-sabotaging behavior. Bishop explains how our destructive cycles come down to the way that we’re wired. He then identifies different types of people and the ways we fu*k ourselves over: We can’t save money. We land in the same type of toxic relationship. We’re stuck in a rut at work. Analyzing why we act the way we do, including what our common grenades are that blow up our lives, Bishop then shows how we can interrupt the cycle and stop self-sabotaging our lives.

Written in the same in your face style as Unfu*k Yourself, Stop Doing that Sh*t will help us get in touch with our psychological machinery so we learn to interrupt negative thoughts and behavior before they start, allowing us to give our attention to something else, and start to find success in the areas we thought we never could.

We can take back our lives. We may have fu*ked up in the past, but Stop Doing That Sh*t will show us how to break the patterns in order to live the lives we yearn to have.]]> 240 Gary John Bishop 0062871846 Vince 5
This is the third book of Bishop’s that I’ve read in a row and it is the most powerful and thought provoking yet.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say that his guided exploration and revelation of my past has probably saved me £10,000 of therapy.

Another truly life changing work from the best there is.]]> 3.83 2019
author: Gary John Bishop
name: Vince
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/26
date added: 2022/06/26
shelves:
review:
Probably saved me £10,000 of therapy.

This is the third book of Bishop’s that I’ve read in a row and it is the most powerful and thought provoking yet.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say that his guided exploration and revelation of my past has probably saved me £10,000 of therapy.

Another truly life changing work from the best there is.
]]> 32738672 221 Gary John Bishop Vince 5
I read Bishop’s books the wrong way round and worked my way through ‘Do the work�� (the companion to Unf*ck yourself) before this.

However, that didn’t stop me taking a great deal from the original work too and I’ll now go back to ‘Do the work�� with an increased insight behind its teachings.

I have waited a long time for someone with Bishop’s heartfelt, empathetic, practical, and no-nonsense approach. I am lucky to have finally found him.]]> 3.84 2016
author: Gary John Bishop
name: Vince
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/18
date added: 2022/06/18
shelves:
review:
A truly excellent book from the King (or should that be Bishop) of self-development.

I read Bishop’s books the wrong way round and worked my way through ‘Do the work�� (the companion to Unf*ck yourself) before this.

However, that didn’t stop me taking a great deal from the original work too and I’ll now go back to ‘Do the work�� with an increased insight behind its teachings.

I have waited a long time for someone with Bishop’s heartfelt, empathetic, practical, and no-nonsense approach. I am lucky to have finally found him.
]]> 44428676
In Unfu*k Yourself, Gary John Bishop inspired people to put his words into action to transform their fu*king lives. Through seven paradigm shifting assertions such as: “I am wired to win,�� “I embrace the uncertainty�� and “I expect nothing and accept everything,�� Bishop helped millions of readers to move past their self-imposed limitations.

Still, Bishop knows it’s hard to go from reading the book, feeling inspired, and then actually doing the necessary work. That’s where Do the Work comes in: it’s the kick in the ass you need to get moving and create the life you want. The workbook drills down into three categories �� self, people, and purpose �� to help you identify and remedy the challenges that frustrate and often cripple us.

Filled with entirely new material, including personalized prompts and exercises with ample lined space to journal and process, Do the Work expands the lessons in Unfu*k Yourself, giving you the tools to intentionally commit to taking on your life.

“This is a personal workshop for your brain, a legit resource where you can work your life out, what matters to you, what’s going to make the biggest difference and empower you to act in ways that make some palpable change to the direction your life is currently taking.��

The truth will set you free, right? So what are you waiting for?]]> 144 Gary John Bishop 0062952234 Vince 5
I have read a lot of self-help books- some good, some bad, some that fall somewhere in between.

In all those books and all those years, this is probably the best one yet.

It is refreshing, honest, blunt, and practical.

It veers well away from the usual softly softly approach and mercifully also avoids longwinded sob stories from the writer’s own past or promises that you too can have their life if you do as they have done.

The final chapter is only 5 minutes long but is perhaps the most motivating speech I have ever heard in my life.

A thoroughly excellent book that I have no doubt will make my life better.]]> 3.81 2019
author: Gary John Bishop
name: Vince
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/15
date added: 2022/06/15
shelves:
review:
Probably the best self-help book I have ever read.

I have read a lot of self-help books- some good, some bad, some that fall somewhere in between.

In all those books and all those years, this is probably the best one yet.

It is refreshing, honest, blunt, and practical.

It veers well away from the usual softly softly approach and mercifully also avoids longwinded sob stories from the writer’s own past or promises that you too can have their life if you do as they have done.

The final chapter is only 5 minutes long but is perhaps the most motivating speech I have ever heard in my life.

A thoroughly excellent book that I have no doubt will make my life better.
]]> 58864266 'Queen of Manifesting' Roxie Nafousi will show you how in just seven simple steps you can understand the true art of manifestation and learn how to create the life you have always dreamed of.

Whether you want to attract your soulmate, find the perfect job or your dream home, or simply discover more inner-peace and confidence, MANIFEST will teach you exactly how to get there in just 7 steps . . .

1. Be clear in your vision
2. Remove fear and doubt
3. Align your behaviour
4. Overcome tests from the universe
5. Embrace gratitude without caveats
6. Turn envy into inspiration
7. Trust in the universe

A meeting of science and wisdom, manifesting is a philosophy and a self-development practice to help you reach for your goals, cultivate self-love and live your best life.

Unlock the magic for yourself and begin your journey to turning your dreams into reality.]]> 192 Roxie Nafousi 0241539595 Vince 1
I read a lot of self-help books and, for the most part, find some use in their pages and some affinity with their writers. This, however, is the exception to that rule.

Roxie Nafousi is privileged, comes from an affluent background, and is trying to convince her readers that they should listen to her based on her own ability to manifest a future- helped ably by her rich father, free home, connections, and attractiveness.

Whilst there are a few scant mentions of techniques which are beneficial to self-development, these are but rip offs of those who have done it far earlier and far better.

One to avoid.]]> 4.21 2022
author: Roxie Nafousi
name: Vince
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2022
rating: 1
read at: 2022/06/12
date added: 2022/06/12
shelves:
review:
Privileged, rich and attractive woman tries to convince readers that her success is down to manifesting.

I read a lot of self-help books and, for the most part, find some use in their pages and some affinity with their writers. This, however, is the exception to that rule.

Roxie Nafousi is privileged, comes from an affluent background, and is trying to convince her readers that they should listen to her based on her own ability to manifest a future- helped ably by her rich father, free home, connections, and attractiveness.

Whilst there are a few scant mentions of techniques which are beneficial to self-development, these are but rip offs of those who have done it far earlier and far better.

One to avoid.
]]> 19767682 The Landlady is a brilliant gem of a short story from Roald Dahl, the master of the sting in the tail.

