Author Archives: Literary Titan
Think Like an Herbalist
Think Like an Herbalist is part handbook, part pep talk, and part field guide to a more grounded way of living. The author walks through the basics of bodily systems, gut health, diet choices, vitamins, lifestyle, foraging, herbal remedies, and mindset. She mixes practical steps with personal stories and folds them into a larger message about taking responsibility for your health. The book is split into prevention and remedies, and she uses the house metaphor again and again. Build the foundation first. Add the herbal siding later. It all feels direct, simple, and very relatable.
As I read, I found myself pulled in by her voice. It’s blunt. It’s funny. It’s very real. She shifts from nutrition advice to honest stories about HPV scares, gut issues, farm work, and motherhood, and she does it without softening anything. That raw tone hit me. When she talks about people wanting an herb to fix a deep problem, I caught myself nodding hard. I have been that person. I liked how she refused the easy path. Her focus on mindset surprised me most of all. She treats it like the missing puzzle piece, and I felt that in my chest while reading.
I also loved the practical sections. The lists of wild plants made me want to walk outside and start spotting things in the grass. The food explanations are plain and simple. No fancy science words. Just straight talk about fiber and color and what actually helps a body feel alive. She writes with strong opinions about diet, wheat, dairy, and medical culture, and sometimes I wanted more nuance. Still, her confidence brings a spark to the pages. The passion behind her advice is obvious. She really cares about people learning how to help themselves, and that energy carries the book.
I walked away feeling hopeful. I would recommend this book to people who want to take their health into their own hands and don’t mind a straight-shooting guide who tells stories along with solutions. It’s great for beginners, for curious foragers, for folks tired of feeling stuck, and for anyone who wants a warm shove toward better habits. It’s not a medical text. It’s a conversation, and a pretty lively one at that.
Pages: 302 | ASIN : B0FMYXKRSN
A Bold Bargain
A Bold Bargain follows Jack Blaine, an eighteen-year-old conservation agent in 1950s Missouri who keeps stumbling into danger, mystery, and unexpected connections. The story moves between tense encounters with poachers, the quiet bond between a boy and a half-wolf pup, and Jack’s growing involvement with vulnerable people near the Sac River. The book blends rugged outdoor life with soft moments of compassion, and it ties everything together with a thread of personal history that Jack can’t quite outrun.
Jack’s mix of grit and gentleness lands with a real thump in the chest, and the writing makes his inner world feel close enough to touch. The scenes along the river pulled me in fast. The pacing shifts from calm to sharp in a blink, and that rhythm kept me turning pages even when I told myself I should stop. The dialogue feels natural, plain spoken, and warm. I liked how it brought out the heart of the community around him. No big speeches. Just people trying to make sense of life as it comes.
I also felt a tug of emotion watching how Jack steps into other people’s pain without hesitation. His encounters with Mrs. Fletcher and the French family hit me harder than I expected. The writing paints poverty, loneliness, and aging with a simple brush, and it still lands heavy. Nothing feels overplayed. I appreciated how the book lets kindness show up quietly, almost shyly. At the same time, I wanted just a touch more complexity in a few side characters. Still, the sincerity in the storytelling made me forgive that pretty quickly. I could tell the author cares deeply about these people and this place, and that care shines through.
A Bold Bargain is a book for readers who enjoy heartfelt stories set against open sky and rough country roads. If you like character-driven tales with danger, tenderness, and a little old-fashioned grit, this one will be perfect for you. In many ways, A Bold Bargain reminded me of Where the Crawdads Sing, because both stories mix raw nature, quiet resilience, and the fierce pull of human connection into something that stays with you.
Pages: 346 | ASIN : B0FD7VSY68
Peaches and the 19 Cobras
Peaches and the 19 Cobras tells the story of Peaches and Jake, two sweet rescue dogs who misunderstand COVID-19 as “19 cobras” and spend the pandemic doing everything they can to protect their mom. The book moves through their daily adventures from quarantine in Florida to summers in Maine. There are masks and costumes, funny misunderstandings, shiny Christmas trees, and a whole lot of love. The dogs tell the story in their own voices, so the whole thing feels warm and comforting.
As I read it, I kept catching myself smiling. The writing feels like someone chatting with me in their kitchen. It’s simple in a good way and full of genuine emotion. The idea of hearing the pandemic through the ears of two confused and devoted dogs was surprisingly emotional. It reminded me of how strange that time was and how pets kind of carried so many of us through it. Some moments even made my eyes sting a little because the mix of humor and fear from that year still sits in my chest. Seeing the dogs try to make sense of everything made the whole memory softer for me.
