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[[Category:New Reviews|Lifestyle]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Merinda D'Aprano1454955546|title= The Essential Guide to Your Prep School Journey (Head Teacher in Your Pocket)Sugarless|author=Nicole M Avena|rating= 4.5|genre= Lifestyle|summary= As you might have gathered from the title, ''This isn't a diet book. The Essential Guide to Your Prep School Journeylast thing anyone needs is another diet book.'' is pitched at parents who intend on using  There was a time, not that long ago, when it was thought that sugary food was better for you than food with high-fat content. Fat was the private sector demon food which was going to educate their childrenelevate your cholesterol and cause heart disease. And clearly Sugar was a carbohydrate, these are the parents who will benefit most from reading the bookso good. However, there is There's a great deal of general advice within its pages which will prove helpful even to parents whose children will be travelling through the state sector. So if this is youproblem, don't discount this book immediatelythough. Such advice includes ''Why Sugar is reading so important?'', ''How addictive and can I promote a brave learner?'' hijack your brain in much the same way as drugs like heroin and ''Is cocaine. Does that sound over the internet safe for my childtop? Well, it isn'' - you can see that these are universally applicable topics and topics that all parents appreciate advice aboutt. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0993550304</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=A A Milne and E H Shepard1635866847|title=Winnie-the-Pooh's Little Book Of WisdomThe Lavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci|rating=4.5

|summary=For a Bear of Very Little Brain Winnie-It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the-Pooh talks an awful lot of sense author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and we should be honoured that hethere's chosen to share with us a few picture of a slice of his wise wordschocolate cake on the homepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. You see, occasionally (well, an awful lot of There's a recipe in the timebook, if wewhich I're honestm avoiding with some difficulty!!) we look for wisdom in Then I started reading the wrong places book and forget about those who have I was told to make a very simple approach mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to life and who may well have discovered fold down the secret corners of happinesspages. PoohYou suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I 's take on life is very simple and none the worse for that'loved'' this book already.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405281278</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rasmus Hougaard, Jacqueline Carter and Gillian Coutts0760381267|title=One Second AheadVerdura: Enhance Your Performance at Work with MindfulnessLiving a Garden Life|author=Perla Sofia Curbelo-Santiago|rating=43.5|genre=Business and FinanceLifestyle|summary=Have you ever worked at ''The most important part of a task and found your mind wandering to something else? Do you find yourself breaking off what yougarden is the one who enjoys it're doing to answer an email? Do you try to multitask, thinking that you're being more efficient? Do you have far too much to attend to, to complete and nowhere near enough time to do it all?.

You do? I've 'gardened' in a vague, indefinite sort of way for more than half a century. Me tooI know (most of) the basics but life has changed and I needed 'projects' rather than a general commitment to gardening. You need this book''Verdura'' with its promise of projects for both indoors and outdoors of varying complexity seemed like the answer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1137551909</amazonuk> So, how did it stack up?

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Thomas W Hodgkinson and Hubert van den BerghSarah Wilson|title= How This One Wild and Precious Life: the path back to Sound Cultured connection in a fractured world|rating= 43.5

|summary= Sometimes My favourite Mary Oliver line is the one in which she asks ''What is it can be hard you plan to run do with the big dogs, your one wild and while precious life?'' I know the names get to drop in love that line so much because my field of work, some wider cultural references can pass me byanswer is ''This! Precisely this. This is especially true for those from before '' I'm lucky enough to be living my time one wild and so precious life the way I was delighted want to find icons from all decades and centuries featured in this . Sarah Wilson is equally lucky. In her book. Badged that takes Oliver's words as her title (though I can't see that she acknowledges the source) she pushes us to think about whether we really ''are'' living the 250 names life we want – the best life that intellectuals love to drop into conversationwe could be living. Her answer is an unequivocal ''no, we are not''. Don't care what you' this book features quotes and biographical titbits covering big names from every sector – sciencere doing, she thinks you (we, I) could be doing more…And she's effing furious about the arts, philosophyfact that we are not.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848319304</amazonuk>1785633848

