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[[Category:Lifestyle|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Lifestyle]]__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0753558378
|title=Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters
|author=Greg McKeown
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=''The marginal return of working harder was, in fact, negative.''
That's what happened to Patrick McGinnis. It's no exaggeration to say that he devoted his life to the company he worked for, struggling through, even when he was ill, only to find that he was working for a bankrupt company. His stock had fallen by 97%, he had lost his health and his job had little value. He made a bargain with God; if he survived, he would make some changes. He did survive and came through stronger - and richer. There is, you see, a different way: ''great things are not reserved for those who bleed, for those who almost break.''
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1523092734
|title=A Women's Guide to Claiming Space
|author=Eliza Van Cort
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=''She brings a hug-kick-thunderclap that every woman needs in her life. Again and again and again.'' (Alma Derricks, former CMO, Cirque du Soleil RSD)
''To claim space is to live the life of choosing unapologetically and bravely. It is to live the life you've always wanted.''
Sometimes the reviewing gods are generous: at a time when violence against women is much in the news, ''A Women's Guide to Claiming Space'' by Eliza Van Cort dropped onto my desk. Now - to be clear - this book is not a 'how to disable your attacker with two simple jabs' manual: it's something far more effective, but discussion at the moment seems to be about how women can be ''protected''. I've always thought that women need to rise above this, to be people who don't need protection, people who claim their own space. If all women did this, those few men who are violent to women would realise that we are not just an easy target to be used to prove that they are big men.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1529109116
|title=Call Me Red: A Shepherd's Journey
|author=Hannah Jackson
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=''I want the image of a British farmer to simply be that of a person who is proudly employed in feeding the nation. I don't think that is too much to ask.''
The stereotypical farmer was probably born on the land where ''his'' family have farmed for generations. He's probably grown up without giving much thought as to what he really wants to do: he knows that he'll be a farmer. It's not always the case though. Hannah Jackson was born and brought up on the Wirral: she'd never set foot on a commercial farm until she was twenty although she'd always had a deep love of animals. Her original intention was that she would become 'Dr Jackson, whale scientist' and she was well on her way to achieving this when her life changed on a family holiday to the Lake District. She saw a lamb being born and, although 'Hannah Jackson, farmer' lacked the kudos of her original intention, she knew that she wanted to be a shepherd. With the determination that you'll soon realise is an essential part of her, she set about achieving her ambition.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1786495902
|title=The Natural Health Service: How Nature Can Mend Your Mind
|author=Isabel Hardman
|rating=5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Isabel Hardman suffered a trauma which she chooses not to share. She says that a friend who does know, burst into tears and health-care professionals' jaws have sagged in disbelief. Hardman dealt with this at the time by 'keeping going': the next day she went to work to cover the budget, next there was the EU referendum, the political party leadership contests and then it was party conference season. One night she had to be sedated and returned home to begin long-term sick leave. That was what brought me to this book: 2020 was the year when the bins went out more often than I did.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Lauren Martin
|title=The Book of Moods
|rating=5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary= I was in a great mood when I first learnt of this book, and because sarcasm doesn't always translate well into writing, imagine the word ''great'' being delivered with an eye roll and a sigh, through clenched teeth. I had spent the best part of a rainy, windy weekend afternoon out on the water at our local sailing club in the rescue rib, on standby in case anyone who was racing needed support. It's a volunteer duty we all do during the year, and normally I'm happy to, but that day the weather was miserable and I was miserable, and it all came to a head that evening when I noticed on the website that we had been thanked for our time as "Dave and wife". Wow. I had never needed this book more.
|isbn=1538733625
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0008420386
|title=Failosophy: A handbook for when things go wrong
|author=Elizabeth Day
|rating=4
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=What do Malcolm Gladwell, Alain de Botton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Lemn Sissay, Nigel Slater, Emeli Sandé, Meera Syal, Dame Kelly Holmes and Andrew Scott have in common? They've all failed and - more importantly - they've been willing to appear on Elizabeth Day's podcast to discuss their failures and how life worked out for them afterwards. You'll find the results of these discussions in ''Failosophy''
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1504321383
|title=Single, Again, and Again, and Again
|author=Louisa Pateman
|rating=4.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=''You can't be happy and fulfilled on your own. You are not complete until you find a man''.
