Hey everyone!
This week's reviews will focus on aquatic horror! I've always loved the ocean and water and therefore wanted to read something scary connected to it. I wanted horror... I got sci-fi and stories that mostly just fizzled out. Here are three ocean-themed books in short review:
(Note: I'm not going to include blurbs. Those are easy to find on google or if you click on the titles of the books in this post.)
The Swarm by Frank Schätzing: This was arguably the best aquatic horror/sci-fi I've read in the last few weeks. There is a reason it's a bestseller even though it's about 900 pages long all in all. This book is set in the real world although with sci-fi elements (in the form of intelligent bacteria) who are making a mess of the planet. It's not creepy and horror-ish per se but has a sort of slowly building 'terrible tension' instead. A lot of characters die - and all of their deaths are justified. There isn't much needless information (or red-shirt death) in the book and everything serves a purpose. The writing is sometimes a bit too philosophical for me (I'm not into long monologues about the state of the world, ethics, and morals) but for most of the book incredibly sharp with no words wasted. However, there are a lot of explanation scenes, where one character will be ignorant, and another the 'teacher'. These are quite obviously included to clue in the reader... which would be fine if it weren't so obvious and always handled the same way.
Character A: 'Do you know about this?'
Character B: 'Uh... no...'/'Uh... it would be good if you refreshed my knowledge!'/'Uh... I only know the basics.'
Character A: 'Here we go! A three-page tirade on THIS VERY SPECIFIC SCIENTIFIC SUBJECT.'
It's not terrible and a lot of it is useful but I'd still argue it isn't strictly needed to advance the story. Of course... if you're a science buff then this is right up your alley.
All in all the book was amazing and the whole of the 900 pages only took me some three days (not even reading the whole day) to finish simply because it was well written (I should probably say translated because I read it in English and it's a German book) and without fluff. I definitely recommend reading this!
Sphere by Michael Crichton: Here is a book that started well and ended disappointing. In a lot of instances Sphere is marketed as horror - but it's really not unless you're already afraid of the ocean and the creatures living in it. It actually is almost pure thriller with some sci-fi (could have guessed that by Crichton's other work). And because it is a thriller the writing drew me in immediately and didn't let me go until the end. I even did more than thrice my usual 30 minutes of stationary bike exercise while reading it. Hello 100 minutes of hard biking!
The actual story started out great as well. There's something at the bottom of the ocean and it's presumedly alien in origin. How cool is that! I'm sure there are more books with the premise (The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham comes to mind... but that was also a disappointment) but let's give Crichton a try! It was good until about 70% in. I'm beginning to think a lot of books are. Then it became weird in a bad way. The premise of the alien spaceship crashing into Earth's oceans (with perhaps an alien prisoner trapped in the prison 'sphere' of the book's title) and weird/creepy shit happening while people are trapped in a submarine station at the bottom of the ocean is really cool... But then it turns out that while the sphere might be alien the spaceship really isn't. Instead it's human and from the future. Huh? A first red flag. Time travel stories usually don't work. But this is time travel PLUS some weird alien junk being deposited in 'the past' (the book's present). It gets more disappointing from then on. There are no aliens. The prison sphere doesn't have a prisoner. The predator who's been hunting the trapped-undersea people and killing a lot of them is the figment of one human's imagination. The prison sphere isn't a prison but some sort of voodoo ayurevedic The Alchemist -style 'you can make anything true if you just believe in it' yogi shit. It gives people the power to make THINGS true! And some people just have creepy horror ideas in their heads that haunt the whole expedition.
Zzz...
And then comes the ending... which is neither logical nor reasonable. The main characters (including a power-hungry woman) agree to 'forget' about the power they've found which in effect makes the power cease to exist. That would be ok all in all (since the book's disappointing conclusion has already been established) but doesn't make sense. Why would forgetting you have the power to do something remove all the physical evidence of the source of that power (as the book suggests)? Well. It doesn't. And there are hints that at least one of the characters retains the power anyway. Anyway. I don't recommend this book. It simply doesn't live up to its awesome premise and all you'll feel after reading it is let down.
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire): The book started out well. The beginning was creepy and tense like a proper horror and had me all high-strung with anticipation. I was very excited for the rest of the book. The first two thirds of ItDD lived up to that promise. Things became direr and direr the more words were read. The horror premise of face-eating mermaids in the Mariana Trench was paying off! Then suddenly around the 75% mark everything... fizzled out. The plot became boring and gratuitous. The main characters were in no danger whatsoever. Of a whole of six main characters all six survived. The rest of the cast (supporting characters and red shirts) were dying in troves and getting their faces eaten off but the main characters had so much plot armour (I'm guessing because the author really really wanted to have a happy ending to the book) the whole book was ruined. The only characters who died were the assholes every reader wants to die anyway. The story lost approximately all of its credibility when ALL the good main characters survived and ALL the bad guys died. Had the author not been trying so hard to keep her darlings alive the stakes might have been higher and tension up until the end of the book. As it was it was quite evident McGuire was afraid of killing her darlings (even though at least a few out of the six should have died) and therefore this book doesn't get a recommendation from me.
Have you read any of these books? Let me know what you think! I'd love to know your opinion on these books!
WriteBot.
Showing posts with label bookreview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bookreview. Show all posts
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Monday, December 31, 2018
The Best Fiction of 2018
Hey everyone!
