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Athena's Reading List 2013


Athena

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That's great! I hope you enjoy them :). I own most of the Dutch books that were translated (1-67 were translated, I own a special, two super specials and a few mystery ones as well), I don't ever want to get rid of them, such nice childhood memories.

 

EDIT: I also own about 30ish books in English in paperback, and I own a few on the Kindle too.

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I bought three books in the charity shop:

 

Faith Bleasdale - The Love Resort (own two other books by this author but haven't read them yet, all bought at the charity shop)

Sarah Webb - Something to Talk About (I own one other book by this author that I loved)

Brian Moore - Lies of Silence (part of the Lijsters series)

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Staci Summers - War On Clutter! How To Declutter Your Home and Life and Become Stress-Free Forever

(note: apparently on Amazon.com it's now renamed to: Clutter-Less! How to Declutter Your Life and Become Stress Free Forever?)

 

(can't find an image of the original cover that I have. It's orangebrownish with a bomb on it.)

 

Genre: Information

Format: Kindle

Pages: 106

Synopsis (Amazon.com): Want to have less stress and more organization in your life and home?

 

Staci Summers, a former hoarder turned organization queen, tells all in her book War on Clutter! How To Declutter Your Home and Life and Become Stress-Free Forever.

 

What's Inside:

 

50 Tips To Declutter Your Home

- Creating a Plan

- Gathering the Right Tools for the Job

- The Perfect Maintenance Plan

- Creating Kits

- Tackling the Bathroom, Kitchen, Children's Rooms, etc.

...And More!

 

51 Tips to Declutter Your Life

- 8 Tips to Clear Your Mind and Emotions

- 6 Things You Can Do to Have Better Personal Relationships

- 8 Ways to Take Charge of Your Time

- 7 Things you Can do Today to Manage Your Money

- How To Keep Your Balance at Work

...And More!

 

The good news is that getting rid of clutter doesn't have to be a hard a long process. You can take the ideas in this book and do one thing at a time, or you can try to do as many things as possible in a short amount of time - it's up to you to decide how you want to approach it!

 

In the book, Staci talks about 101 different ways you can get rid of all the junk in your life and keep the things you actually need. Staci also uses some examples in the book to give you a better understanding on what to keep, what to throw out, and other tips on organizing your personal life.

 

Declare War on Clutter on Your Own Terms - Once you do, you will feel a lot better about your life!

 

My thoughts: I started to read this book because I wanted something 'easy' to read next to my current reads (I picked two books to read but they're both a bit complicated). It's also the last book on organising / clutter I have on the Kindle so I felt that by reading this one, I have that 'subject' finished for now, if that makes sense.

 

The book is divided into two sections, one about physical clutter in home and work (50 tips) and one about mental clutter (also 50 tips) (I came up with 'physical' clutter, the book has slightly different names for it). I wasn't expecting this second part of the book, since it's been a while since I read the synopsis (and you can't easily read it on the Kindle, not without turning the wifi on at least). I did check the table of contents, as I usually do even though the Kindle skips past this. I like to know what I'm up against so I usually go back to the table of contents (if there is one) and read it.

 

The book is well written and reads easily. The 2 x 50 tips are each categorised into different chapters, grouped by subject.

 

Some physical clutter tips were good, though most can probably be found in another good book about clutter. I particularly liked the "Divide and Conquer" principle.

 

One thing that bothered me in the physical clutter part was that sometimes certain tools / objects were mentioned of certain sizes, and all the sizes were in imperial (the author is American). I don't normally look up if the author of a book is American or not, and in this case I wasn't able to find much beforehand anyway, I'm assuming she's American because of the imperial measurements (and Amazon.com is an American site). This bothered me because I didn't want to go and calculate all the measurements in centimeters in my head, just so to have an idea of how big or small the author meant.

 

I particularly liked the mental clutter part. As I said, I wasn't expecting it, wasn't sure beforehand what it would be like. The tips are usually brief (ie. about one Kindle screen on average I think, with average font on Kindle Paperwhite), so most of the information given is relatively brief (compared with say having a full length book about subjects such as time management, stress and relationships). It was good to read it and there were some good tips in there, in my opinion (I just realised I forgot to highlight, though :doh:).

