Blog Archives
Free and First: Unlocking Your Ultimate Life
Free and First is a deeply personal guide to self-discovery. Elizabeth Jane traces her journey from people pleasing and self-doubt to a fuller, freer life shaped by awareness, boundaries, and self-love. She weaves her childhood memories, her marriage, the collapse of that marriage, her travels, her art, and the spiritual teachings that lifted her along the way. The book unfolds through stories, poems, and reflections that show how putting yourself first can feel terrifying at first, yet life-saving in the end. The message is simple and strong. You can only live your ultimate life when you stop abandoning yourself and finally choose you.
As I read, I felt drawn into the honesty of her voice. She talks about fear, shame, exhaustion, and hope in ways that feel raw and real. Her descriptions of becoming invisible in her own marriage hit me hard. I could feel the weight of that silence building inside her. I admired the courage it took for her to pull apart the patterns she had carried since childhood and to name them without flinching. The poems sprinkled throughout the book gave me a quiet pause every time. They felt like little rest stops that softened the heavier moments and reminded me why the journey matters.
Her ideas about boundaries and self-worth resonated with me. Then it surprised me with a sharply clear insight that made me sit back for a moment. I liked that mix. I also appreciated how she used her art and travel as ways to reconnect with herself. There is something tender about someone discovering creativity for the first time in adulthood and letting it shake their life awake. I found myself smiling through those parts. It made the transformation feel less theoretical and more lived in.
This book is heartfelt and encouraging. It is especially good for women who feel stretched thin or unseen, and for anyone who keeps putting others first until there is nothing left for themselves. If you want a book that feels like a warm conversation mixed with personal stories and simple tools, this will speak to you. It reminded me that choosing yourself is not selfish at all. It is the start of everything that follows.
Pages: 149 | ASIN : B0CHL3MB5X
Get Me to Costa Rica!: A one year plan to leave the Rat Race
Get Me to Costa Rica! is a step-by-step guide for anyone feeling boxed in by work, routine, expectations, and wants a clear path to living abroad. The book lays out a twelve-month timeline that blends mindset shifts, decluttering, money planning, relationships, and logistics, all anchored in the idea that Costa Rica is not just a destination but a symbol of a calmer and more intentional life. It moves steadily from asking big personal questions to offering practical actions that make the dream feel reachable rather than abstract.
What I liked most was the tone of the guide. It feels like a long, honest talk with someone who has already gone through the fear and doubt and come out the other side. The writing is direct and encouraging, sometimes almost preachy, but in a way that feels earned. I found myself nodding along, especially during the parts about burnout, endless schedules, and the quiet grief of putting dreams on hold. The author clearly believes in what he is saying, and that belief carries emotional weight. At times, it felt a bit repetitive, yet that repetition also felt intentional, like a coach reminding you again and again that you really can do this if you commit.
The ideas themselves are not wild or revolutionary, but they are grounded and practical. Declutter your life. Set a date. Know your numbers. Build income that travels with you. None of this is flashy, and that is the point. I appreciated how the book did not pretend the move would be easy or magical. There is fear, guilt, and stress woven into the plan, and the author names those feelings without sugarcoating them. I felt both excited and a little exposed while reading, which is usually a sign that a book is poking at something real. It made me reflect on my own excuses and timelines, and that was uncomfortable in a good way.
I recommend Get Me to Costa Rica! to people who feel stuck and tired of talking about change without acting on it. It is especially good for readers who want structure, reassurance, and a push to stop waiting for the perfect moment. If you are dreaming about living abroad, or even just craving a major life reset, this book offers a clear map and a steady voice saying you are not crazy for wanting more.
Pages: 241 | ASIN : B0FPD3Z8Y4
Mulberries In The Rain: Permaculture Plants For Food And Friendship
Mulberries in the Rain, is part memoir, part teaching guide, part love letter to plants. It follows two friends, Ryan Blosser and Trevor Piersol, as they build farms, communities, and a shared life of learning through Permaculture. The book blends personal stories with practical frameworks, from the Human Sector to food forests to plant guilds. It paints a picture of people shaped by land and relationships, and it shows how plants become characters in their lives. The authors invite readers to see plants this way, too, and the book moves between narrative, reflection, and guidance on growing dozens of species. It feels like an invitation to slow down and see plants as teachers.
I found myself caught up in the warmth of the storytelling. The tone is friendly. It is confident without trying to sound authoritative. I liked how the writers move between humor and sincerity. One moment, they poke fun at themselves. The next moment, they share something tender about belonging, failure, or learning to listen to land. Their voices feel lived-in and honest, and that drew me in. I also appreciated how deeply human the book is. For a book about plants, it spends a lot of time sitting with the mess and beauty of people, which surprised me in a good way. The Human Sector section especially resonated with me. It made me stop and think about how much our internal stories shape the landscapes we touch.
The loose, talky rhythm of the book has its own charm, and I enjoyed it most when the authors told personal stories. Every time they step into teaching mode, the tone shifts and the pacing slows. That said, the teaching sections still have heart. The reworked Scale of Permanence is thoughtful. The LUV triangle feels like something I could use tomorrow. The 8 Forms of Capital section is full of moments that made me smile, especially the groundhog au vin story. I caught myself nodding at the idea that recipes and jokes and small daily acts can hold entire forms of wealth. The book shines whenever it grounds big ideas in real people doing real work.