This was what Louisa Pateman was brought up to believe. It wasn't unkind: it was simply the adults in her life advising her as to what they thought would be best for her. It was reinforced by all those fairy tales where the girl (she's usually fairly young) is rescued by the handsome prince who then marries her so that they can live happily ever after. Few girls are lucky enough to be brought up ''without'' the expectation that they will marry and have children. It was a belief and it would be many years before Louisa would conclude that ''a belief is a choice''.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1538731738
|title=Simple Abundance: 365 Days to a Balanced and Joyful Life
|author= Sarah Ban Breathnach
|rating=5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Someone once said: it's not self-indulgence, it's therapy! I think they were talking about shopping, but it probably can be applied to most things. In my case, it applies to writing about things because I want to, rather than because I can sell it or because I've got something to sell.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Sharon Blackie
|title=If Women Rose Rooted
|rating=5
|genre= Biography
|summary= I normally say that you can tell how much a book means to me by how many pages have corners turned down. Perhaps an even greater measure of impact is setting out to buy my own copy before I've finished reading the one I've borrowed. I want to avoid clichés like 'powerful' 'inspiring' 'life-changing' – although it is definitely the first two and only time will tell about the third – but clichés exist for a reason and I'm not sure I can succinctly put it any better.
|isbn=1912836017
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1543987877
|title=Learn to Love: Guide to Healing Your Disappointing Love Life
|author=Dr Thomas Jordan
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=''Learn to Love: Guide to Healing Your Disappointing Love Life'' is a book about love relationships rather than a book about love. The two greatest emotions are love and grief and love is the opposite of grief: ''if you love'', Dr Thomas Jordan tells us, ''you will inevitably grieve''. Your love relationships begin the moment you're born and end only when you die. Whilst we all come into the world hoping to give and receive love there are many people for whom love is not quite so simple. Some people suffer multiple disappointments - sometimes repeating the same mistakes - and this eventually becomes resignation. For people who are making the same mistakes repeatedly, self-preservation, in the form of resignation is a necessity.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Michael Harris
|title=Solitude: In Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World
|rating=5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary= This is not the book I was expecting it to be. For some reason I expected it to be another self-help manual on how to find calm, how to step outside the mainstream, but it is not that at all. Instead of telling us how, it is more about the ''why''. Harries examines how we're eroding solitude, which used to be a natural part of our human life, and why that matters. Of course he talks about how some people have found solitude and what has come of that, and eventually in the final chapter he talks about his own experience of having deliberately sought it out, but mostly he wanders down the alleys and by-ways that his thinking about this lost art led him.
|isbn=1847947662
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0753553236
|summary=Go on, admit it - you're not quite perfect. You still have those odd, quirky even loveable (to you) habits which seem to annoy other people. Other people, of course, are sorely afflicted with some dreadful flaws which they could so easily correct, if only they would make just a little bit of effort. Or put another way, I get cross with myself because I forget to do things or do some actions more than I should and no matter how I try to make what seem to be quite monumental changes I never quite seem to get to grips with the concepts. I constantly fail and then I get cross with myself for failing. Lack of willpower is another burden to add to the list.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1785785516
|summary=Manners maketh man, they say. It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by a set of conventions, some of which are ages old and other which have evolved over time. Manners are not about how much to tip or how you should behave if you get an invitation to Buckingham Palace, they have nothing to do with class or financial status: they're about getting the basics right before we try to deal with more difficult matters. Of course we all have more relaxed manners when we're with family and friends, but it's best if we learn to distinguish between our public and private lives and to act appropriately. ''Fucking Good Manners'' aims to help us on the way.