Today's blog post will be a smart recap of the best books I've read this past year and the volume of the books I've read.
I'll start with Part I: fiction.
I read fifty fiction novels this year. They ranged from about 50.000 words to 170.000 words. I believed the longest must have been Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff. The shortest was The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.
Let's go into the actual reviews!
What were my favourites this year and why? (A warning: there aren't a whole lot despite the volume of books I've actually read. This is because I have very high standards when it comes to my reading for enjoyment.)
1. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
This is just a beautiful book. In a lot of alternative Victorian era fantasy fiction there is a huge focus on magic and yada yada and the hero is all special because he can do the magic better than others. This isn't the case with the Watchmaker. There is magic, yes, but a) the main character doesn't wield it, and b) it is only a tiny part of the happenings in the novel (although it is a huge part of WHY everything happens). There are no overt shows of fireballs being thrown or demons being sent off to harass some twelve-year old (I greatly enjoyed the Bartimaeus series though!). The magic in Watchmaker is gentle and subtle (just like the romance!) and I definitely loved this book best of all the fiction I've read this year.
2. Shadowblack, Charmcaster, and Soulbinder by Sebastien de Castell
I started to read the Spellslinger series in 2017 if I remember correctly. It's a fun YA series about a boy (Kellen) who wanted to be a mage and turned into an outlaw instead. It's a fantasy western with a cool magic system (or should I say cool magic systems? The world de Castell has created is really huge!) and despite being a lot YA doesn't have an annoying romance in it. The romance is actually... well. I'm not sure how to explain it. Let's just say it's a lot more realistic and less destined than other YA romances. The focus of the book concerns Kellen's journey from being exiled by his rather fascist clan to... I'm not yet sure what. He definitely still has some journey ahead of him after the 4th book (Soulbinder) but nonetheless I definitely recommend it!
3. Medusa Uploaded by Emily Devenport
This was a fun read especially because one of the main concepts of it. In the not too far but far enough future there are certain sentient robot suits (not like mechas... but more like Cthulhu) and they are supposed to link with humans in order to help them survive in space/their new community. The main character is quite decent (It's hard to have an opinion on her as she's sort of a 'blank slate' in terms of emotions/inner world) and leans towards the bad-ass rather than weak but supposedly powerful YA girl. Oichi is cunning and calm and quite cool (or should I say 'emotionally frozen') all in all. The plot is average as far as a novel goes but decent for YA. All in all it was enjoyable enough to earn a place on my favourites list.
4. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
This was so beautiful! I had to take a while to decide whether to include this one or The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivy which are both amazing works of Russian-ish folklore art. They are at their cores somewhat similar although The Bear and the Nightingale builds much more of a world then The Snow Child. This is ultimately why I chose it above The Snow Child. The Bear and the Nightingale then is a riveting story with a slower pace than what I normally read. It's the story of little wild girl turning into a wild young woman - in a traditional world where she is shunned for being as she is. It also involves magic and demons and the King of Winter.
5. The Tangled Lands by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Buckell
I don't actually have a lot to say about this novel. The most important thing to know when you go into it is that it's actually a compilation of short stories set in the same world that all build upon each other. There are two male storylines and two female (with Bacigalupi writing the male and Buckell the female). The second female storyline of a blacksmith girl was IMO the best of the book. This character was the most amazing of all four of them.
6. Witchmark by C.L. Polk
Another Victorian(ish) era book set in an alternate London-ish city. This one was not as great as the Watchmaker even though it was somewhat similar. It involves a romance between two men (yeeeeesssss!) and a veritable TON of magic when compared with the Watchmaker. It's a wild ride as well! A lot of things happen and the protagonist is often in trouble and it's generally fast-paced. I did not like it as much as the Watchmaker but it was still a lot of fun.
7. Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh
This is one of the few YA books with a romance that I enjoyed. It follows a Japanese girl in a magical feudal Japan and it's just... It sucked me in and didn't let me go with both the action and its slower but high-tension scenes. It's an awesome read. I don't want to admit it but even the romance was great. This was the first book in which I actually rooted for the two main characters to get together. The book left on a cliffhanger however and I'm worried the second installment (which begins with very high tension already) might ruin the first so I haven't read it yet.
A few others I liked but do not want to discuss in as much detail in order to keep the post from becoming a wall of text:
The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt: A cool space adventure! I read this at the beginning of the year and it's fun!
Planetfall by Emma Newman: Weird. Weird. Weird. The main character is creepy but at the same time her quest is so exciting you just have to follow her into the City of God.
Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill: A lovely story about a robot (called Brittle) who dismantles failing robots in order to herself alive but doesn't feel great about it. All humans have died and technology to save Brit is slowly running out. There's another robot who has the tech she needs - but he's not about to fail soon and Brit shies away from actually destroying robots that still have a bit of a life before them.
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham: This one deserves it's own review to be honest. The premise is somewhat silly (I mean - walking plants that kill humans?) but the execution was neat!
Thoraiya Dyer's Giant's Forest books: There's currently two and they're fun and action! They're admittedly not very 'deep' in theme or the events that happen (except perhaps the tidbit about children falling down to Understorey) but still worth a read. They were fun!