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tony Crabbe1394159544|title=Busy: How to Thrive in a World of Too MuchRecycling for Dummies|author=Sarah Winkler

|summary=Serendipity often brings ''Recycling one ton of plastic can save up to 16.3 barrels of oil.'' ''Recycling one ton of paper can save 17 trees from being cut down.'' If you send an apple core to landfill, it will take between 6 months and 2 years to the important booksdecompose. Recently A glass bottle will take up to 1 million years. As a just-post-WWII baby, I heard myself say to faced a frienddilemma: reducing, reusing and recycling is part of my DNA. NEVER throw away anything that might ''possibly'I'm far too busy to do some of come in handy now or in the important stuff''future. It pulled me up short: there was definitely NEVER buy anything if you can cobble together something wrong here - that would serve the purpose. Almost everything can be used one more time and then I had any purchase must pass the opportunity to listen to an audio download test of 'Is this absolutely essential?'Busy'' and On the other hand, I suspected I knew was guilty of wishcycling: assuming that it was something must be recyclable (toothpaste tubes - I ''had'' to do m looking at you) and take notice of if I was to stop going ''backwards''dropping it in the kerbside bin. Because that was Yes, I could go searching on the internet - and get conflicting advice - but what I needed was doinga recycling bible.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B01727ER84</amazonuk>s

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rachel Kelly and Jonathan Pugh0760378134|title=Walking on SunshineThe First-Time Gardener: 52 Small Steps to HappinessContainer Food Gardening|author=Pamela Farley|rating=45|genre=LifestyleHome and Family|summary=How would If you like 52 tips on 've ever thought how good it would be to be happier? No this isn't an offer able to sign up to a dodgy website - it's a small book which you could pop out into the garden and pick some fruit and vegetables for a bag and which will give meal – but realised that you tipswouldn't know where to start, tools and positive idea about how this is the book you can make your life happier, less complicated and more fulfillingneed. Open it at random, if thatIt's comprehensive: you'll cover everything from why you should grow your own food, what you feel like doing're going to grow, or work your way through what you'll grow it reading one tip per week - theyin (both containers and soil), where you'll put these containers, how you're helpfully divided into ll water and fertilise them and you finish the main part of the four seasons - and savour just book with a handy section on troubleshooting. There's also a couple of pages of elegant writing which will give you something to think about or something positive to do (or not do - if you see what I mean)good glossary.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780722524</amazonuk> So, is it any good?

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Ilka Heinemann1398508632|title=101 Things to do Instead of Playing on Your Phone|rating= 5|genre= Lifestyle|summary= There's a great joke I saw online recently. One cartoon person says to the other, ''What's your favourite position in bed?'' and the other replies ''Closest to the plug so I can still use my phone while it's charging''. It's funny because it's true.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178072246X</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewThe Wilderness Cure|author=Brene Brown|title=Rising StrongMo Wilde|rating=45

|summary=This is Brené Brown's fourth book. Like Elizabeth Gilbert, she is well known It had been on the cards for her TED talk. As a professor at while but it was the University week-long consumer binge which pushed Mo Wilde into beginning her year of Houston, she has spent the last 13 years working with people's storieseating only wild food. Such a qualitative approach, based on anecdote and experience The end of November, is relatively rare particularly in Central Scotland was perhaps not the social sciences but certainly makes her work more accessible best time to laymen. Her books fall into start, in a world where the 'self-help' arenanormal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, but without any of Brexit and a pandemic. Wilde had a few advantages: the negative connotations area around her was a known habitat with a variety of that termterrains. Here she makes She had electricity which allowed her research relevant to everyday life by weaving in pop culture references run a fridge, freezer and telling stories from her family dehydrator. She had a car - and professional lifefuel. Most importantly, she had shelter: this was not a plan to ''live'' wild just to live off its produce.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091955033</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Lee CrutchleyBjorn Natthiko Lindeblad, Caroline Bankeler, Navid Modiiri and Agnes Bromme (Translator)|title=How to I May Be Happy (or at least less sad): A Creative WorkbookWrong|rating=45|genre=LifestyleAutobiography|summary=When the Dalai Lama adds his words to your frontispiece, I gave up hoping for happiness many years ago and settled instead for enjoying contentment when it arrived and trying 'm inclined to make the most of think it. 'Happiness' seemed to be rather like 'privileges' - something which you shouldndoesn't expect as really matter how the rest of rightthe world responds to your book. Most of I know, having read the time it works wellbook in question, but just occasionally an extra boost - a new approach - is neededthat Lindeblad would disagree with that thought. Lee Crutchley has suffered from depression He knows (and he knows 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 not going to help when you're clinically depressed, but those of us who have been down that road know that there are certain laybys where you stop and possibly turn aroundin the early 21st century.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0241201950</amazonuk>1526644827