 

Rating: **** (8/10)

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I went a bit mad yesterday and downloaded a lot of free (best-selling) Kindle ebooks. Note though, it was all free(!) so it didn't cost me anything (in fact anything I came across that did cost something, I closed its window). I had a bad headache, so that was probably partly the cause. Well, if I decide later on I don't like them, I can delete them off my Kindle again.

 

Cookbooks:

Nancy N. Wilson - Mama's Legacy Series: Breakfast and Brunch - 60 Delicious Recipes

Nancy N. Wilson - Mama's Legacy Series: Sauce Recipes - 50 Tasty Choices

Nancy N. Wilson - Mama's Legacy Series: Side Dish Recipes

Nancy N. Wilson - Mama's Legacy Series: Dinner - 55 Easy Recipes

Nancy N. Wilson - Mama's Legacy Series: Dessert - 50 Scrumptious Recipes

Nancy N. Wilson - Mama's Legacy Series: Chicken - 25 Classic Dinners

Nancy N. Wilson - Mama's Legacy Series: Mexican Favorites - 21 Traditional Recipes

Nancy N. Wilson - Candy Making Made Easy - Instructions and 17 Starter Recipes

Nancy N. Wilson - Cake Making Made Easy - Instructions and 60 Cakes

Stephanie Lennard - Easy Healthy Soup Recipes in 30 minutes or less

Stephanie Lennard - Quick and Healthy Chicken Recipes in 30 Minutes or Less

Stephanie Lennard - Quick Breakfast Recipes: Easy, Healthy Recipes in 15 Mins or less

Stephanie Lennard - Delicious, Quick and Easy Dinner Meals in 30 Minutes or Less

Jacob Palmar - Party Snacks: The Ultimate Recipe Guide: Over 140 Quick & Easy Recipes

Jacob Palmar - Pumpkin Recipes: The Ultimate Recipe Guide: Over 30 Delicious & Best Selling Recipes

Jacob Palmar - The Trader Joes Guide: Over 30 Healthy & Delicious Recipes

Jenny Allan - 40 Juicing Recipes For Weight Loss and Healthy Living

Jenny Allan - 40 Top Paleo Recipes: Quick and Easy Paleo Diet Recipes For Weight Loss

Jenny Allan - Green Smoothie Recipes For Weight Loss and Detox Book

Ranae Richoux - Every Day Recipes: Every Day Quinoa Recipes: The Complete Guide to Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and More

Ranae Richoux - Every Day Recipes: Every Day Green Smoothie Recipes: The Complete Smoothie Guide for Every Occasion

Scarlett Aphra - The Easy Recipe: Freezer Recipes: Easy and Convenient Recipes To Save Time, Money and Your Health

Scarlett Aphra - The Easy Recipe: Everyday Paleo Recipes - Easy, Convenient Recipes For Delectable Cuisine

Kelly Deane - 100 Delicious Paleo Diet Recipes: All The Best Paleo Dinners, Paleo Snacks, Paleo Soups, Paleo Salads, & Other Tasty Paleo Diet Meals!

Kelly Deane - Delicious Salsa Recipes: 63 Fresh Homemade Salsa Recipes

Arnel Ricafranca and Jesse Vince-Cruz - Salads To Go

Arnel Ricafranca - Vitamin Water

Recipe Books - 10 Best Pizza Recipes at Home

Recipe Books - Best Homemade Soup Recipes

Recipe Books - Fast and Easy Breakfast Recipes

Recipe Books - Tasty Milkshake and Fruit Salad Recipes

Instructables Authors - Amazing Cakes

Instructables Authors - Easy Appetizer Recipes

Instructables Authors - Easy Vegetarian Recipes

Gooseberry Patch - Circle of Friends: 25 Pie, Crisp & Cobbler Recipes

Troy Adashun - Smoothie Recipes for Weight Loss - 30 Delicious Detox, Cleanse and Green Smoothie Diet Book

Michael Holtby - Frugal Cooking for Simple Living (90+ Recipes)

Lisa Ujka - 25 Kickass Paleo Appetizers and Snacks: Quick and Easy Gluten-Free, Low Fat and Low Carb Recipes

Diana G. Hopkins - Paleo Breakfast Recipes: 50 Quick, Easy and Delicious On The Go Paleo Recipes For Busy Paleo Dieters

