Better Than Before - Gretchen Rubin

What I learned about making and breaking habits - to sleep more, quit sugar, procrastinate less, and generally build a happier life. The author has also written a book called The Happiness Project, and is host of a webcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin. This is an interesting book about habits, good ones and bad ones, and how to start good ones and drop bad ones. She writes from personal experience, and the experiences of friends in the real world. That is what makes this book applicable to the average person, it uses real life examples to illustrate food habits, procrastination, and time usage habits. An endorsement by Susan Cain, author of Quiet, adds credence to this book.
In a chapter called Free From French Fries, she describes two types of people, Abstainers and Moderators. You will see yourself and your habits falling into one of those. In the chapter titles, It's Hard to Make Things Easier, she explains the Secret of Adulthood, and it is to Make it Easy to do right, and hard to go wrong. Simple, yet very effective advice that many of us have heard from many other sources, but always good for a reminder. Simplicity, Abundance, and Overbuyer are descriptive terms that you will see yourself and others.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to break a bad habit, or start a good habit, which is just about anyone. I found her suggestions and advice easy to read and practical. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter add to the subject.
Publisher by Broadway Books, www.broadwaybooks.com, There is also extra content included, a notes section, and Suggested reading. All in all, a good book and an easy read.
I have been provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for this review.

Born to Be Free - D. A. Horton

Escaping Performance to be captured by grace. This book is broken down into two parts, the performance trap and the trap of God's grace. In part one, the author talks about the subject of trajectory, relationships, affirmation, and peers. In part two, he tackles trust in God, reconciliation with God, affection from God, and partnership with the saints of God. He relates a lot of his stories on growing up, family and school life, and his experience in the music industry, and rap music in particular. Those of us who are not into this style won't recognize the names he mentions, but he has worked with a lot of the big names in this industry. Regardless, the points he makes are universal. Some are wake up calls, from family and friends, that something needed to change.
The main point in the first part of the book that struck me the most was, we always seen to want to do good things for God so He will love us more, when nothing we do will make Him love us more. It has already been done on the cross, and we don't need to add everything to it.
He is describing contrasting traps, one good and one bad.He even throws in a quote from John McArthur and the Westminster Confession, extra points from me. His views on total depravity and the sovereignty of God makes me think he is Reformed in his thinking, at least leaning that way.
On page 122, He says "Remember-God has given every believer the same job description: the great commission. We are all missionaries serving on the mission field we are living in." True statement, and one to always keep in mind in evangelism.
Also, on page 170, "Look around you. This dark world is inhabited by people who not only love darkness, but are content in remaining in it. Masses of people are running from the message of the cross because the life of Christ exposes the guilt and shame of their indwelling sin." And, a lot of people do not want to admit their own sinfulness and depravity.
You don't have to be a fan of rap music to enjoy this book, but if you are into this style, it may help with the name he mentions. Despite that, I enjoyed this book, and found it very readable. I can say that the author is sincere, and wanting to get his message out. The points of the traps that one can fall into, especially about the performance trap, that we have to keep performing for God to love us, and that by ding more God will love us more.
I have been provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for this review.

Nonsense - Jamie Holmes

The power of no knowing. The author is a Future Tense Fellow at New America and a former research coordinator at Harvard University. He uses his background and experiences in this book to report on such diverse topics as hostage negotiators, fashion trends, and the art of contradiction. This is an interesting book, in just the mere fact all these subjects are addressed and woven together in one book.
"It turns out that what matters most isn't IQ, willpower, or confidence in what we know. It's how we deal with what we don't understand." says the author.This is a well researched book, and the notes section itself is over 75 pages long and very extensive. If you need to know anything about his research or for further study, you will find it here.
Th writing and topics reminded me of Malcolm Gladwell in some places, and how the author tied seemingly unconnected processes and events together. The Waco incident and the Yom Kippur War.
This is writing at a different level, to be able to hold the attention of a reader with a story that has been over-reported in so many media outlets, and to tell it from another perspective. Or think about it in a different way, hearing about what was going on in the background, behind the scenes.
With chapter titles such as, The problem with urgency, why intentions are misread, and the uses of uncertainty, this is a book that covers a lot of ground. Divided into three parts, Making Sense, Handling ambiguity, and Embracing uncertainty, after reading this book you will realize that you don't always have to be certain. At over 300 pages, it may take some readers some time to get through this book, but it is worth the read.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for this review.

Your Daily Brain - 24 hours in the life of your brain

From the minds behind Marbles, the brain store, and marblesthebrainstore.com, comes this book explaining what your brain does every day, every 24 hours. This book is divided into 3 sections, The morning, the day, and the evening. There are short chapters with a digital clock next to each describing what is going on in your brain during each of the times. Each chapter moves in 15 minute time periods throughout the day. from 6:30 AM to 9 PM. At the end of each chapter there is a paragraph summing up the activity.
This is an interesting book, but not quite what I expected.I would have preferred longer chapters, with maybe more technical information, Still in my opinion, the best parts are the paragraphs at the end of the chapters. that are short to to the point and full of information. It's the kind of book that appeals to readers into psychology and how people think. Or if you just want to know what your own brain is doing during the day. The author is listed as Garth Sundem, who has also authored several other book, including Brain Candy, Brain Trust, and Beyond IQ, He can be found at www.garthsundem.com.
I can see how this book would be useful those of us who want to find out how we tick, and how our mind works. This is still the kind of book that I like to read.
Published by threeriverspress.com.
I have been provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for this review.

Lay It Down- Bill Tell

Living in the freedom of the Gospel. There's good news for the weary.  Burnout, spiritual breakdown, depression. From the very beginning, the author uses quotes from a lot of authors that are recognizable to many readers. Among them, Brennan Manning, Tim Keller, John Eldredge, Wayne Grudem, and John Stott.  And that;s just in the first few chapters.  Other quotes from C.S. Lewis, John Calvin, Paul Tripp, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Phillip Yancey, and Charles Spurgeon.  He certainly is well read and obviously has a lot of respect for those that have come before him.
This is a very personal story of the author's struggle with burn out, depression and exhaustion, that lead him to a crisis and eventually intensive therapy. A lot of people that go through this do not have the luxury of two weeks of intensive therapy, let alone a support group and understanding people around. He had uncovered some deep seated issues of worthiness, culminating in a story of purchasing a new shirt, one that was not a hand me down, The realization that our identity and worthiness is is in Christ, struck him many years after.
This book is divided into three parts, God Views me differently, God Makes me different, God Relates to me Differently. In particular, his discussion of the difference between Punishment vs. Discipline I found interesting. There are quotes from a few versions of the Bible, some may have an issue with quotes from The Message paraphrase. The book does state that the devil will try to convince us to believe lies about ourselves, he is called the accuser for a reason. For those that have been through a similar situation, it offers hope and advice and confidence that there is rest and peace through trusting in Jesus for our sufficiency. He is all we need.
Bill Tell serves as National Staff development Specialist for the Navigators.
Published by Navpress, in alliance with Tyndale House publishers.
I have received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a review.