Stephen Jenkinson is a spiritual teacher. I heard him on a podcast and was mesmerized by how his work in hospice and palliative care informs his approach to life. While many people might think that a book about death and dying would be depressing, I found it absolutely enlightening. In essence, Jenkinson teaches us about death in order to teach us about life.
His writing style is unique: long, descriptive sentences that are more poetry than prose. I was glad I'd heard him speak on a podcast before reading his book, because I could hear his voice when I read. He speaks exactly the same way he writes, almost as if he is reading you a poem in normal conversation.
I took nearly a year to read this book, digesting small bits at a time. This is not a cover-to-cover thriller. It's best enjoyed slowly to allow the ideas to sink in. It's one that I plan to return to, especially as those I love come closer to the ends of their lives.
Die Wise does not offer seven steps for coping with death. It does not suggest ways to make dying easier. It pours no honey to make the medicine go down. Instead, with lyrical prose, deep wisdom, and stories from his two decades of working with dying people and their families, Stephen Jenkinson places death at the center of the page and asks us to behold it in all its painful beauty. Die Wise teaches the skills of dying, skills that have to be learned in the course of living deeply and well. Die Wise is for those who will fail…
This book is a primer on democracy for all of us who value a free society. Written in the brief style of political pamphlets of old, this short book shares a succinct view of what it means to live in a democratic society and how we can preserve ours. I especially appreciated that the author compared our society to other democracies that have fallen into dictatorship, such as Hitler's Germany, to show us exactly how it can happen, and more importantly, how we can fight back. This book is not simply philosophical musing, it is a call to action with twenty specific actions we can all take to preserve a free society.
'A sort of survival book, a sort of symptom-diagnosis manual in terms of losing your democracy and what tyranny and authoritarianism look like up close' Rachel Maddow
'These 128 pages are a brief primer in every important thing we might have learned from the history of the last century, and all that we appear to have forgotten' Observer
History does not repeat, but it does instruct.
In the twentieth century, European democracies collapsed into fascism, Nazism and communism. These were movements in which a leader or a party claimed to give voice to the people, promised…
This book presents a quirky feminist character battling gender norms and falling in love in the 1950s. The main character is her own woman in a time when women had very little autonomy. Her practical, equitable approach to romantic and work relationships is well beyond her time (and ours). I loved watching her fight for a life of her own in a world that hadn't yet conceived of the idea of gender equity.
The author has a way of dealing with difficult subjects in a way that is light. (But just be warned: There are some really, really difficult subjects tackled in this book.) I rooted for the main character the entire time and found myself wondering "What's next??" when it was over.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • Meet Elizabeth Zott: a “formidable, unapologetic and inspiring” (PARADE) scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show in this novel that is “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel. It reminds you that change takes time and always requires heat” (The New York Times Book Review).
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Newsweek, GoodReads
"A unique heroine ... you'll find yourself wishing she wasn’t fictional." —Seattle Times…
In Less, Rose Lounsbury, a simplicity coach and still-sane mother of triplets, takes a practical, hands-on approach to decluttering your home and simplifying your life. Based on her own life-changing experiment of “going minimalist,” Rose provides a realistic guide to reducing your excess stuff and reclaiming your hard-earned free time.
Less offers attainable steps that you can take to achieve the clutter-free, functional home you crave. Through candid stories from her life as a minimalist blogger-turned-businesswoman, Rose will inspire you to stop spending your time dealing with your stuff and start living a better life with less.
