Changes

|isbn=07535532361454955546|title=Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change EverythingSugarless|author=B J FoggNicole M Avena

|summary=Go on''This isn't a diet book. The last thing anyone needs is another diet book.'' There was a time, not that long ago, admit when it was thought that sugary food was better for you than food with high- you're not quite perfectfat content. You still have those odd, quirky even loveable (to you) habits Fat was the demon food which seem was going to annoy other peopleelevate your cholesterol and cause heart disease. Other people Sugar was a carbohydrate, of course, are sorely afflicted with some dreadful flaws which they could so easily correctgood. There's a problem, if only they would make just a little bit of effortthough. Or put another way, I get cross with myself because I forget to do things or do some actions more than I should Sugar is addictive and no matter how I try to make what seem to be quite monumental changes I never quite seem to get to grips with can hijack your brain in much the concepts. I constantly fail same way as drugs like heroin and then I get cross with myself for failingcocaine. Lack of willpower is another burden to add to Does that sound over the listtop? Well, it isn't.

|isbn=17857855161635866847|title=Fucking Good MannersThe Lavender Companion|author=Simon GriffinJessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci|rating=4.5

|summary=Manners maketh man, they say. It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by a set of conventions's strange, some of which are ages old and other which have evolved over timethe things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you. Manners are not about how much to tip or how you should behave if you get an invitation to Buckingham PalaceBefore I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', they have nothing to do with class or financial statusI visited the author's [https: they//www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there're about getting s a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the basics right before we try to deal with more difficult mattershomepage. Of course we all have more relaxed manners when weI don're with family t eat cakes and friends, desserts - but itI wanted that cake viscerally. (There's best if we learn a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to distinguish between our public and private lives and make a mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to act appropriatelyfold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I ''Fucking Good Mannersloved'' aims to help us on the waythis book already.

{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingisbn="15" 0760381267<!-- Rob Walker -->|title=Verdura: Living a Garden Life|author=Perla Sofia Curbelo-Santiago| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"3.5|genre=Lifestyle[[image:1529104432X.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazon.co''The most important part of a garden is the one who enjoys it''.uk/dp/1529104432X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]

| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Art ''Recycling one ton of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You by Rob Walker]]===paper can save 17 trees from being cut down.''

[[image:4starIf you send an apple core to landfill, it will take between 6 months and 2 years to decompose. A glass bottle will take up to 1 million years.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]]

