The purpose of this blog is to provide potential readers of personal growth, self-help, how-to and personal development books with a balanced review that you can trust, along with access to a community of practice.
- Balanced review
Nothing is ever exclusively helpful or lacking. As such, each blog entry is an earnest attempt at assessing a book from both perspectives, as well as giving the reader a sense of how practical and efficacious the exercises, activities and advice are for the everyday human being.
- Trustworthy
Someone has already done the job of reviewing the credibility of the author and what they have to say, checking their references and citations, and evaluating what they present against objective criteria.
- Access to a community of practice
The community of practice is made up of people like you who are on the journey and share your personal growth goal or are struggling with similar issues, unlike the author who is an expert and hopefully has been practicing what they preach for years. Here you will be able to see that your situation is shared with others, and discover whether the practices outlined in the book under review offer you a reasonable chance of success.
What to expect
Each blog entry follows the same format. First comes my review of what’s good about the book, then my review of what’s lacking in the book. My assessment is based on combining the answers to an evaluative check-list for what to look for in a self-help, how-to or personal development book with my own personal opinion and experience with it. Finally, I review one of the practices laid out in the book. Sometimes this takes the form of describing the practice, and sometimes it includes my experience of doing the practice myself.
Before I publish my reviews I ask myself three questions about what I write:
- Did I mean it?
- Can I defend it?
- Did I say it with love?
I learned this from Luvvie Ajayi Jones and you can listen to her on TED
Next: Why I write this blog