In The Landlady, Roald Dahl, one of the world's favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a young man in need of room meets a most accommodating landlady...

The Landlady is taken from the short story collection Kiss Kiss, which includes ten other devious and shocking stories, featuring the wife who pawns the mink coat from her lover with unexpected results; the priceless piece of furniture that is the subject of a deceitful bargain; a wronged woman taking revenge on her dead husband, and others.]]> 17 Roald Dahl Vince 4 3.89 1959
author: Roald Dahl
name: Vince
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1959
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/11
date added: 2022/06/11
shelves:
review:
An eerie and captivating short story that lingers long in the kind afterwards.
]]> 180116
The acknowledged expert in the psychology of change, Anthony Robbins provides a step-by-step program teaching the fundamental lessons of self-mastery that will enable you to discover your true purpose, take control of your life, and harness the forces that shape your destiny.]]> 544 Tony Robbins 0671791540 Vince 3
This is a basic book that encourages action, focus change, and following goals.

Although those messages are basic, they are true and told in a way that motivates.]]> 4.16 1992
author: Tony Robbins
name: Vince
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at: 2022/06/07
date added: 2022/06/07
shelves:
review:
A simple message but one that works if followed.

This is a basic book that encourages action, focus change, and following goals.

Although those messages are basic, they are true and told in a way that motivates.
]]> 13552474
'This book is going to try and get as close as possible to the full story of what informed the noise of The Streets. Obviously that's something I should be fairly well-qualified to know about, and I'm going to be as honest as the publisher's lawyers will allow.'


With the 2001 release of The Streets' debut single 'Has It Come To This?' the landscape of British popular music changed forever. No longer did homegrown rappers have to anxiously defer to transatlantic influences. Mike Skinner's witty, self-deprecating sagas of late-night kebab shops and skunk-fuelled Playstation sessions showed how much you could achieve simply by speaking in your own voice.

In this thoroughly modern memoir, the man the Guardian once dubbed 'half Dostoevsky . . . half Samuel Pepys' tells a freewheeling, funny and fearlessly honest tale of Birmingham and London, ecstasy and epilepsy, Twitter-fear and Spectrum joysticks, spread-betting and growing up. He writes of his musical inspirations, role models and rivals, the craft of songwriting and reflects on the successes and failures of the decade-long journey of The Streets.]]> 302 Mike Skinner 9780593068 Vince 5
As a passing fan of Mike Skinner, I loved this book for how well it’s written and how honest his voice is rather than a love for the music itself (which, the the way, I now have a newfound love for).

One of the best musical autobiographies I’ve ever read.]]> 3.93 2012
author: Mike Skinner
name: Vince
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/06
date added: 2022/06/06
shelves:
review:
A searingly honest and gritty story of The Streets.

As a passing fan of Mike Skinner, I loved this book for how well it’s written and how honest his voice is rather than a love for the music itself (which, the the way, I now have a newfound love for).

One of the best musical autobiographies I’ve ever read.
]]> 28077526 "I Bought a Little City [is] a take on the role that a writer has in writing a story - playing god, in a certain way." Donald Antrim, novelist.
'Got a little city, ain't it pretty'.
Galveston, Texas, has been bought. It suits its new owner just fine. So he starts to change it. He creates a new residential area in the shape of a Mona Lisa jigsaw puzzle, shoots six thousand dogs, and reminds those who complain that he controls the jail, the police and the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. But, playing God has its limitations, which he soon discovers when he starts to covet Sam Hong's wife. With Donald Barthelme's unmistakeable ability to blend absurdity and the recognisable details of ordinary life, this is an uncanny tale about urban planning, capitalism and God.

]]> 13 Donald Barthelme Vince 3 3.48
author: Donald Barthelme
name: Vince
average rating: 3.48
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2022/06/02
date added: 2022/06/02
shelves:
review:
A twee little read that offers some thought on the power dynamics of late 20th century capitalism.
]]> 46000520
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

Alternate cover edition can be found here .]]> 382 Richard Osman Vince 4
I enjoyed this book and found it to be a real page turner.

The big reveals at the end were a little flat, but did not detract from the overall joy of the read.]]> 3.87 2020
author: Richard Osman
name: Vince
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/02
date added: 2022/06/02
shelves:
review:
A really good book.

I enjoyed this book and found it to be a real page turner.

The big reveals at the end were a little flat, but did not detract from the overall joy of the read.
]]> 7076541 264 Brian Johnson 0718155424 Vince 5
This book made me laugh out loud like very few ever have before.

Brian Johnson shares his motoring passions with care, humour, and genuine passion.]]> 3.77 2009
author: Brian Johnson
name: Vince
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2022/05/16
date added: 2022/05/16
shelves:
review:
A laugh out loud motoring memoir.

This book made me laugh out loud like very few ever have before.

Brian Johnson shares his motoring passions with care, humour, and genuine passion.
]]> 13536594
Now, for the first time, he reveals everything you need to know about the hidden world of professional football - the extraordinary highs, the desperate lows....and what it's really like to do a job most of us can only dream of.]]> 230 The Secret Footballer 0852653085 Vince 3
I liked this book and it was entertaining, but it skirted around some of the more exciting stories and ended up telling us not much that we didn’t know already.]]> 3.48 2012
author: The Secret Footballer
name: Vince
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2022/05/12
date added: 2022/05/12
shelves:
review:
A relatively entertaining book but not as exciting as I would have hoped.

I liked this book and it was entertaining, but it skirted around some of the more exciting stories and ended up telling us not much that we didn’t know already.
]]> 51260583
How does a “normal bloke from Plymouth�� achieve more success than he could ever have dreamed?

By becoming a Routine Machine. This book will show you how you can follow a simple, everyday plan to achieve your goals without requiring superhuman effort or natural-born talent.

IN THIS BOOK YOU WILL LEARN:

�� How to cure an “incurable�� disease using just a book
�� How one sheet of paper 10x’ed John’s business
�� Why John is building a £25million snowball
�� Why morning routines don’t need to start at 5 am
�� The ONE routine that makes everything else easier
�� How ��90s TV show Gladiators can cure your procrastination
�� Why John goes dog walking with Arnold Schwarzenegger
�� How Anneka Rice can help you grow your business
�� How staring at a wall earns you gold medals
�� What Mr Bull from Peppa Pig can teach you about personal development
�� Plus insights from hundreds of other Routine Machines, including Rik Mayall, Warren Buffett, Sir Richard Branson, Hulk Hogan, John Lennon, Sir Paul McCartney, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Sir Bradley Wiggins, and the 1993/94 Plymouth Argyle squad.