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Simon Dawson1732898731|title=The StyBoy Who Loved Boxes: A Children's the Limit: When Middle Age Gets MuckyBook for Adults|author=Michael Albanese

|summary=Simon Dawson has met something he cannot beatThere was a Boy who loved boxes. He canhad a box for everything and he was meticulous about storage: his parents probably couldn't come to terms with it either. believe their luck! It's called Getting Olderbegan with art supplies, stuffed toys and the like: not all the 'getting older' things which we all do day by day, but that moment when you realise that you've moved on to an entirely different stage most children have in your life - and no one actually asked you if you wanted to go on the journeyabundance. For Simon itThe Boy's Middle Age that's taken him by surprise: bits delight was in the sense of the body have stopped working as they ought to and he's realised that if he's going to look order in the mirror, bare-chested, then he shouldn't do it when he's standing next to a fit teenage boy.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409160858</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Elizabeth Swados|title=My Depression his room: A Picture Book|rating=4|genre=Autobiography|summary=If you have ever suffered from depression you'll find it very difficult to explain to other people how you're feelingmade him feel happy. You're not feeling ''just As he grew up and became a little bit down''Man, his life became more complicated and he dealt with this by getting bigger and better boxes. A treat or a dollop of positive thinking will not miraculously cure Look carefully at the pictures and you. You're definitely not swinging the lead, but suffering from ll see that one of them has a legitimate illness which deserves to be recognisedpadlock.. Elizabeth Swados is a long-term sufferer from severe depression: she's also a talented storyteller and has told her the story of how depression feels for her - complete with drawings, which fill in those gaps which words can never fill for any sufferer from depression.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1609806042</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=William Alexander1846276772|title=Flirting With FrenchThe End of Bias: How We Change Our Minds|author=Jessica Nordell

|genre=LifestylePolitics and Society|summary=I am Anyone who is not an able, white man understands bias in that they may no longer even recognise the extent to which they suffer from it: it's simply a bad linguistpart of everyday life. White men will always come first. The able will come before the disabled. I don’t tend to struggle with languages too much Jobs, promotions, especially higher salaries are the preserve of the white man. Even when those who wouldn't pass the goal is communicative fluency rather than precise grammatical accuracy, and I’ve taught English as medical become a foreign language in a handful part of countries tooan organisation it's rare that their views are heard, so I have some ideas that their concerns are acknowledged. It's personally appalling and degrading for the individuals on the receiving end of what does and doesn’t work with language acquisition in adults. William Alexander is, perhaps, the bias but it's not so lucky. An American with a longing to be a Frenchman, he is devoting himself to learning just the lingo and much more, and chronicles his efforts in this bookindividuals who are negatively impacted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715649957</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Amy MorinErling Kagge|title=13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't DoWalking: One Step At A Time

|genre=Popular ScienceLifestyle|summary=When Amy Morin was just 26 and working as Those who have read my reviews before will know that how much I loved a psychologist and therapist her husband died suddenlybook is evidenced by the number of pages with corners turned, but even whilst she so let me start this one with an apology to the Norfolk Library Service: sorry! I forgot it was reeling from the shock she realised your book not mine. In my defence, I will say that as a reader of this type of book there is something connective about noting where prior readers were things which she must '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 doas soon as I have finished telling you why). She knew that she must not develop  Erligg Kagge is a sense of entitlementNorwegian explorer who has walked to the South Pole, feel resentment or succumb to self-pity. That was ten years ago: since then Morin has remarried the North Pole and worked with numerous patients using the principles which she applied to herselfsummit of Everest. She's found 13 common habits which hold us back in life and developed strategies to combat them. But the best He knows a thing which she makes clear is that mental strength is not or two about acting tough - for instancewalking. However, if youthis isn've suffered t a bereavementtravelogue about any of those epic journeys, you need it is instead a thoughtful exploration of what it means to grieve - itwalk. It is a plenitude of unnumbered essays about walking. There is no 'contents's about having the mental wherewithal to overcome lifepage and I haven's challengest 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.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0008105936</amazonuk>0241357705

