Tag Archive: nonfiction



My Broken LanguageMy Broken Language by Quiara Alegría Hudes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh my! This was so different than any other memoir. It came at me like my own crazy memories. In and out. Mine are mostly English. But if I were raised with another language spoken around me, it might have sounded like this.

Cousins and relatives played a big part in this book. Exactly like my memories, just different.

If you have a lot of Spanish in your vocabulary, it might be even better. My meager amount barely got me by. At least the author, as she narrated, helped me hear her implications.

I picked up this Audible version after hearing about it on a talk show. I had the spare credit, so grabbed it. I’m thinking I will try to find the paperback so I could I can work on the Spanish more.

Please read some of the more eloquent reviews. Even if you have no Spanish, there is enough to absorb this beautiful story. I’m glad I own it so I can go back and enjoy it and Quiara’s voice and spirit again.

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The End of Alzheimer's: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive DeclineThe End of Alzheimer’s: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline by Dale E. Bredesen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I was in my forties, both of my grandmothers died of Alzheimer’s. As you can imagine, I am working hard to avoid what has been assumed to be my fate. Genetically, I seem to favor the heavier side of the family, so when 2020 warned us to lose weight or get hospitalized with COVID, I went on a fasting diet. After losing 30 pounds, I have kind of plateaued. Even still, in my 18/6 or sometimes 20/4 fast, I am trying to eat as healthy as I can: veggies and a little fruit. I don’t like meat, but I do eat salmon in my daily salad and minimize anything processed. Lots of water or tea. One or two cups of coffee. I have increased my exercise and am trying to get cardio and weights. I’m still not optimum on any of it. I try to get better and better.

Meanwhile I have increased learning a lot of new things. I have 11 languages I’m playing with on Duolingo. There’s a lot of knitting and diamond painting. And I am bringing back my piano playing, learning new songs while awakening old ones I had forgotten. I’ve since started playing recorders, soprano, alto, and tenor. Then I took up the ukulele, and now adding violin. I feel learning new things helps my brain. I work at my sleep hygiene aiming for 7 or 8 hours.

Imagine my surprise to see that I am doing a lot that Dale E. Bredesen recommends in his book. I was able to get the Kindle version through Libby. But now I have ordered the audiobook and my own copy of the paperback. The text-to-speech helped me read the book but I felt I could use a knowledgeable voice to read the technical terminology. And there are charts of the supplements and other aids that I want to be able to follow more closely. So, even after I return the library versions, I will have my own copy to refer to regularly.

I highly recommend this book. It’s quite user-friendly, not too sciency but you can follow the science if you like (I like).

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Voice-Over Voice Actor: The Extended EditionVoice-Over Voice Actor: The Extended Edition by Yuri Lowenthal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The thought of podcasting and/or narrating books has run through my mind a few times, um, a day, for quite a while. I’ve done research and have played with ideas for a while. This book was fun and informative about it all. And the voice-over industry I hadn’t thought of.

The narrating tag team authors, Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt kept the information hopping and interesting. If one can read cartoons, that’s what it felt like at times, as the team has a population of voices between them.

Now, if only I can conquer the stagefright that silences me with distractions and anti-schedules to keep it organized.

I think this is a lot more that can be gleaned from the wisdom these two grant us in this book. And though I have the audiobook, I feel I need the paper copy to visualize much of the information.

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THE ADHD ARTIST: STAY FOCUSED, CREATE MORE, LIVE ABUNDANTLYTHE ADHD ARTIST: STAY FOCUSED, CREATE MORE, LIVE ABUNDANTLY by Earth West
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don’t know if it was the way the text sounds in text-to-speech as opposed to having narration or if, after a go-getter of a book about the same, this one was dull. Or could it just be that I had overloaded on the subject matter? But I couldn’t get into this book, and much of the information was a repeat of what I’d heard before.

But to give it a good chance I will try to find it on Audible and see if I like it better. I feel that, being a bit of a musician who enjoys artwork, I need more specific information about distraction and hyperfocus within those realms.

Still, I don’t want to discourage others from reading this. It may be just what you need. Or what I may need at another time.

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ADHD is Awesome: A Guide To (Mostly) Thriving With ADHDADHD is Awesome: A Guide To (Mostly) Thriving With ADHD by Penn Holderness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the most informative and enjoyable books about ADHD I have read to date.

Penn Holderness and Kim Holderness are the husband and wife team that wrote and narrated the book like a podcast. By the way, they have a podcast called The Holderness Family podcast, of all things!