}}
{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingisbn="15" <!-- Rob Walker -->1999811402|-title=Painting Snails| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Stephen John Hartley[[image:1529104432X.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529104432X/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Autobiography| stylesummary="vertical-alignIt's very difficult to classify ''Painting Snails'': top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Art of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters originally I thought that as it's loosely based around a year on an allotment it would be a lifestyle book, but you're not going to You by Rob Walker]]=== [[image:4starget advice on what to plant when and where for the best results.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] The curse put on reviewers is that we get to read through a book which is really better dipped into, or read gradually and thoughts allowed to answer would be provoked. And so something along the lines of 'try it was with ''The Art of Noticing'and see'. It's Then I considered popular science as Stephen Hartley failed his A levels, did an engineering apprenticeship, became a simple premise: the pace of modern life busker, finally got into medical school and rapidity of technological advances means is now an A&E consultant (part-time). I found out that we are constantly overwhelmed and distracted. Rob Walker wants us there's an awful lot more to be able to steal our attention back. He gives us his thoughts what goes on various areas of our lives and then provides 131 exercises to help us recover our attention. [[The Art in a Major Trauma Centre than you'll ever glean from ''Casualty'', but that isn't really what the book's about. There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the real passion of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You by Rob Walker|Full Review]] <!-- Leah Hazard -->|-| style="width: 10%; verticalHartley's life, but it didn't actually fit into the entertainment genre either. Did we have a category for 'doing the impossible the hard way'? Yep -align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786331608that's the one.jpg|link=http://www It's an autobiography.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786331608/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"1848993609|title===[[Hard PushedGood Mood Food: A Midwife's Story by Leah Hazard]]Unlock the Power of Diet to Think and Feel Well|author=Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona|rating=4.5|genre=Cookery [[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[I thought I was getting a cookbook:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] Over I liked the past few years we've had idea of a rash (sorry - no pun intended) of books by medical practitionersseries of recipes which would make me feel happy. Doctors have been at the forefront, but ''Hard PushedFor once this isn't a case of ' if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is the first book I've seen by a midwife. It's an unusual profession in that - it's one a case of getting something which could change your life for the few callings within the medical system where most of the patients are healthy and the only one where one person comes into the system and (better - for the most part) more good - rather than one goes outa quick fix. It's an amazing thing to be able to do - to escort new life into the world - }}{{Frontpage|isbn=Kyncl_Stream|title=Stream Punks|author=Robert Kyncl and an enormous responsibilityMaany Peyvan|rating=4. Leah Hazard came to it after 5|genre=Entertainment|summary=I watch quite a career in television and ''Hard Pushed'' is the story lot of her career as YouTube. I play music videos when I want to listen to a midwife - and the title tells more than one storyparticular song I don't already have in my collection. [[Hard Pushed: A Midwife's Story by Leah Hazard|Full Review]] <!-- James Wallman -->|-| style="width: 10%; verticalI use it to find out how to do things, with the instruction videos they seem to have for pretty much anything. At the gym, I'll stick it on on my phone, prop it up on the cross-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0753552655.jpg|link=http://wwwtrainer and watch some behind the scenes interviews with the cast of my favourite shows.amazonAnd sometimes I'll treat it as if it is Netflix, to watch series with new episodes releasing every few days, exclusively on YouTube.coHaving a new smart TV adds an extra, easy way to watch without having to plug in my laptop or squint at a small phone screen.uk/dp/0753552655/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] So yes, I like YouTube and I use YouTube. But I didn't know a whole lot about the site it until I read this book.}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-alignOmeiza_Parenting|title=Parenting through the Eyes of a Child: left;"Memoirs of My Childhood|author=Tabitha Ochekpe Omeiza|rating=4|genre=Autobiography|summary=[[Time and How Tabitha Ochekpe Omeiza was brought up in Nigeria and came to Spend It: The 7 Rules Britain to study for Richer, Happier Days by James Wallman]]=== [[image:4starher A levels when she was 18.