Heidi

I was hoping this would have more information about multiple districts/tributes. Instead, it's pretty much a recap of the first book in the Hunger Games series.

The advice given is helpful. The last few chapters are all examples on how you can put assertively speaking into practice. A lot of the practices are outdated, and are a great way to brand yourself a “Karen” to the customer service industry in 2021. Maybe in the '70s, the person you speak with at the register/return center did not have any power, but in 2021, they have the power to assist you. There is absolutely no need to immediately escalate to their supervisor (who may not have operated in the same role in months/years, if ever).

I already knew about love languages and had been utilizing those in the workplace to meet people where they are at. This book takes the same concept, and provides applicable suggestions on how to utilizing the love language concept in the workplace.

The MBA survey was also very helpful and surprisingly. I had assumed my secondary appreciation language was going to be “Acts of Service,” since that is how I show my appreciation of others. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that wasn't the case, and the secondary appreciation language definitely makes a lot of sense for me.

I am definitely going to recommend this book to teammates & supervisors.

I LOVED this book. I find George Takei hilarious, and it was fascinating to read all about how he built up his current fanbase (that doesn't have a whole lot to do with Star Trek).

I also liked the book as it explained how facebook marketing works (although, like another reviewer said; that wasn't the primary goal of this book).

A great read.

I'm normally not into the kind of self-help this book offers in the later chapters, however, these were all messages I needed to hear at this time in my life.

I will be keeping this book near my journal to open for prompts in the future; there were a ton of helpful prompts and ideas presented in the book that I look forward to incorporating with my life.

This was my favourite book in middle school.

With the current coronavirus threatening to become a pandemic, I found myself longing to read this book again.

It's a story about family, about faith, about coming of age, about growing up. It's a story that deeply touched my heart back in middle school, and now that I'm older and have had more life experience, continues to touch my heart.

While the target audience for this book is middle school, I would recommend this story to anyone: old and young alike. Karen Hesse, and the stories she weaves, will always have a place in my heart.

A wonderful book that goes through the history of how women have used crafting (knitting, sewing, embroidery, quilting, weaving, etc) to ensure their voices were heard. Goes all the way back to the American Revolution to current issues (the 2016 US election & fallout; Black Lives Matters).

A collection of stories that show how a group craft project can help bring a community together, both while making the project, as well as while displaying the finished project.

A really good book about forgiveness and what hatred can do to your soul. A very moving memoir of someone who survived the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing and then had survivor's guilt and how she learned to manage the guilt and live with it, eventually going on to become a Civil Rights Leader herself.

This was really eyeopening in a lot of the ways I look at things/see things. I recommend this for anyone who is struggling with social rules or social norms.

It's an interesting book that explores the concept of self and how you can change your own opinion of yourself.

I loved this book! I'd you have ever watched “The Twilight Zone,” you'll see similarities of this book and the episode “The Bewitching Pool.” I think this is a great book for people ages 8+ about the importance of accepting responsibility and the inability to escape from your past.
Well worth the money & I have since recommended it back to my friend who told me about it and forward to two new people.

I started reading this to combat the “doom scrolling” in the early days of the COVID-19 virus reaching the US.

It's amazing how much history rhymes. The things experienced during the 1918 pandemic are the same things we are experiencing with COVID-19, the only differences is, in 1918, the government didn't care about demanding face masks being “unconstitutional,” they cared about the safety & health of the public (unless, of course, you were in the military, in which case, ships were filled above capacity, and to the shock of none of the modern readers: The Spanish Flu spread like wildfire and many soldiers were buried at sea, without ever seeing battle).

It's interesting to see how much has also changed. Yes, we are wearing face masks for COVID-19 as well. Yes, schools are also “closed” during COVID-19 (though there is “school at home,” which was not available in 1918). Yes, doctors and nurses came out of retirement to help care for the sick/dying. During the Spanish Flu (H5N1), school gymnasiums were converted into make shift hospitals. Pools were drained to be used as makeshift morgues. Mass graves were made to make room for the bodies. Time will tell if any of these things are happening in 2020, but thusfar, I have not seen/heard news coverage of them (granted, I live in NY, and our governor worked to ensure the health & safety of the citizens here).