Semiosis by Sue Burke: This is a science fiction novel without any magic. The plot follows a group of people (and successive generations) as they land on a new planet and make connection with the inhabitants. Plot twist and minor spoiler: the inhabitants are plants. These plants are very sophisticated (although most of them not as much as the Triffids!) and over time alliances are made and dangers are battled. It's a strange book but it deserves to be listed simply because of its ideas. I'd never read anything quite like it before and it's stayed in my mind.
All right. That's it about Part I of this review of the year. I read a lot more books than are listed (obviously) but had to restrict this post to a few that stood out against the rest. I do hope you enjoyed this post and perhaps you'll read some of these books yourself! I definitely recommend them!
Have a good New Year's Eve and a Happy New Year!
PS: Here are some questionable but still funny fireworks available in the Netherlands:
WriteBot.
Today's blog post will be a smart recap of the best books I've read this past year and the volume of the books I've read.
I'll start with Part I: fiction.
I read fifty fiction novels this year. They ranged from about 50.000 words to 170.000 words. I believed the longest must have been Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff. The shortest was The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.
Let's go into the actual reviews!
What were my favourites this year and why? (A warning: there aren't a whole lot despite the volume of books I've actually read. This is because I have very high standards when it comes to my reading for enjoyment.)
1. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
This is just a beautiful book. In a lot of alternative Victorian era fantasy fiction there is a huge focus on magic and yada yada and the hero is all special because he can do the magic better than others. This isn't the case with the Watchmaker. There is magic, yes, but a) the main character doesn't wield it, and b) it is only a tiny part of the happenings in the novel (although it is a huge part of WHY everything happens). There are no overt shows of fireballs being thrown or demons being sent off to harass some twelve-year old (I greatly enjoyed the Bartimaeus series though!). The magic in Watchmaker is gentle and subtle (just like the romance!) and I definitely loved this book best of all the fiction I've read this year.
2. Shadowblack, Charmcaster, and Soulbinder by Sebastien de Castell
I started to read the Spellslinger series in 2017 if I remember correctly. It's a fun YA series about a boy (Kellen) who wanted to be a mage and turned into an outlaw instead. It's a fantasy western with a cool magic system (or should I say cool magic systems? The world de Castell has created is really huge!) and despite being a lot YA doesn't have an annoying romance in it. The romance is actually... well. I'm not sure how to explain it. Let's just say it's a lot more realistic and less destined than other YA romances. The focus of the book concerns Kellen's journey from being exiled by his rather fascist clan to... I'm not yet sure what. He definitely still has some journey ahead of him after the 4th book (Soulbinder) but nonetheless I definitely recommend it!
3. Medusa Uploaded by Emily Devenport
This was a fun read especially because one of the main concepts of it. In the not too far but far enough future there are certain sentient robot suits (not like mechas... but more like Cthulhu) and they are supposed to link with humans in order to help them survive in space/their new community. The main character is quite decent (It's hard to have an opinion on her as she's sort of a 'blank slate' in terms of emotions/inner world) and leans towards the bad-ass rather than weak but supposedly powerful YA girl. Oichi is cunning and calm and quite cool (or should I say 'emotionally frozen') all in all. The plot is average as far as a novel goes but decent for YA. All in all it was enjoyable enough to earn a place on my favourites list.
4. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
This was so beautiful! I had to take a while to decide whether to include this one or The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivy which are both amazing works of Russian-ish folklore art. They are at their cores somewhat similar although The Bear and the Nightingale builds much more of a world then The Snow Child. This is ultimately why I chose it above The Snow Child. The Bear and the Nightingale then is a riveting story with a slower pace than what I normally read. It's the story of little wild girl turning into a wild young woman - in a traditional world where she is shunned for being as she is. It also involves magic and demons and the King of Winter.
5. The Tangled Lands by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Buckell
I don't actually have a lot to say about this novel. The most important thing to know when you go into it is that it's actually a compilation of short stories set in the same world that all build upon each other. There are two male storylines and two female (with Bacigalupi writing the male and Buckell the female). The second female storyline of a blacksmith girl was IMO the best of the book. This character was the most amazing of all four of them.
6. Witchmark by C.L. Polk
Another Victorian(ish) era book set in an alternate London-ish city. This one was not as great as the Watchmaker even though it was somewhat similar. It involves a romance between two men (yeeeeesssss!) and a veritable TON of magic when compared with the Watchmaker. It's a wild ride as well! A lot of things happen and the protagonist is often in trouble and it's generally fast-paced. I did not like it as much as the Watchmaker but it was still a lot of fun.
7. Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh
This is one of the few YA books with a romance that I enjoyed. It follows a Japanese girl in a magical feudal Japan and it's just... It sucked me in and didn't let me go with both the action and its slower but high-tension scenes. It's an awesome read. I don't want to admit it but even the romance was great. This was the first book in which I actually rooted for the two main characters to get together. The book left on a cliffhanger however and I'm worried the second installment (which begins with very high tension already) might ruin the first so I haven't read it yet.
A few others I liked but do not want to discuss in as much detail in order to keep the post from becoming a wall of text:
The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt: A cool space adventure! I read this at the beginning of the year and it's fun!
Planetfall by Emma Newman: Weird. Weird. Weird. The main character is creepy but at the same time her quest is so exciting you just have to follow her into the City of God.
Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill: A lovely story about a robot (called Brittle) who dismantles failing robots in order to herself alive but doesn't feel great about it. All humans have died and technology to save Brit is slowly running out. There's another robot who has the tech she needs - but he's not about to fail soon and Brit shies away from actually destroying robots that still have a bit of a life before them.
