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Book Reviews Blog - thebroadroom.net
The Identity Code by Larry Ackerman
posted by TheBroadroom.Net,
Monday, April 24, 2006
at 12:28 PM (Pacific)
Reviewed by: Raphaëlle
The Identity Code is not your run of the mill self help book. It's about finding your place in the world. That doesn't necessarily mean completely changing your life. It just means finding your purpose, that one thing that will make you genuinely, deeply happy. It's what your whole life will be about. You might need to change jobs or you might just need to infuse your purpose into your work. Some relationships will fall to the side and new ones will form. All natural life events. The Identity Code is a method, eight questions, that are meant to help you choose the right path for yourself.
These eight questions form the main part of the book. Each question gets a chapter all its own with a concrete example of someone who has or hasn't answered the question, explanations of what the question and its answer entail, and exercises designed to help you answer the question. The exercises are simple and straightforward. Don't be mistaken though. These aren't silly exercises. They take time and reflection. They require one to take a couple hours to do them properly. In fact, the whole process of answering the eight questions can take years, a lifetime even, but each little discovery made along the way is enough to improve your life.
There are a couple things I appreciated very much about this book. First of all, it has no easy answers. There are no categories into which you are expected to fit, no multiple choice questions. Everything is open ended. Second of all, though the author mostly talks about adults, it's also meant to be used by teenagers. There are some mentions of school work and teenage issues.
This book isn't meant to deal with any psychological issues you might have such as loss. It is meant to help you figure out where you are going, what you want to do, who you are basically. As such, this a very good method and I recommend this book to anyone who feels the need to find their place in the world.
 
Hello Kitty's little book of big ideas by Marie Y. Moss
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
at 10:04 PM (Pacific)
Here is the brief review I did of this book in the Fashion Blog:
Here is an excerpt from Hello Kitty's little book of big ideas by Marie Y. Moss. Ms. Moss, according to the liner notes, served as fashion director for Seventeen magazine, and has appeared as a teen fashion expert on television shows such as Oprah, and MTV's House of Style.
Oh, sure, when Mama first started trying to convince her that a closet full of basics was the best way to begin a well-rounded wardrobe, all Hello Kitty could think was BORING! What could a trendy girl possibly want with a package full of solid T-shirts, ho-hum basic jeans, and a no-style hooded sweatshirt? The answer, she soon saw, was everything. She figured out that these basics were just like the blank canvas of a painter. Hello Kitty could start in search of an outfit by pulling on her own blank canvas of solid essentials, then add colors and textures to individualize her look.
Well that's just put a few hundred personal-style consultants out of a job! Ask the Kitty, I tell ya, ask the Kitty.
The allowance money saved by buying long-lasting basics meant more than a few dollars left over for snapping up trendy accessories, cool notebooks, and a few style-making pieces of clothing to mix things up a bit.
Hello Kitty has a boyfriend too evidently (I am the last one to know). A nice outfit is described as a cotton shirt with a cardigan layered over it, topping khaki pants, with a heart-shaped locket (containing a photograph of that mysterious boyfriend), a tote bag, and canvas sneakers.
So cute!!!!!
... Another way she experiments with different mix-and-match schemes is by simply spending an afternoon trying on her things in all possible combinations. ...Hello Kitty likes to pull out her instant camera and photograph the looks that make the cut so that she can tape them inside her closet door for easy reference.
What a bitchin' idea! What a great idea. Hello Kitty must be a programmer, that is, she would be if programmers knew how to dress. *g*
There's much more pithy advice here of course; it is a 70-page, hardcover book.
Here is the copy I have:
Apparently there's a spiral-bound version too:
Aside from the fashion angle, there is actually a great deal of very practical advice in this book, covering travel, organizing storage space, how to throw a party, an emergency kit to be prepared for anything, how to stop biting your nails, a cool color scheme for your room--neon pink windowsills and door paired with white walls--okay that might work better if you are the actual age this book is targeted toward :D --how to be a friend...oh, if only Hello Kitty were older. :)
This would make a nice gift for your daughter or niece. It is not saccharine, nor does it advocate spend, spend, spend; it is a practical how-to guide.
Field Notes on the Compassionate Life by Mark Ian Barasch
posted by TheBroadroom.Net,
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
at 2:18 PM (Pacific)
Reviewed by: Raphaëlle
When I first saw this book, a wave of apprehension passed over me. I was afraid the author would start telling me I'm not good enough. I'm not kind enough, I don't give enough, I don't have enough empathy, compassion, sympathy... Now the thing is, I'm one of those people who already think it. I already feel guilty when I don't give money to each and every beggar I see. Even if I actually have no money. I don't need someone else reinforcing this thought pattern in me.
I started reading and discovered that this book wasn't about telling me what I should do. It's a man's journey to understand compassion. Where it comes from, how it works, what its effects are, socially, biologically, as well as psychologically. The scientific sections were fascinating, the anecdotes compelling. Mostly though, I saw myself in the author himself. I saw a student of compassion, someone who tries just as hard as I do but sometimes falls short. More than just a study of compassion in our world, I saw the journey of a man to not only understand it but also include it in his life. Mr. Barasch is much further along than me but his journey has given me a glimpse of what I can achieve. He's shown me there are other people like me. I'm not as weird as I’ve been told...
I highly recommend this book with one warning: put your cynicism aside for a moment. This book isn't preaching to you. It's just presenting another, kinder, way to view the world.
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