It's also interesting to see how the country's views have changed. Phrases that would be considered “leftist” now, were not classified as political back then, and the author does not seem to mention the community's response to such statements (“Stressing that ‘the many shall not be placed in danger by the few', the paper urged readers to wear a mask. ‘Those who are not doing so are not showing their independence – they are only showing their indifference for the lives of others – for the lives of the women and the helpless little children who cannot help themselves.'” - Location 3979 in the Kindle eBook). Perhaps it was because there wasn't as much competition for news sources back then? It's interesting to read how united the US was in trying to fight against the spread of the Spanish Flu, and it is also interesting to read how even back then, there were people who considered basic public safety measures to be unconstitutional (“While most residents caught without a mask were simply forgetful or minor transgressors, some harboured deep resentment over being forced to wear a mask in public. One woman, a downtown attorney, argued that the mask ordinance was ‘absolutely unconstitutional' because it was not legally enacted, and that as a result every police officer who had arrested an unmasked citizen was personally liable.” - Location 2624 in the Kindle eBook).

It's a damn shame the US couldn't prevent history from rhyming again when it came to the COVID-19 pandemic. With luck, the future generations will remember the history when the next pandemic comes around and makes its way to America's shores.

Useful advice, great reference book!

The People Code is a really great reference point for different types of people and what motivates them. I find the concept to be very similar to the DOPE personality portrayal (Red for Eagles, Blue for Owls, Yellow for Peacocks, and White for Doves). There are a lot of great tips and tricks for how to connect to each personality, and communicate in a way each personality would understand.

The Character Code seemed like anecdotal stories/a self help book. I was hoping it would contain further details on how each personality could work together or what unhealthy personalities would look like.

Rabindarnath is a fantastic poet. His poems are only 2 lines, which is perfect for anyone who likes the idea of being a person who enjoys poetry, but does not have the patience for reading poetry.

This runs through a complete sociological analysis of the country of Panem, individual districts, and the name/origin of a couple of the main characters from the Hunger Games.

I read this after watching the Netflix special. The book is so much like the special, and it's definitely become a fast favourite of mine. I can see myself reading this book over and over and over. It's really well written, and the Netflix series is also incredibly close to the book (with a bit of added backstory).

I started following This Trippy Hippie on TikTok on January of this year (2021). I do not have anyone in my life with Tourettes, nor do I know anyone with Tourettes, but I enjoy learning new things and hearing about other people's lived experiences. 

This book answers so many questions I was curious about, but did not want to ask for fear of being insensitive or rude (In the 90s, it was “Don't ask someone about their conditions!” in 2021, it's “If you're curious, look on Social Media, see if someone is sharing their experiences, watch and listen and learn!”). 

First of all, this book is definitely a biography of Evie, and it was awesome to learn so much about this happy, bubbly, smiley person we see a lot on TikTok! She has been through much more than I had realized, and it really gave background behind some of her videos from September where her body was ‘locking up,' and also gave additional insight into the seizures she has.

Evie writes openly about her own mental and physical health struggles with the goal of de-stigmatizing these issues, and helping other people to feel less isolated and alone. She is such a strong, beautiful woman (both inside and out!). She talks candidly about her severe anxiety, severe depression, and depersonalisation/derealization disorder (wherein the person does not feel like they themselves are real/they do not feel like the world/people around them are real), as well as her paranoia happening at the time (cameras in her teddy bears' eyes and in the bathroom vent. She gives advice on what to do to help people with these issues (remind them they are safe), and what not to do (don't tell them it is not real: their brains are tricking them, and it's not going to do anything good). 

If you are interested in learning more about someone's lived experience with Tourettes, non-epileptic seizures, social anxiety, depression, depersonalization/derealization disorder, and functional neurological disorder (or if you have these yourself, or know someone who does), this is definitely the book for you!

A well-written biography told from Malala's perspective about her life pre and post Taliban.

Very informative about how her country works and how they view the US, and very informative about the “other side” of the story post 9/11 & the Iraq war/the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

At one point, Malala was criticized for being an “American Sympathizer” by the Taliban because she admires Barack Obama due to Barack's background of being a first-generation immigrant who was able to rise to the presidency of the US thanks to education. That gave me a bit of pause, because we hear similar things like this in the US if we dare to admire any of our “enemies” as well. 