I would recommend Mulberries in the Rain to anyone who wants a different way to think about growing things. It is great for new growers who feel overwhelmed and want a gentler entry point or for longtime gardeners who crave a more personal, relational approach. It is also a strong fit for people who work in community spaces or who feel curious about Permaculture but are tired of dry instruction. Blosser and Piersol speak to folks who want stories, feelings, and a sense of connection as much as they want plant lists and guild diagrams.
Pages: 216 | ISBN : 978-1774060032
Easy-To-Use Tactics
Dr. Toad’s Short Book for a Long Memory is a guide that blends humor with practical advice, vivid examples, quirky illustrations, and down-to-earth explanations to show how memory works and how anyone can strengthen it. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Among several reasons, I wanted to be a physician because I receive tremendous satisfaction from helping people with challenges. No longer in clinical practice or teaching, I realized some time ago that everyone—no matter their age—worries about lapses in memory. I knew I could help by offering my simple, easy-to-use tactics.
What is a common misconception you feel people have about memory and learning to improve it?
If you are young, under 40 years old, you worry about looking dumb when you can’t remember someone’s name or phone number. If you are older, you worry about early dementia. A lot of people assume they have a memory problem if they can’t recall everything. Not true! As I describe in my book, forgetting things is common. Good memory does not require brilliance. It only requires a small effort to employ one’s imagination.
Learning to strengthen memory can be overwhelming. What were some ideas that can help readers feel more comfortable with starting this process?
Start with a name you want to memorize. Use your imagination to turn that name into a mental image that is outlandish. If that image makes you laugh, you are on the right track. This may sound silly at first, but it works! Turning one’s wristwatch over and linking it to an item or date is another simple technique.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from Dr. Toad’s Short Book for a Long Memory?
I hope readers will believe that they truly can improve their memory for things that are important by using the simple, easy-to-understand techniques that anyone can use. They can DO it!
Author Links: GoodReads | LinkedIn | Website | Amazon
Dr. Toad’s Short Book for a Long Memory is the first book in the Dr. Toad series, created to share simple, achievable solutions for the everyday challenges we all face on the path to better health and well-being.
Franchise Businesses
Limited Partnership Basics & More! is a practical guide to understanding how limited partnerships work, how they are structured, and how they can help finance a new company. Why is this information important to those looking to enter the entrepreneurship market, and how can it help them?
There are three ways to finance a start up a business: savings accounts, loans, and, equity investments (LPs, LLCs, stock). The lesson that we see here is that start-ups are about the high price of money. And this is an important issue in the REAL business world. Because one group of people, in the US, wants to act like a limited partner investor is really a person making a “loan”. And, of course, equity investors are not making loans. They are investors. My point? My point is this. The business world is tough. Really. And starting up a business is expensive. And if you don’t have the money to start up a business, your business idea is going to go nowhere.
Next, according to the IRS.gov website ‘over 28.4 million Americans registered their tax filings as either that of a general partner, limited partner, or member of an LLC’. What that means is that a lot of Americans are running franchise businesses. It also means that a lot of Americans are investing in local area businesses and franchise businesses – cash cows! So, my book shows people who need to raise “equity” start-up money how the limited partnership ecosystem works. The limited partnership business eco-system matches limited partner investors with limited partnership developers and franchise developers, and doing this helps local communities grow!
What is a common misconception you feel people have about Limited Partnership relationships?
Limited partnership people, in the US, are sort of like people who belong to a club. LP people like the way things work. They like stakes and cash cows, and prefer stakes to stock, quite a bit. And, they like fellow LPs a little bit.
What is the “Friendship Formula,” and how can readers make this formula work for them to achieve their goals?
The “friendship formula” is an old 1930s-40s business formula. This formula worked like this. Best friends created businesses together, and then their wives networked with their friends to secure business clients. Also, Americans were supposed to know between 200-800 people, personally, in the 1970s, too.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from your book?
If 28.4 million Americans can do it, so can you! Give it a try. Read my book. Research things. Prepare, and then go for it. Really, if you want to be a millionaire, then you gotta GET IN – you gotta GET IN the MONEY GAME! And why not? If your attempt to start up a business fails, then you can always go back to reading the ‘want ads’ section twice a week.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Amazon
One Last Question Before You Go: Why You Should Interview Your Parents
Kyle Thiermann’s One Last Question Before You Go is part memoir, part field guide for emotional courage. It begins as a practical project, recording conversations with his parents before it’s too late, but evolves into a moving exploration of love, misunderstanding, and reconciliation. Thiermann opens his life with remarkable honesty, describing a childhood shaped by idealism, tension, and unconventional choices. His storytelling blurs the line between instruction and confession, reminding readers that asking questions can be both a form of preservation and an act of healing.