Playing to those of us who have ADHD, the pace is fast and lively. Yet quite conversational. In this case, the person with ADHD was the husband, and the loving wife put up with his antics. I think what they presented was universal. I would like to see this done with a female with ADHD as the circumstances change drastically. But the family tried to point out some of those differences.

The best part, besides the camaraderie, was some of the ways the ADHDers or their families and friends can conquer, change, or make allowances for all that energy and distraction. Kim showed that she wasn’t a saint but learned ways to help her husband become a super-daddy, husband, co-worker, or friend by offering supportive ideas.

I was lucky enough to find this audiobook on Libby, but I plan to buy my own paper and Audible copies soon. I could use a many-layered approach. If you want to better understand this superpower and/or disability, I think you would enjoy this.

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Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and MeBits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me by Whoopi Goldberg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the best autobiographies I’ve read or actually heard. Whoopi doesn’t seem to be reading this but rather tells us her stories about her life with her mother and brother.

I must admit laughing out loud and possibly waking my husband to nearly ugly crying as I felt Whoopi’s losses. She feels like she is in the room with you, just relating with you live. I have more books by her that I now feel I need to find and listen to.

I highly recommend this read. More so, I think the audiobook is the best.

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Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn't Designed for YouDivergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed for You by Jenara Nerenberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Divergent Mind isn’t about the the Divergent Series that is similar to the Hunger Games. This is a nonfiction book written by and for those with differing ways, many individuals deal with life and learning. To many, the divergent mind sees things differently than the rest of society. But from the divergent mind, the world seems like a planet in a galaxy far, far away.

Tegan Ashton Cohan was the narrator. Though a bit textbook-sounding, she did lend a voice of truth to a science that is new and needs us all to dive in and see how other people think or feel. Please check out the blurb on Amazon or GoodReads.

ADHD, autism, synesthesia, high sensitivity, and sensory processing disorders are explored with new ways to not only deal with but enjoy our differences. Embrace our uniqueness.

I was lucky to get to listen to the Audible version.

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Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the WorldSay More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World by Jen Psaki
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes, you run into a book that seems more like a book about employment than a retired person needs. This is one of those books. I like Jen Psaki. I love how she uses this memoir to show her growth in the workplace. I kind of wish I would have found this book when I was working. She has a grasp of how one should be more vocal, even in subtle ways, to give the employment the meat you want from a job. She shows how to be assertive without being aggressive.

It was an interesting book, even if I didn’t relate to it well. Ms. Psaki is the narrator, so you get every nuance. I was lucky to find it on Libby. But for the employed, it might be worth buying.

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Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure EverythingQuackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Blurb from GoodReads:

What won’t we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine—yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison—was dosed like Viagra. Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices. Ranging from the merely weird to the outright dangerous, here are dozens of outlandish, morbidly hilarious “treatments”—conceived by doctors and scientists, by spiritualists and snake oil salesmen (yes, they literally tried to sell snake oil)—that were predicated on a range of cluelessness, trial and error, and straight-up scams. With vintage illustrations, photographs, and advertisements throughout, Quackery seamlessly combines macabre humor with science and storytelling to reveal an important and disturbing side of the ever-evolving field of medicine.

***

I felt it better if you read the blurb rather than if I explained it. After reading Deborah Harkness’s book about the history of science in the time of Elizabethan England, which, though interesting was more a textbook level of nonfiction, I thought this would be fun. Same topic, the history of science, but with more of a sense of humor.

Luckily, I was able to find the Kindle version on Libby. There were pictures of some of the medical quackery. It makes one think how good it is now. Yet, many things haven’t changed and one wonders what will look like quackery to us looking back from the future.

Anyway, I think you would enjoy learning about this history with a sense of humor.

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What This Comedian Said Will Shock YouWhat This Comedian Said Will Shock You by Bill Maher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m not finished with this book yet, but I know I will in the next two nights. I will be so busy that I won’t have time to do a proper review. But at 75% finished, I think my thoughts on the review won’t change much.

Bill Maher can cause me to laugh out loud, nod in agreement, OR scream at my TV (at least in my head). And I’m okay with that. I like hearing different points of view presented with a sense of humor or thoughtfully. This book is like his show; it is open and works over ideas. Bill’s point of view. This is one that you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I feel we can disagree and still like/love each other. Bill gives us other ways to look at it all.

I was lucky to get this from Libby as an Audible. Bill Maher narrates with all his best humor and maybe a bit of bitterness. But thoughtfully, respectfully, um, for the most part.

Give it a try and see what you think.

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