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] Most things you can replaceHer parents used their savings to give her this opportunity and called it an investment in her future. Now a qualified pharmacist, but one married and with a child of her own, Tabitha looks back at her childhood and reflects on the things which you simply can't replace is timeway her mother and father raised her. Even though we know this, we fail to use what we have wiselyAnd she gives their parenting top marks. We have more leisure time, but that's not how it feels: }}{{Frontpage|isbn=Mackay_Trials|title=Trials and Tribulations of a high value is put on how we spend our working hours, but there's a low value on leisureTravelling Prostitute|author=Andrew Mackay|rating=3. Unfortunately we now know how to work 5|genre=Business and not how to Finance|summary=Just chance you think that you're picking up a book about what can go wrong in life for an itinerant sex worker I'live'': we need d better explain exactly what it was that author Andrew Mackay did for thirty-three years. A travelling prostitute is a worker who is employed by one company but his services are sold out to ''learn'' how other countries, usually at a substantial profit to spend our leisure time wisely the employing company and James Wallman has taken on the onerous task a lot of teaching us how inconvenience to do thisthe employee. [[Time Mackay was an engineer who knew all that there was to be know about turbines and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richergenerators, Happier Days by James Wallman|Full Review]] <!-- James Atkinson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07ML4Q55Jor if he didn't could soon be up to speed to the extent of being able to teach other people. Occasionally his skills were used in the UK, but frequently he was abroad. Just every now and again he would be in those parts of the world which has the rest of us green with envy, but then there were those areas which feature heavily in the news and not in a good way.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ML4Q55J/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529104432X| styletitle="vertical-alignThe Art of Noticing: top; text-align: left;"Rediscover What Really Matters to You|author=Rob Walker|rating=4|genre=Lifestyle|summary=[[Home Workout for Beginners: 6 Week Fitness Program with Fat Burning Workouts for Long Term Weight Loss by James Atkinson]]=== [[image:4starThe curse put on reviewers is that we get to read through a book which is really better dipped into or read gradually and thoughts allowed to be provoked.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] James Atkinson has all the qualifications which you need in a workout instructor and he looks the part And so it was with ''The Art of Noticing''. HeIt's been actively involved in a simple premise: the health pace of modern life and fitness arena for more than twenty years rapidity of technological advances means that we are constantly overwhelmed and he spent nine years as a member of 9 Parachute Regiment, Royal Engineers. distracted. He has another qualification which means a lot Rob Walker wants us to be able to me: he's been on the other sidesteal our attention back. There was a time when he was overweight He gives us his thoughts on various areas of our lives and not particularly strong. As a child he was slow then provides 131 exercises to develophelp us recover our attention. This means that he ''understands'' what it}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786331608|title=Hard Pushed: A Midwife's like and he knows how his clients feel: itStory|author=Leah Hazard|rating=4|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Over the past few years, we's much more helpful than the twentyve had a rash (sorry -something who was born super-fit and with an attitude problemno pun intended) of books by medical practitioners. [[Home Workout for Beginners: 6 Week Fitness Program with Fat Burning Workouts for Long Term Weight Loss Doctors have been at the forefront, but ''Hard Pushed'' is the first book I've seen by James Atkinson|Full Review]] <!-- Adrian Cull -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1999308719.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999308719/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics a midwife. It's an unusual profession in that it's one of the few callings within the medical system where most of the patients are healthy and the only one where one person comes into the system and companies behind (for the new anti-aging treatments by Adrian Cull]]=== [[image:4most part) more than one goes out.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Popular Science|Popular Science]] For many years now I've (half) joked that I intended It's an amazing thing to be able to do - to live forever escort new life into the world - and that so far, it was working out OKan enormous responsibility. Time has passed though Leah Hazard came to it after a career in television and although I'm a great deal fitter 'Hard Pushed'' is the story of her career as a midwife - and healthier the title tells more than most people of my age there were a few nagging health problems which were tipping my life out of balance. one story.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0753552655|title=Time and How to Spend It was time to look : The 7 Rules for a new approach and as so often happensRicher, Happier Days|author=James Wallman|rating=4|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Most things you can replace, but one of the reviewing gods brought me the book I neededthings which you simply can't replace is time. Even though we know this, we fail to use what we have wisely. We have more leisure time, but that''Live Forever Manuals not how it feels: Sciencea high value is put on how we spend our working hours, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatmentsbut there'' seemed like the answer to my problems - only you get so much more than just 101 tipss a low value on leisure. [[Live Forever Manual: Science Unfortunately, ethics we now know how to work and companies behind not how to ''live'': we need to ''learn'' how to spend our leisure time wisely and James Wallman has taken on the new anti-aging treatments by Adrian Cull|Full Review]]onerous task of teaching us how to do this.