JOHN LAMERTON is a self-styled “lazy�� entrepreneur and investor, and the “King of Routine��. He balances running an ambitious lifestyle business with raising two children. A former “hustler��, he now mentors fellow ambitious lifestyle business owners; showing them how to design their businesses around the lifestyle they truly desire.]]> 282 John Lamerton Vince 4
This book starts with regurgitated information you should have already read elsewhere in Atomic Habits and the Chimp Paradox- so much so that it’s first chapters read like a rip off of those row books.

But then it grows into something more and gives genuinely useful tips that are delivered in a down-to-earth and amiable way by the author.]]> 4.11
author: John Lamerton
name: Vince
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/09
date added: 2022/05/09
shelves:
review:
A slow and samey start, but stick with it.

This book starts with regurgitated information you should have already read elsewhere in Atomic Habits and the Chimp Paradox- so much so that it’s first chapters read like a rip off of those row books.

But then it grows into something more and gives genuinely useful tips that are delivered in a down-to-earth and amiable way by the author.
]]> 23013953
For too long, the gut has been the body’s most ignored and least appreciated organ, but it turns out that it’s responsible for more than just dirty work: our gut is at the core of who we are. Gut, an international bestseller, gives the alimentary canal its long-overdue moment in the spotlight. With quirky charm, rising science star Giulia Enders explains the gut’s magic, answering questions like: Why does acid reflux happen? What’s really up with gluten and lactose intolerance? How does the gut affect obesity and mood? Communication between the gut and the brain is one of the fastest-growing areas of medical research—on par with stem-cell research. Our gut reactions, we learn, are intimately connected with our physical and mental well-being. Enders’s beguiling manifesto will make you finally listen to those butterflies in your stomach: they’re trying to tell you something important.]]> 273 Giulia Enders 1771641495 Vince 2
This book was thorough in explaining how our digestive system works but was generally quite boring.

If also failed to offer little in the way of practical advice to help have a healthier gut.]]> 4.04 2014
author: Giulia Enders
name: Vince
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2022/04/28
date added: 2022/04/28
shelves:
review:
Thorough but boring.

This book was thorough in explaining how our digestive system works but was generally quite boring.

If also failed to offer little in the way of practical advice to help have a healthier gut.
]]> 56302573 208 Ray Bradbury Vince 4
This is a powerful book that foreshadows the 21st century malaise of shallow additions at the expense of meaningful pursuit.]]> 3.77 1953
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Vince
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1953
rating: 4
read at: 2022/04/20
date added: 2022/04/20
shelves:
review:
An eerie prediction of the vacuous life we have gone on to lead.

This is a powerful book that foreshadows the 21st century malaise of shallow additions at the expense of meaningful pursuit.
]]> 43582733 In The Obstacle Is the Way and Ego Is the Enemy, bestselling author Ryan Holiday made ancient wisdom wildly popular with a new generation of leaders in sports, politics, and technology. In his new book, Stillness Is the Key, Holiday draws on timeless Stoic and Buddhist philosophy to show why slowing down is the secret weapon for those charging ahead.

All great leaders, thinkers, artists, athletes, and visionaries share one indelible quality. It enables them to conquer their tempers. To avoid distraction and discover great insights. To achieve happiness and do the right thing. Ryan Holiday calls it stillness--to be steady while the world spins around you.

In this book, he outlines a path for achieving this ancient, but urgently necessary way of living. Drawing on a wide range of history's greatest thinkers, from Confucius to Seneca, Marcus Aurelius to Thich Nhat Hanh, John Stuart Mill to Nietzsche, he argues that stillness is not mere inactivity, but the doorway to self-mastery, discipline, and focus.

Holiday also examines figures who exemplified the power of stillness: baseball player Sadaharu Oh, whose study of Zen made him the greatest home run hitter of all time; Winston Churchill, who in balancing his busy public life with time spent laying bricks and painting at his Chartwell estate managed to save the world from annihilation in the process; Fred Rogers, who taught generations of children to see what was invisible to the eye; Anne Frank, whose journaling and love of nature guided her through unimaginable adversity.

More than ever, people are overwhelmed. They face obstacles and egos and competition. Stillness Is the Key offers a simple but inspiring antidote to the stress of 24/7 news and social media. The stillness that we all seek is the path to meaning, contentment, and excellence in a world that needs more of it than ever.]]> 288 Ryan Holiday 0525538585 Vince 5
Nobody does modern Stoicism like Ryan Holiday and few, if any, do self-development like him either.

This is another superb piece of work.]]> 4.19 2019
author: Ryan Holiday
name: Vince
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2022/04/15
date added: 2022/04/15
shelves:
review:
Another excellent book from the modern day Stoic master.

Nobody does modern Stoicism like Ryan Holiday and few, if any, do self-development like him either.

This is another superb piece of work.
]]> 59680618 The science is clear: Happiness plays a vital role in your health. Learn how to make it a priority.

During his 20 years as a GP, Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, author of the international bestseller Feel Better in 5, has seen first-hand that motivation isn't always enough for us to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It's only when we learn how to support our own mental wellbeing and cultivate core happiness that these choices become easy.

In Happy Mind, Happy Life, Dr. Chatterjee shares cutting-edge insights into the science of happiness and reveals 10 simple ways to put you back in control of your health. It features real-life case studies and more than 20 practical exercises, including lessons on how to:

- Find your flow
- Create distance from your phone
- Deal with criticism

Whether you are at a crisis point or simply want to experience more joy, this book will help you feel calmer, more confident, and able to live your life to the full. Your body and mind will thank you.]]> 272 Rangan Chatterjee 1637742118 Vince 2
There were a few takeaways from this book but, on the whole, it was basic and boring.

It was also annoying how often he advised readers to go listen to his podcast.]]> 4.19 2022
author: Rangan Chatterjee
name: Vince
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2022/04/14
date added: 2022/04/14
shelves:
review:
Basic and a little boring.

There were a few takeaways from this book but, on the whole, it was basic and boring.

It was also annoying how often he advised readers to go listen to his podcast.
]]> 26114149 New York Times bestsellers, One Second After and One Year After, The Final Day immerses readers once more in the story of our nation’s struggle to rebuild itself after an electromagnetic pulse wipes out all electricity and plunges the country into darkness, starvation, and terror.

After defeating the designs of the alleged federal government, John Matherson and his community have returned their attention to restoring the technologies and social order that existed prior to the EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) attack. Then the government announces that it’s ceding large portions of the country to China and Mexico. The Constitution is no longer in effect, and what’s left of the U.S. Army has been deployed to suppress rebellion in the remaining states.

The man sent to confront John is General Bob Scales, John’s old commanding officer and closest friend from prewar days. Will General Scales follow orders, or might he be the crucial turning point in the quest for an America that is again united? As the dubious Federal government increasingly curtails liberty and trades away sovereignty, it might just get exactly what it fears: revolution.]]> 466 William R. Forstchen 0765376733 Vince 2
I liked the premise of the first book but felt it fell a little short.

The second book was poor and, sadly, this finale is little better.