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham: This one deserves it's own review to be honest. The premise is somewhat silly (I mean - walking plants that kill humans?) but the execution was neat!
Thoraiya Dyer's Giant's Forest books: There's currently two and they're fun and action! They're admittedly not very 'deep' in theme or the events that happen (except perhaps the tidbit about children falling down to Understorey) but still worth a read. They were fun!
Semiosis by Sue Burke: This is a science fiction novel without any magic. The plot follows a group of people (and successive generations) as they land on a new planet and make connection with the inhabitants. Plot twist and minor spoiler: the inhabitants are plants. These plants are very sophisticated (although most of them not as much as the Triffids!) and over time alliances are made and dangers are battled. It's a strange book but it deserves to be listed simply because of its ideas. I'd never read anything quite like it before and it's stayed in my mind.
All right. That's it about Part I of this review of the year. I read a lot more books than are listed (obviously) but had to restrict this post to a few that stood out against the rest. I do hope you enjoyed this post and perhaps you'll read some of these books yourself! I definitely recommend them!
Have a good New Year's Eve and a Happy New Year!
PS: Here are some questionable but still funny fireworks available in the Netherlands:
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Review of Stephan J. Guyenet's The Hungry Brain
Hey everyone!
I finished another book today, called The Hungry Brain, by Stephan Guyenet. As the title suggests, this was a non-fiction read about how the human (another other species') brain controls hunger and satiety levels. It puts a focus on overeating - with the most prominent example being highly palatable foods which translates roughly to fast foods - and what causes a person to eat more calories than they actually need.
First things first. Why did I read it? There are several reasons, and one of them is that I'm currently trying to lose another 5kg of weight in order to get to a weight where I don't have to worry about what/how much of what I can eat not to gain too much/to stay at a stable weight. It's basically an attempt to live and eat healthily (in addition to getting that BIKINI BODY!) without having to be as careful about my diet when I'm trying to lose weight. It's also a fun experiment. The results of that experiment will also allow me to recommend certain strategies and share my weight maintenance tips in the long term.
All right. Let's get started with The Hungry Brain.
The first thing you should know is that it's short. It says 304 pages on Amazon but it felt more like around 150-200. It was easy to read and even the science was not really challenging until it got to the to me less interesting part of the book about how sleep and stress affect weight gain/loss in the last chapters. I read it in two days with little effort (about three hours a day). The shortness in turn means this scientific book is highly accessible to all sorts of people and if you're really interest in the subject of weight management then it's definitely something you should (and can!) read.
The second most relevant piece of information about this book is (obviously) it's content. I've already stated that it was short and quite easy to read despite the science it describes. It's written very comprehensively and even if you didn't pay attention in chemistry in school (like me) you can easily understand the information involved.
In the first few chapters Guyenet talks about the most important regions in the brain and hormones/neurons that affect how hungry you feel, when you feel hungry, and why you feel hungry. I won't go into detail here, but suffice to say that everything has been tested and tested again on various kinds of rats and monkeys. As such, it has a truly scientific background, and is backed up by plenty of research. At the same time, everything described is also highly intuitive, and the connections between the brain, neurons, and hormones that trigger neurons and decision making (especially of course the decision to eat/acquire food) are clear once you start to read.
In the middle chapters Guyenet deepens the reader's understanding of the above processes. There are chapters on how environment (the foods easily available to you - for example in the holiday period between Thanksgiving and New Years) can cause overeating and over time raise our tolerance for the chemical that regulates hunger. This translates into something like: rising chemical tolerance = more food to produce more chemical to feel full = overeating. Another chapter deals with genetic predisposition to overeat (spoiler: it's still not an excuse).
The last few chapters are the weakest. These deal with how sleep and stress affect food consumption and were neither set up as well as the first 7 chapters of the book nor as descriptive and detailed. The chapter on sleep literally had me almost dozing off (but to be fair, that might have been because of the 2 hour hike and the late hour at which I read it), and the chapter on stress wasn't any more engaging either. The basic formula there was stress causes overeating and weight gain more easily if highly palatable foods (usually fast foods) are available but doesn't have the same effect if there's only healthy foods in the environment.
In total I would definitely recommend this book if you're at all interested in nutrition. It's short enough to read in a few days and highly informative despite being very light compared to other scientific reads. It gives you a great overview of how the brain makes decisions on when and what to eat and at the same time gives plenty of scientific evidence on why it can be difficult to make good/healthy food decisions even when your willpower is behind losing weight.
I'd rate it 8/10 and recommend it 10/10. There is a lot to learn from this book if you want to lose weight and also if you're just interested in how the food industry works and why people generally prefer fast foods/foods high in calories to lean unprocessed foods.
Do you think this book is something for you? Try to find it at your local bookstore or simply buy an ebook copy on Amazon!
Have a good night/day! WriteBot.
I finished another book today, called The Hungry Brain, by Stephan Guyenet. As the title suggests, this was a non-fiction read about how the human (another other species') brain controls hunger and satiety levels. It puts a focus on overeating - with the most prominent example being highly palatable foods which translates roughly to fast foods - and what causes a person to eat more calories than they actually need.