Sarah Sparrow - Paleo Breakfast Recipes: 25 Paleo Breakfast Recipes for Paleo Diet Beginners

June Kessler and Jennifer Whittaker - Sizzling Chinese Cuisine

Donal Skehan, Rosanne Hewitt-Cromwell and Sheila Kiely - Easy Recipes for Summer Cooking: A short collection of receipes from Donal Skehan, Sheila Kiely and Rosanne Hewitt-Cromwell

Robert Paine - The Survivalist Cookbook: Recipes for Preppers

Sherrie Le Masurier - Yum! Healthy Bento Box Lunches for Kids: Healthy Eating for Kids Preschool to Age 10

Sarah Dempsen - Spaghetti Sauce: The Ultimate Recipe Guide - Over 30 Delicious & Best Selling Recipes

Danielle Caples - Gravy: The Ultimate Recipe Guide - Over 30 Delicious & Best Selling Recipes

Pamela Kazmierczak - The Italian Cuisine And Italian Recipes Collection: 35 Italian Dinner Recipes: Delicious and Traditional Italian Meals To Prepare

Kathleen Henricks - Easy Quinoa Recipes: Healthy & Delicious Recipes For All Meals

Naya Lizardo - Sip The Rainbow: 100+ Delicious Juice and Smoothie Recipes for Detox, Weight Loss and Vibrant Health

Cynthia Hill Durham - Easy Cheap Comfort Eats: Soups From 100 Years Ago

Eva Accenti and Ettore Accenti - Eva's Italian Family Cookbooks: Pasta-Rice-Dumplings

Kemberlee Shortland - Just Desserts

V-Life - V-Life Series of Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes: Tasty Vegetarian Recipes

Hamlyn - Hamlyn QuickCook: 50 Recipes: A free taster of the new cookery series

Sarah J. Larson - Best Pie Recipes

Darlene D. Ochoa - Just 30 Minute Chicken Recipes: Latest Collection of 30 Tested, Proven, Most-Wanted And Delicious Chicken Recipes For Healthy Life

 

Information:

Elizabeth B. Brown - Living Successfully with Screwed-Up People

Al Arafat - A Complete Guide to Dealing with Vegetables, Robots, Co-workers And other types of difficult people in your life.

Peter W. Murphy - Always Know What To Say - Easy Ways To Approach And Talk To Anyone

Matt Davids - Body Language: Learn to Recognize Vital Signs in Every Situation & How to Handle Them

Michael Dunar - Breaking Bad Habits: 5 Ways To Immediately Kick-Start Positive Momentum And Destroy Your Bad Habits

Bryan Cohen - How to Work for Yourself: 100 Ways to Make the Time, Energy and Priorities to Start a Business, Book or Blog

James Heiniger - Goal Setting 101-The Basic Step by Step Plan for Life Changing Success (goals, success, dreams)

Jason James, Tracy Travis and Brain Burba - The Power of Goal Setting: How to do goal setting and planning to achieve whatever you want much faster and easier

Paul Wolanin - Chopping Wood & Carrying Water: One Day at a Time

Charlene Richard - The Art of Saying NO with Grace and Respect

Clarence Oliver - The 5-Minute Achiever: The Proven Methods To Accomplish Any Goal At Any Time (The 5-Minute Solutions)

Jeannette Maw - LOA for the Real World: 7 Big Fat Clues to Getting What You Want

Maxwell Leader - Self Confidence Now! How To Stop Being Lazy, Overcome Procrastination, Stay Motivated and Start Being Your True Self! (Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, Charisma, Leadership)

Instructables Authors - Life Hacks

Aaron Kennard - The Positive Thinking Secret

Michael Dunar - Optimism: A Working Guide to Creating Confidence and Why a Positive Attitude Can Make You Wealthy

Peter Ford - What's Stopping YOU?: Think Positive Power

Jennifer Hunt and Natalie Schubert - How To Be Happy Being Yourself: Experiencing Life Your Way Without Being A "Bitch"

Bill McDowell - Why are you not Happy? What are you doing to sabotage your Happiness?

