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Book Review: How Do You Want Me? by Ruby Wax

By Amazon, Books & Authors, InspirationNo Comments
how-do-you-want-me-ruby-wax Ruby Wax tells her life story (so far), in her autobiography How do you want me?

Wax starts by describing her childhood, complete with her neurotic mother and violent father.

Then Wax goes on to the important subjects of her life, each one having it’s own dedicated chapter in somewhat of a chronological order: Puberty, Men, Ambition, Fame, Marriage, Babies, Breakdown and Fixing Yourself.

Each chapter is written with Wax displaying honesty and regular doses of her good humour. This makes How do you want me? a fascinating read, one that’s so captivating it is likely to be read in a few sittings.

As Wax tells of the highs and lows of her life, the reader can’t help but connect with her and will come to admire this inspirational woman.

There are a few photo pages spread throughout How do you want me? But be warned, they are all black and white photographs.

Wax is a great story teller and it felt like a privilege that she choose to share her life story. How do you want me? is throughly entertaining and enjoyable. It is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

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Wednesday 4 November 2015

Book Review: Educating Simon by Robin Reardon

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
educating-simon-robin-reardon-book-cover Sixteen year old Simon’s life is turned upside down when his mother announces that she’s met and is marrying her new partner. Brian, Simon’s future step-father is from Boston, USA. Brian can’t move to England to because of his daughter Persie.

So Simon is forced to give up Tinkerbell, his cat and Graeme, his imaginary boyfriend. Moving to Boston puts the shared dream of Simon going to Oxford University at risk. The dream being shared by Simon and his deceased father.

In Boston, Simon’s new life is busy both with school work and socially. As part of his school work he is assigned Toby/Kay to Mentor for a Spelling Bee. Toby/Kay is an eleven year old trans, who feels like he was born in the wrong body and wants to start hormone replacement therapy before he hits puberty.

Educating Simon was an idea with a lot of potential, but unfortunately none of it’s potential was realised.

Main character Simon writes the story from his perspective in diary entries. His character is un-relatable and doesn’t cause the reader to care about him. The character was also inconsistent. Reardon sometimes getting the mentality, emotional maturity and behaviour of 16 year old Simon spot on and other times getting it completely wrong.

All the other characters felt two-dimensional. Toby/Kay’s storyline lacked depth and felt more like it was about having a trans representative than truly telling her story.

Educating Simon is overwritten with pacing that crawled along like a snail. The book doesn’t really get started until at least fifty pages in.

The sense of relief when the book finally ends was the main sense of enjoyment. It’s not the worse book I’ve ever read, but it’s pretty close. This isn’t Reardon’s first book and I would be willing read another one of his books, but would have low expectations and be wary.

Review soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Saturday 24 October 2015

Book Review: Sane New World – Taming the Mind by Ruby Wax

By Amazon, Books & Authors, Health, ReviewsNo Comments
sane-new-world-ruby-wax-book-cover The self-acclaimed poster girl for mental health Ruby Wax went to Oxford University and completed a Masters in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy. Wax wanted to understand the neuroscience behind her own mental health and maybe find a better way to manage her mental health.

On completion on Wax’s Masters she wanted to share her own mental health story, along with what she’d learned at Oxford. So she embarked on a tour of mental institutions, before widening the tour to the general public.

I went to see Wax’s Sane New World Tour, but for anyone whose not had the opportunity or wants to know what secrets Wax learned at University, they can read her book Sane New World – Taming the Mind.

Sane New World is a funny, informative and captivating book on the subject of mental health. It’s easily the best book I’ve ever read on the topic. So it is a MUST read for anyone interested in or whom has experienced poor mental health.

In Sane New World Wax covers:

  • What Drives Us Crazy.
  • The Critical Inner Voice(s).
  • Emotions.
  • Depression, Anxiety, OCD, Stress, etc.
  • How Our Brain’s Work – Neuroscience.
  • The Functions of Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, Cortisol and Other Chemicals in the brain and body.
  • How Our Brains Grow and thought/behavioural/emotional patterns can be changed.
  • The basics of Mindfulness.
  • Some good, but brief mindfulness exercises.
  • Alternatives to Mindfulness (if it isn’t your sort of thing or doesn’t work for you).

Throughout the book as I have mentioned Wax tells her story. Sane New World includes some wonderful illustrations that give an insight into how Wax operates and is relatable to all. After all, we are all human beings and all being stretched by life to the point of breaking. If we’re not careful we might actually break. We need to take hold of the reins in our minds and in our life and if necessary make some changes.

Sane New World will improve your understanding of mental health, teach you how to be and remain mentally and emotionally healthy and be an enjoyable read, all at the same time. It will teach you how to be in control of your mind, rather than it being in control of you. Definitely worth the investment in my humble opinion.

Sane New World by Ruby Wax is available to buy on Amazon and at all good bookshops.

Review soon,

Antony

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I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Tuesday 13 October 2015

Tech Review: The Logitech UltraThin Keyboard Cover for iPad

By Amazon, Reviews, TechnologyNo Comments
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The Logitech UltraThin Keyboard Cover

 An ex-boyfriend of mine bought me Logitech UltraThin Keyboard for my iPad Air. Like anything the Logitech UltraThin Keyboard has Pros and Cons.

Logitech really need to improve the battery life of this device. After just over a year of use the battery died on mine. The Logitech UltraThin Keyboard has no way to change the battery – so it just has to be chucked in the bin. Which was disappointing and is a shame because there’s lots I like about the device. Here’s a list of Pros and Cons:

Pros:

  • Easy to setup and connect to iPad via bluetooth.
  • Thin Design and white colour.
  • Doubles as a cover for iPad.
  • Easy to charge by plugging into a computer USB port.
  • The stand slot is great for positioning the iPad at the perfect angle to easily see the screen.
  • Portable meaning you can work on the go.
  • Status light: Green you are good to go, Amber (flashing) charging, Red no charge.
  • On/Off switch on the side, so that you can switch it off to save power when not in use.
 Cons:

  • Price. It’s expensive for what it is.
  • Battery Life and inability to change the battery.
  • There’s a lag between you typing on the keyboard and it appearing on the screen. At times, I’ve had to wait for it to catch up.
  • Lots of additional functions on the keyboard – but no instructions enclosed on how to use them. Meaning for the average user they will be useless.


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The Logitech UltraThin Keyboard Cover in Use.

Logitech UltraThin Keyboard is available to buy on Amazon, although after my experience, I can’t really recommend it.

Review soon,

Antony

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Saturday 3 October 2015
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