Showing posts with label self-help. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-help. Show all posts

Friday, November 1, 2019

C-SPL Reader of the Month: Alanda Gregory


https://catalog.dubuque.lib.ia.us/cgi-bin/koha/opac-shelves.pl?op=view&shelfnumber=1763&sortfield=title

Alanda Gregory, November's C-SPL Reader of the Month is a life enthusiast, a part-time entrepreneur, and a library assistant at Carnegie-Stout. She has five grown-up children and assists her husband with his music studio in Dubuque.

(See the past C-SPL Reader of the Month blog posts here.)

Alanda's Reading Interests:

My reading interests are primarily anything that provokes thought. I love to read about history and I am an avid reader of self-help books, yet every once in a while I love to read a good book of science fiction, general fiction or classic literature. I believe that everyone should discover and familiarize themselves with the world around them. I believe that is how we learn the greatness within ourselves and appreciate the greatness in others. To think about it, my love for reading matches my love for all sorts of music. I believe that by expanding our selection of literary or musical arts, we broaden our cognitive learning abilities.


 Q & A with Alanda

Q. What is the best book you have read within the last year (or ever)? 

A. The best book I’ve ever read is The Game of Life & How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn.

Q. What is your ideal reading environment (location, sound, snacks, etc.)?


A. My ideal reading environment is in my home office. I’d grab a book, put on my classical music or meditation music playlist and sit in my recliner.

Q. What book are you most excited about reading next and what about it is most exciting?

A. A Terrible Thing to Waste by Harriet Washington. I am particularly excited because the title itself is a phrase for an advertisement related to The United Negro College Fund and I anticipate the book will touch on that. Harriet is also the writer of Medical Apartheid and that book opened my eyes to the horrors of medical practices against people of color in the name of medical research.

Q. What book do you think more people should read and why do you think they should read it?

A. The Game of Life and How to Play It. This book gives insight on self-awareness and our endless possibility of creating what we want. The book was written by one of the best known new thought leaders of the 20th century. Florence Scovel Shinn was a spiritual teacher and her principles and wisdom still applies to the present day. Her book is full of anecdotes and affirmations, which have helped me along my journey.

Q. Do you remember when your love for reading began?

A. My love for reading began at three. My mother taught me how to read and I remember as a five year-old child sitting at my desk copying pages out of our World Atlas books and telling my mother I wanted to write my own books. The best stories to read in my youth were Nancy Drew & the Hardy Boys Mysteries.


Check out more of Alanda's Favorite Books

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Nine Self Help Advice Books

We've gathered together nine of our newer self-help books below. Check them out!

Hope, Make, Heal: 20 crafts to mend the heart by Maya Pagan Donenfeld
(745.5 DON) For maker and artist Maya Donenfeld, when faced with the trauma of a sudden and unexpected ending to her marriage of sixteen years, she yearned to find something that would allow her to focus and channel her powerful flood of emotions into something she could see and touch. Knowing that busy hands can profoundly nurture the heart and quiet the mind, she began making beautiful and expressive objects that were simple, intentional, and most of all, meaningful.

F**k It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way by John Parkin
(158.1 PAR)  In this inspiring and humorous book, John C. Parkin suggests that saying F**k It is the perfect Western expression of the Eastern spiritual ideas of letting go, giving up, and finding real freedom by realizing that things don't matter so much (if at all). It's a spiritual way that doesn't require chanting, meditating, or wearing sandals. And it's the very power of this profanity that makes it perfect for shaking us Westerners out of the stress and anxiety that dominate our daily lives.

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
(158.1 DUC) Why do some people succeed and others fail? Sharing new insights from her landmark research on grit, MacArthur "genius" Angela Duckworth explains why talent is hardly a guarantor of success. Rather, other factors can be even more crucial such as identifying our passions and following through on our commitments.

Stop Caring What Others Think: How to Stop Worrying About What People Think of You by James Umber
(158.2 UMB) Do you constantly find yourself worrying about how other people see you? In this book, life coach James Umber asks the question "Why do we let other people's opinions have so much power and control over us?" He will not only tell you an incredibly simple and hugely effective tip that you can implement from day one, he also looks at the reasoning hidden behind our thought processes.

Feel the Fear-- and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers
(152.46 JEF) Are you afraid of making decisions? Whatever your fear, here is your chance to push through it once and for all. In this enduring guide to self-empowerment, Dr. Susan Jeffers inspires us with dynamic techniques and profound concepts that have helped countless people grab hold of their fears and move forward with their lives.

Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story by Steve Kamb
(158.1 KAM) For the past 5 years, Steve Kamb has transformed himself from wanna-be daydreamer into a real-life superhero and actually turned his life into a gigantic video game: flying stunt planes in New Zealand, gambling in a tuxedo at the Casino de Monte-Carlo, and even finding Nemo on the GreatBarrier Reef. To help him accomplish all of these goals, he built a system that allowed him to complete quests, take on boss battles, earn experience points, and literally level up his life.

The Little Book of Big Change: The No-Willpower Approach to Breaking Any Habit by Amy Johnson
(153.85 JOH) It's not you--it's just the way you're wired. That's the message psychologist Amy Johnson tells readers with bad habits in her unique guide, The Little Book of Big Change. Drawing on a powerful combination of neuroscience and spirituality, this book shows readers that they are not their habits. Rather, their habits and addictions are the result of simple brain wiring that is easily reversed. By learning to stop bad habits at the source, readers will take charge of their habits and addictions--once and for all

Fighting Mad: Practical Solutions for Conquering Anger by Ray Guarendi
(152.47 GUA) We all struggle with situations where we experience feelings of anger. Most of the time anger and its causes are well within our control; conquering those angry impulses are in our control, too. Guarendi cuts through psychobabble to present a realistic picture of anger and other emotional issues, and then offers practical solutions for overcoming them. Most of the time anger and its causes are well within our control; conquering those angry impulses are in our control, too.

The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by James Loehr & Tony Schwartz
(158.1 LOE) We live in digital time. Our pace is rushed, rapid-fire, and relentless. Facing crushing workloads, we try to cram as much as possible into every day. We're wired up, but we're melting down. Time management is no longer a viable solution. As bestselling authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz demonstrate in this groundbreaking book, managing energy, not time, is the key to enduring high performance as well as to health, happiness, and life balance.