}}<!-- Stephen John Hartley -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=B07ML4Q55J| styletitle="widthHome Workout for Beginners: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"6 Week Fitness Program with Fat Burning Workouts for Long Term Weight Loss|author=James Atkinson[[image:1999811402.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999811402/ref4|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Lifestyle| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] James Atkinson has all the qualifications which you need in a workout instructor and he looks the part. [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] ItHe's very difficult to classify ''Painting Snails'': originally I thought that been actively involved in the health and fitness arena for more than twenty years and he spent nine years as it's loosely based around a year on an allotment it would be a lifestyle bookmember of 9 Parachute Regiment, but you're not going to get advice on what to plant when and where for the best resultsRoyal Engineers. The answer would be something along He has another qualification which means a lot to me: he's been on the lines of 'try it and see'other side. Then I considered popular science as Stephen Hartley failed his A levels, did an engineering apprenticeship, became There was a time when he was overweight and not particularly strong. As a buskerchild, finally got into medical school and is now an A&E consultant (part time)he was slow to develop. I found out This means that therehe ''understands'' what it's an awful lot more to what goes on in a Major Trauma Centre than you'll ever glean from ''Casualty'', but that isn't really what the booklike and he knows how his clients feel: it's aboutmuch more helpful than the twenty-something who was born super-fit and with an attitude problem. There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the real passion of Hartley's life}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1999308719|title=Live Forever Manual: Science, but it didn't actually fit into ethics and companies behind the entertainment new anti-aging treatments|author=Adrian Cull|rating=4.5|genre either. Did we have a category for 'doing the impossible the hard way'? Yep - that's the one. It's autobiography. [[Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley|Full Review]] <!-- Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona -->=Lifestyle|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1848993609.jpg|link=http://wwwsummary=For many years now I've (half) joked that I intended to live forever and that so far, it was working out OK.amazon.co.uk/dp/1848993609/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Good Mood Food: Unlock the Power Time has passed though and although I'm a great deal fitter and healthier than most people of Diet to Think and Feel Well by Charlotte Watts my age there were a few nagging health problems which were tipping my life out of balance. It was time to look for a new approach and Natalie Savona]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]]as so often happens, [[:Category:Cookery|Cookery]] the reviewing gods brought me the book I thought I was getting a cookbookneeded. ''Live Forever Manual: I liked Science, ethics and companies behind the idea of a series of recipes which would make me feel happy. For once this isnnew anti-ageing treatments't a case of 'if it sounds too good seemed like the answer to be true, it probably is' my problems - it's a case of getting something which could change your life for the better - for good - rather than a quick fixonly you get so much more than just 101 tips. [[Good Mood Food: Unlock the Power of Diet to Think and Feel Well by Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona|Full Review]] <!-- Clear -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1847941834.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1847941834/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Atomic Habits by James Clear]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Popular Science|Popular Science]], [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] I've said this before but there are some books that you seek out, some books that you stumble across and some books that drop into your life because you really MUST read them, like, right now! ''Atomic Habits'' is in the last category. [[Atomic Habits by James Clear|Full Review]] <!-- Stuart Roberts -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1527230783.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1527230783/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Keep Your Health and Fitness For Life: Don't Let Age Be A Barrier by Stuart Roberts]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] My birth certificate might suggest a higher figure, but I know that I'm only 42. I learned a long time ago that I could retain that feeling by keeping my life in balance. This meant eating sensibly, getting quality sleep and having regular exercise which I enjoyed. There was an added bonus too: I was juggling four chronic conditions and living this way meant that I could keep three of them in the background. Then a silly mis-step meant that the hip problem flared up. The only way I could get more than an hour or two asleep was to take pain relief and the duodenal ulcer started to complain. Because I was masking symptoms I didn't dare to exercise - and the black dog of depression prowled along behind me. [[Keep Your Health and Fitness For Life: Don't Let Age Be A Barrier by Stuart Roberts|Full Review]] <!