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=John KempRichard Brook|title=Caring for Shirley|rating=4|genre=Autobiography|summary=John Kemp's wife, Shirley, suffered from dementia and loss of coordination and for eight years he was her full-time carer as she was unable to walk unaided (well, she ''could'' - but it was likely to result in a serious fall) and took care of all her most personal needs. Probably the most heart-breaking part of this is that Shirley didn't recognise John as her husband - apart from 'give us a kiss', the question 'whereUnderstanding Human Nature: A User's John?' was usually the first which sprang to her lips in any situation. Although she could often have quite an affable disposition she was capable of kicking and biting when she was being 'encouraged' to do something which she didn't want Guide to do.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1479374245</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Dr William Davis|title=Wheat Belly: The effortless health and weight-loss solution - no exercise, no calorie counting, no denialLife|rating=4.5

|summary=Dr William Davis poses an interesting question: why is it I am a firm believer that people who are leading an active life sometimes we choose books, and eating a healthy diet are putting on weight despite all their best efforts? sometimes books choose us. He has a simple and worrying answer: wheatIn my case, which he argues increases blood sugar more than table sugarthis is one of the latter. The problem isnNot 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't restricted in the way that it does now. I believe it came to me not just because I was likely to weight gain, either: theregive it a favourable review [ ''full disclosure The Bookbag's evidence to suggest that wheat affects psychosis and autism toou.s.p. In fact - the more is that you readpeople chose their own books rather than getting them randomly, so there is a predisposition towards expecting to like the more you'll wonder book, even if there's an organ in the body which ''isnit doesn'talways turn out that way'' adversely affected by wheat] – but also because it is a book I needed to read, right now.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0008118922</amazonuk>1800461682

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Holly Baxter and Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett0753558378|title=The VagendaEffortless: A Zero Tolerance Guide to the Media|rating=3|genre=Lifestyle|summary=I love magazines more than is socially acceptable, and I invariably read the women’s ones, or the fitness ones, but yes, mainly those ones for females which insist on telling me how to dress and act, how to style hair in some areas and remove it in others, how to have it all but still let men open doors for me. I don’t really object to any of this – after all, I choose to keep subscribing – but I was still keen to read this book. And not just Make It Easier to check I hadn’t been indoctrinated into forgetting it was all a ruse to make me buy stuff.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784700436</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewDo What Matters|author=Madsen Pirie|title=How to Win Every ArgumentGreg McKeown

|summary=When a book makes a promise on its cover''The marginal return of working harder was, in fact, call me old fashioned but I’m kinda expecting it to deliver on thisnegative. So ''How  That's what happened to Win Every ArgumentPatrick McGinnis. It'' has me thinking s no exaggeration to say that I would read it and become an expert in proving I’m right all he devoted his life to the time (company he worked for, struggling through, even when I’m not). I he was expecting the sort of hints and tips one could use ill, only to argue successfully find that the Earth is flathe was working for a bankrupt company. His stock had fallen by 97%, chocolate is he had lost his health and his job had little value. He made a vegetable (cocoa 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 plant) and Cheerleaders should rule the worlddifferent way: ''great things are not reserved for those who bleed, for those who almost break. Simples.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147252912X</amazonuk>''

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dr Gareth Moore1523092734|title=Clever Commuter: Puzzles, Tests and Problems A Women's Guide to Solve on Your JourneyClaiming Space|author=Eliza Van Cort|rating=3.5|genre=EntertainmentPolitics and Society|summary=The week before I reviewed this book I saw ''She brings a newspaper article that said that sohug-called brainkick-training apps are a waste of time, thunderclap that they merely replace what we should be doing anyway to keep our grey cells active every woman needs in her life. Again and again and again.'' (multi-taskingAlma Derricks, observingformer CMO, REAL LIFE etcCirque du Soleil RSD) ''To claim space is to live the life of choosing unapologetically and bravely. This It is to live the puzzle 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 version of is not a brain training app, and so 'how to disable your attacker with all those electronic titles on the market two simple jabs' manual: it already had opposition's something far more effective, even before but discussion at the moment seems to be about how women can be ''protected''. I've always thought that news came inwomen need to rise above this, to be people who don't need protection, people who claim their own space. But let's face it – If all women did this, those few men who on earth are violent to women would risk the science being wrong on this occasion? Surely this kind of book should realise that we are not just an easy target to be an inherently essential purchase?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782433953</amazonuk>used to prove that they are big men.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Amelia Freer1529109116|title=Eat. Nourish. Glow.Call Me Red: 10 easy steps for losing weight, looking younger and feeling healthier|rating=4|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Amelia Freer had struggled with her own health for a while and it reached a stage where she was waking up feeling tired and groggy, relying on ten cups a day of sugary tea to perk her up and her food was mainly processed convenience foods. At the time she was working as a PA to Prince Charles and loved the job but her busy life meant that she made automatic food choices without consideration of what they were doing to her health. It wasnA Shepherd't until she went to see a nutritionist that she realised what she had been doing and made the decision not only to change her diet, but to train to be a nutritionist. The result is a busy practice - and this book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000757990X</amazonuk>}}{{newreviews Journey|author=Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler|title=The Test Book: 64 Tools to Lead You to SuccessHannah Jackson

