A Practical and Unsentimental Guide to the Good Life
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In YOU CAN FARM, Joel Salatin describes just how he runs his farm and why.  By sticking to the example of his own experience and his own farm, he paints a vivid, detailed, and obviously accurate picture of how he makes his living from farming, and how you can, too.
Most of the farm activities he recommends require little up-front investment or experience.  One can start small and expand as one learns the ropes.
We've used many of Salatin's ideas on our farm in Oregon, and they've worked very well for us, and we know a lot of other people who've put them to work as well.
Other writers focus too much on the romance and political correctness of ecologically responsible farming. But romance and political correctness don't pay the bills.  "Sustainable agriculture" has to sustain the farmer as well as the land, or it's nothing but a snare and a delusion.  Salatin shows a proven path to success and profitability.
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Pebbles: Insightful stories for a meaningful life is a very well written, what I can only describe as, a life improvement book. This book is intelligent, wise and packed to the rafters with practical common-sense advice. It becomes obvious as you read through this page turner that the author is imparting his wisdom and understanding as to what happiness and success really means. Its an excellent guide for putting things into perspective.

This book will help you to clarify your thinking, process your feelings, and make better decisions. If you are you ready to stop drifting and design a life you love, this read with help you on your journey. The author has put his heart in the pages of this book that will encourage and give hope to the reader.