The curse put on reviewers As a just-post-WWII baby, I faced a dilemma: reducing, reusing and recycling is part of my DNA. NEVER throw away anything that might ''possibly'' come in handy now or in the future. NEVER buy anything if you can cobble together something that would serve the purpose. Almost everything can be used one more time and any purchase must pass the test of 'Is this absolutely essential?' On the other hand, I suspected I was guilty of wishcycling: assuming that we something must be recyclable (toothpaste tubes - I'm looking at you) and dropping it in the kerbside bin. Yes, I could go searching on the internet - and get conflicting advice - but what I needed was a recycling bible.s}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0760378134|title=The First-Time Gardener: Container Food Gardening|author=Pamela Farley|rating=5|genre=Home and Family|summary=If you've ever thought how good it would be to be able to read through pop out into the garden and pick some fruit and vegetables for a meal – but realised that you wouldn't know where to start, this is the book you need. It's comprehensive: you'll cover everything from why you should grow your own food, what you're going to grow, what you'll grow it in (both containers and soil), where you'll put these containers, how you'll water and fertilise them and you finish the main part of the book with a handy section on troubleshooting. There's also a good glossary. So, is it any good?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398508632|title=The Wilderness Cure|author=Mo Wilde|rating=5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=It had been on the cards for a while but it was the week-long consumer binge which is really better dipped pushed Mo Wilde intobeginning her year of eating only wild food. The end of November, or read gradually particularly in Central Scotland was perhaps not the best time to start, in a world where the normal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, Brexit and thoughts a pandemic. Wilde had a few advantages: the area around her was a known habitat with a variety of terrains. She had electricity which allowed her to be provokedrun a fridge, freezer and dehydrator. She had a car - and fuel. And so it Most importantly, she had shelter: this was with not a plan to ''live''The Art of Noticingwild just to live off its produce.}}{{Frontpage|author=Bjorn Natthiko Lindeblad, Caroline Bankeler, Navid Modiiri and Agnes Bromme (Translator)|title=I May Be Wrong|rating=5|genre= Autobiography|summary= When the Dalai Lama adds his words to your frontispiece, I'm inclined to think it doesn't really matter how the rest of the world responds to your book. ItI know, having read the book in question, that Lindeblad would disagree with that thought. He knows (and at core so do I) that it matters very much how the rest of the world responds to this book, because it tells the truth as it is, in the early 21st century.|isbn=1526644827}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1732898731|title=The Boy Who Loved Boxes: A Children's Book for Adults|author=Michael Albanese |rating=4.5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=There was a Boy who loved boxes. He had a simple premisebox for everything and he was meticulous about storage: his parents probably couldn't believe their luck! It began with art supplies, stuffed toys and the like: all the pace things which most children have in abundance. The Boy's delight was in the sense of modern order in his room: it made him feel happy. As he grew up and became a Man, his life became more complicated and he dealt with this by getting bigger and rapidity better boxes. Look carefully at the pictures and you'll see that one of technological advances means them has a padlock...}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1846276772|title=The End of Bias: How We Change Our Minds|author=Jessica Nordell|rating=4.5|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Anyone who is not an able, white man understands bias in that we they may no longer even recognise the extent to which they suffer from it: it's simply a part of everyday life. White men will always come first. The able will come before the disabled. Jobs, promotions, higher salaries are constantly overwhelmed and distractedthe preserve of the white man. Rob Walker wants us to be able to steal our attention backEven when those who wouldn't pass the medical become a part of an organisation it's rare that their views are heard, that their concerns are acknowledged. He gives us his thoughts It's personally appalling and degrading for the individuals on various areas the receiving end of the bias but it's not just the individuals who are negatively impacted.}}{{Frontpage|author=Erling Kagge|title=Walking: One Step At A Time|rating=5|genre= Lifestyle|summary= Those who have read my reviews before will know that how much I loved a book is evidenced by the number of our lives and then provides 131 exercises pages with corners turned, so let me start this one with an apology to help us recover our attentionthe Norfolk Library Service: sorry! I forgot it was your book not mine. [[The Art In my defence, I will say that as a reader of this type of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters book there is something connective about noting where prior readers were inspired (provided it is subtle – I'll allow creased corners, but not scribbles – for the latter we must buy our own copy – which I am about to You by Rob Walker|Full Review]]do as soon as I have finished telling you why).

<!-- Leah Hazard -->Erligg Kagge is a Norwegian explorer who has walked to the South Pole, the North Pole and the summit of Everest. He knows a thing or two about walking. However, this isn't a travelogue about any of those epic journeys, it is instead a thoughtful exploration of what it means to walk. It is a plenitude of unnumbered essays about walking. There is no 'contents' page and I haven't counted. In small format paperback, each essay is only a few pages long. Perhaps then, better thought of as a meditation rather than an essay.|-isbn=0241357705}}{{Frontpage| styleauthor="widthRichard Brook|title=Understanding Human Nature: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A User's Guide to Life|rating=4.5|genre=Lifestyle|summary= I am a firm believer that sometimes we choose books, and sometimes books choose us. In my case, this is one of the latter. Not so very long ago, if I had come across this book I'd have skimmed it, found some of it interesting, but it would not have 'hit home' in the way that it does now. I believe it came to me not just because I was likely to give it a favourable review [[image:1786331608''full disclosure The Bookbag's u.s.p. is that people chose their own books rather than getting them randomly, so there is a predisposition towards expecting to like the book, even if it doesn't always turn out that way'' ] – but also because it is a book I needed to read, right now.jpg|isbn=1800461682}}{{Frontpage|linkisbn=http0753558378|title=Effortless://wwwMake It Easier to Do What Matters|author=Greg McKeown|rating=4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786331608/ref5|genre=nosim?tagLifestyle|summary=thebookbag-21]]''The marginal return of working harder was, in fact, negative.''

| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Hard Pushed: A Midwife's Story by Leah Hazard]]==='To claim space is to live the life of choosing unapologetically and bravely. It is to live the life you've always wanted.''

[[imageSometimes 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:4starit's something far more effective, but discussion at the moment seems to be about how women can be ''protected''.jpg 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|linkisbn=Category1529109116|title=Call Me Red:{{{A Shepherd's Journey|author=Hannah Jackson|rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle=4.5|genre=Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]]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.''