First things first. Why did I read it? There are several reasons, and one of them is that I'm currently trying to lose another 5kg of weight in order to get to a weight where I don't have to worry about what/how much of what I can eat not to gain too much/to stay at a stable weight. It's basically an attempt to live and eat healthily (in addition to getting that BIKINI BODY!) without having to be as careful about my diet when I'm trying to lose weight. It's also a fun experiment. The results of that experiment will also allow me to recommend certain strategies and share my weight maintenance tips in the long term.
All right. Let's get started with The Hungry Brain.
The first thing you should know is that it's short. It says 304 pages on Amazon but it felt more like around 150-200. It was easy to read and even the science was not really challenging until it got to the to me less interesting part of the book about how sleep and stress affect weight gain/loss in the last chapters. I read it in two days with little effort (about three hours a day). The shortness in turn means this scientific book is highly accessible to all sorts of people and if you're really interest in the subject of weight management then it's definitely something you should (and can!) read.
The second most relevant piece of information about this book is (obviously) it's content. I've already stated that it was short and quite easy to read despite the science it describes. It's written very comprehensively and even if you didn't pay attention in chemistry in school (like me) you can easily understand the information involved.
In the first few chapters Guyenet talks about the most important regions in the brain and hormones/neurons that affect how hungry you feel, when you feel hungry, and why you feel hungry. I won't go into detail here, but suffice to say that everything has been tested and tested again on various kinds of rats and monkeys. As such, it has a truly scientific background, and is backed up by plenty of research. At the same time, everything described is also highly intuitive, and the connections between the brain, neurons, and hormones that trigger neurons and decision making (especially of course the decision to eat/acquire food) are clear once you start to read.
In the middle chapters Guyenet deepens the reader's understanding of the above processes. There are chapters on how environment (the foods easily available to you - for example in the holiday period between Thanksgiving and New Years) can cause overeating and over time raise our tolerance for the chemical that regulates hunger. This translates into something like: rising chemical tolerance = more food to produce more chemical to feel full = overeating. Another chapter deals with genetic predisposition to overeat (spoiler: it's still not an excuse).
The last few chapters are the weakest. These deal with how sleep and stress affect food consumption and were neither set up as well as the first 7 chapters of the book nor as descriptive and detailed. The chapter on sleep literally had me almost dozing off (but to be fair, that might have been because of the 2 hour hike and the late hour at which I read it), and the chapter on stress wasn't any more engaging either. The basic formula there was stress causes overeating and weight gain more easily if highly palatable foods (usually fast foods) are available but doesn't have the same effect if there's only healthy foods in the environment.
In total I would definitely recommend this book if you're at all interested in nutrition. It's short enough to read in a few days and highly informative despite being very light compared to other scientific reads. It gives you a great overview of how the brain makes decisions on when and what to eat and at the same time gives plenty of scientific evidence on why it can be difficult to make good/healthy food decisions even when your willpower is behind losing weight.
I'd rate it 8/10 and recommend it 10/10. There is a lot to learn from this book if you want to lose weight and also if you're just interested in how the food industry works and why people generally prefer fast foods/foods high in calories to lean unprocessed foods.
Do you think this book is something for you? Try to find it at your local bookstore or simply buy an ebook copy on Amazon!
Have a good night/day! WriteBot.
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Review of James Clear's Atomic Habits
Hi folks!
This post will be a quick review of James Clear's Atomic Habits. I finished it about an hour ago and found it... all right. It didn't blow me away (although some tips were useful!) and the writing was quite dry. It took me several days to finish (that should be an indicator how dry the writing was!) and I want to with this post simply give you an overview of Clear's most important (my opinion) points.
Why did I read it? I thought I could improve my work ethic when it comes to writing - but I'm not sure it actually worked. I am still tired after writing only a little bit (hello depression!) and can't think of any way to improve my habit of doing nothing whatsoever instead of writing most of the time.
All right! Let's get started.
Atomic Habits is a book about... well you guessed it. Habits. Atomic means small and therefore the book is about (guessing it again?) SMALL HABITS. And how SMALL HABITS stack up to over time become BIG HABITS/YOUR LIFESTYLE.
The first point Clear makes is that you should not try to change your whole life all at once. It's much too difficult (can confirm. I've tried it multiple times.). You're supposed to start small. AND you're supposed to change not because of the goal you want to to achieve (example: you want to lose weight and therefore decide to run) but because of the type of person you wish to become (example cont.: you want to become a healthy person at a good weight).
This way of thinking will supposedly help you stick to your habits much easier than if your goal were simply to lose a few kilos. Let me elaborate on that example a bit.
Your goal: lose 10 kilos
Your habits: eating cheeseburger every day for breakfast (don't judge. It has happened to me. Incl. pizza)
IF you only attempt to lose weight then you might do so by sheer force of will (been there done that - eat fruit/cereals instead of that cheeseburger for a few weeks). This is extremely hard and a bit pointless because as soon as you go back to your old HABITS (eating cheeseburger for breakfast) you will rapidly regain that weight.
HOWEVER.
