Recommended Reading: No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox
[Michael J Fox] uses his trademark humor to bring light to even the darkest moments. Not to cover up grief, but to feel it in a way that lifts and supports himself and those around him.
No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality
by Michael J. Fox
Sourced: Christmas 2020 present from my brother, Brian
Purchase this book HERE.
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
“With gratitude, optimism becomes sustainable.”
- No Time Like the Future
I love Michael J Fox.
No, seriously. I LOVE MICHAEL J FOX! His optimism, humor, and handsome, handsome face have been charming me my entire life. As a celebrity crush, he is everything I could hope for. As a mortal being, he’s even more. After being diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991, he decided to share his potentially devastating diagnosis with the public, using what could have been the darkest moment of his life to create hope, community, and joy through The Michael J Fox Foundation. What a babe.
There are too many heartthrob moments in this book to list them all. The way he writes about his wife of 30 years, and his four kids, reveals a man driven by love and connection. He uses his trademark humor to bring light to even the darkest moments. Not to cover up grief, but to feel it in a way that lifts and supports himself and those around him.
Something that really resonated with me is that MJF does not attempt to hide any moments of weakness or regret (as I would most certainly do if writing a memoir). Rather, he treats himself (and those around him) with compassion, patience, and understanding. He owns up to moments of fallibility, not through self-criticism, but through introspective understanding and a healthy dose of humility.
I have been crushing on MJF as long as I can remember and this book only stoked the flames of my passion. Thank you for sharing your life and mind, Michael. You’re a dream boat.
If you would like to read No Time Like the Future, check your local public library for availability.
If you would prefer to have your own copy, you can support this blog and independent bookstores across the country by purchasing it HERE.
Recommended Reading: Quit Like A Woman by Holly Whitaker
Whitaker brashly rejects the troublingly generic diagnosis “alcoholic” and encourages the reader to ask themselves more specific questions about how alcohol fits into their lives.
Quit Like A Woman: The Radical Choice To Not Drink In A Culture Obsessed with Alcohol
By Holly Whitaker
Sourced: Sandmeyer’s Bookstore Chicago, IL
Purchase this book HERE
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
“Maybe it started as not wanting to deal with hangovers or the threat of premature death or even escaping the hole that is addiction, but … my effort turned into what it still is today: the process of building a life I don’t want, or need, to escape from.”
- Quit Like A Woman
I’m spiteful by nature. It’s not my favorite thing about myself, but the thought of shoving a personal success in the faces of my enemies is what gets me out of bed in the morning. The proverbial haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate and my internal life has been a series of moments intended to prove them wrong. What’s that? The enemies exist only in my head? I should redirect myself to be driven by my own needs and desires rather than a compulsive need to be right while others are wrong? You sound just like my therapist.
Luckily for me, “Quit Like A Woman” is perfectly compatible with this rather immature drive. Whitaker deconstructs the many factors of our society designed to increase our desire to drink and describes sobriety as an individual’s act of resistance. In an extremely paraphrased version of her arguments, the patriarchy wants us to spend all our money on a substance that will make us dumb and submissive. Drinking is our chosen self-oppression. The barrier between what we are and the fully realized potential of what we could be.
Whitaker brashly rejects the troublingly generic diagnosis “alcoholic” and encourages the reader to ask themselves more specific questions about how alcohol fits into their lives. As she puts it, there is no definitive line a person crosses when they transform from casual drinker to alcoholic. Instead, she encourages the reader to ask “Is alcohol getting in the way of my happiness, my life, my self-esteem? Is it getting in the way of my dreams, or maybe just not working for me? Does it cost more than it gives, does it shrink more than it expands, does it cut pieces out of me I can’t reclaim? Does it make me hate myself, even just a little bit?”