Thiermann’s writing balances clarity and lyricism. He recounts moments from his youth in Santa Cruz with humor and unease: surf sessions laced with danger, family debates over truth and science, and a mother whose belief in conspiracy theories fractures their bond. When he writes, “Now when my mom and I look up at the same blue sky, she sees chemtrails, where I see clouds,” the simplicity of the line reveals something profound about distance and love. It’s this honesty, direct, unsentimental, but deeply felt, that gives the book its emotional weight.
His reflections on interviewing parents are both practical and philosophical. Thiermann treats listening as a skill that requires humility and patience. His advice to start with simple questions, to let silence breathe, feels genuine and attainable. He doesn’t posture as an expert but as someone learning in real time. When he describes forcing himself to write “bad questions” until something true appears, it captures the imperfect process of reaching toward another person.
The book’s rhythm is conversational yet purposeful. Thiermann alternates between intimate family vignettes and broader reflections on communication, mortality, and forgiveness. He resists the urge to offer neat resolutions, allowing discomfort and ambiguity to remain. That restraint makes his insights resonate more deeply.
One Last Question Before You Go manages to be both instructive and profoundly human. It’s a reminder that asking hard questions is not about control or closure, it’s about connection. This is a book for readers who value sincerity over polish, who want to bridge emotional gaps with their own parents, or who simply wish to understand their family stories before time takes them. Thoughtful, unguarded, and deeply affecting, Thiermann’s work lingers long after the final page.
Pages: 156 | ASIN : B0FR8JLM98
Surviving a Hostile City
Lorna Dare and K.S. Alan’s Surviving in a Hostile City is not a leisurely read, it’s a wake-up call. The book serves as both a practical guide and a grim exploration of what happens when civilization falters and individuals must rely solely on their preparation and instincts. Through a combination of instruction and stark realism, the authors examine how to endure when systems collapse, including how to store food and water, defend one’s home, and maintain composure in the absence of order. From the very first scene, an unflinching depiction of a family facing looters, it establishes its purpose: to strip away illusions of safety and confront readers with what survival might truly require.
What stands out most in the writing is its clarity and conviction. The prose is urgent yet disciplined, relying on direct language rather than embellishment. The authors write as if time is running out, and that urgency drives the message home. When they state that “the whole city is six meals away from disaster,” the warning feels less hypothetical and more like a countdown. Their insistence on secrecy, particularly the repeated caution against telling anyone about one’s food storage, reveals a profound understanding of human desperation. The tone is not alarmist but sober, and it’s difficult to read these sections without reflecting on how fragile normal life actually is.
The book’s greatest strength lies in its ethical tension. In Chapter Four, which discusses whether one should survive alone or in a group, the text forces readers to grapple with uncomfortable questions: Whom would you save? Whom would you refuse? These reflections are not theoretical; they are presented as choices that demand forethought. Likewise, the chapter on scavenging acknowledges the illegality and moral ambiguity of such actions, leaving the reader to confront the boundaries between survival and conscience. The authors neither condemn nor endorse; rather, they present the realities of collapse and leave judgment to the individual.
Still, there are moments when the tone can feel unrelenting, even moralizing. The critique of modern comfort, references to “snowmobiles and golf lessons” as symbols of misplaced priorities, can verge on didactic. The book’s pragmatic approach sometimes overshadows compassion; it speaks of survival in terms of efficiency and secrecy more than community or empathy. Yet that detachment may be part of its purpose. It refuses to indulge sentiment, and in doing so, it reflects the harsh conditions it describes.
Surviving in a Hostile City is both a manual and a mirror. It reveals not only how to prepare for catastrophe but also how easily one’s sense of morality might bend under pressure. I would recommend it to readers who wish to think seriously about resilience and self-reliance, as well as those drawn to the psychological dimensions of crisis. It is not an easy book to digest, but it is one that lingers, challenging the reader long after the final page.
Pages: 78 | ISBN : 1965390552
The Art of Thinking Critically with Clarity for Optimal Health: Your Longevity is Determined By How You Think!
I found The Art of Thinking Critically with Clarity for Optimal Health: Your Longevity is Determined By How You Think! both insightful and practical. The author has crafted a guide that speaks directly to the challenges my patients and I face every day. He emphasizes the importance of critical thinking in health decisions, showing how structured reasoning, awareness of bias, and emotional intelligence can lead to better choices. The framework he presents is comprehensive yet approachable, and the integration of real-world examples makes the material highly relevant.
What I appreciated most was the balance between clinical precision and accessibility. Too often, health-related texts are either oversimplified or weighed down by technical language. Here, the writing is clear without being shallow, and the concepts are explained in ways that anyone can apply. I also valued the emphasis on metacognition, encouraging readers not just to think critically, but to reflect on how they think.
From a professional standpoint, this book reinforced my own commitment to fostering critical thinking in the exam room. It reminded me that patient education is not only about transmitting information, but also about guiding individuals to ask better questions, weigh options thoughtfully, and consider both medical and personal values in their decisions.
I would recommend this book to health professionals who want a resource to share with patients, as well as to individuals eager to take a more active role in their healthcare. It’s a timely and much-needed contribution to the conversation about how we make decisions that affect our well-being.
Pages: 220
LITERARY TITAN 