A great premise wasted in its poor plot.]]> 4.03 2017
author: William R. Forstchen
name: Vince
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2022/03/31
date added: 2022/03/31
shelves:
review:
A poor ending to a series that started so well.

I liked the premise of the first book but felt it fell a little short.

The second book was poor and, sadly, this finale is little better.

A great premise wasted in its poor plot.
]]> 23848051 One Second After.

Months before publication, William R. Forstchen’s One Second After was cited on the floor of Congress as a book all Americans should read. Hundreds of thousands of people have read the tale. One Year After is the thrilling follow-up to that smash hit.

The story picks up a year after One Second After ends, two years since the detonation of nuclear weapons above the United States brought America to its knees. After suffering starvation, war, and countless deaths, the survivors of Black Mountain, North Carolina, are beginning to piece back together the technologies they had once taken for granted: electricity, radio communications, and medications. They cling to the hope that a new national government is finally emerging.

Then comes word that most of the young men and women of the community are to be drafted into an “Army of National Recovery�� and sent to trouble spots hundreds of miles away.

When town administrator John Matherson protests the draft, he’s offered a deal: leave Black Mountain and enter national service, and the draft will be reduced. But the brutal suppression of a neighboring community under its new federal administrator and the troops accompanying him suggests that all is not as it should be with this burgeoning government.]]> 302 William R. Forstchen 0765376709 Vince 2
I enjoyed the first book in this series but this sequel offers none of the thrill, emotion, or development that came in the first instalment.

Quite boring in parts and a bit of a slog.]]> 3.90 2015
author: William R. Forstchen
name: Vince
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2022/03/07
date added: 2022/03/07
shelves:
review:
Loses the momentum and novelty of its predecessor.

I enjoyed the first book in this series but this sequel offers none of the thrill, emotion, or development that came in the first instalment.

Quite boring in parts and a bit of a slog.
]]> 4069 Man's Search for Meaning has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living.]]> 165 Viktor E. Frankl 080701429X Vince 4
The first half of this book, whilst short, provides a harrowing account of life inside concentration camps that haunted me.

The second half of this book offers a concise insight into logotherapy that is a little dull.
]]> 4.39 1946
author: Viktor E. Frankl
name: Vince
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1946
rating: 4
read at: 2022/03/01
date added: 2022/03/01
shelves:
review:
A book of two halves (skip the second).

The first half of this book, whilst short, provides a harrowing account of life inside concentration camps that haunted me.

The second half of this book offers a concise insight into logotherapy that is a little dull.

]]> 31902916
He credits his success to four brilliant pieces of advice, each given to him just when he needed them most. Ever since, it has been Richard's habit, whenever he meets somebody he admires, to ask them for their best piece of advice. If they could tell him just one thing, what would it be?

Richard has collected pearls of wisdom from some of the most remarkable, inspiring and game-changing people in the world - in business, tech, philanthropy, politics, sport, art, spirituality, medicine, film, and design. From Hollywood greats like Judi Dench and Richard Curtis, to entrepreneurial legends like Richard Branson and Simon Cowell; from sports stars and TV personalities like Andy Murray and James Cordon to political activists and born survivors like Mandela's Comrades and Katie Piper, Richard has picked some of the world's most interesting brains to give you a lesson in how to live, how to love, how to create and how to succeed.]]> 345 Richard Reed 1782119221 Vince 2
If you want life advice from a certain narrow section of liberal society then this is the book for you in that it offers exactly that.

However the lessons soon grate as it becomes clear that the author is drawing from a narrow clique and offers little unconventional or counter-narrative wisdom.]]> 3.78 2016
author: Richard Reed
name: Vince
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2022/02/24
date added: 2022/02/24
shelves:
review:
Trite advice from a left and liberal base.

If you want life advice from a certain narrow section of liberal society then this is the book for you in that it offers exactly that.

However the lessons soon grate as it becomes clear that the author is drawing from a narrow clique and offers little unconventional or counter-narrative wisdom.
]]> 57691652 The phenomenal Sunday Times bestseller'Massively motivating' Fearne Cotton'A wealth of wisdom' Vex King'Read this book' Ant MiddletonHigh performance isn't born. It's made. This book uncovers the eight essential habits of the world's leading sportspeople, coaches and entrepreneurs.From taking responsibility for your situation to finding your 'Trademark Behaviours', it reveals how the world's highest-achieving people unlocked their potential - and how you can too. Anyone can learn the secrets of high performance.'Full of valuable principles with real-world relevance to people's everyday lives' Toto Wolff'So many different lessons from so many remarkable people' Adam PeatyDrawing on conversations with... Dina Asher-Smith | Steven Bartlett | Tom Daley | Steven Gerrard | Evelyn Glennie | Ole Gunnar Solskjær | Kelly Holmes | Chris Hoy | Eddie Jones | Siya Kolisi | Frank Lampard | Jo Malone | Matthew McConaughey | Ant Middleton | Tracey Neville | Robin Van Persie | Mauricio Pochettino | Gareth Southgate | Holly Tucker | Jonny Wilkinson | Clive Woodward | Toto Wolff and many more...]]> 294 Jake Humphrey 1473596203 Vince 2
Having not listened to the podcast that forms the basis of this book, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As such, the basic and sport-centric nature of this book took me a little aback.

There are some tips to be found amongst the chaff but, on the whole, this book offers nothing new and is far too reliant upon the message that the lessons of sporting superstars are relevant to the average person.

]]> 4.07
author: Jake Humphrey
name: Vince
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2022/02/21
date added: 2022/02/21
shelves:
review:
Basic and sport-focused.

Having not listened to the podcast that forms the basis of this book, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As such, the basic and sport-centric nature of this book took me a little aback.

There are some tips to be found amongst the chaff but, on the whole, this book offers nothing new and is far too reliant upon the message that the lessons of sporting superstars are relevant to the average person.


]]> 50187111
THE PEOPLE’S CHAMPION.

Like all the greatest stories, though, there is redemption and Tyson defies all the odds and literally drags himself to his feet. 10 million people around the globe watched Fury fight Wilder in the biggest fight of the boxing calendar. Speaking candidly about his struggles with mental health, this is Tyson Fury as you have never seen him before.

A BRITISH ICON.
________________________________

Behind the Mask is an unflinching autobiography from the greatest boxer of our time and a man who has demonstrated strength of a very different kind by conquering his demons.
________________________________ ]]> 304 Tyson Fury 1529124867 Vince 3
I’m a huge Fury fan and think he’s the standout heavyweight of the past twenty years, but this book didn’t tell me much that I didn’t already know about his journey.

Maybe that’s on me for knowing so much about him and being a big boxing fan anyway, or maybe that’s on the book for being quite short and simplistic.