Over The stereotypical farmer was probably born on the past few years weland 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've d always had a rash (sorry - no pun intended) deep love of books by medical practitionersanimals. Doctors have been at 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 forefrontLake District. She saw a lamb being born and, but although 'Hannah Jackson, farmer'Hard Pushed'' is lacked the first book I've seen by kudos of her original intention, she knew that she wanted to be a midwifeshepherd. ItWith the determination that you's ll soon realise is an unusual profession 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 that itdisbelief. Hardman dealt with this at the time by 'keeping going's one of : the next day she went to work to cover the few callings within budget, next there was the medical system where most of EU referendum, the patients are healthy 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 only one where one person comes 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 system word ''great'' being delivered with an eye roll and (for a sigh, through clenched teeth. I had spent the most best part) more than one goes of a rainy, windy weekend afternoon outon the water at our local sailing club in the rescue rib, on standby in case anyone who was racing needed support. It's an amazing thing to be able to a volunteer duty we all do - during the year, and normally I'm happy to escort new life into , but that day the world - weather was miserable and I was miserable, and an enormous responsibility. Leah Hazard it all came to it after a career 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 television common? They've all failed and - more importantly - they've been willing to appear on Elizabeth Day'Hard Pusheds podcast to discuss their failures and how life worked out for them afterwards. You'' is ll find the story results of her career as a midwife - 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 the title tells more than one storyfulfilled on your own. [[Hard Pushed: A Midwife You are not complete until you find a man''s Story by Leah Hazard|Full Review]].