David Tuffley - Being Happy: Part 1

Josh Feingold - The Secret Guide to Happiness

Johnny Truant - Epic Series: The Universe Doesn't Give a Flying fudge About You

John Herrick - 8 Reasons Your Life Matters

BJ Knights - 31 Days To A Clean And Organized Home: How To Organize, Clean, And Keep Your Home Spotless

Liz Weston - There Are No Dumb Questions About Money: Answers and Advice to Help You Make the Most of Your Finances

Ilya Alexi - Mind Over Money: How to Program Your Mind For Wealth

Derek Doepker - Weight Loss Motivation Hacks: 7 Psychological Tricks That Keep You Motivated To Lose Weight

P. Seymour - Creating YOUR Plan for Weight Loss Success (How to Lose 100 Pounds)

Roberta Temes Ph.D. - Weight Loss Tips: 21 Proven Techniques to Lose Weight

Jonah Villas - How to Relax: Stress Reduction and Relaxation Techniques that ACTUALLY Work! (Stress Management, How to Relax, Stress Reduction, Relaxation Techniques)

Jordy Christo - 100 Ways to Relieve Stress: Coping Techniques for Managing Stress

Beau Norton - Minimizing Stress for Maximum Success

Infinite Ideas - Brilliant Little Ideas: Relax

Darren Bridger - Boost your memory: 52 Brilliant Ideas

Robin M. Watts - Writing for Keeps: Creating a Life Review Book

Jack Morgan - Book II - Storyboard: Plan Your Writing (the A, B, C's) (A Book Worth Writing: Creating a Million $1 eBooks)

Quinn Fargo - Your Best Week Ever! A fun how-to guide

Wya Soquiet - I'm Going to the Library: The Introvert's Guide to College

 

Quotes

Atticus Aristotle - Daily Quotes: Success and Happiness: Quotes to Motivate Inspire & Live by

Jason James - Motivational and Inspirational Quotes: A Collection of the Best Motivational and Inspirational Quotes of Inspiring Individuals

 

Biographies:

Sean Patrick - Nikola Tesla: Imagination and the Man That Invented the 20th Century

Sean Patrick - Alexander the Great: The Macedonian Who Conquered the World

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 Wow, Athena! :o  :smile: You did go a bit mad with the free ebook downloading! :smile:

 

Hope you have fun and success with the cookbooks. Browsing through the Information section of your free ebooks, I could find some help from tips myself :smile: Something tells me that you and me could have quite similar personality traits ;)  :smile:

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Uummm, none that I think off the top of my head, (I always need time to think about things :smile:) . 

I'll just tell you something about my disability first. I have right side hemiplegia, and aphasia, after I had a left-side brain haemorrhage 22 years ago, so I have short term memory problems, and speech and language problems. Plus, I've always thought I might be somewhere on the autistic spectrum, but I have not been diagnosed as on the spectrum.

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Wow, that sounds pretty difficult :(:hug:. I hope it doesn't impede your living too much. Is it difficult for you to talk? What makes you think you're on the autistic spectrum? As someone with HFA (high functioning autism) I may be able to comment on it, do you have certain traits? I'm just curious, if you don't want to talk about any of this, that's okay too. It sounds like you have a difficult life, I hope you can be happy though :).

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Thanks Athena  :smile:

Life has been limited since I had the brain haemorrhage. I have my mobility, so I can get abound independently, but can only manage stairs with handrails, so many buildings are no go areas for me. It really pi**es me off that in these modern days, that so few buildings have disability access :motz: .I've always been a socially awkward person, so I'm quite happy in my own company, usually with books. :smile:

I'm sure that with you having HFA, you get fed up with people thinking that they might be on the spectrum. I just had a gnawing feeling that I have something that explains the way I feel and act. I feel that I think differently from most of the world i.e. neuro-typicals.

Also,I feel a bit uneasy discussing these things online. But thanks a lot Athena :empathy:   :smile:

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Thanks Athena  :smile:

Life has been limited since I had the brain haemorrhage. I have my mobility, so I can get abound independently, but can only manage stairs with handrails, so many buildings are no go areas for me. It really pi**es me off that in these modern days, that so few buildings have disability access :motz: .I've always been a socially awkward person, so I'm quite happy in my own company, usually with books. :smile:

I'm sure that with you having HFA, you get fed up with people thinking that they might be on the spectrum. I just had a gnawing feeling that I have something that explains the way I feel and act. I feel that I think differently from most of the world i.e. neuro-typicals.