I also loved how the book leans into joy. There are photos everywhere, and they’re adorable. The stories jump from masks that never stay on to gigantic Christmas trees to lobster dinners in Maine. It felt chaotic in a charming way. Like watching someone you love tell a story while getting distracted every few sentences. I honestly laughed out loud when the dogs kept ditching their masks or when Peaches tried to look fierce with her tiny warrior stance. The whole thing just felt honest. Not polished in a stiff way. More like real life with all the messiness and sweetness mixed together.
Peaches and the 19 Cobras is great for kids who want a gentle way to understand a heavy moment in history and for adults who want a soft, funny reminder of how we made it through. Anyone who loves animals or who leaned on a pet during the pandemic will feel this one. It’s light and goofy and unexpectedly touching. I’d happily pass it along to families, teachers, grandparents, and anyone who just needs a picture book that feels kind.
Pages: 88 | ASIN : B0DDW3GM88
Ghosts and Baklava
Ghosts and Baklava follows Rehan Monsoor, a thirty-something Pakistani American “numbers guy” who thinks his biggest problem is getting a promotion at Nexus Billing. He is fired instead, and a weird chain of events drops him into his uncle’s struggling restaurant, Baklava Express, where ghosts, jinn, and a doomsday cult keep showing up with very personal plans for him. The story jumps between his teenage dare in a haunted “Spook House,” his present-day fight against a vengeful jinn and a group called the Ten, and his slow-burn love story with Wava, the girl he crushed on in high school and never quite forgot. Food, family drama, creepy magic, and wisecracking horror scenes all swirl together until Rehan has to decide what kind of “merchant” he is and who he wants next to him when the supernatural countdown hits zero.
I had a lot of fun with the voice in this book. The narration sounds like a friend telling you an insane story. Rehan cracks jokes when things get tense, and the humor stays pretty sharp, even when people are literally catching fire in front of him. The dialogue moves fast and feels natural, and the running gags about 90s music, Vanilla Ice, and Desi aunties gave the whole thing a warm, familiar vibe. Sometimes the banter leans a bit heavy, and a few emotional beats get undercut by a punch line, but the mix of horror and rom-com mostly lands. I also liked how clear the action scenes felt, even with cultists, ghosts, and flying furniture in the same room. The pacing dips a bit in the middle when the lore around the jinn and the book of spells gets explained, yet the story never fully stalls, because the character chemistry keeps pushing it forward.
Rehan’s “cursed mark” and the Spook House incident read like a metaphor for that one bad choice or trauma you keep dragging behind you, even after you grow up and get a corporate ID badge. His fear of being ordinary, his obsession with the promotion, and the way his whole identity collapses when he gets fired all feel uncomfortably real. The supernatural trouble almost feels like anxiety made physical, something that creeps out of old stories your parents told you and refuses to stay imaginary. I really appreciated the way the book treats community, too. The Desi family stuff, the restaurant regulars, the blend of faith, superstition, and everyday hustle, all give the horror weight. The jinn is scary, but the cult’s willingness to sacrifice other people for their “Harvest” feels like the more pointed commentary. It is about how far people will go when they convince themselves they are chosen or special.
I’d call Ghosts and Baklava a lively, heartfelt supernatural rom-com with some surprisingly grounded thoughts about failure, faith, and second chances baked into all the chaos. It fits readers who enjoy character-driven stories, pop-culture jokes, and mashups that put jinn, cults, and awkward Desi family dinners in the same scene without blinking. If you like your spooky reads with romance, comfort food, and a main character who copes by oversharing, this book is a pretty tasty pick.
Pages: 374 | ASIN : B0FRZPYGW1
Fungus Theory of Conscious Growth
Fungus Theory of Conscious-Growth is a speculative science and philosophy-of-consciousness nonfiction book that argues all life on Earth is really one vast, ancient fungus that exists to grow consciousness to its maximum potential, with humans as the spore that eventually carries that consciousness off the planet and into space. The author starts with cosmology, describing a universe that hides our true origin, limits our lifespans, and ties us to fragile biospheres, then walks through biology, evolution, technology, and psychology to claim that everything from slime mold to smartphones is part of one continuous fungal system pushing us toward “maximum conscious growth” and eventual evacuation of Earth.