-- Dhladhla -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1720812675.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1720812675/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Beyond Thought by Chris Dhladhla]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] Have you ever felt trapped by your own thoughts? That your mind is so busy processing what's going on in the world around you that you just can't catch a moment and simply ''be''? Or that the outside world just won't stop pressing in upon an inner life that you'd like to be more peaceful? [[Beyond Thought by Chris Dhladhla|Full Review]] <!-- Watson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993454682.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993454682/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Rockstar Retirement Programme: How to retire like a rockstar by Dominic Watson]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] Even with a birthday fast approaching, I'm still a bit young to be reading about retirement. My next life change in the pipeline will be a big one, and it does involve leaving the 9 to 5 behind for a yacht and the silky blue waters of the Caribbean, but only for a year, and then I will be back, tanned and refreshed but barely 40 and with many working years still to come. Also, I like work. My job is interesting, I get to travel, what we do matters and it's not badly rewarded. So no, I'm not planning to retire just yet. But as the premise of this book is about planning (and if not now, then when?) I was still intrigued. [[Rockstar Retirement Programme: How to retire like a rockstar by Dominic Watson|Full Review]] <!-- Jankel -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1999731506.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999731506/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Spiritual Atheist by Nick Seneca Jankel]]=== [[image:2star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Spirituality and Religion|Spirituality and Religion]] ''Spiritual Atheist'' is a new 'bible' for the spiritual not the religious, according to the tagline. This is a taboo smashing book which solves the problem of modernity and explains how to be a 'spiritual technologist' who can live and love freely in 'spiritual fullness' without relying on a belief in god. Touching on everything from 'brain science' to AI, Jankel offers a 'path to meaning', allowing us to move beyond consumerism towards an ethical life. [[Spiritual Atheist by Nick Seneca Jankel|Full Review]] <!-- Mackay -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Mackay_Trials.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1524683094?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1524683094]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Trials and Tribulations of a Travelling Prostitute by Andrew Mackay]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] Just chance you think that you're picking up a book about what can go wrong in life for an itinerant sex worker I'd better explain exactly what it was that author Andrew Mackay did for thirty three years. A travelling prostitute is a worker who is employed by one company but his services are sold out to other countries, usually at a substantial profit to the employing company and a lot of inconvenience to the employee. Mackay was an engineer who knew all that there was to be know about turbines and generators, or if he didn't could soon be up to speed to the extent of being able to teach other people. Occasionally his skills were used in the UK, but frequently he was abroad. Just every now and again he would be in those parts of the world which has the rest of us green with envy, but then there were those areas which feature heavily in the news and not in a good way. [[Trials and Tribulations of a Travelling Prostitute by Andrew Mackay|Full Review]] <!-- Omeiza -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Omeiza_Parenting.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1524682853?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1524682853]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Parenting through the Eyes of a Child: Memoirs of My Childhood by Tabitha Ochekpe Omeiza]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] Tabitha Ochekpe Omeiza was brought up in Nigeria and came to Britain to study for her A levels when she was 18. Her parents used their savings to give her this opportunity and called it an investment in her future. Now a qualified pharmacist, married and with a child of her own, Tabitha looks back at her childhood and reflects on the way her mother and father raised her. And she gives their parenting top marks. [[Parenting through the Eyes of a Child: Memoirs of My Childhood by Tabitha Ochekpe Omeiza|Full Review]] <!-- Kyncl -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Kyncl_Stream.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0753545926?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0753545926]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Stream Punks by Robert Kyncl and Maany Peyvan]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category: Entertainment|Entertainment]] I watch quite a lot of YouTube. I play music videos when I want to listen to a particular song I don't already have in my collection. I use it to find out how to do things, with the instruction videos they seem to have for pretty much anything. At the gym, I'll stick it on on my phone, prop it up on the cross trainer and watch some behind the scenes interviews with the cast of my favourite shows. And sometimes I'll treat it as if it is Netflix, to watch series with new episodes releasing every few days, exclusively on YouTube. Having a new smart TV adds an extra, easy way to watch without having to plug in my laptop or squint at a small phone screen. So yes, I like YouTube and I use YouTube. But I didn't know a whole lot about the site it until I read this book.