Also,I feel a bit uneasy discussing these things online. But thanks a lot Athena :empathy:   :smile:

 x

Wow, that sounds pretty tough. I agree about the disability access, sometimes I think it could've been done better (depending on which building). I'm not fed up with people saying that really, but there's a difference between having one or two traits and for definite falling on the spectrum (having many traits). I'm always interested though if people have a trait, because usually it means I can understand them better since I might have that trait too. If that makes sense? You might think differently, though that doesn't necessarily mean you're on the spectrum. My boyfriend thinks differently too, but he's not on the spectrum. It's kind of a gradient, the doctors have just agreed that somewhere there's a certain limit where they'll diagnose a person, but it's quite possible that you're not quite in the neuro-typical end of the spectrum but maybe somewhere more in the middle. Or something. I understand you're a bit uneasy discussing these things online. You're welcome to send me a private message if you want to discuss it more, though it'll still be online, it just means only I can see it.

Athena

 Did your Kindle start smoking when you downloaded that huge pile of books ?  :D

x

Haha, Amazon sent me an email saying it was filled up :blush::D. It's strange how the Kindle doesn't just display a message saying no more disc space or something, instead they email you about it. Is that the usual way this goes? I deleted some books I've read and didn't like, off of it. I don't know how much space it has leftover, I can't find it either on the Kindle or on the computer when I have the Kindle attached. Amazon says you should click the menu button but mine is a Paperwhite so it doesn't have a menu button. Does anyone know how to find out how much space is left on the Kindle Paperwhite? I put some PDFs on there that I bought and some books with illustrations that I bought on Amazon or that were free, in total those take up quite a bit of disc space. I haven't read them yet though so I didn't want to delete them yet. I'm worried that if I delete them while I haven't read them, I might forget that I have them :P. But if I buy many more Kindle books or download more free ones, I might have to delete something and something that uses up a lot of disc space might be the first to go. I could also delete some books I've read and enjoyed but I like having those on there in case I want to re-read them. Sorry if this was rambly, I hope it answered your comment though.

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Athena

 I've never had so many books on my Kindle that it says it's full .I am not real electronically -gifted, so don't know much about the space on it , other than I know if you have books with lots of photos it takes up a bigger amount of space than books with just print  . I'll look at mine today to see if there is a way to tell when it is reaching the limit of being full. Usually when I have a question about it, I do the online chat thing with them in their help section . It's pretty neat. They have people there anytime of the day or night to answer your questions, and always help you ,so that might be worth a try going that route .

 

If I can see anyplace on it ,I'll drop another note in here for you about it .

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Athena

Still looking. I see no place on the actual PW that says how much space is left . I just thought of something ,though .

Do you have everything on the Device ? I keep all my books on the Cloud, and only the current one I'm reading on the actual Device .

That might free up space3 if all your content is put onto the cloud ,then only keep a small amount of items on the actual device until you are going to read them .

Not sure that is the answer, but it might help .

 

I'll keep looking on their website about it .

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Athena

Menu ,Settings, Menu, Device info ---

 

OK, the Hubster told me how to find the amount of space left .

 

Tap Menu ( from the home page )

Settings,

Then tap menu again,

Then tap Device Info .

 

He's the brains of the operations here  :)  I really don't know much about the technical stuff ,other than how to turn it off and on and how to read a book on it .

 

Good luck ! I think if all your items are transferred to the Cloud ,then it'd free up more space.

 

It says on their PW page that it holds up to 1,100 books. Do you have that many on it yet ?

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Thank you so much, Julie :)! I've found it thanks to you and your husband :hug:. I don't have that many on it yet, I have about 350 ebooks, but there are a few that are bigger in filesize according to Amazon, so they're taking up the space I think (a couple of graphic novels and omnibusses). I might delete some of those off it. Thanks again :)!