If your goal becomes to change your lifestyle (be a healthier person) then James Clear suggests building small habits around that (as opposed to using SHEER FORCE OF WILL) will serve you better in the long run. This means you are replacing your habit of cheeseburger for breakfast with a habit of something healthy (???) for breakfast instead. This is a small change and you can even start by only going through the motions. Instead of warming up that frozen burger/pizza/sweetened cereal you'd start taking out your healthy cereals and fruit and what not. You don't even have to eat them just yet. The habit of taking them out of your storage needs to come first. You do this every day and at some point you'll be like 'heck I'm starting to make two meals (you're still taking out your burger/sweetened cereals/etc too at this point) and this is inconvenient'. 'Heck. The healthy stuff is already out - might as well eat that and then the cheeseburger if I'm still hungry'.
This is how it starts.
In a few months then you'll cultivate the habit of eating your healthy foods (the things you started taking out of storage first thing in the morning) and will (hopefully) forget all about pizza for breakfast entirely after a while.
The same principle goes for anything else you want to do. Write a book? Start by switching on your PC/writing program or carrying a notebook with you. Commit yourself to writing only two minutes a day. You are allowed only to make this SMALL CHANGE. You must do it every day. After a while you will be tempted to write more. And then more. And suddenly you have a BIG HABIT.
The second (most useful) tip in Atomic Habits is this:
Have a schedule and schedule the habits you want to cultivate one after another. This can be done by certain time or after another activity. The formula goes something like this:
If I wake up at 7:00 AM the next step in my day will be to make a cup of tea (habit you're probably already doing?). After this habit or while the water boils I will do (if you want to change to a healthier lifestyle) five pushups. This will usually be around 7:02 AM.
In this way you have two 'schedules':
1: At 7:02 AM I will do five pushups.
2: While the water boils for my morning tea I will do five pushups.
You can schedule other things this way as well.
If you want to be more productive at work: After getting on the train and finding a seat I will take out my notepad and write 2 new ideas I could develop during the day.
If you want to reduce your calorie intake: After sitting down to eat a meal I will drink a glass of water.
If you want to get better at drawing: I will draw one object every day before sleep (ca. 10 PM)
If you want to learn about physics: During my lunch break (12 lunchtime) I will read an article/watch a video on physics
You get it? After a habit you're already doing (going to lunch break/getting out of bed) you will 'stack' up another habit (referred to as HABIT STACKING in Atomic Habits).
The third piece of juicy advice:
MAKE IT EASY.
This is one very no-brain and yet very difficult to follow through with.
We all know this issue: If you're hungry you'll just grab whatever snack is available no matter if it's healthy or not. (And you're probably still hungry afterwards so have to eat a normal/healthy snack on top of it.)
We also all know this: There's an exciting book/new game/TV series RIGHT THERE when you're supposed to be doing work. What is easier? Sit back and relax or work on that difficult project you've been procrastinating on the whole week? Which one will you automatically do? Grab the controller or try to make your brain solve your work issue?
You don't have to answer that (but you can if you want to!). All of us have good intentions but rarely choose the difficult thing over an easier option.
The same it is with habits. Our bad habits are usually easy. The TV controller is right there. So is that greasy snack that won't fill you so you'll have to eat more later/immediately.
James Clear proposes this:
Make your GOOD HABITS EASY and your BAD HABITS HARD.
In practice this means:
Food: Don't buy unhealthy snacks. If you have to go to the store before you can eat them... well there's a good chance you'll be too lazy to go to the store and thus won't eat them.
Pre-cut your healthy snacks during the weekend (says James Clear - but personally I think the healthy fruit and vegetable snacks he's referring to will be rather gross later on if you pre-cut them too early) so they're always ready to eat. I want to suggest rather than pre-cutting the whole week's cucumbers and apples on the weekend to simply make them more visible and pre-cut them the evening before or in the morning of. How to make them more visible? Put them everywhere. Put them in your (unhealthy) snack drawer. Put them on your tables and desks. Put them on your nightstand. (This is a trick learned from a hotel. They had apples in a basket and I was hungry. I ate an apple instead of unpacking my candy from my bag simply because it was THERE already.)
TV: If you want to reduce the hours spent watching TV - Hide the TV. This is paraphrased from Clear's idea to PUT YOUR TV IN THE CLOSET. This will automatically make you roll it out only when you DESPERATELY want to watch something. Alternatively (and easier): hide your remote or remove its batteries.
Sports: Prepare your workout clothes in advance. If you have to search for them, you're likely to skip your workout. If they're right there, well, then you're just lazy if you don't go, and nobody wants to be lazy.
Obviously this can be done with a lot more than just these three categories of habits! Try to come up with new tactics yourself! I'd love to hear about them in the comments too!
Overall thoughts:
They book was dry as Parmesan (PS: cheese should only be eaten in moderation) but had some valuable tips (as listed above). I would definitely recommend the book simply because it has more tips than what I've personally listed and everyone has their own style of learning/changing and their own goals to meet. This means that while the above advice is valuable to me there might be other important things in the book for YOU to learn.
Only YOU know what YOU need to change/learn about yourself/in your life. That is why you personally should read this book.
WriteBot thinks everyone can benefit from this book. It can be found easily on Amazon (I am not affiliated with James Clear or Amazon in any way by the way) and probably other stores and isn't very long either. You might learn something about yourself with this book!
WriteBot out.
This post will be a quick review of James Clear's Atomic Habits. I finished it about an hour ago and found it... all right. It didn't blow me away (although some tips were useful!) and the writing was quite dry. It took me several days to finish (that should be an indicator how dry the writing was!) and I want to with this post simply give you an overview of Clear's most important (my opinion) points.