|summary=The title of the book intrigued me: ''The Test Book'' and I want the offer image of sixty four tools which would lead me a British farmer to successsimply be that of a person who is proudly employed in feeding the nation. Idon'm happy with t think that is too much to ask.'' The stereotypical farmer was probably born on the land where my life is but it struck me that only a fool doesn't see room 'his'' family have farmed for improvement - and besides, itgenerations. He's probably grown up without giving much thought as to what he really wants to do: he knows that he'll be a slim book, ideal for popping into a bag or pocket for those waiting room momentsfarmer. It 's not always the case though. Hannah Jackson was only born and brought up on the reputation 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 authors - Lake District. She saw a lamb being born and , although 'Hannah Jackson, farmer' lacked the value kudos of their earlier books - which made me realise her original intention, she knew that this wasn't going she wanted to be a light-hearted series of 'tests' such as those favoured by some magazines and newspapersshepherd. For With the most determination that you'll soon realise is an essential part these are seriousof her, well-established tests used by professionalsshe set about achieving her ambition.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178125320X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1786495902|title=Digital InfernoThe Natural Health Service: How Nature Can Mend Your Mind|author=Paul LevyIsabel Hardman|rating=45

|summary=You know how it goesIsabel Hardman suffered a trauma which she chooses not to share. You have a pressing job She says that requires your immediate attention, but decide to treat yourself to a five minute tea break surfing the internet. One link leads to another and before you friend who does know it, your short tea break has swallowed up a whole hour. Or maybe you are at an important meeting burst into tears and you feel the phone vibrate health-care professionals' jaws have sagged in your pocket, signalling an incoming textdisbelief. Is it rude to check your messages when your full attention should really be elsewhere? If you feel that meaningful communication Hardman dealt with this at the family has been replaced with a glut of hastily-typed xtime by 'keeping going's: the next day she went to work to cover the budget, next there was the EU referendum, LOLs the political party leadership contests and emoticons, this book may then it was party conference season. One night she had to be just sedated and returned home to begin long-term sick leave. That was what you need. ''Digital Inferno'' aims brought me to help its readers reclaim their place in this book: 2020 was the year when the digital world and gain mastery over all of those pieces of tech that seem to demand so much of usbins went out more often than I did.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905570740</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Lauren Martin|title=The Making Book of Home|author=Judith FlandersMoods|rating=4.5

|summary=In 1900 a young girl I was in a strange land told great mood when I first learnt of this book, and because sarcasm doesn't always translate well into writing, imagine the people around her that she word ''great'' being delivered with an eye roll and a sigh, through clenched teeth. I had decided she no longer wanted to live spent the best part of a rainy, windy weekend afternoon out on the water at our local sailing club in their lovely countrythe rescue rib, but would much rather return to on standby in case anyone who was racing needed support. It's a volunteer duty we all do during the ‘dryyear, grey’ place she had come fromand normally I'm happy to, because there but that day the weather was ‘no place like home’. The girl miserable and I was Dorothymiserable, while the people around her were the citizens of Oz – and, yes, it was all fiction, came to a head that evening when I noticed on the creation of author Lwebsite that we had been thanked for our time as "Dave and wife". Frank BaumWow. Nevertheless he had put into words something which many people deeply felt but I had not yet expressednever needed this book more.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848877986</amazonuk>1538733625

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=0008420386|title=The Bookshop BookFailosophy: A handbook for when things go wrong|author=Jen CampbellElizabeth Day|rating=4.5

|summary=I love a good bookshop. The smellWhat do Malcolm Gladwell, Alain de Botton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Lemn Sissay, Nigel Slater, Emeli Sandé, the feel of an old bookshopMeera Syal, Dame Kelly Holmes and the wonderful feeling when you chance upon a book that appeals Andrew Scott have in common? They've all failed and - more importantly - they've been willing to appear on Elizabeth Day's podcast to you. They may be a dying breed in some places, but Jen Campbell has written a fantastic book that celebrates the bookshop discuss their failures and those who love how life worked out for themafterwards.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472116666</amazonuk> You'll find the results of these discussions in ''Failosophy''