The overall tone was simply imparting knowledge, personal experience and wisdom in a witty, gentle and generous way. His words will help to better equip you to interpret and handle life in a whole new way, which in turn will bring peace, love and joy into your life. If you are looking for inspiration and encouragement on the journey of life, this would come highly recommended from me.
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This is a  clear and very precise guide to living life a life of new experience of true happiness.  A Guide to follow and practice creating joy and freedom from needless suffering.  It will open your mind and give you steps to easily and practical mental exercises that will allow you to see the world more clearly.
  A small reference to keep in times of trouble or confusion.
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This book was clearly written with first hand knowledge and a deep understanding about what it takes to be a true leader. It isn't about speeches, rousing rhetoric, and grand promises, it is about one's daily choices. About how each of us can make a difference towards the betterment of the world, our place in it, and one's individual goals. I am not a big reader of self help books or PR related testimonials...this is not like that. It is a practical guide for living one's life to the fullest measure. By following the guidance MR. Stock provides in this book, one can easily set achievable goals, which might indeed bring material wealth, but true the goal is reaching the deeper riches in life; those that sustain a person inside. I have read his other books and found then a good read and interesting; I recommend them too. But this book should be on every business person's desk, worn out, marked up, dog eared, and treasured. An excellent gift for every graduate, or anyone arriving at that place in life where they feel the need, the craving, to lead a better life. To finally reach out and make it happen for themselves and to serve to lead. Indeed!
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Michael Schuler talks about sustainability, but starts with not ecological facts but what makes for the good life. His thoughts on sticking around neighborhoods and contributing to community I found particularly insightful and motivating. Schuler's style is straightforward, easy to read but often inspiring. At times, the passionate reader may feel she is drowning in Schuler's eminent "sensible-ness": I felt a little like Italy being coaxed to be Belgium. Mother Theresa's all-consuming passion and Emerson's eclecticism were both sustainable in their ways. On the whole, this is a warm, gently powerful book that will stay with me a long time. It's about the decisions and the life that really matter. Highly recommended.
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This book caught my eye at a book table and was then recommended by someone I respect. The idea of celebrating a subject that often makes me groan (discipline) sounded enticing and the chapter headings were about daily aspects of spiritual life that apply to a crossection of religions. Two things I realy like about this book are that it is written in simple, direct language despite the author's rich knowledge base of theologians throughout history. He can grasp themes and summarize them into meaningful and readable prose. The other thing I like is that the wisdom in this book translates to daily life. There are practical suggestions and guidelines as well as theological premises. I recommend this for anyone who seeks a positive and intimate guide for practicing disciplines like prayer, simplicity, and service in their spiritual journed.
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I found this book to be a very practical guide to boosting a low level of self appreciation, and the frequent corollary of that, high levels of negativity towards others, both the world in general, and one's closest intimates in particular.
If you find yourself, or a loved one, to be stressed and negative much of the time, reading this book and acting on the simple, but proactive techniques, should go a long way to making the world a brighter place for you, or them.
The `40 Days' of the title may just be the first part of a year long, and then life long change of heart and mind.
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I like this book. It is informative and inspiring, and it provides practical ways to be happier in daily life. The chapters are short enough that you can read it in bite-sized chunks when you're waiting here or there, or when you're taking a moment to recharge and need a boost. However, you may want to read the whole thing at once. I'm going to read it a second time and use the practical suggestions for living more happily.
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Debra Joy gives us the keys to pleasure, well being, and our true nature in this highly recommended and readable book. For those of us who resist the good habits we know would help improve our lives,The Power of Pleasure declares that our 'medicine' doesn't have to taste bad. Debra's tell-it-like-it-is wisdom and gentle wit entice us to go more deeply into all the things we already do every day only to discover the profound pleasure waiting for us at the core of all experience. The techniques and practices are clear and simple and essential. Use them and be happy.
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An excellent introduction to the philosophy of Stoicism, Ryan Holiday's The Daily Stoic provides a practical, pragmatic manual for living a life of virtue, reason, and tranquility. Holiday quotes ancient philosophers' sage advice in a daily calendar format and provides colloquial translations and illustrations. One can enjoy this book as a daily meditation book and/or as a basic guide to Stoic philosophy. I also appreciated the glossary of Greek words and concepts with translations provided at the end of the book.
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Life is full of setbacks and challenges, and it is often easier to dwell on what is difficult than to focus on what is positive in our lives. 30 Days of Gratitude reminds us that being grateful for life's abundance can make a radical difference in the choices we make and the impact gratitude can have not only on ourselves, but also on others. This well composed, easy to read guide provides straightforward ideas that are easy to implement and have long-term benefits. I found the personal stories from the author relatable; they reminded me of the universality of human experience, and that each person fights their own battle. Boyer encourages us to use gratitude to make the journey easier and more fruitful. I think everyone can find something to relate to in this book, and will also find important life lessons they can use to be more successful.
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A lovely collection of thoughts and actions for a happier life
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"I know from my own experience and others' that the mind and heart can be transformed from the most miserable and abject of conditions to that of kindness, clarity, courage, openness and ease. How one might go about that is what I hope to share with my readers." This is the opening that Yuichi wrote on his Amazon bio page. In each of his three books dealing with difficult emotions (two more books to go) he does succeed in changing at least my life for the better -- precisely, by making living more spacious, less uptight, with far less dull repetitious thoughts and, more importantly, by paying as little as possible attention to my own likes and dislikes. Instead, living by worthwhile life principles (see above), this "Part Three" edition emphasizes accepting everything that living produces, good and bad, likes and dislikes, all in equal measure -- even with gratitude (which is healing). In sum, Yuichi writes that it's really not possible to feel a lack or insufficiency when
you are busy giving of yourself and living up to your worthy life principles. You feel rather a spacious sense of abundance. While his lessons are both sound and tough -- but loving --  they are easy and pleasurable to read: Yuichi Handa cares for and understands his readers. Of course I recommend this book to you.
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Rabbi Twersky presents a pithy and readable guide to living one day at a time.  He believes in looking at each new day as an adventure to be lived wisely and well.  He draws from the Talmud and other sources of his tradition, and the reader discovers, or perhaps re-discovers (perhaps to his or her amazement) that the old sages have something relevant to say today.  There are no new truths here, only old truths packaged in a way that makes them easy to absorb - one day at a time.  This is a great book to keep on the nightstand.  It would be easy to make a habit out of taking one page in the morning or evening.
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I managed in that period, but I did not live well. The best part of my day was the hours spent on the couch watching television after work, and only because I could avoid thinking about the cold steel in my chest every time an unknown number appeared on my caller id. In truth, I was miserable. In this general introduction to Stoicism, the author uses the philosophical framework  to address the problems in his life that are common to us all. The author weaves together his own personal narrative with the pillars of stoicism to create a compelling and practical guide. This book covers the history and philosophy of stoicism, but also provides readers with the application of these truths to their daily lives. The author praises the accessibility of stoicism saying, Whether dealing with trouble in the workplace, at home, or in ones own heart, Stoicism is a well of wisdom whose weather has been drawn consistently for thousands of years. This guide allow readers to draw from that well for the benefit of their own lives.
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Dr. Dacher has given us an elegantly written treasure map to the most valuable riches in life -- happiness, love, wholeness, health and joy, among them.  It is complete with tips and tools and time-tested ways in which to use them. It also offers a unique perspective on health and wellness, looking not at the typical medical office remedies for symptoms, but delving into a more profound source for healing that is contained within each one of us.