This book definitely outlines the cost of war & political corruption to civilian life. 

I recently saw the musical “Gypsy” for the first time, and I was curious about the life Gypsy Rose Lee led. The book definitely doesn't disappoint, though to be honest, having seen “Gypsy,” I pretty much came into the book knowing what took place.

I was kind of hoping for more information on her later years in life, and her relationship with her sister, but the book doesn't really delve much into that.

This is the first book on racial history that has absolutely left me enraged (ironic, given the title is “White Rage” and I am white).

I had no idea voter fraud was being touted during the Obama administration as a result of young voters (some who were POC and BlPOC) merely showing up to the polls and voting for their candidate. I had no idea the Jim Crow voter laws were coming back. 

This book also gave me a historical understanding on why the GOP would work to get Trump into office (even knowing he had close ties with Putin): There is a long history in the US of “I will happily allow a leopard to eat my face off, as long as they first go after ‘those people' over there.” 

The “After the Election: Imagining” section gave me goosebumps. After reading so much about the racist cycle in the US, reading about how citizens rose up to the challenge of preventing Trump from being able to rubber stamp policies through the branches of government (to the point of putting their money where their values lie and donating to the ACLU $24 mil over a weekend when the ACLU normally brings in $3-$4 mil a year) gives me so much hope for the future of our country to actively strive to stop allowing others to be disfranchised.

Well, that was a wild ride.

I have always admired Laura Ingalls Wilder, since I was a little girl reading her historic fiction book series. Caroline Fraser does a fantastic job with this in-depth look at not only Laura, but also her daughter Rose Wilder Lane. Caroline goes into depth on the history that helped set the stage for Laura's life, and the history that helped set the stage for the whys and hows of Laura/Rose fictionalizing Laura's childhood.

The 1910s and 1920s were a bit of a slog to get through, but the rest of the book was great. If you only care about Laura, stop reading after Chapter 6 (the first chapter in part 2). Parts 2 & 3 have a lot to do with Rose Wilder Lane's mental health (she clearly struggled with at least bipolar disorder), and Rose's relationship to Laura. Rose was not a likeable person, which I found astonishing, given the lessons we know Laura took from Ma. In hindsight, perhaps this isn't terribly surprising, given that Laura likely had her hands full helping Almanzo keep up with the farm. Laura likely didn't have the energy/time to parent her young child, which could also explain all of the bitterness and resentment Rose felt towards her parents throughout her 81 years on this earth. 

Another review by aneidas mentions:

 It's interesting that Fraser seems to condemn Lane for her extreme political views but somewhat exonerates Wilder, who shared her daughter's libertarian beliefs... similar to the way Wilder excuses her father for his own poor decisions in her books. 

I actually found this book rather boring and not as funny as I had hoped. I kind of wish I had read the other people who voted this 3 stars before reading the book/purchasing (although, I imagine that wouldn't have stopped me).

Wow. This book was incredibly powerful and informative about the American History of Racism. 

When reading through some of the history, it was like I was reading about the Black Lives Matters movements, and the 2020 Protests. 

I was appalled and horrified to learn gynecological studies started on female slaves, and worse - they were not granted anesthesia. 

There are so many ways this book proves that while history does not repeat itself, history does rhyme. While the history of American Racism is rage-inducing, saddening, and fraught, I found myself hopeful for real change by the end of the book.

Note: This book ends with Obama's administration, but since then, we have seen underrepresented representation for women and POC in America's Federal Government. I remain hopeful we are unable to fully go back to an all white, all male Federal Government, and I remain hopeful we will be able to turn back racist policies from the past. I do not think the latter will happen in my lifetime, but I am hopeful it will happen. 

Let me start out by saying: This book is a mixed bag.

The Introduction for this book was written with a very “self-help” tone and self-help word choices. Choosing to be inclusive is to make the choice to accept “this isn't about me.”  Choosing to be inclusive is its own challenge that not everyone is ready to face (but at the same time, they are not ready to face “not being inclusive or trying to remain neutral to inclusivity is its own choice”).

The book only truly starts to feel genuine and authentic around chapter three. It's a good starting point for anyone who is in the very start of their inclusivity/diversity journey (the angry/defensive stage).