It’s decent and I’m glad I’ve read it, but it’s mediocre in comparison so some of the great boxing books that have come before it.]]> 3.90 2019
author: Tyson Fury
name: Vince
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2022/02/03
date added: 2022/02/03
shelves:
review:
Decent, but leaves you wanting more.

I’m a huge Fury fan and think he’s the standout heavyweight of the past twenty years, but this book didn’t tell me much that I didn’t already know about his journey.

Maybe that’s on me for knowing so much about him and being a big boxing fan anyway, or maybe that’s on the book for being quite short and simplistic.

It’s decent and I’m glad I’ve read it, but it’s mediocre in comparison so some of the great boxing books that have come before it.
]]> 52741293 Shuggie Bain is the unforgettable story of young Hugh "Shuggie" Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher's policies have put husbands and sons out of work, and the city's notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings.

Shuggie's mother Agnes walks a wayward path: she is Shuggie's guiding light but a burden for him and his siblings. She dreams of a house with its own front door while she flicks through the pages of the Freemans catalogue, ordering a little happiness on credit, anything to brighten up her grey life. Married to a philandering taxi-driver husband, Agnes keeps her pride by looking good--her beehive, make-up, and pearly-white false teeth offer a glamourous image of a Glaswegian Elizabeth Taylor. But under the surface, Agnes finds increasing solace in drink, and she drains away the lion's share of each week's benefits--all the family has to live on--on cans of extra-strong lager hidden in handbags and poured into tea mugs.

Agnes's older children find their own ways to get a safe distance from their mother, abandoning Shuggie to care for her as she swings between alcoholic binges and sobriety. Shuggie is meanwhile struggling to somehow become the normal boy he desperately longs to be, but everyone has realized that he is "no right," a boy with a secret that all but him can see. Agnes is supportive of her son, but her addiction has the power to eclipse everyone close to her--even her beloved Shuggie.

A heartbreaking story of addiction, sexuality, and love, Shuggie Bain is an epic portrayal of a working-class family that is rarely seen in fiction. Recalling the work of Edouard Louis, Alan Hollinghurst, Frank McCourt, and Hanya Yanagihara, it is a blistering debut by a brilliant novelist who has a powerful and important story to tell.]]> 430 Douglas Stuart 0802148042 Vince 5
I have rarely been captivated by a book in the way that I have been by Shuggie Bain; it leaving me thinking of its world long after I had finished reading for that day.

The world is rich, the story is deep, and the characters leap off the page.

One of the finest books I have ever read and deserving of the many plaudits it’s received.]]> 4.29 2020
author: Douglas Stuart
name: Vince
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/29
date added: 2022/01/29
shelves:
review:
A powerful, gripping, and heart wrenching work of beauty.

I have rarely been captivated by a book in the way that I have been by Shuggie Bain; it leaving me thinking of its world long after I had finished reading for that day.

The world is rich, the story is deep, and the characters leap off the page.

One of the finest books I have ever read and deserving of the many plaudits it’s received.
]]> 57933306 Our ability to pay attention is collapsing. From the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections comes a groundbreaking examination of why this is happening--and how to get our attention back.

In the United States, teenagers can focus on one task for only sixty-five seconds at a time, and office workers average only three minutes. Like so many of us, Johann Hari was finding that constantly switching from device to device and tab to tab was a diminishing and depressing way to live. He tried all sorts of self-help solutions--even abandoning his phone for three months--but nothing seemed to work. So Hari went on an epic journey across the world to interview the leading experts on human attention--and he discovered that everything we think we know about this crisis is wrong.

We think our inability to focus is a personal failure to exert enough willpower over our devices. The truth is even more disturbing: our focus has been stolen by powerful external forces that have left us uniquely vulnerable to corporations determined to raid our attention for profit. Hari found that there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, from the decline of mind-wandering to rising pollution, all of which have robbed some of our attention. In Stolen Focus, he introduces readers to Silicon Valley dissidents who learned to hack human attention, and veterinarians who diagnose dogs with ADHD. He explores a favela in Rio de Janeiro where everyone lost their attention in a particularly surreal way, and an office in New Zealand that discovered a remarkable technique to restore workers' productivity.

Crucially, Hari learned how we can reclaim our focus--as individuals, and as a society--if we are determined to fight for it. Stolen Focus will transform the debate about attention and finally show us how to get it back.]]> 357 Johann Hari 0593138511 Vince 5
I initially bought this thinking it was a rehash of the same self-help productivity book I’ve read from various other authors and, for the first section, this assumption was right.

But then the main body of the book looks beyond the personal role in avoiding distraction and dumbing down, and moves towards the societal drivers for this.

A truly eye-opening book that really helps you understand what is being done to this and how, in our own small way, we can fight back.]]> 4.22 2022
author: Johann Hari
name: Vince
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/25
date added: 2022/01/25
shelves:
review:
A superb book that reveals the real reason we are dumbing down.

I initially bought this thinking it was a rehash of the same self-help productivity book I’ve read from various other authors and, for the first section, this assumption was right.

But then the main body of the book looks beyond the personal role in avoiding distraction and dumbing down, and moves towards the societal drivers for this.

A truly eye-opening book that really helps you understand what is being done to this and how, in our own small way, we can fight back.
]]> 36959766 Canada's productivity expert returns with a totally fresh angle on how to do more with less.

Throughout his experiments and research, Chris Bailey came across many little-known insights into how we focus (a key element of productivity), including the surprising idea that focus isn't so much a state of heightened awareness (as we'd assume), but a balance between two frames of mind. The most recent neuroscientific research on attention reveals that our brain has two powerful modes that can be unlocked when we use our attention well: a focused mode (hyperfocus), which is the foundation for being highly productive, and a creative mode (scatterfocus), which enables us to connect ideas in novel ways. Hyperfocus helps readers unlock both, so they can concentrate more deeply, think more clearly, and work and live more deliberately. Diving deep into the science and theories about how and why we bring our attention to bear on life's big goals and everyday tasks, Chris Bailey takes his unique approach to productivity to the next level in Hyperfocus, while retaining the approachable voice and perspective that made him a fast favourite.]]> 256 Chris Bailey 0735273685 Vince 4
There are about ten key lessons from this book that I feel I can take into my life and become more productive for it.

Some parts wander a little but, on the whole, it’s a good read.]]> 3.86 2018
author: Chris Bailey
name: Vince
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/22
date added: 2022/01/22
shelves:
review:
A decent book on productivity and focus.

There are about ten key lessons from this book that I feel I can take into my life and become more productive for it.

Some parts wander a little but, on the whole, it’s a good read.
]]> 58536046 Drawing on years of experience as a clinical psychologist, online sensation Dr Julie Smith provides the skills you need to navigate common life challenges and take charge of your emotional and mental health in her debut book.