[[Stream Punks by Robert Kyncl and Maany Peyvan|Full Review]] <!-- Way -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Way_Tea.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1445670011?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1445670011]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Tea Gardens (Britain's Heritage Series) by Twigs Way]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:History|History]] Tea Gardens really began in London in the late 18th century: a trip to Kings Cross or St Pancras was effectively a trip to the country in those days. Men had their coffee houses, but they were not places where women could or would be seen. Tea was introduced to England in the 17th century but it was not until 1784 that the high duty was reduced from 119% to 12½% and tea became the drink of choice for the nation. Until then the working classes had been fuelled largely by cheap gin. Only, where would this beverage be drunk? One answer was the pleasure gardens where the fashionable went to see and be seen: by the mid 1600s tea was also being served in places such as Ranelagh Gardens. [[Tea Gardens (Britain's Heritage Series) by Twigs Way|Full Review]] <!-- Nicholson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Nicholson_Tambourine.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1524681822?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1524681822]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Mr Tambourine Man by Nicholson]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Travel|Travel]] Back in 1965 we heard ''Mr Tambourine Man'' by the Byrds on the radio very regularly. Nicholson was thirteen and saw the 45rpm recording of the song in the window of the local music store and would have loved to be able to buy it but didn't have the money. Thirteen-year olds didn't in those days unless it was a birthday or Christmas and you couldn't get a part-time job until you were fifteen. There would be a few of those badly-paid jobs before he finished his A levels and went to New York for three months. It's this trip which Nicholson feels turned him from being a boy into a man and allowed him to see the bigger picture.<br> <!-- Tuhus-Dubrow -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Dubrow_Stereo.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1501322818/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Personal Stereo by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] These tiny 'Object Lessons', a range of books which are more like a long-form essay, explore often seemingly mundane items. Personal Stereo packs a lot of information into a small space. Split into three distinct sections: Novelty, Norm, and Nostalgia, 'Novelty' traces the origin of the Sony Walkman, from its conception by two Japanese business men to it becoming a recognised entity on the streets of America. 'Norm' follows on from the universal success of the personal stereo, relating this to the technology which it set the groundwork for, such as the ubiquitous proliferation of MP3s, the iPod, and Smartphones, leading to the eventual downfall in the popularity of the Walkman. Finally, in 'Nostalgia', Tuhus-Dubrow examines our need to hark back to a simpler time, when the personal stereo seemed the height of freedom. [[Personal Stereo by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow|Full Review]] <!-- Moore -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Moore Bientot.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1782438610?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1782438610]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Bientot... by Roger Moore]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Entertainment|Entertainment]], [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] The news of the death of Sir Roger Moore in May 2017 came as a great shock: he was one of those people you knew would go on for ever. There was just one small glimmer of light in the sadness - the news that a matter of days before his death he'd delivered the finished manuscript of his book, ''À bientôt…'', to his publishers. Just a few months later a copy landed on my desk and I didn't even bother to look as though I could resist reading it straight away. [[A Bientot... by Roger Moore|Full Review]] <!-- Dubey -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Dubey_21.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999838912/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[21 Doors to Happiness: Life Through Travel Experiences and Meditation by Chit Dubey]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] I know that I'm not alone in having been brought up to ''achieve'', to look down on those who had different (''lesser'', it would have been said) aims, but there comes a point in life when you wonder about the point of it all. Do you need to keep on ''achieving'', and if so, ''why''? Many years ago I had a light-bulb moment when I realised that achieving more, having more money, more material possessions didn't make me happy - and surely the point of it all was to be ''happy''? Superficially that sounds very simple: live a life doing only what you want to do and pleasing yourself, but that doesn't bring happiness either. Chit Dubey believes that happiness is inside you and you just need to delve a little deeper to find it. [[21 Doors to Happiness: Life Through Travel Experiences and Meditation by Chit Dubey|Full Review]]}
