engrossing read and  some practical ideas at end
937139
Well-written and moving with nuggets of gold insights and understandings to be had and can be read in one sitting as the narrative easily pulls you and along to the finish.
1788452
Rarely do I read books of this nature, preferring fiction or history over any kind of "self-improvement" type book. Yet I found this story to be quite engaging with some real life situations and practical solutions to problems. As a committed pragmatist, much of the content of this book was directly related to my own management situation, making it a useful book in many respects. In addition, there were several entertaining moments as we delved into various personalities, traits, and value systems of people.

The system the author is expounding is excellent and aside from its suspicious simplicity, seems to be effective and applicable to many situations. The idea of eliciting trust through encouraging or at least embracing conflict may seem new at first, but upon further reflection certainly makes sense. While this general tone of the book is positive and the results cannot be denied, in some ways there is a danger using this book as a prescription for all success in management. Furthermore, I was slightly disappointed in the lack of expansion of some of the ideas set forth. My own experience is such that people are generally more complex than a set of reduced rules can provide.

But aside from some of the naivety, which in and of itself makes this book charming and helpful, I found this to be a very appropriate book for all managers. The ideas considered and the team-building encouragement are quite beneficial. I recommend this book highly. Using fiction based on fact, the author has written a didactic and entertaining story for everyone.
3507264
Perhaps I was just expecting too much with a team of authors the likes of Blanchard and Hybels.  Each man is well-respected and highly regarded for his leadership skills and his writing abilities.  I was anticipating a powerful collection of biblically-based leadership nuggets.  What I found was a lengthy parable about a Christian businessman re-evaluating his life with the help of a seasoned minister and a leadership professor.
This book is an easy read -- I finished it in just a couple of sittings.  Technical leadership jargon and sociological statistics aren't present in this volume, and their absence is a welcome relief for busy executives.  The entire concept of merging spiritual principles with management principles is an excellent one.  I also enjoyed the comradery depicted among the three men -- it serves as an inspiration for Christian men to seek and to find accountability partners from whom they can learn and grow.
I recommend this book to all Christian leaders, whether their vocation is in the church, the university, or the business world.  There are some good insights here, once the reader gets past the unusual parable presentation. The format isn't bad -- it's just different.
1862633
A friend recommended this book to me, but I almost stopped reading it because I thought the author took the task of organizing much too seriously. Then I realized that the author is Japanese, where most homes are much smaller than in the U.S., so they have to keep things pared down and organized. So I kept reading -- and was glad I did. I've read a few other organizing books, but this one gave me new ideas. It also inspired me to tackle some long overdue organizing and "tidying" projects in  my home. Although I ignored some of the advice (e.g., don't keep any receipts or paperwork), many of the ideas are worth considering. I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 because I thought the book was a bit repetitive in places.
3287262
Written in a casual, chatty style, this book sets forth the life lessons the author has learned, often the hard way.  Books of this type often end up sounding like sermons, but this one remains more conversational.  At the risk of oversimplifying, the most important lessons seem to be about being true to yourself, and about trying to always look for the good in the world.  The author illustrates her points with examples from her own life, but notes that everyone is unique, so we each have to discover our own specifics.  There certainly was a great deal of food for thought here, and even though I'm definitely not the target demographic for this book, I still found much of it worth thinking about.
3982179
This is my favorite book so far in the "automation/AI and universal basic income" genre - Andrew Yang does a great job of laying out the coming automation wave and its impact on workers, families and institutions. His chapters on UBI and new institutions that could arise to help displaced workers feel useful and build community are also well-thought-out; I especially appreciated the bits about the history of UBI and all of the tests and experiments that have proven it to be a useful venture.  Where I think he goes off track is the last chapters on how to reform healthcare and education to cope with this new reality.  You can't problem-solve massively dysfunctional bureaucratic industries like healthcare and education in 15-page chapters. I think he tried to do too much towards the end of the book and solve all of America's problems in 50 pages or less, which resulted in surface-level solutions  that don't seem realistic - I work with doctors everyday and don't know any who would take a massive pay cut even if they got less bureaucracy and more time with patients in exchange.  Overall, this is a quick but engaging read and a worthy addition to the recent crop of books about the future of work in America.
1094402
I enjoyed reading the perspectives of the two authors on bringing country skills to the suburbs. They share many ideas for getting into sometimes daunting activities like growing your own food, keeping small livestock (goats or chickens), and learning to make your own pantry staples, bath products, or candles.

There are a few places where the editing goes awry. For example when talking about beekeeping, the author discusses getting a smoker going (p. 114) but doesn't explain what it is or how to use the smoke (p. 118 mentions that smoke can help pacify the bees, but some description is warranted). The discussion of goats gives detailed information about milking but seem to make light of needed to occasionally freshen dairy goats (breed them and birth the kids) to continue to milk a doe year after year. Page 98 states that "you can breed every couple of years to keep the milk production high  [...] but it's not necessary." That's not really true. You can't expect to buy a doe and get a decade of milk supply.

Overall, I think that Little House in the Suburbs is a great starting point to finding a new hobby or a few tips on making your lifestyle a bit more self-sufficient. I loved the personal anecdotes from each author's perspective!
533153
The author makes a compelling presentation that his ideas are not just about saving some money -- they are about building a well-balanced and properous life.  While this book contains a broad range of specific cost reduction and debt reduction strategies, the books' strength lies in the principles he presents and brings cohesion to which invites self-assessment in terms of whether one's life is appropriately in balance in the range of family, work, wealth, and inner joy.

