Book Reviews
Fantasy, quirky history, non-fiction, historical fiction books & more
Search for morsels
Book Review: Shinrin-Yoku The Art and Science of Forest Bathing by Dr Qing Li
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Publisher: Nippon Medical School/Penguin Books. Genre: Non-Fiction, Health, Nature, Spirituality. Review in one word: Immersive This is one of the most supremely nourishing books to gift yourself or someone you love. Shinrin-Yoku is your guide to the ancient Japanese art of ‘Forest Bathing’, which is the English translation of the eponymous title. I…
Continue Reading
Book Review: Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Islands of Mercy is a masterful book by the author of other historical fiction classics such as Restoration, Music and Silence and Merival. I have loved all of these books so I had a feeling (and rightfully so) that I would really enjoy this book. Set in Victorian era…
Continue Reading
Book Review: The Flip: Who You Really Are and Why it Matters by Jeffrey Kripal
Publisher: Penguin Genre: Non-Fiction, Psychology, Parapsychology, Spirituality, Science, Epistemiology Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Prepare to have your mind blown a few times in a delightful way by this book. It’s really refreshing to read something science-y that is not afraid to delve into the ‘Twilight Zone’ so to speak. It’s difficult to put this book into the…
Continue Reading
Book Review: The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You by Dr Elaine Aron
Publisher: Penguin Genre: Non-Fiction, Psychology, Spirituality. Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 This is the quintessential book about the trait of high sensitivity in people’s personalities. Beautifully written, engaging and informative, it has become a classic of psychology since it was first published in 1996. In case you are unaware of how this personality trait looks, here is a…
Continue Reading
Book Review: The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk
Publisher: Penguin Genre: Non-Fiction, Psychology Rating: 🌟🌟🌟 This is a comprehensive guide to trauma. Unlike other guides, it places emphasis on the physical body and how past buried traumas are inextricably connected to the body, or in other words: ‘The Body Keeps the Score’. Although this book is more of a clinical guide for psychologists,…
Continue Reading
Eight ‘classic’ and popular books that are unreadable…
Do you have any books that everyone else seemed to love and you absolutely hated, or that you found to be a bit mediocre? Do you disagree with my assessment on these books and want to give me a good talking to? Let me know below.
Continue Reading
Book Review: Ordinary Beauty: Meaningful Moments in Everyday Life by Mary McEvoy
Publisher: Hachette Books Ireland Genre: Non-Fiction, Spirituality, Wisdom, Buddhism, Paganism Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 This is a book of wisdom, quotes and treasures is from writer Mary McEvoy. She has lived experience of depression and anxiety. So she understands intimately how to handle and manage the dark times of life. How to look at the darkness squarely…
Continue Reading
Book Review: A Curious History of Sex by Kate Lister
Genre: Non-fiction, sex, history, women’s history, feminism. Publisher: Unbound Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Be prepared to have your hair on both ends of you to blown back and rearranged into a merkin. The History of Sex is like one prolonged literary orgasm and I mean that seriously. It’s a delight and a treat, a flirtatious and salacious…
Continue Reading
Book Review: The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene
Robert Greene has written best-selling books on seduction, power, war, self-mastery and now knowledge. Although the sum and total of his output of books gives the wrong impression about the man. He’s not an evil and Machiavellian type jockeying for power – rather his books are about understanding the lesser-known shadowy parts of ourselves to…
Continue Reading
Book Review: Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe
Publisher: Magabala Books Genre: Non-Fiction, History, Australian History, Aboriginal History, Archaeology Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 This is a hidden book about hidden Australian history. Written by esteemed and respected Aboriginal elder, historian and author Bruce Pascoe, Dark Emu tells an alternative version of how pre-European Australia looked according to the original and rightful owners and custodians of…
Continue Reading
Book Review: Standing Firm: Resisting The Self Improvement Craze by Svend Brinkmann
‘Standing Firm’ in the sense of this book means to counter the incessant drive towards more, more, more of everything. It’s a call to action to resist and stand firm against ‘improvement culture’, not just self-improvement and personal development, but also the constant acceleration and growth in our economic systems, and the overuse and destruction…
Continue Reading
Book Review: Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens Dawidowitz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Genre: Non-Fiction, Psychology, Consumerism, Marketing, Digital Media, Digital Technology, Big Data. Rating: 🌟🌟 Everybody Lies: What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens Dawidowitz sets out to reveal the hidden selves that we reveal freely to the Gods of Search Engines, but rarely to other people…
Continue Reading
Book Review: Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Genre: Non-Fiction, Psychology, Spirituality, Anthropology, Culture, Politics, History Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 I was initially skeptical about this book. A hopeful history of humanity? During the time of COVID, climate change and mass animal extinction? However, there was a kernel of hope within me that really wanted for this concept to be true. This…
Continue Reading
Book Review: You May Also Like by Tom Vanderbilt
Publisher: Knopf Genre: Non-Fiction, Psychology, Consumerism, Marketing Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 If you’re like me, you are an endlessly curious person who enjoys reading and learning about many things, and you like and enjoy a great many different things…if so, then here is a classic book for you! ‘You May Also Like’ endeavours to answer some fascinating…
Continue Reading
Book Review: The Introvert’s Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World by Sophia Dembling
Publisher: Penguin Genre: Non-Fiction, Psychology Rating: 🌟 This book about introversion was profoundly disappointing. After having recently read ‘The Highly Sensitive Person;’ by Elaine Aron and all of the immense insights this book contained, I felt that The Introvert’s Way was lacking in psychological insights and research and was instead focused on flimsy personal anecdotes…
Continue ReadingLoading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Content Catnip 