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The Mind Gym - The Mind Gym 1: Denk Buiten de Kaders (translated from Wake Up Your Mind)

 

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Genre: Information

Format: Paperback

Pages: 325

Synopsis (GoodReads): In much of our lives, our mind operates on autopilot. Rather like the tourist who repeats the same words louder each time the local doesn't understand, we often tend to think and behave in set ways, even if it doesn't get us what we want. However, once we can spot our mental habits, we can change them. And, as result, we are more likely to: make the right things happen; come up with original ideas; achieve more in less time; gain energy and have less negative stress; win people round to our point of view. Over 100,000 people have taken part in and recommended The Mind Gym's workouts. Now, for the first time, hundreds of these practical tips and techniques based on applied psychology are packed into this book and, with your free personal membership number, at The Mind Gym Online. It's not too late to change your mind ...

 

My thoughts: I bought this book because it sounded interesting and because I liked the cover. I didn't know anything about it, I just came across it at the last book fair I went to. I was quite interested in reading it and so I didn't wait a lot of time to read it (well, a month :P).

 

The book is based on a company called "The Mind Gym" who give workshops. They're very succesfull in this and then decided to write a book about what they teach.

 

This book is divided into several different sections, each divided into chapters. There is a section on how to be in control (contains a chapter on positive thinking and a chapter on procastrination, for example), a section on correct impressions and how to influence people, a section on difficult conversations such as how to bring bad news, a section about stress and relaxation and a section on creativity. I found some sections and chapters more interesting than others, but that's usually the case in a self-help book, for me. I have to say the book is very well written and I really like the layout. Bold headings, frames with extra bits of information, lists, quizzes, etc. It also had an appealing and different font that I don't think I've seen a lot (I don't normally point out the font in my reviews, many books I own / read have great fonts to be honest..). It was in Dutch, but it read very easily. It's written in clear, concise language. Given the choice I'd probably have picked the English version, because it's the original, but reading it in Dutch I don't think a lot was lost in the translation, everything made a lot of sense on some level at least.

 

One thing I liked a bit less, was the small section on the automatic pilot, right near the end. For me things don't work like this. With many situations I don't have an automatic pilot to engage, I still need to think about what I'm doing, because if not, things go wrong (ie. I cut myself or I drop something or I fall etc..). So my thinking works a bit differently than what they're saying, however I do get what they're saying and think it could be very useful for a neuro-typical (someone who's not on the autistic spectrum).

 

There were plenty good tips in this book, though some are more appropriate for people with an office job who have collegues and a boss and meetings etc. Since I don't have this, nor do I have a desire to have this, it's less appropriate for me. I enjoyed reading about it though, about how to have charisma etc.

 

I also liked the quizzes that were in several parts of the book, where you could find out which thinking style you had, how stressed you are about something, and more. I enjoyed filling these in and calculating my score (I didn't actually write in the book though even though that was suggested, I don't write in my books so I used a piece of paper instead). I filled in the 'stress' one in relation to my master research, which is now over but I thought it'd be good to put that to the test, and indeed it said I was very very stressed and it'd be wise to talk about it with someone such as a therapist. This was confirmation for me that they knew what they were talking about, even if my 'stress graph' looks a lot different from some people's, because of my autism.

 

I really enjoyed reading this book. I own the two other books the authors have written as well (all bought at the book fair), and look forward to read those too. I can't really fault the book, the only downside is that my thinking is different. If I'd been a neuro-typical and thought in the same way as described in the book, I'd probably give this book a 10 out of 10. That was my only issue with the book, since it was a minor part of the whole book though and I agree with much of the rest of it, I'm giving it a 9 out of 10.

 

Rating: ***** (9/10)

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Hello Athena. Thanks very much for your post this morning  :smile:, and also it's nice to know that I can send you a PM too :smile:  :empathy:

 

I've just read your review of The Mind Gym - good review! I know how you feel about not being 'on the autopilot' – but it's very difficult to explain other people that walking and talking at the same time is incredibly difficult, as I have this problem :smile:  :giggle2:

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This sounds interesting - I think I'd probably benefit from reading the chapter on procrastination! :giggle2:

x

Thanks, ah yes it can be quite difficult to get oneself to get to work! I've personally never had much problem with it but I know some people who find it difficult. 