Reading this book gave me the focused courage to abstain from drinking through the Covid-19 pandemic. Knowing how much of my desire to drink was external helped me understand that I did not actually want to waste my newly acquired spare time being drunk. Instead, I spent the long hours alone with myself (and, thank goodness, Rowena) building new habits. In the absence of drinking, I was forced to find other activities that I enjoyed. I started playing guitar, dancing, spending more time on the yoga mat, and built a regular writing practice that eventually led me to create this blog.
My copy of this book is filled with highlighter, post-its, and hand written notes. I’ve read the full book twice and my favorite chapters dozens of times. I know I will continue to revisit it for many years to come.
If you would like to read How Not to Be Wrong, please check your local public library.
If you would prefer to have your own copy, you can support this blog and independent bookstores across the country by purchasing it HERE.
Recommended Reading: How Not to Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenberg
So, yah. I bought a book about math. I breezed through the first section, a review of concepts I learned in school. The book became progressively more difficult and I found myself having to read sections over and over to really absorb them. More than once, I threw the book down in frustration and replaced it with a novel. It took me over a year to read this book and I’m convinced it would have never happened without the pandemic providing me with extra hours for reading. On this side of it, I’m so glad I pushed through.
How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking
by Jordan Ellenberg
Sourced: Uncharted Books on Broadway
Purchase this book HERE
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
How Not to Be Wrong
Recommended Reading:
Funny
Informative
Very few numbers
This book about math is funny. I know. I didn’t expect it either. The first time I laughed aloud while reading, I figured it was a fluke. An introduction is always somewhat less formal than the book itself and, remembering the math textbooks I had in school, I assumed this would be the only time I enjoyed this book. I was wrong. I lost track of the number of times my reading was interrupted by a giggling fit (If you decide to read this one, READ THE FOOTNOTES! That’s where most of the best jokes are.). Jordan Ellenberg displays complicated mathematics, not simply through numbers and equations, but by applying real world stories, and some sly social commentary, to each principle.
This is one of the first nonfiction books I have ever purchased for myself and, even at 30, it tickles me to know I am reading books that would intrigue Klaus Baudelaire. Klaus Baudelaire, from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, has been the object of my affection since I read book 1. Many people think my weakness for men in glasses stems from my Harry Potter obsession. Nope. Klaus Baudelaire. Like me, he valued reading and I watched him apply the knowledge gained from books to real life, high stakes situations. I loved thinking that my connection to books made me as smart or resourceful as Klaus. Unlike me, he didn’t just read fiction. Still, it wasn’t until the last couple of years that I began to seek more from a book than just a good story. I wanted to be exposed to new ideas and concepts. And, most importantly (for some reason), I wanted to hypothetically impress Klaus.
Naturally, I bought a book about quantum mechanics, read the first chapter, and flung myself onto my bed in despair (a favorite pastime of mine). The book was too difficult for me, something I had never experienced before. I wanted to relieve my shame by shredding the book into tiny pieces and then setting those pieces on fire. I wanted to lay in bed and feel sorry for myself and my stupid, stupid brain. And mostly, I wanted to wake up the next day and never again acknowledge what happened. At most points in my life, this is exactly how I would have handled the situation. Instead, I woke up the next day and put the book back on my shelf, promising myself that I would try again when I was ready. In the meantime, I would try something else. Something difficult, but not as completely foreign to me.
So, yah. I bought a book about math. I breezed through the first section, a review of concepts I learned in school. The book became progressively more difficult and I found myself having to read sections over and over to really absorb them. More than once, I threw the book down in frustration and replaced it with a novel. It took me over a year to read this book and I’m convinced it would have never happened without the pandemic providing me with extra hours for reading. On this side of it, I’m so glad I pushed through.
And the book on quantum mechanics? It’s been two years and I’m about halfway through. Sorry to be a braggart, but not only am I reading the book, I even understand some of it.
If you would like to read How Not to Be Wrong, please check your local public library.
If you would prefer to have your own copy, you can support this blog and independent bookstores across the country by purchasing it HERE.