Filled with secrets from a therapist's toolkit, Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? teaches you how to fortify and maintain your mental health, even in the most trying of times. Dr Julie Smith's expert advice and powerful coping techniques will help you stay resilient, whether you want to manage anxiety, deal with criticism, cope with depression, build self-confidence, find motivation, or learn to forgive yourself. The book tackles everyday issues and offers practical solutions in bite-sized, easy-to-digest entries which make it easy to quickly find specific information and guidance.

Your mental well-being is just as important as your physical well-being. Packed with proven strategies, Dr Smith's empathetic guide offers a deeper understanding of how your mind works and gives you the insights and help you need to nurture your mental health every day. Wise and practical, Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? might just change your life.]]> 368 Julie Smith 0063227932 Vince 2
This book probably sounded good when pitched to an editor off the back of a successful social media account, and I imagine it will find an audience based on the promise alone.

However that promise of a ‘one size fits all�� approach to self-counselling is simply not realised and we are left with a book that promises much but delivers little.

There is far too little time afforded to far too many complex matters and the book feels flat, dull, and boring as a result.]]> 3.85 2022
author: Julie Smith
name: Vince
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2022/01/18
date added: 2022/01/18
shelves:
review:
A dull and boring guide to self-counselling.

This book probably sounded good when pitched to an editor off the back of a successful social media account, and I imagine it will find an audience based on the promise alone.

However that promise of a ‘one size fits all�� approach to self-counselling is simply not realised and we are left with a book that promises much but delivers little.

There is far too little time afforded to far too many complex matters and the book feels flat, dull, and boring as a result.
]]> 49323194 THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'An honest and fascinating account of the journey that Tom made from discovering he was a type 2 diabetic to doing something about it. This book will change lives.' Michael Mosley'enjoyable for stories of Watson's high stress/high booze/poor sleep/comfort eating political life' The Times'Two years ago I turned 50, weighed 22 stone and was heavily medicated for type 2 diabetes. I thought it would be all downhill from there. By radically changing my nutrition, cutting out sugar, and taking up exercise, I've changed my life and reversed my diabetes. I hope my story will inspire others to regain their health and happiness and discover the new lease of life I'm experiencing.'Tom Watson began to put on weight in his early twenties, having developed an appetite for fast food and cheap beer while studying at the University of Hull. As time progressed - and his penchant for anything sweet, fatty or fizzy persisted - he found himself adjusting his belt, loosening his collar and upsizing his wardrobe to XXL. He continued to pile on the pounds when he entered the world of politics as MP for West Bromwich East (despite short-lived flirtations with fad diets and fitness classes). By December 2014, his bathroom scales had tipped to 22 stone. After being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in late 2015, he decided to take control of his diet and exercise. He started to feel better quickly and within a short time his long-term blood sugar levels were within normal range. By July 2018, he came off medication.]]> 211 Tom Watson Vince 4
Tom Watson comes across well in this book and his story is inspirational give how much weight he has lost and the health improvement journey he has gone through.

It lacks any specific advice though and some sort of guide (even if basic) would have made the book feel more complete.]]> 4.15
author: Tom Watson
name: Vince
average rating: 4.15
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/08
date added: 2022/01/08
shelves:
review:
An interesting and inspiring book that proves anyone can change their life.

Tom Watson comes across well in this book and his story is inspirational give how much weight he has lost and the health improvement journey he has gone through.

It lacks any specific advice though and some sort of guide (even if basic) would have made the book feel more complete.
]]> 1080554 288 Alex James 0316027588 Vince 5
The honesty in this book is unrivalled in any other music biography I’ve read and there’s a genuine sense that Alex James isn’t worried about who he might upset- which lends itself to an excellent memoir.]]> 3.73 2007
author: Alex James
name: Vince
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/31
date added: 2021/12/31
shelves:
review:
A sublime insight into the life of a Britpop legend.

The honesty in this book is unrivalled in any other music biography I’ve read and there’s a genuine sense that Alex James isn’t worried about who he might upset- which lends itself to an excellent memoir.
]]> 58112555
In his mid-twenties, Jimmy was bored, boring, unfulfilled and underachieving. He wasn't exactly depressed, but he was very sad. Think of a baby owl whose mum has recently died in a windmill accident. He was that sad. This book tells the story of how Jimmy turned it around and got happy, through the redemptive power of dick jokes.

Written to take advantage of the brief window between the end of lockdown and Jimmy getting cancelled for saying something unforgivable to Lorraine Kelly, this book is as timely as it is unnecessary.

Because you might be interested in Jimmy's life but he's damn sure you're a lot more interested in your own, Before & Laughter is about both of you. But mainly him. It tells the story of Jimmy's life - the transformation from white-collar corporate drone to fake-toothed donkey-laugh plastic-haired comedy mannequin - while also explaining how to turn your own life around and become the you you've always dreamt of being. At just 20, it's cheaper than Scientology, quicker than therapy, and significantly less boring than church.


Before & Laughter contains the answers to all the big questions in life, questions like:

What's the secret to happiness?
Is Jimmy wearing a wig?
What happened with that tax thing?
What's the meaning of life?
Is Jimmy's laugh real?
Can those teeth bite through vibranium?

And for readers in the West Country: yes, there are pictures (actually, sorry, there are no pictures, but there's a book about a hungry caterpillar you'll love).

Because it's Jimmy Carr - recently scientifically proved to be the funniest comedian in the UK - there are jokes, jokes and more jokes throughout. If laughter really was the best medicine, the NHS would be handing out this book in Nightingale Hospitals.

Fascinating, thoughtful and insightful - are all words that appear in the book.]]> 358 Jimmy Carr 1529413087 Vince 4
Who’d have thought Jimmy Carr was such a thoroughly decent chap who genuinely wants to help others?

Not me at least.

This was a good book that offers some decent advice. Although it’s all rehashed form people who did it first and did it better, it’s a nice introduction to some solid life advice and is often funny along the way.]]> 4.02 2021
author: Jimmy Carr
name: Vince
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/31
date added: 2021/12/31
shelves:
review:
A better book than I expected.

Who’d have thought Jimmy Carr was such a thoroughly decent chap who genuinely wants to help others?

Not me at least.

This was a good book that offers some decent advice. Although it’s all rehashed form people who did it first and did it better, it’s a nice introduction to some solid life advice and is often funny along the way.
]]> 55925561 'The only book that will give you a hangover' Chris Evans Breakfast Show---The hilarious, no holds barred autobiography from sporting legend and broadcaster Alan Brazil.As Alan recounts tales from his extraordinary life, he relives the sporting occasions, radio broadcasts and famously long drinking sessions that have defined his career. He takes readers inside the talkSPORT studio for a behind-the-scenes view of his most memorable interviews, and talks for the first time about the on-pitch rivalries and dressing room debriefs of his footballing career.With his typically outspoken and irreverent delivery, Alan shares everything from his thoughts on how the sports he loves have changed to his top tips for picking winners (and many losers) at Cheltenham. And he revels in wine-soaked jaunts in the South of France and late-night supermarket sweeps with Ray Parlour - if you can keep up.Packed full of never-before-told stories, refreshing appraisals, sporting controversy and a cast of larger-than-life characters, this is a brutally honesty and wickedly funny insight into an extraordinary life.]]> 260 Alan Brazil Vince 4
I liked this book throughout and, although light and straightforward, it was an interesting and easy read that I enjoyed.]]> 3.93
author: Alan Brazil
name: Vince
average rating: 3.93
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/02
date added: 2021/12/02
shelves:
review:
A down to earth insight into the life of a football and broadcasting legend.