Some good reviews Athena, do you find yourself using and/or benefiting from these sort of books in day-to-day life?

x

I do, yes. With the ones on the Kindle, I highlighted lots of things and then wrote them in a notepad once I'd finished the whole book. I didn't write things down for the last few books though, and this book was a paper book so I didn't want to write in it. I think it'd have been better if I had written things down while I was reading it, since that way I can remember some of the good tips or phrases that are in there. I might have to re-read it or have a flick through it again so I can write things down exactly (I'm a precise person). It kind of started off with that I wanted to be less stressed and so bought a self-help book on being stressed (I did have a couple of books from a while ago). I like reading these kinds of books, though admittedly I should take more notes and take my time more while reading them. Most of the time for example, I don't stop reading and practise things or think about things more deeply (sometimes I do, though). It'd be better to do so I think, I just have been (and still am) too tired so I don't really have a lot of energy to think about many things and try things. 

Hello Athena. Thanks very much for your post this morning  :smile:, and also it's nice to know that I can send you a PM too :smile:  :empathy:

 

I've just read your review of The Mind Gym - good review! I know how you feel about not being 'on the autopilot' – but it's very difficult to explain other people that walking and talking at the same time is incredibly difficult, as I have this problem :smile:  :giggle2:

x

I agree! Nice to hear your experience :).

x  

:giggle2:  That`s seriously bookish behaviour. ;)

x

Haha, I agree, it is :giggle2:.

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Our local library is having a sale this week because of the autumn holidays. I've been to one other sale before, and just happened to be thinking about it a few days ago, I checked and they were having another sale! This time it was even better than last time, because this time they had some English books and also some non-fiction! I really enjoyed it, going through everything. The going rate was 5 euros for 6 items (or 1 euro each if you have an amount of items that's not divisible by 6). My mum bought a couple of books too (together we had 42 books, most of which were mine :giggle2:). All of the books are hardback, because that's what all library books are here. Only a few are small, most are medium or big sized (in my opinion). I'm quite happy that they had some interesting books (they also had a couple of books I already own, which I'd have bought if I didn't already own the books).

 

I bought:

 

Dutch

 

Contemporary Fiction

Anita Verkerk - Ellessy Relax 5: Een Nieuwe Toekomst

Elle van Rijn - De Tragische Geschiedenis van mijn Succes (this author played a role in a Dutch comedy series I used to watch, thought I'd check out the book)

Anke de Graaf - Mannen En Vrouwen

 

Detective

A. C. Baantjer - De Cock 69: De Cock En Moord In De Hondsdagen (I like this author and this detective series, it's pretty famous in the Netherlands)

 

Fantasy

Markus Heitz - De Dwergen 3: De Wraak Van De Dwergen (translated from German)

 

Biographies

Melanie - Ik Was Papa's Zonnetje - Dagboek van een Incest-slachtoffer

Maria Landon - En Toch Hield Ik Van Hem (translated from English)

Wieke Biesheuvel - Afvallen En Opstaan: Sterker En Slanker In Één Jaar

 

Information

Arjan Bruin and Barry den Ouden - De Internetspellengids

Martine France Delfos and Marijke Gottmer - A-ggZ: Leven Met Autisme (I loved Martine Delfos' book Een Vreemde Wereld, about autism, my parents own it, would love to read it again but I'm not sure where the book is in the house.)

Irene Becker - Finesse: Liever Assertiever - Beter Opkomen Voor Jezelf (about being more assertive) (translated from German?)

Frank Schaper - Eerste Hulp Bij Stress En Vermoeidheid: 50 Signalen Om Een Burnout Te Herkennen, 51 Tips Om Hem Te Voorkomen (about stress and tiredness)

Dr. J. L. Hanley and N. Deville - Moe Van Het Moe Zijn (about tiredness) (translated from English)

Deepak Chopra - Je Gewicht In Balans: Het Complete Mind/Body-programma (about weight loss) (translated from English)

Brian Wansink - Hap Slik Weg: Waarom We Altijd Meer Eten Dan We Denken Of Willen (about weight loss) (translated from English)

Brent Agin and Sharon Perkins - Gezond Ouder Worden Voor Dummies: Blijf Fit en Gezond, Wat je Leeftijd Ook Is! (about aging) (translated from English)

Het Nederlandse Rode Kruis - Eerste Hulp: Weet Wat Je Moet Doen (about first aid)

 

English

 

Contemporary Fiction

Elizabeth McGregor - The Girl In The Green Glass Mirror

Rosamunde Pilcher - The Shell Seekers (I have other books by this author)