I found it to be well worth the read, and much more valuable long term than so many other personal finance books I have read.<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Simple-Dollar-How-One-Man-Wiped-Out-His-Debts-and-Achieved-the-Life-of-His-Dreams/dp/0137054254/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Simple Dollar: How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams</a>
3614499
The author seeks to provoke a useful mindset. He goes from pithy macro principles, and fills in with micro examples and a few practical keys for implementing.

I highly recommend this relatively short read.
3893927
This book makes several interesting points and was set up in a way that works well. The author lays a good foundation of facts and information suitable for the layperson before getting into the actual meat of the book, i.e. telling you how to change things for yourself. The book is also a surprisingly fast read.

Ive always believed that the mind is key to everything and that people can achieve anything they want if they want it badly enough. The things set forth in this book are interesting and I will probably try some of them (a big deal for me, since I normally do not put much stock in self-help gurus teachings).

One thing I did disagree with slightly was the authors comments on self-esteem. While I agree that this concept has been taken to extremes in current society, I do not agree with the statement that said it doesnt matter. I think it plays a part in shaping self, but does not stand on its own (i.e. high self-esteem does not guarantee a successful life but one cannot achieve success if one does not believe in oneself).

It was refreshing that this was not the typical self-help book. Those who typically avoid these types of books may find they can actually learn something from Behavioral Genes without being bombarded by the usual sappy self-help content and jargon.
803099
I enjoyed the book immensely and found the concept timely, interesting and practical.  In fact, I'm thinking about seeing whether my skeptics meetup will try to get the author to stop by while on his tour.  Food insecurity is a worry for those of us living in cities.  Here in mine, there was a gas shortage last year and grocery stores began running out of food in just a few days.  I dutifully plant my little ornamental kale plants and summer tomatoes, but could never feed the family on what I can grow.  This is a wonderful way to make food local, even in cities, and protect against some natural disasters that can emperil the food supply.

The author does repeat statistics and examples a few times in the book, which was mildly annoying but certainly not a frequent or serious issue.  Other cons:  I thought the projections of how goof-proof these vertical farms would be were a little rosy; nothing is ever foolproof.  As the book points out, many of our most important food crops can no longer grow without human intervention; we've bred them for desirable traits and lost some of their hardiness in exchange.  Growing all our food in large-scale greenhouses (a) makes the greenhouse owners very powerful; and (b) allows our food to be further modified and self-sufficiency even further out of reach.  Still, faced with the environmental degradation caused by current farming methods, the self-contained, water conserving vertical farm is worth pursuing.  But I was frustrated - this was a call to action, with no practical action I can take to achieve the ideal except perhaps to help it gain wider acceptance.  This isn't the author's fault, of course.  In a way, it's a compliment that my biggest complaint was a lack of avenues for putting this timely idea into practice.
1652964
The book is presenting a framework taken from the business sector that can be used in our personal lives to increase our satisfaction and happiness. I found that some of those tools make a lot of sense and could well be applied to the personal sphere, but also believe that sometimes the ideas are too basic and that a more in-depth and philosophically grounded approach was missing. Anyway, its an easy reading and can bring a couple of aha moments, so don't regret buying and reading it.
21247
Overall, this book was a good read. It has many practical ideas for real people and the author's short chapters on investing are easy to understand and interesting.
115030
I really appreciated the reminder to work on empathy and understanding for my partner. There are some practical ideas to experiment with right away. Quick read on the Kindle, read in just a few days :)
3810584
Good read on an interesting yet possible scenario
2556013
I really enjoyed this book.  It took some chewing through.  The thoughts were presented well.  I could identify with the patients in some degree or another.  Every trader has experienced loss and done something that later appears to be unfathomable.  You stop when the dust settles and say, "What was I thinking?"  Dr. Brett has clearly explained why that happens and has given some great ideas to overcome it.  With that said, I have some cons to add to the review.  More or less every thing after chapter five is a re-statement of earlier ideas.  There are some exceptions but the general idea is repitition.  Secondly the reader who simply reads the material will put it down at the end and will have a warm feeling of "I can do it now!"  I don't believe that to be the case.  Dr. Steenbargers ideas are scattered about in an almost flash back format.  You really have to compare notes between the chapters to get the whole picture.  In addition to having a scattered format I believe that more should have been said about the steps taken in a solution to these problems.  I got some great ideas, (by comparing notes between chapters) but the real step by step actions were sometimes a bit nebulous.
In the final summary I believe the book is very insightful and full of wisdom.  The book is a must for overcoming the shortfalls of human nature.  The book does require more study than casual reading but the gems unearthed make it worthwile.
966729
This book is a fast paced read, that starts out with a blizzard of examples concerning the bounty that modern society enjoys.  Despite that we live with this astounding abundance of material riches, we still feel unfulfilled.

The author then delves into the psychology behind why we feel discontent. Some interesting concepts are introduced.  I found that the idea of adaptation,  whereby we soon take for granted what was a highly desired entity before we possessed it,  and the way to counteract it, particularly fascinating.  His discussion of satisficers and maximizers resonated with me, too. Although on this type of personality difference,  I don't think the author could offer an easy remedy.  It's hard to start accepting something that's just 'good enough', when your the kind of person that prides yourself on knowing all about the very best things. But the author succeeds in developing a new perspective for us.  Then it's up to us individually to build on that perspective and figure out what it would take to make each of ours life more meaningful.  The book is enlightening and entertaining.