Mark L. Christensen mixes straightforward explanation with capitalized concepts and acronyms. Underneath the terminology, though, the core ideas are simple: the universe is built so we can never fully know where we came from, we all die, and we are stuck on a planet that will eventually cook us, and those three constraints are what force intelligence and technology to grow. I appreciated how the chapters loop back to the same framing, so you never forget what the author is trying to prove. The long passages on cosmic expansion, black holes, and the difficulty of tracing any “true origin” were a bit dense, yet they set a clear mood of mystery and frustration that fits the book’s central question.
Where the book got most interesting for me was in the biology, technology, and psychology sections, where the fungus metaphor gets fleshed out. The idea that all plants and animals are variations of the same original fungus, and that this fungus has slowly prepared the planet for a bipedal creature with a big, hungry brain, is truly compelling. I liked the image of early fungi and plants essentially “setting the table” with rich fruits and vegetables, so a future human brain could have the calories it needs.
The technology chapter frames every tool, from early adaptations to modern spaceflight, as a kind of informational mycelium spreading through minds, with certain thinkers as “spikes” in the network that accelerate the whole system. The psychology chapter leans into this even more, describing a “void of psychosis” that opens when humans become aware that they cannot know their true origin, and arguing that our drive for identity, conflict, communication, and eventually space travel all come from trying to fill that void. I did find myself thinking about how much of my own motivation comes from not knowing, and from not wanting life to feel pointless.
I see Fungus Theory of Conscious Growth less as a strict scientific thesis and more as a big thought experiment in speculative science. It asks you to imagine the entire history of life as one fungal organism trying to launch itself into the dark, and to see humanity as the spore that might carry that effort into the galaxy. If you like big-picture questions, cosmic timelines, and philosophical riffs on evolution and technology, there is a lot here to chew on. I would recommend this book most to readers who are comfortable living with unanswered questions, who like their popular science mixed with metaphysics, and who do not mind a bold, unified theory that sits somewhere between lecture and late-night conversation about why we are here at all.
Pages: 402 | ASIN : B0CVXCNBY7
Indra’s Net: A SEEKER’S Guide to the Human Experience
Indra’s Net, by Indra Rinzler, is a spiritual guide built from seventy-eight themes that weave stories, reflections, and practices into a single tapestry of awakening. The book blends personal experience, Tarot-inspired structure, mythic symbolism, and grounded spiritual lessons. It invites readers to look inward, release old patterns, and explore consciousness with curiosity. The author draws from decades of study, travel, meditation, and teaching to create a kind of living manual that meets readers wherever they are. The effect is a blend of memoir, parable, and spiritual toolkit.
Reading the book, I kept feeling a mix of surprise and comfort. The writing carries a warm, almost conversational honesty that makes even the heavier ideas feel approachable. I liked how the author refuses to separate the mystical from ordinary life. A simple bowl of oatmeal becomes a miracle. A long walk in Thailand becomes a spiritual dilemma. A beggar’s smile becomes a master class in grace. The stories feel loose and unforced. I found myself nodding along, then stopping, then looking up from the page because something landed in my chest. The rhythm moves from personal anecdote to broad spiritual teaching so quickly that it left me slightly off balance in a good way. It reminded me that understanding rarely arrives in a straight line. It sneaks up on you.
At the same time, the ideas stirred up a strange mix of awe and restlessness. The author talks a lot about surrender, intuition, and letting life unfold. Some moments felt so gentle that I relaxed into them. Other moments poked at me. The theme of impermanence, for example, made me strangely uneasy. I felt myself push back, even as I knew the point was to soften. That emotional tug made the book stick with me. I appreciated how the stories never try to be perfect teaching moments. They wander and land where they land. The book feels authentic, and that gave it a texture that pulled me deeper.
By the last pages, I felt a quiet gratitude for the way the Rinzler uses imagery and structure. The Tarot framework, the themes, and the practices are presented at the end of each chapter. It all creates a rhythm that feels like a long walk with someone who has been on the road a while and wants you to see the scenery with fresh eyes. I would recommend Indra’s Net to readers who enjoy reflective, spiritually curious writing and who like books that offer small, steady insights rather than big proclamations. It is especially good for people who want a companion on their inward journey. Someone who wants to feel less alone and more connected to something larger and kinder than their own thoughts.
Pages: 286 | ASIN : B0FX65LB69
LITERARY TITAN 