<!-- James Wallman -->|-| style="widthThis was what Louisa Pateman was brought up to believe. It wasn't unkind: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0753552655it was simply the adults in her life advising her as to what they thought would be best for her.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0753552655/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Time 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 How to Spend have children. It: The 7 Rules for Richer, Happier Days by James Wallman]]===was a belief and it would be many years before Louisa would conclude that ''a belief is a choice''.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1538731738[[image:4star.jpg|linktitle=CategorySimple Abundance:{{{365 Days to a Balanced and Joyful Life|author= Sarah Ban Breathnach|rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle=5|genre=Lifestyle]] Most things you can replace|summary=Someone once said: it's not self-indulgence, but one of the things which you simply canit't replace is time. Even though we know thiss therapy! I think they were talking about shopping, we fail but it probably can be applied to use what we have wiselymost things. We have more leisure timeIn my case, but that's not how it feels: a high value is put on how we spend our working hoursapplies to writing about things because I want to, but thererather than because I can sell it or because I's a low value on leisureve got something to sell. Unfortunately we now know how to work and not how to ''live'': we need }}{{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 ''learn'' me by how to spend our leisure time wisely and James Wallman has taken on the onerous task many pages have corners turned down. Perhaps an even greater measure of teaching us how impact is setting out to do thisbuy my own copy before I've finished reading the one I've borrowed. [[Time and How I want to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richer, Happier Days by James Wallman|Full Review]] <!avoid clichés like 'powerful' 'inspiring' 'life-- James Atkinson -->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| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align1543987877|title=Learn to Love: top; text-align: center;"Guide to Healing Your Disappointing Love Life|author=Dr Thomas Jordan[[image:B07ML4Q55J.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ML4Q55J/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Lifestyle| stylesummary="vertical-align''Learn to Love: top; text-alignGuide 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: left;"|===[[Home Workout for Beginners: 6 Week Fitness Program with Fat Burning Workouts for Long Term Weight Loss by James Atkinson]]=== [[image:4star''if you love'', Dr Thomas Jordan tells us, ''you will inevitably grieve''.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] James Atkinson has all Your love relationships begin the qualifications which moment you need in a workout instructor 're born and he looks the partend only when you die. He's been actively involved in Whilst we all come into the health world hoping to give and fitness arena receive love there are many people for more than twenty years and he spent nine years as a member of 9 Parachute Regiment, Royal Engineerswhom love is not quite so simple. He has another qualification which means a lot to me: he's been on Some people suffer multiple disappointments - sometimes repeating the other sidesame mistakes - and this eventually becomes resignation. There was a time when he was overweight and not particularly strong. As For people who are making the same mistakes repeatedly, self-preservation, in the form of resignation is a child he was slow to developnecessity. This means that he ''understands'' what it's like and he knows how his clients feel}}{{Frontpage|author=Michael Harris|title=Solitude: it's much more helpful than the twenty-something who was born super-fit and with an attitude problem. [[Home Workout for Beginners: 6 Week Fitness Program with Fat Burning Workouts for Long Term Weight Loss by James AtkinsonIn Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World|Full Review]]rating=5 <!-- Adrian Cull -->|genre=Lifestyle|-| stylesummary="width: 10%; verticalThis is not the book I was expecting it to be. For some reason I expected it to be another self-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1999308719.jpg|link=http://wwwhelp manual on how to find calm, how to step outside the mainstream, but it is not that at all.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999308719/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Live Forever Manual: Science Instead of telling us how, ethics and companies behind it is more about the new anti-aging treatments by Adrian Cull]]=== [[image:4''why''. Harries examines how we're eroding solitude, which used to be a natural part of our human life, and why that matters.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 to live forever and that so far 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 was working out OK. Time has passed though , but mostly he wanders down the alleys and although I'm a great deal fitter and healthier than most people of my age there were a few nagging health problems which were tipping my life out of balanceby-ways that his thinking about this lost art led him. It was time to look for a new approach and as so often happens, the reviewing gods brought me the book I needed. ''Live Forever Manual: Science|isbn=1847947662}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0753553236|title=Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything|author=B J Fogg|rating=5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Go on, ethics and companies behind the new antiadmit it -aging treatmentsyou'' seemed like the answer re not quite perfect. You still have those odd, quirky even loveable (to my problems - only you get so much more than just 101 tips) habits which seem to annoy other people. [[Live Forever Manual: Science Other people, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments by Adrian Cull|Full Review]] <!-- Stephen John Hartley -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1999811402of 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.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999811402/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley]]=== [[image:4 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.5star I constantly fail and then I get cross with myself for failing.jpg|link=Category: Lack of willpower is another burden to add to the list.}}{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:AutobiographyFrontpage|isbn=1785785516|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Lifestyletitle=Fucking Good Manners|Lifestyle]]author=Simon Griffin|rating=4It's very difficult to classify ''Painting Snails'': originally I thought that as it's loosely based around a year on an allotment it would be a lifestyle book|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Manners maketh man, they say. It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by a set of conventions, but you're not going 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 advice on what an invitation to Buckingham Palace, they have nothing to plant when and where for do with class or financial status: they're about getting the best resultsbasics right before we try to deal with more difficult matters. The answer would be something along the lines of Of course we all have more relaxed manners when we'try re with family and friends, but it 's best if we learn to distinguish between our public and private lives and see'to act appropriately. Then I considered popular science as ''Fucking Good Manners'' aims to help us on the way.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1999811402|title=Painting Snails|author=Stephen John Hartley failed his A levels, did an engineering apprenticeship, became a busker, finally got into medical school and is now an A&E consultant (part time). I found out that there'|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=It's an awful lot more very difficult to what goes on in a Major Trauma Centre than youclassify 'll ever glean from 'Painting Snails'Casualty'', but : originally I thought that isnas it't really what the s loosely based around a year on an allotment it would be a lifestyle book, but you's about. There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems re not going to get advice on what to plant when and where for the best results. The answer would be something along the real passion lines of Hartley's life, but it didntry it and see't actually fit into the entertainment genre either. Did we have a category for 'doing the impossible the hard way'? Yep - that's the oneThen I considered popular science as Stephen Hartley failed his A levels, did an engineering apprenticeship, became a busker, finally got into medical school and is now an A&E consultant (part-time). ItI found out that there's autobiography. [[Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley|Full Review]] <!-- Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1848993609an 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 book's about.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1848993609/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Good Mood Food: Unlock the Power There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the real passion of Diet to Think and Feel Well by Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona]]=== [[image:4Hartley's life, but it didn't actually fit into the entertainment genre either.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Cookery|Cookery]] I thought I was getting a cookbook: I liked Did we have a category for 'doing the impossible the idea of a series of recipes which would make me feel happy. hard way'? For once this isn't a case of 'if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is' Yep - itthat's a case of getting something which could change your life for the better - for good - rather than a quick fix. [[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 eitherone. Chit Dubey believes that happiness is inside you and you just need to delve a little deeper to find itIt's an autobiography. [[21 Doors to Happiness: Life Through Travel Experiences and Meditation by Chit Dubey|Full Review]]}}