I liked this book throughout and, although light and straightforward, it was an interesting and easy read that I enjoyed.
]]> 28257707 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062457738

In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.

For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.

Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited��"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.

There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.]]> 212 Mark Manson Vince 2
This book is basically stoicism for dummies and I’m surprised by how well it has sold- although perhaps that is simply down to the offensive title and brazen cover.

There are some snippets of use in here, but nothing that is not explained for better in thousands of other books.]]> 3.87 2016
author: Mark Manson
name: Vince
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2021/12/02
date added: 2021/12/02
shelves:
review:
A mediocre book that doesn’t justify its hype or sales.

This book is basically stoicism for dummies and I’m surprised by how well it has sold- although perhaps that is simply down to the offensive title and brazen cover.

There are some snippets of use in here, but nothing that is not explained for better in thousands of other books.
]]> 59545874
Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon is part memoir, part investigation, and unlike any creative portrait you’ve ever heard before. Recorded over a series of 30 hours of conversation between Simon, Gladwell, and Gladwell’s oldest friend and co-writer, journalist and Broken Record podcast co-host Bruce Headlam, the conversation flows from Simon’s music, to his childhood in Queens, NY, to his frequent collaborators including Art Garfunkel and the nature of creativity itself. Gladwell and Headlam traveled from the mountains of Hawaii to Simon’s own backyard studio to record an artist they’ve idolized since childhood.

Woven throughout the audiobook is distinctive commentary about Simon’s songwriting alongside archival audio footage and never-before-heard live studio versions and original recordings of beloved hits including “The Boxer", “The Sound of Silence", and “Graceland��. Between conversations, Gladwell deploys his signature blend of historical research and social science in an attempt to understand how a boy from 1940s Queens conjured near-perfect songs over an incredible 65-year career. Along the way, he gathers reflections on Simon’s particular genius from the likes of Sting, Herbie Hancock, Renee Fleming, Jeff Tweedy, Aaron Lindsey, and Roseanne Cash.

The result is an intimate audio biography of one of America’s most popular songwriters. Brimming with music and conversation, Miracle and Wonder is a window into Simon’s legendary career, what it means to be alive as an artist, and how to create work that endures.]]> 5 Malcolm Gladwell Vince 5
Malcolm Gladwell is the king of audiobooks and this latest entry does not disappoint.

It’s made a Paul Simon fan out of me!]]> 4.56
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Vince
average rating: 4.56
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/26
date added: 2021/11/26
shelves:
review:
Another excellent delivery from the king of audiobooks.

Malcolm Gladwell is the king of audiobooks and this latest entry does not disappoint.

It’s made a Paul Simon fan out of me!
]]> 57648017
Having entertained the idea for years, and even offered a few questionable opportunities ("It's a piece of cake! Just do 4 hours of interviews, find someone else to write it, put your face on the cover, and voila!") I have decided to write these stories just as I have always done, in my own hand. The joy that I have felt from chronicling these tales is not unlike listening back to a song that I've recorded and can't wait to share with the world, or reading a primitive journal entry from a stained notebook, or even hearing my voice bounce between the Kiss posters on my wall as a child.

This certainly doesn't mean that I'm quitting my day job, but it does give me a place to shed a little light on what it's like to be a kid from Springfield, Virginia, walking through life while living out the crazy dreams I had as young musician. From hitting the road with Scream at 18 years old, to my time in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, jamming with Iggy Pop or playing at the Academy Awards or dancing with AC/DC and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, drumming for Tom Petty or meeting Sir Paul McCartney at Royal Albert Hall, bedtime stories with Joan Jett or a chance meeting with Little Richard, to flying halfway around the world for one epic night with my daughters…the list goes on. I look forward to focusing the lens through which I see these memories a little sharper for you with much excitement.]]> 384 Dave Grohl 0063076098 Vince 5 4.44 2021
author: Dave Grohl
name: Vince
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/19
date added: 2021/11/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 99561 Before. Miles “Pudge�� Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps�� even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .
After. Nothing is ever the same.]]> 221 John Green 1435249151 Vince 1
I wanted to give up on this book around a third of the way in given its lack of action, warmth, or relatable characters but I kept going in the hope there would be some sort of plot twist or pay off.

There was neither.

Instead I was subject to more mundanity and an eerie sense that the author was writing about children in an inappropriate manner.

One to avoid.]]> 3.97 2005
author: John Green
name: Vince
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2005
rating: 1
read at: 2021/11/18
date added: 2021/11/18
shelves:
review:
A book that lacks purpose, sense, and plot.

I wanted to give up on this book around a third of the way in given its lack of action, warmth, or relatable characters but I kept going in the hope there would be some sort of plot twist or pay off.

There was neither.

Instead I was subject to more mundanity and an eerie sense that the author was writing about children in an inappropriate manner.

One to avoid.
]]> 57313302 In his first full-length autobiography, comedy legend and national treasure Billy Connolly reveals the truth behind his windswept and interesting life.Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, and a survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family, Billy's life is a remarkable story of success against all the odds.Billy found his escape first as an apprentice welder in the shipyards of the River Clyde. Later he became a folk musician - a 'rambling man' - with a genuine talent for playing the banjo. But it was his ability to spin stories, tell jokes and hold an audience in the palm of his hand that truly set him apart.As a young comedian Billy broke all the rules. He was fearless and outspoken - willing to call out hypocrisy wherever he saw it. But his stand-up was full of warmth, humility and silliness too. His startling, hairy 'glam-rock' stage appearance - wearing leotards, scissor suits and banana boots - only added to his appeal.It was an appearance on Michael Parkinson's chat show in 1975 - and one outrageous story in particular - that catapulted Billy from cult hero to national star. TV shows, documentaries, international fame and award-winning Hollywood movies followed. Billy's pitch-perfect stand-up comedy kept coming too - for over 50 years, in fact - until a double diagnosis of cancer and Parkinson's Disease brought his remarkable live performances to an end. Since then he has continued making TV shows, creating extraordinary drawings... and writing.Windswept and Interesting is Billy's story in his own words. It is joyfully funny - stuffed full of hard-earned wisdom as well as countless digressions on fishing, farting and the joys of dancing naked. It is an unforgettable, life-affirming story of a true comedy legend.'I didn't know I was Windswept and Interesting until somebody told me. It was a friend who was startlingly exotic himself. He'd just come back from Kashmir and was all billowy shirt and Indian beads. I had long hair and a beard and was swishing around in electric blue flairs.He "Look at you - all windswept and interesting!"I just "Exactly!"After that, I simply had to maintain my reputation...']]> 356 Billy Connolly Vince 5
I cannot recall laughing as much at any book ever before and loved this throughout.

