Book Reviews May to September 2022

Book Review: Can I be Honest with you? by Amy Palatnick (affiliate link)

This is an edgy, empowering and deep read. As I read this book I reflected on the lessons that it brought up for me, both in regards to when I have been too pushy with what I've wanted, but also not honest enough with myself or other people. Reading this book pushed me to make some changes in my communication and work harder at both letting myself in and other people in while also being true to myself. It wasn't easy to read. There were times I really squirmed and felt called out, but it also gave me the courage to examine where I have fallen short in my communication with other people and start making some changes. I definitely will re-read this book again because I think there is a lot here for anyone to explore and work through.

Book Review: Psychic Skills for Magic and Witchcraft by Cat Gina Cole (affiliate link)

This is an excellent exploration of the intersection between Psychic and magical powers. The author does a good job of presenting the intersection and showing how psychic powers can enhance magical skills, while also sharing survival skills of sorts for how to use psychic abilities for internal work and processing. It provides some useful exercises that the reader will benefit from implementing.

Book Review: The Epic of Gilgamesh translated by Andrew George (Affiliate link)

I enjoyed this edition of the epic of Gilgamesh a lot. I particularly appreciated the translator notes as well as the historical notes, both in terms of the archaeology and the actual history. I found this book to be really helpful for some ongoing research I’m doing.

Book Review: The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene (Affiliate link)

This is a tour de force that explores the laws of power through historical lessons that reveal when people have either successfully applied or broken those laws. It provides a profound perspective on how to apply those laws to your life, as well as how to recognize how others are applying them or breaking them. The historical stories are also fascinating and illustrative.

Book Review: Rumi’s Little Book of Life (Affiliate link)

This is a book of amazing poetry that explores the mysteries of love and life and gives you to contemplate. Highly recommended.

Book Review: Bittersweet by Helen Cain (Affiliate link)

This was an interesting book to read which explores the nature of longing and sorrow and how they show up in our lives and how they can lead us to creativity, closure, as well as self-awareness. It helps you appreciate the value of emotions that many people spend a lot of time trying to ignore, when perhaps we ought to discover what those emotions have to offer us. Reading this book helped me appreciate my own melancholia in a different light and recognize it can be a natural state of being.

Book Review: Why We Argue and How to Stop by Jerry Manney (Affiliate link)

If you find yourself in a lot of arguments, this book can be a useful guide to help you recognize why you are arguing and explore techniques you can apply to help you have better conversations with the people you are arguing with. Reading this book helped me understand some of my patterns of behavior when I get into arguments and has given me some ways I can change those patterns and have more constructive conversations as a result.

Book Review: The Power of Regret by Daniel Pink (Affiliate link)

In this book the author explores the emotion of regret and shares how this emotion can be beneficial and help us make positive changes in our lives. While we can’t undo the mistakes we’ve made, regret helps us recognize what we could do differently in the future and shows us a way to learn from our failures so that we live a better life, wise for the mistakes we’ve made.

Book Review: Iron John by Robert Bly (Affiliate link)

This was a fascinating book to read, which explores the mythology of Iron John and relates it to the struggles the men face in their identity. Reading this book helped me recognize some of the ways I don’t healthily connect with my own masculinity and helped me get started on making that journey in my life. It helped me see the important of connecting with each aspect of my masculinity so I could work with those aspects to find balance.

Book Review: Under Saturn’s Shadow by James Hollis (affiliate link)

A friend recommended this book to me and I’m really glad he did. Reading it helped me understand and work through some deep pain I’ve been feeling for much of my life. It put that pain and the experiences around that pain into context and helped me do some work I’ve long needed to do, but never understood how to do. Reading this book gave me a sense of hope and direction and enabled some pivotal breakthroughs that I’m carrying forward into my continual internal work. I would recommend it for any person to read if you want to better understand the experiences a man faces in the world, both internally and externally.

Book Review: The way of the superior man by David Deida (Affiliate link)

While I found some aspects of this book thought provoking and helpful in terms of exploring masculinity, I found other aspects to be outdated, providing a perspective on polarity that doesn’t seem to be as relevant anymore. It helped me recognize the importance of purpose and staying true to purpose, but it also made a lot of arguments that I’m not sure are as relevant now. Either way it still made me think and I appreciated reading the book.