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=William Poundstone1504321383|title=How to Predict the Unpredictable: The Art of Outsmarting Almost Everyone|rating=4|genre=Reference|summary=William Poundstone believes that we are all in the business of predicting, whether it be something as minor as playing rock, paperSingle, scissors to pay a bar bill though to anticipating how the housing or stock markets are going to move. NowAgain, I'm not particularly competitive - if whatever it is means ''that'' much to someone else then I'd rather let them have it - so this book didn't appeal to me on the basis of doing better than someone elseand Again, but I was interested in how it might be possible to predict what is going to happen. So, care to predict how it stacked up?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780744072</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewand Again|author=Dan Waddell|title=Who Do You Think You Are?: The Genealogy HandbookLouisa Pateman

|genre=ReferenceAutobiography|summary=The celebrity genealogy programme ''Who Do You Think You Are?can'' celebrates its 10th anniversary this yeart be happy and fulfilled on your own. The makers, Wall to Wall Media, were fortunate enough to ride the ripple of family tree fascination, helping to turn it into the hobbyist tidal wave that remains today. For those You are not familiar with the format, each episode allows us to accompany complete until you find a household name as they discover secrets, scandals and surprises about an ancestor or two. Thus we arenman't only entertained; we're encouraged to delve into our own pasts, BBC TV publications acting as tutor and motivator via this handy little reference guide.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849908249</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Lynne Martin|title=Home Sweet AnywhereThis was what Louisa Pateman was brought up to believe. It wasn't unkind: How We Sold Our House, Created a New Life, and Saw it was simply the World|rating=4|genre=Travel|summary=Lynne and Tim Martin had known each other decades ago but when we meet them adults in her life advising her as to what they've only been married thought would be best for a short timeher. ThereIt was reinforced by all those fairy tales where the girl (she's just one thing though - they're not ready to settle down, despite usually fairly young) is rescued by the fact handsome prince who then marries her so that theycan live happily ever after. Few girls are lucky enough to be brought up ''re what might be called without'upper middle aged'. Their roots are in the US - both expectation that they will marry and have adult children there and the Martins have a house in California - but they want to travel and not just as tourists. They want to see the world as the locals see it It was a belief and to experience what itwould be many years before Louisa would conclude that ''s like to live there. Lynne describes them as not being wealthy, but they decide to sell their home, invest the money and become a belief is a choice'home-free'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00J0CRNKE</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1538731738|title=The ConversationsSimple Abundance: 365 Days to a Balanced and Joyful Life|author=Olivia FaneSarah Ban Breathnach

|summary=Someone once said: it's not self-indulgence, it's therapy! I need no encouragement to start think they were talking. Leave me alone with someone and I will find something to talk to them aboutshopping, in whatever languagebut it probably can be applied to most things. I’ve dated people I’ve met by talking In my case, it applies to them on aeroplanes, hablaring español with them in evening classes, chatting writing about things because I want to them online. I’ve made friends at the gym, on the shop floor, during a day’s IT system training, people rather than because I still keep in touch with. So you might think the last thing can sell it or because I need is a book of conversation starters, and yet in a way that’s what this is've got something to sell.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099581981</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Flowerpot Farm: A First Gardening Activity BookSharon Blackie|authortitle=Lorraine HarrisonIf Women Rose Rooted|rating=3.5|genre=Children's Non-FictionBiography|summary=With the demand for us I normally say that you can tell how much a book means to eat seemingly more fruit and vegetables every day, the world me by how many pages have corners turned down. Perhaps an even greater measure of grow-your-impact is setting out to buy my own is backcopy before I've finished reading the one I've borrowed. Why buy from the supermarket when you can release the kids into the garden I want to graze avoid clichés like cattle? However, before you do this, perhaps you should pick up a book like ‘Flowerpot Farm’ by Lorraine Harrison 'powerful' 'inspiring' 'life-changing' – although it is definitely the first two and Faye Bradley which only time will show them how to create their own fruit, veg tell about the third – but clichés exist for a reason and flower garden no matter how small a space they have to work withI'm not sure I can succinctly put it any better.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1782400818</amazonuk>1912836017