This book invites the reader in a beautiful way to begin and continue meditation practice. For busy people, there are suggestions for incorporating short meditations or simple breath work throughout the day. And the included CD can help pace you in a 20-minute session, or in a longer "loving-kindness" form of meditation, until both are familiar enough to do without the CD.

The work is based on a successful 10-week program led by the author. Readers here are invited to chose their own speed and discover which techniques are most useful for them. Everything is written clearly in terms a Western audience can easily understand.

Aware-Awake-Alive is divided into four sections: the Vision, the Path, the Fruition and the Integration. The Vision presents the prospect of "human flourishing," an optimal state of health and well-being that is known to many healing traditions around the world, but remains largely undeveloped in the our modern Western culture. The Path explores time-tested, step-by-step practices drawn both from ancient wisdom and contemporary knowledge. These are offered in progression, for both sitting sessions and practices to carry into daily life that together place you on "the path" to a larger life and health.  The Fruition describes the qualities that arise along this path--serenity and peace, profound wisdom, enduring happiness, selfless love and compassion, and boundless freedom.  The Integration discusses the value of these approaches in addressing some of today's epidemics, such as heart disease, chronic conditions, PTSD, ADHD, depression, and addiction disorders.

For those who have never meditated or have done so only sporadically, you may find inspiration to make a commitment for your life.  For those who already practice some form of meditation or contemplative prayer, you may enjoy reading this book for its deeper insights and encouragement to continue practice.

Aware-Awake-Alive at once demystifies the practices of inner development and meditation while indeed opening the path to the deeper mysteries in our soul.  This is a keeper.
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The bookshelves groan with the weight of self-help books, some invaluable, and some ordinary common sense made marketable by astute `guides'.  Though this remarkably readable new book by Pamela Skillings is subtitled `A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of your Dreams', suggesting yet another of the self help series genre, what this carefully detailed, wise, and immensely user friendly book offers is a call to the reader savvy enough to buy this guide to address not only employment and how to make meaningful, plausible changes in job situations, but also how to essentially take charge of your life in every facet of living.

Skillings uses a conversational style of writing, full of wit, insight into the unspeakable issues that crowd many of our professional lives, and practical approaches to what other authors have created as `formulas', and in doing so she manages to supportively take the reader by the hand and lead the way down the dark hall of indecision or stifling boredom to the possibility of light at the end of the tunnel of change.  `You don't have to settle' is a term she frequently inserts into this fact-filled examination of the good and the bad side of Corporate existence. The signs and symptoms of corporate burnout are detailed in lists of levels of `disease' states that provide a lot of truth as well as significant humor (monotony, control issues, workplace drama, cubiclitis, etc.).  But Skillings has the wisdom to refuse to push her readers into leaving the womb of corporate security. Instead, she offers skilled advice on how to evaluate job and life goals, and follows this with detailed methods of how to approach dreams of finding the perfect job - along with a healthy list of the possible temporary setbacks and side effects of making change.

One of the many fine points of Skillings' mentoring is her realistic approach to the challenges that accompany change. After long chapters on how to decide what kind of job would provide personal satisfaction as well as a means of viable financial support, she outlines sensible and attainable pathways to make the `change' work. After deciding just what would make the reader's life happy in the work environment (and it follows, in the home environment), Skillings suggests seeking advice from people in the field of work being considered, doing temp work in that field, volunteering in areas associated with the goal (adding to the resume as well as to the conviction that the change will be what the seeker wishes) - all before `quitting the day job'. In other words, Skillings advice is crowned by recommending sound research and implementation of dreams BEFORE taking the leap.

Within the context of the conversational advice are numerous examples of people who indeed escaped from corporate America, lists to complete to aid the reader in defining exactly what are the goals and the steps toward achieving them, and a constant supply of warmly friendly, gently humorous, reality based supportive asides that reassure the reader that `you can do this'! In her final chapter HAVE A NICE ESCAPE, before she shares myriad contacts and resources to aid the reader, Skillings warmly states `Only you can decide if you're really ready to escape from Corporate America.  The most important thing to remember is that you always have options. You deserve an inspiring, fulfilling career, and there's no reason you can't have one.'  Dreams and Visions fill the pages of this fine book and it would be difficult to find a more informed and supportive guide to attaining those than Pamela Skillings.  Highly Recommended!  Grady Harp, May 08