Ashlyn

To start off, I received and advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley and The University of Chicago press. 

This book really wasn't for me. While I appreciated how comprehensively researched this book was, I went into it expecting more of a pop science non-fiction book, which it is not. This book is a very thorough history of human's relationship with Mars and the cosmos more generally. It covers culture all around the globe in every time period from ancient civilizations to today and explores the role that Mars has played in religion, mythology, early science, and pop culture. There was a huge variety of topics and I personally found the last chapter/conclusion on the future possibilities of Mars exploration and the pitfalls to avoid (e.g. brining Earth's current division, consumption, colonialism, and capitalism) really compelling. I think this book is more tailored to an academic audience who wants a primer on this topic as it reads much more like a textbook than something from Bill Bryson, Mary Roach, or Yuval Noah Harari.

While I'm not someone who has an ADHD diagnosis, I really enjoyed this book, especially compared to other books that generally fall into the productivity and organization genre. I recently read Atomic Habits by James Clear and Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte and while they both had their moments, I found Succeeding with Adult ADHD to provide much clearer, more practical methods for building habits and increasing personal productivity. Author Dr. Abigail L. Levrini structured this book with so many tools to help the reader get exactly what they need from each. The chapters are divided into small sections that can be read in about ten minutes and there is a specific icon placed frequently in the book that is intended for the reader to check in and make sure they have been focusing on the content rather than skimming or pushing their eyes over the page. Each chapter ends with checkboxes for each of the main points–the reader is encouraged to check off the concepts they believe they have studied enough and leave the others unchecked as a reminder to review them again in the future. There are repeated patterns to start out each chapter, making it familiar and easy to read. While I found some sections to be much more relevant to me than others, Dr. Levrini starts most every section with a list of questions that the reader can use to determine if the upcoming chapter will be relevant to them. The reader is encouraged to skip those sections or jump around to something that is more interesting.

This book has a great balance of cited research, anecdotes and examples, and exercises, with diagrams and worksheets that the reader can choose to fill out to complete the exercises if desired. The book is approachable and written in very conversational language. The sections discussing the science behind the techniques in the books are clear, concise, and still easy to read. I appreciated the author's approach to discussing medication as an option for treatment and something that should typically be combined with other mechanisms like therapies.

Overall this Dr. Levrini presents a practical manual to time management, social relationships, and organization. The author addresses topics that might be viewed as basic to some readers in a very human way, never patronizing the reader.

Thanks to the APA and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book to review.

In What Remains, Rupert (Ru) Callender presents his journey to becoming an undertaker, his wealth of experiences working in the death industry, and how it relates to his personal experiences with death and punk music scene. Each story, each death, reveals something new about the author's past experiences or philosophy in life.

As someone who's familiar with the death positive movement, it's interesting to compare Callender's approach to writing and the industry to a similar author and creator like Caitlin Doughty. Callender explicitly says at the beginning of the book that death scares him.

I am not part of the death positive movement, although I have the greatest respect for those who are.

lost

loved ones

To properly honour someone, they - we - should be seen in our entirety.

The Natural Death Handbook

Like its predecessor Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake, Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall follows our main character, Paris, through a season of the competition show Bake Expectations. Paris find himself fretting through every detail of the show and the stakes are raised even higher when he starts to develop a relationship with one of the other contestants, Tariq.

Readers should be aware that while the format and premise is similar to Rosaline, Paris is a very different book. The demographic leans more new adult as our main characters are students in their very early twenties. The novel does not delve as deep into the details of Bake Expectations like Rosaline does–to its benefit as that format would have felt stale in a follow-up book. Readers who were expecting a romance may be a bit disappointed as the romance is really a side element and plot device to highlight Paris's mental health journey. Paris learning more about himself, gaining confidence, receiving a diagnosis, and learning better anxiety management skills is where this book really shines. The portrayal of generalized anxiety disorder in this book and the resulting character development are quite earnest. The banter between our main characters is witty and fun.

Generally I did not love this book, but I attribute that more to my tastes and expectations than the quality of the writing. I didn't find any of the characters particularly relatable and I didn't love the format of the second part of the book. I loved being able to see more of the aftermath of the show and how Paris dealt with it but found it somewhat tiring to read through the (realistic) social media posts deriding the main characters and exalting the contestant portrayed as racist and homophobic. The pacing felt a little uneven between the two sections as well.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever for providing me access to a digital ARC of this book to review.

It was Mormons all along!