Why did I read it? I thought I could improve my work ethic when it comes to writing - but I'm not sure it actually worked. I am still tired after writing only a little bit (hello depression!) and can't think of any way to improve my habit of doing nothing whatsoever instead of writing most of the time.
All right! Let's get started.
Atomic Habits is a book about... well you guessed it. Habits. Atomic means small and therefore the book is about (guessing it again?) SMALL HABITS. And how SMALL HABITS stack up to over time become BIG HABITS/YOUR LIFESTYLE.
The first point Clear makes is that you should not try to change your whole life all at once. It's much too difficult (can confirm. I've tried it multiple times.). You're supposed to start small. AND you're supposed to change not because of the goal you want to to achieve (example: you want to lose weight and therefore decide to run) but because of the type of person you wish to become (example cont.: you want to become a healthy person at a good weight).
This way of thinking will supposedly help you stick to your habits much easier than if your goal were simply to lose a few kilos. Let me elaborate on that example a bit.
Your goal: lose 10 kilos
Your habits: eating cheeseburger every day for breakfast (don't judge. It has happened to me. Incl. pizza)
IF you only attempt to lose weight then you might do so by sheer force of will (been there done that - eat fruit/cereals instead of that cheeseburger for a few weeks). This is extremely hard and a bit pointless because as soon as you go back to your old HABITS (eating cheeseburger for breakfast) you will rapidly regain that weight.
HOWEVER.
If your goal becomes to change your lifestyle (be a healthier person) then James Clear suggests building small habits around that (as opposed to using SHEER FORCE OF WILL) will serve you better in the long run. This means you are replacing your habit of cheeseburger for breakfast with a habit of something healthy (???) for breakfast instead. This is a small change and you can even start by only going through the motions. Instead of warming up that frozen burger/pizza/sweetened cereal you'd start taking out your healthy cereals and fruit and what not. You don't even have to eat them just yet. The habit of taking them out of your storage needs to come first. You do this every day and at some point you'll be like 'heck I'm starting to make two meals (you're still taking out your burger/sweetened cereals/etc too at this point) and this is inconvenient'. 'Heck. The healthy stuff is already out - might as well eat that and then the cheeseburger if I'm still hungry'.
This is how it starts.
In a few months then you'll cultivate the habit of eating your healthy foods (the things you started taking out of storage first thing in the morning) and will (hopefully) forget all about pizza for breakfast entirely after a while.
The same principle goes for anything else you want to do. Write a book? Start by switching on your PC/writing program or carrying a notebook with you. Commit yourself to writing only two minutes a day. You are allowed only to make this SMALL CHANGE. You must do it every day. After a while you will be tempted to write more. And then more. And suddenly you have a BIG HABIT.
The second (most useful) tip in Atomic Habits is this:
Have a schedule and schedule the habits you want to cultivate one after another. This can be done by certain time or after another activity. The formula goes something like this:
If I wake up at 7:00 AM the next step in my day will be to make a cup of tea (habit you're probably already doing?). After this habit or while the water boils I will do (if you want to change to a healthier lifestyle) five pushups. This will usually be around 7:02 AM.
In this way you have two 'schedules':
1: At 7:02 AM I will do five pushups.
2: While the water boils for my morning tea I will do five pushups.
You can schedule other things this way as well.
If you want to be more productive at work: After getting on the train and finding a seat I will take out my notepad and write 2 new ideas I could develop during the day.
If you want to reduce your calorie intake: After sitting down to eat a meal I will drink a glass of water.
If you want to get better at drawing: I will draw one object every day before sleep (ca. 10 PM)
If you want to learn about physics: During my lunch break (12 lunchtime) I will read an article/watch a video on physics
You get it? After a habit you're already doing (going to lunch break/getting out of bed) you will 'stack' up another habit (referred to as HABIT STACKING in Atomic Habits).
The third piece of juicy advice:
MAKE IT EASY.
This is one very no-brain and yet very difficult to follow through with.
We all know this issue: If you're hungry you'll just grab whatever snack is available no matter if it's healthy or not. (And you're probably still hungry afterwards so have to eat a normal/healthy snack on top of it.)
We also all know this: There's an exciting book/new game/TV series RIGHT THERE when you're supposed to be doing work. What is easier? Sit back and relax or work on that difficult project you've been procrastinating on the whole week? Which one will you automatically do? Grab the controller or try to make your brain solve your work issue?
You don't have to answer that (but you can if you want to!). All of us have good intentions but rarely choose the difficult thing over an easier option.
The same it is with habits. Our bad habits are usually easy. The TV controller is right there. So is that greasy snack that won't fill you so you'll have to eat more later/immediately.
James Clear proposes this:
Make your GOOD HABITS EASY and your BAD HABITS HARD.
In practice this means:
Food: Don't buy unhealthy snacks. If you have to go to the store before you can eat them... well there's a good chance you'll be too lazy to go to the store and thus won't eat them.
Pre-cut your healthy snacks during the weekend (says James Clear - but personally I think the healthy fruit and vegetable snacks he's referring to will be rather gross later on if you pre-cut them too early) so they're always ready to eat. I want to suggest rather than pre-cutting the whole week's cucumbers and apples on the weekend to simply make them more visible and pre-cut them the evening before or in the morning of. How to make them more visible? Put them everywhere. Put them in your (unhealthy) snack drawer. Put them on your tables and desks. Put them on your nightstand. (This is a trick learned from a hotel. They had apples in a basket and I was hungry. I ate an apple instead of unpacking my candy from my bag simply because it was THERE already.)
