Brimming with wisdom and support—ideal for young adults looking to make their way in the world.
A guide to pragmatic life skills that teaches readers how to operate in the world with know-how and confidence.
Scott has put together a “playbook” of wide-ranging qualities that he deems essential for living one’s best life. Fifty skills are presented over seven “levels” and include interactive elements (like self-assessments), quotes (from people like Steve Jobs), and various charts to break down particularly complex information (such as compounding interest vs. inflation). Level 1 focuses on cultivating a “winning mindset” through mindfulness and meditation tips. Scott also suggests here that readers can discover their passions by using the Japanese concept of ikigai, which involves four elements: what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. Level 2 suggests ways to turn that passion into productivity, including using the “Pomodoro technique” (pick a task; focus only on that task for 25 minutes; take a five-minute break; then repeat four times before taking a longer break). Level 3 delves into physical and mental health, including stress management. Level 4 focuses on critical thinking and problem-solving, offering a list of common fallacies one might encounter in everyday conversations, including “Appeal to Emotion: Attempting to manipulate an emotional response in place of a valid argument” and “False Dilemma: Presenting only two options when more exist.” Level 5 gives tips for better communication and conflict resolution. Level six covers all things financial, from establishing a “wealth mindset” to different types of insurance. Level 7 wraps everything up with an explanation of how to use these skills to become an effective leader.
With a warm and encouraging tone, Scott presents what could, in less capable hands, seem like a discouragingly large amount of information; the author instead makes the included skills feel not just doable but desirable. While some motivational catchphrases can come across as a bit trite (“We are more than our history; we are the authors of our next chapter”), Scott obviously takes great care to treat his audience (which one assumes will be high school or college kids preparing to make their way out of the family nest) as the young adults that they are. This means using straightforward language that never comes across as condescending and providing practical advice that goes much deeper than the typical self-help book. Instead of just suggesting that readers avoid debt, for example, Scott breaks down the difference between “good” and “bad” debt, as well as what a FICO score really means and how to keep track of it. The advice is so detailed and wide-ranging, in fact, that it could certainly prove useful to older adults as well (the guide to fallacies alone should be mandatory reading for all ages). In addition to occasional charts and graphs, hand-drawn illustrations by Ukrainian artist Miroshnichenko are peppered sporadically throughout the book. These quirky black-and-white drawings add some fun and levity to what can be dry topics. This is a book that readers will likely find themselves referencing again and again through different life stages; Scott has written a clear, catchall guide to “adulting” that manages to remain relevant and engaging throughout.
Brimming with wisdom and support—ideal for young adults looking to make their way in the world.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2024
ISBN: 9798990974425
Page Count: 317
Publisher: Ponder Rocket Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.
Memories and life lessons inspired by the author’s mother, who was murdered in 2021.
“Neither my mother nor I knew that her last text to me would be the words ‘Think you’ll be happy,’ ” Avant writes, "but it is fitting that she left me with a mantra for resiliency.” The author, a filmmaker and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas, begins her first book on the night she learned her mother, Jacqueline Avant, had been fatally shot during a home invasion. “One of my first thoughts,” she writes, “was, ‘Oh God, please don’t let me hate this man. Give me the strength not to hate him.’ ” Daughter of Clarence Avant, known as the “Black Godfather” due to his work as a pioneering music executive, the author describes growing up “in a house that had a revolving door of famous people,” from Ella Fitzgerald to Muhammad Ali. “I don’t take for granted anything I have achieved in my life as a Black American woman,” writes Avant. “And I recognize my unique upbringing…..I was taught to honor our past and pay forward our fruits.” The book, which is occasionally repetitive, includes tributes to her mother from figures like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, but the narrative core is the author’s direct, faith-based, unwaveringly positive messages to readers—e.g., “I don’t want to carry the sadness and anger I have toward the man who did this to my mother…so I’m worshiping God amid the worst storm imaginable”; "Success and feeling good are contagious. I’m all about positive contagious vibrations!” Avant frequently quotes Bible verses, and the bulk of the text reflects the spirit of her daily prayer “that everything is in divine order.” Imploring readers to practice proactive behavior, she writes, “We have to always find the blessing, to be the blessing.”
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9780063304413
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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