Book Reviews for May 2018

May turned out to be FULL of reading. For personal and for work. Let's dive right into it, shall we...

The Obesity Code by Jason Fung

The Obesity Code

I come from a family with a history of diabetes, heart issues, high blood pressure, and, you know, stuff like that. I've been watching my parents, aunts/uncles, and my husband's parents enter their late 50s and into their early 70s.

It ain't looking good.

Pretty much everyone has bee diagnosed with pre-diabetes or actual type 2 diabetes. Those who have managed to reverse the pre-diabetes still have high blood pressure and the looming threat of diabetes waiting.

They've all made diet and exercise changes -- well, the ones who reversed pre-diabetes claims made changes. The ones who switched to artificial sweeteners and meds to control things are just needing ever higher doses of meds to maintain -- and they definitely have full-blown diabetes now.

​I'm cool with dietary changes, but I'm less cool with extreme exercise. Honestly, I've done the hour+ long workouts for years. I had great muscles. I didn't have much else, including a life. Now I've got little kids at home and less time than I ever thought possible. Hour+ long workouts are behind me for the foreseeable future.

Which leads directly into the next book...

The Complete Guide to Fasting

I really only skimmed this one because the vast majority of the details are in The Obesity Code.

Here's my diet today (and for most of the month):

1. No soda or artificially sweetened beverages
2. Don't eat breakfast unless I feel hungry
3. No snacks between meals

Do you want to know how its going?

Well, I'm telling you anyway. The soda is hardest and I've probably had at least 1 a week. Not bad and definitely better than before. I gain about 3 pounds the day after I drink a soda and my "spare tires" inflate. I'm getting better at avoiding the soda by drinking iced green tea. It's working.

The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jason Fung

Aside from the weight gain and inflated spare tires, on the days that I drink a soda I get mood swings -- bad ones. It's like I used to be quite regularly when my blood sugar would drop and I'd get all hangry. When I avoid the soda and sugary snacks, no more hangry.

I'm going to continue with this new eating method. It's working for me and I am seeing results -- maybe not a lot of weight lost but the stable moods, increased energy and mental clarity, and a less bloated figure are all highly desirable to me.

How to Show and Sell Your Crafts by Torrie Jayne

How to Show & Sell Your Crafts

Another one that ended up being a book I skimmed through. Turns out that I do not actually WANT to sell crafts. I just want to do/make stuff and take prettier pictures of it!

That's not a bad thing to learn about myself. I did appreciate the sections on taking photos and branding.

The book goes into some details on the various social media platforms -- made me almost want to go spend more time on them.

Homeschooling

Since we're homeschooling over the summer, I've been reading quite a bit about the subject. I, personally, enjoyed this one family's account of WHY they decided to homeschool. It's probably because it is so close to what I'm dealing with right now.

Ultimately I am still on the fence about homeschooling.

​Actually, if I'm being really honest, I'm a little pissed that I feel like I have to homeschool. The whole recurring implication that my kid is less than average and needs to be pushing harder/faster is nearly enraging. My kids is successfully doing stuff at the end of Kindergarten that I didn't even learn until second grade! Kid's obviously not stupid. And I turned out fine (thank you very much).

Homeschooling by Gregory Millman

So, Homeschooling, left me thinking this process would be good, almost easy... and then I read 3 other books which gave varying information that I could either laugh along with or made me want to throw in the towel before I even started.

The Everything Homeschooling Book and The Homeschool Toolkit both made homeschooling feel possible. I mean, if the only thing I ever had to do was read about homeschooling, these two books would make me feel like I was succeeding at it.

The Everything Homeschooling Book by Sherri Linsenbach

The Homeschool Toolkit by Laura J. Geis

But homeschooling is about way more than simply reading books. To do it, I actually have to work with my kids and help them learn. Let's be honest, this aspect is harder.

​And then there's this book, How To Write a Low Cost/No Cost Curriculum. By chapter 4 in this beauty I was ready to throw in the towel and give up on homeschooling forever (despite the teachers telling me my kiddos need it over the summer to keep up).

How to Write a Low Cost/No Cost Curriculum by Borg Hendrickson

If you live in a state that requires a lot of documentation, or ANY documentation, Low Cost/No Cost is probably well worth reading. It's definitely overwhelming though -- or at least thinking about curriculum in terms of goals and objectives broken down into neat little grids seemed that way to me. I'm guessing that my thinking is a bit higher level and board and that this book appears too much as a result.

Don't Waste Your Time Homeschooling by Traci Matt

The last book I'm reading about homeschooling, at least for May, is Don't Waste Your Time Homeschooling.

Don't let the title deceive you, this is a pro-homeschooling book. It contains little bits of wisdom from a homeschooling mom of 3 over the course of 20 years.

Did you know that roughly 4% of the USA school age kids are actively being homeschooled? As with everything, there's good and bad about homeschooling. In this book, there's a certain amount of grace in understanding and recognizing that

A) homeschooling isn't for everyone
B) the trials of homeschooling are real
C) homeschooling can still be a wonderful process.

I appreciate the author's honesty and realistic viewpoint. She's not seeking to prove that homeschooling is best (unlike so many other books on the topic). She's pretty much just trying to tell it like it is and give you, the reader, a dose of truth about it. Of the homeschooling books I've read, I'm liking this one the most.

Next month...

For June I plan to read several books on marketing -- specific to book marketing as an author. Let's try and get me accountable by listing out my top 3.

How to Write a Swoon Worthy Sweet Romance by Victorine E. Lieske

Strangers to Superfans by David Gaughran

Outlining Your Novel by K.M. Weiland

As a reminder, I routinely BORROW books from the library to keep my costs down. I highly recommend visiting your local library to access these books. Of all the books I read this month, only Don't Waste Your Time Homeschooling is on my kindle app. The rest are all library borrows. (For June, 2 of those books are on my kindle app.)

And, because I don't want to violate any terms of service, here is my Amazon Associates declaration since ALL of the links are back to Amazon:

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, as affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Links to Prior Months

April 2018