A tour de force of Billy’s life and a wonderfully rich insight into his world.]]> 4.41
author: Billy Connolly
name: Vince
average rating: 4.41
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/08
date added: 2021/11/08
shelves:
review:
A laugh out loud memoir.

I cannot recall laughing as much at any book ever before and loved this throughout.

A tour de force of Billy’s life and a wonderfully rich insight into his world.
]]> 193755 Elle, suffered a massive stroke that left him completely and permanently paralyzed, a victim of "locked-in syndrome." Where once he had been renowned for his gregariousness and wit, Bauby now found himself imprisoned in an inert body, able to communicate only by blinking his left eye. The miracle is that in doing so he was able to compose this stunningly eloquent memoir, which was published two days before Bauby's death in 1996 and went on to become a number-one bestseller across Europe.

The second miracle is that The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is less a record of affliction than it is a celebration of the liberating power of consciousness. In a voice that is by turns wistful and mischievous, angry and sardonic, Bauby tells us what it is like to spend a day with his children; to imagine lying in bed beside his lover; to conjure up the flavor of delectable meals even as he is fed by tube. Most of all, this triumphant book allows us to follow the flight of an indomitable spirit and to share its exultation at its own survival.]]> 132 Jean-Dominique Bauby 0375701214 Vince 3
This book is a staggering achievement in itself and the tale of the author is truly unique.

It is very short, being plumped by some reviews and articles at the end, but that is understandable given the manner in which it had to be dictated.]]> 4.00 1997
author: Jean-Dominique Bauby
name: Vince
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/07
date added: 2021/11/07
shelves:
review:
An interesting and one off insight into the life of someone with locked in syndrome.

This book is a staggering achievement in itself and the tale of the author is truly unique.

It is very short, being plumped by some reviews and articles at the end, but that is understandable given the manner in which it had to be dictated.
]]> 58968142
In The Everyday Hero Manifesto you will discover:

- The hidden habits used by many of the world's most creative and successful people to realize their visionary ambitions

- Original techniques to turn fear into fuel, problems into power and past troubles into triumphs

- A breakthrough blueprint to battle-proof yourself against distraction and procrastination so that you produce magic that dominates your domain

- Pioneering insights on adopting world-class routines that will lead you to achieve superhuman fitness and become the most disciplined person you know

- Unusual wisdom to operate with far more simplicity, beauty and peace

Part memoir of a life richly lived, part instruction manual for virtuoso-grade performance, and part handbook for spiritual freedom in an age of high-velocity change, The Everyday Hero Manifesto will completely transform your life. Forever.]]> 240 Robin Sharma 0008312877 Vince 5
I have read many self-improvement/personal development books in the past two years and, whilst others have gone into more detail on certain areas, nothing is as rich and varied as this.

I have taken more from this book in total than any other I have read of its kind and the lessons within will greatly benefit me throughout the rest of my life.

Sharks offers so much here that it is hard to believe he is giving away this amount and doing so in such a concise manner.

A genuine must read and 10/10 book that will undoubtedly leave a long legacy in its wake.]]> 4.29 2021
author: Robin Sharma
name: Vince
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/17
date added: 2021/11/06
shelves:
review:
A rich and varied treasure box of self-improvement.

I have read many self-improvement/personal development books in the past two years and, whilst others have gone into more detail on certain areas, nothing is as rich and varied as this.

I have taken more from this book in total than any other I have read of its kind and the lessons within will greatly benefit me throughout the rest of my life.

Sharks offers so much here that it is hard to believe he is giving away this amount and doing so in such a concise manner.

A genuine must read and 10/10 book that will undoubtedly leave a long legacy in its wake.
]]> 6596 The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love. The Four Agreements are: Be Impeccable With Your Word, Don't Take Anything Personally, Don't Make Assumptions, Always Do Your Best.]]> 152 Miguel Ruiz 1878424505 Vince 5
Most books take twice as long to say a fraction of what this book says. It condenses life lessons down into 4 key lessons, removing all the unnecessary personal anecdotes and deviations that pad out most other books of this type.

Superb and extremely beneficial. Just wish I had read this years ago!]]> 4.20 1997
author: Miguel Ruiz
name: Vince
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/05
date added: 2021/11/05
shelves:
review:
Possibly the best personal development book I have ever read.

Most books take twice as long to say a fraction of what this book says. It condenses life lessons down into 4 key lessons, removing all the unnecessary personal anecdotes and deviations that pad out most other books of this type.

Superb and extremely beneficial. Just wish I had read this years ago!
]]> 40409718 162 Charles Bukowski Vince 5
I have come late to Bukowski but I am glad I got here in the end. This gritty book is something the likes of which I’ve never read before and had me captivated, reading it over the course of two evenings.]]> 3.89 1971
author: Charles Bukowski
name: Vince
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1971
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/03
date added: 2021/11/03
shelves:
review:
Unlike anything I’ve ever read before.

I have come late to Bukowski but I am glad I got here in the end. This gritty book is something the likes of which I’ve never read before and had me captivated, reading it over the course of two evenings.
]]> 21423525
The timing couldn’t be worse. Hoping to encourage her son’s artistic interests, Connie has planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world’s greatest works of art as a family, and she can’t bring herself to cancel. And maybe going ahead with the original plan is for the best anyway. Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in the marriage and might even help him bond with Albie.

Narrated from Douglas’s endearingly honest, slyly witty, and at times achingly optimistic point of view, Us is the story of a man trying to rescue his relationship with the woman he loves and learning how to get closer to a son who’s always felt like a stranger.]]> 400 David Nicholls 034089699X Vince 3
I adore One Day and Sweet Sorrow is one of the best books I’ve read over the past year, so I came to Us with high expectations.

Sadly, these were not met.

It’s a perfectly pleasant and passable book, yet it has none of the emotion or excitement I’ve come to expect from Nicholls�� other work.

Perhaps that was the point though, and perhaps I have missed it.]]> 3.69 2014
author: David Nicholls
name: Vince
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2021/10/28
date added: 2021/10/28
shelves:
review:
Disappointing in the context of his other work.

I adore One Day and Sweet Sorrow is one of the best books I’ve read over the past year, so I came to Us with high expectations.

Sadly, these were not met.

It’s a perfectly pleasant and passable book, yet it has none of the emotion or excitement I’ve come to expect from Nicholls�� other work.

Perhaps that was the point though, and perhaps I have missed it.
]]>