Mike Jackson - The Widow's Tale

Marcia Willett - The Way We Were

Jane Smiley - Ten Days In The Hills (I have one other book by this author)

Anthony Horowitz - The Killing Joke (I've read books by him when I was a child)

Terry Gamble - Good Family

Bryce Courtenay - Fishing for Stars

Daniel Clay - Broken (YA)

Jacques Strauss - The Dubious Salvation Of Jack V. (YA)

 

Chick-lit

Pauline McLynn - Bright Lights And Promises (I didn't know this until I looked it up, but she played a character in a TV show I watched when I was younger)

Veronica Henry - An Eligible Bachelor (I quite like this author)

Sasha Wagstaff - Changing Grooms

 

Historical Fiction

Gerard Woodward - Nourishment

 

Thriller

Dan Simmons - The Terror (I quite like this author and this book was on my wishlist)

 

Information

David Choquet - 1000 Game Heroes (this book contains text in English, German and French and has a lot of pretty pictures. It was written some years ago so very new games aren't described in here.)

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Hi Athena just catching up. You are the first person I have ever heard of you has filled up their kindle. :D  :o . I have one of the old ones which holds 3500 books so I doubt I will get to that stage any time soon.

The mindgym book sounds interesting. The autopilot  kicks in quite a lot for us neuro-typical types, every day in fact. It is very very common for people to drive home for half an hour through traffic in complete safety without remembering doing it. That's just one example.

Another very interesting thing is infantile amnesia. That's where people forget everything from before they are about 4 years old. Does that happen to people on the autistic spectrum? I have heard that there are rare people who can remember being born (wow!) but I don't know if that is just an urban legend.

In fact I am going to google it right now

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Athena

 

 Wow, you got a nice pile of books ,didn't you ?

 

The Shell Seekers is great. The beginning was dry, but stick with it, it is well worth reading . In fact, Read it twice, which is very rare for me .

 

Bryce Courtenay :

I'll be interested in hearing how you like his book. The only one of his I've read is The Power of One  ,and it is an all time favorite. Wonderful story-telling .

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You are the first person I have ever heard of you has filled up their kindle. :D:o . I have one of the old ones which holds 3500 books so I doubt I will get to that stage any time soon.

x

That's pretty good! To be fair I have about ten (?) files that are 50 MB each (according to Amazon.com).. I think that's what's filling it up. I bought some illustrated classic collections and some graphic novels, a while ago. My book buying vs. book reading is really not in balance :hide:. I'm going to try to address it soon and at the very least spend less money on any one book. Also I want to try and get rid of some double copies and old Dutch translated thrillers and others, that I no longer want to read or that I read but didn't enjoy that much. Admittedly I'll still keep loads more books than what I plan to give to charity (or perhaps here if anyone's interested, but a lot of them will be Dutch so..) but it's a start. The past few years I've been really stressed and book buying has been one of my ways to try and lessen my stress. So I'm hoping it will get better now that I have some time to de-stress and am no longer studying. Sorry if that was a rambly answer :blush:.

x

Another very interesting thing is infantile amnesia. That's where people forget everything from before they are about 4 years old. Does that happen to people on the autistic spectrum? I have heard that there are rare people who can remember being born (wow!) but I don't know if that is just an urban legend.

x

Wow! I only have a few memories of before the age of four. One of when I threw a pack of sweet little breakfast toppings ('roze muisjes') on the floor, the other of the "pre-school" I went to (when I was three years old). A child on the autistic spectrum sometimes forgets things he/she 's learned, he/she actually regresses to a stage of some months ago if I remember correctly. It had a different name, it was in one of the books about autism that I read, but I can't remember the name now at the moment, I'm afraid. It hasn't happened to me though (as far as I know?) so I don't know a lot about it other than what I've read. Do you have many early memories?

The Shell Seekers is great. The beginning was dry, but stick with it, it is well worth reading . In fact, Read it twice, which is very rare for me .

 

Bryce Courtenay :

I'll be interested in hearing how you like his book. The only one of his I've read is The Power of One  ,and it is an all time favorite. Wonderful story-telling .

x

Thanks :)! I'll be sure to let you know what I think when I've read them.

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