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1543987877|title=He TextedLearn to Love: The Ultimate Guide to Decoding GuysHealing Your Disappointing Love Life|author=Lisa Winning and Carrie Henderson-McDermottDr Thomas Jordan|rating=4.5

|summary=This ''Learn to Love: Guide to Healing Your Disappointing Love Life'' is a book, despite the title, is about more love relationships rather than textinga book about love. It The two greatest emotions are love and grief and love is about the whole digital 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 how guys 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 gals interact within it (Companies’ House stalkerage aside)this eventually becomes resignation. From how long to wait to text back For people who are making the same mistakes repeatedly, to how to respond to friend requests and what to do with the power when you’re unleashed on his Facebook wallself-preservation, this book promises to provide hilarious and essential advice on how to navigate in the perplexing world that form of resignation is trouser-shapeda necessity.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780892071</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=William HansonMichael Harris|title=The Bluffer's Guide to Etiquette (Bluffer's Guides)Solitude: In Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World

|summary=If you ask people what they fear most in any social situation most will tell you that This is not the book I was expecting it's not knowing how to behavebe. They'll For some reason I expected it to be fine about the basics, but it's those little niceties another self- help manual on how to introduce yourself, what to ask for as an aperitiffind calm, how to address someonestep outside the mainstream, for instance which can suddenly reveal you as a parvenubut it is not that at all. William Hanson gives Instead of telling us a quick trip through how, it is more about the essentials in ''why''. Harries examines how we're eroding solitude, which used to be a book which is very readable 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 places the final chapter he talks about his own experience of having deliberately sought it out, but mostly he wanders down the alleys and by- hilariously funnyways that his thinking about this lost art led him.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1909937002</amazonuk>1847947662

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Jackson0753553236|title=A Little Piece of EnglandTiny Habits: A tale of self-sufficiencyThe Small Changes That Change Everything|author=B J Fogg

|summary=Here at Bookbag weGo on, admit it - you're great fans of John Jacksonnot quite perfect. We loved his [[Tales for Great Grandchildren by John Jackson and Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini|Tales for Great Grandchildren]] ''and'' [[Brahma Dreaming: Legends from Hindu Mythology by John Jackson and Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini|Brahma Dreaming: Legends from Hindu Mythology]] so it was something of a treat You still have those odd, quirky even loveable (to meet the author on his own ground, so you) habits which seem to speakannoy other people. Originally published as ''A Bucket Other people, of Nuts and course, are sorely afflicted with some dreadful flaws which they could so easily correct, if only they would make just a Herring Net: The Birth little bit of a Spare-Time Farm'' effort. this is actually Jackson's first book Or put another way, I get cross with myself because I forget to do things or do some actions more than I should and thirty-five years later we're delighted that it's been republished in hardback complete no matter how I try to make what seem to be quite monumental changes I never quite seem to get to grips with the original black-concepts. I constantly fail and-white illustrations by Val Birothen I get cross with myself for failing. Lack of willpower is another burden to add to the list.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909661031</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1785785516|title=Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock HolmesFucking Good Manners|author=Maria KonnikovaSimon Griffin|rating=3.54

|summary=Psychologist Maria Konnikova 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: seems they're about getting the basics right before we try to deal with more difficult matters. Of course we all have rather ambitious aims regarding her new bookmore 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. ''MastermindFucking Good Manners'' aims to help us on the way.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1999811402|title=Painting Snails|author=Stephen John Hartley|rating=4. She plans 5|genre=Autobiography|summary=It's very difficult to teach her readers how classify ''Painting Snails'': 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 get advice on what to think like Sherlock Holmesplant when and where for the best results. Anyone who has read The answer would be something along the adventures lines of the world’s most famous detective will have no doubt marvelled at 'try it and see'. Then I considered popular science as Stephen Hartley failed his uncanny powers of analysis A levels, did an engineering apprenticeship, became a busker, finally got into medical school and observationis now an A&E consultant (part-time). Can I found out that there'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 book really unlock 's about. There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the power real passion of Hartley's life, but it didn't actually fit into the mind and turn average-Joe into entertainment genre either. Did we have a master of deductioncategory for 'doing the impossible the hard way'?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085786727X</amazonuk> Yep - that's the one. It's an autobiography.