By the Book

I have an addiction to listening to podcasts while I am on the treadmill in the morning. One of my favorites is By the Book.

If you want cliffs notes on self help books with a lot of humor this is the place to go. The hosts follow the books literally for two weeks and then comment on them.

I was pleased that someone else found Past Lives Future Healing to be a scam. However the other host found it helpful just not in discovering reincarnated lives kind of way.

But I also heard about books I wouldn't have read on my own. I would have gotten bored with The Memory Book without comedic commentary. As someone who is not a fan of Real Housewives I wouldn't have disregarded Class With the Contess on my own.

The only book that I have chosen to actually implement was How to Write and Sell a Book in 7-14 days. As I am juggling some other writing projects the project is in progress. Of course I had to read the books that the hosts wrote: Modern Harpies Why Loving the Real Housewives Makes You Cultured AF by Jolenta Greenberg and Return to Intercourse An Amish Romance by Kristen Meinzer.

Dissclaimer: If you don't like reality TV it doesn't mean you won't like Greenbergs book. Its a hilarious commentary on mythology! And both books are Kindle Unlimited titles so they didn't cost anything to read since I got a Kindle Unlimited subscription for Christmas

I also felt with that particular episode that I got a lot of the core concepts of the book on the episode. I could have easily skipped reading the book after hearing the podcast. But of course I took the time to track down the book and read it.

Each episode has a verdict by the hosts if a book is worth it or not. I agree with Meinzer's assessment that the approach doesn't work for fiction. But Greenberg said that it is a manageable project and great if you have a lot of time on your hands. These verdicts are great in determining if a project is worth your time or not. And their critical analysis shines at this part of the podcast. After they did Little Book of Hygge as much as they enjoyed following the steps in that book they started discussing that they found the methods of Hygge as outlined by that particular book to be elitist.

I do enjoy hearing the perspectives on this show. Even if I do not implement a book it helps me consider my own habits. I have spent a lot of time critically thinking about my habits these days while trying to stay healthy between jobs.

In January I hope to read and review at least one self help book on my own. I may not be as comic as the ladies on this show but in the spirit of the new year that would be a great way to start 2018 fresh!