TV: If you want to reduce the hours spent watching TV - Hide the TV. This is paraphrased from Clear's idea to PUT YOUR TV IN THE CLOSET. This will automatically make you roll it out only when you DESPERATELY want to watch something. Alternatively (and easier): hide your remote or remove its batteries.
Sports: Prepare your workout clothes in advance. If you have to search for them, you're likely to skip your workout. If they're right there, well, then you're just lazy if you don't go, and nobody wants to be lazy.
Obviously this can be done with a lot more than just these three categories of habits! Try to come up with new tactics yourself! I'd love to hear about them in the comments too!
Overall thoughts:
They book was dry as Parmesan (PS: cheese should only be eaten in moderation) but had some valuable tips (as listed above). I would definitely recommend the book simply because it has more tips than what I've personally listed and everyone has their own style of learning/changing and their own goals to meet. This means that while the above advice is valuable to me there might be other important things in the book for YOU to learn.
Only YOU know what YOU need to change/learn about yourself/in your life. That is why you personally should read this book.
WriteBot thinks everyone can benefit from this book. It can be found easily on Amazon (I am not affiliated with James Clear or Amazon in any way by the way) and probably other stores and isn't very long either. You might learn something about yourself with this book!
WriteBot out.
Saturday, November 3, 2018
I got my first review! (And other achievements)!
Hi again!
Today is a very good day. I've been able to set up two of my books on Amazon KDP. These are Elegy of the Stars and Warlike (links to follow for both as soon as they are online) and I can cross them off my goal list! (Remember that long-as-heck list I made earlier today?)
They look really great too! They're all new with new detail information and an insightful author's note inside of them.
Several new goals have been added to the list when I crossed the two publishing goals off:
Next we come to the best thing that's happened to me all week. (Although it's already two weeks ago since it happened... I just didn't realize it.)
I GOT MY FIRST REVIEW! Yeee-haw! That's so great! The story I got it for is Catching Fireflies.
You know why reviews are so important? Other readers can find me (and their other favourite authors) by reviews. The more reviews you have the more up the ladder you move on Amazon.
And it's a 5-star review too! Here it is (sorry about the quality... It's very small for some reason!):
I don't know who wrote it. They didn't identify themselves. Their pseudonym is 'Amazon Customer' (like the other millions of anonymous people who sometimes post reviews). BUT if I did. I'd send an e-mail just to thank them soo much. This review means so much to me. It's my first review. It's like a first book deal. I am going to celebrate it.
So really! Whoever you are, anonymous reviewer, thank you so much! I love that you took the time to review my short story. I know it's short (it's a short story after all) and I know you would have loved to read more (according to your review) and... here comes the best part! You will! I'm currently working on another part of Catching Fireflies. I never thought it would come to it because I considered the story finished. But Alas. It did. Mairie wasn't yet done telling me all of it. I just had to wait. Because you purchased the story (thank you so much!) you will of course get to read the update for free. I hope you'll enjoy it when it pops up on your Kindle in the next few weeks!
Again - thank you so much! I hope you're having the best day today and you'll find thousands more books you will love. (PS: check out some more of mine. They're great adventures!)
WriteBot Wins! I told you! Have a cheerful day.
Today is a very good day. I've been able to set up two of my books on Amazon KDP. These are Elegy of the Stars and Warlike (links to follow for both as soon as they are online) and I can cross them off my goal list! (Remember that long-as-heck list I made earlier today?)
They look really great too! They're all new with new detail information and an insightful author's note inside of them.
Several new goals have been added to the list when I crossed the two publishing goals off:
- upload an author picture on my website and amazon author central page
- keep track of publishing status and inform readers once the books are online
- publish the short story anthologies next
Next we come to the best thing that's happened to me all week. (Although it's already two weeks ago since it happened... I just didn't realize it.)
I GOT MY FIRST REVIEW! Yeee-haw! That's so great! The story I got it for is Catching Fireflies.
You know why reviews are so important? Other readers can find me (and their other favourite authors) by reviews. The more reviews you have the more up the ladder you move on Amazon.
And it's a 5-star review too! Here it is (sorry about the quality... It's very small for some reason!):
I don't know who wrote it. They didn't identify themselves. Their pseudonym is 'Amazon Customer' (like the other millions of anonymous people who sometimes post reviews). BUT if I did. I'd send an e-mail just to thank them soo much. This review means so much to me. It's my first review. It's like a first book deal. I am going to celebrate it.
So really! Whoever you are, anonymous reviewer, thank you so much! I love that you took the time to review my short story. I know it's short (it's a short story after all) and I know you would have loved to read more (according to your review) and... here comes the best part! You will! I'm currently working on another part of Catching Fireflies. I never thought it would come to it because I considered the story finished. But Alas. It did. Mairie wasn't yet done telling me all of it. I just had to wait. Because you purchased the story (thank you so much!) you will of course get to read the update for free. I hope you'll enjoy it when it pops up on your Kindle in the next few weeks!
Again - thank you so much! I hope you're having the best day today and you'll find thousands more books you will love. (PS: check out some more of mine. They're great adventures!)
WriteBot Wins! I told you! Have a cheerful day.
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