40 DAY SHIFT

Stone’s brief nonfiction debut chronicles her 40 days of seeking a more enlightened, more giving life, patterning the 40-day period on the Lent of her Catholic upbringing but broadening the ambit to include the widest possible spectrum of spiritual leanings.

“Whether you feel more in tune with God, many gods, Mother Earth, or your favorite song,” Stone writes, “everyone has their own way of feeling a sense of a higher source.” The key to Stone’s 40-day program was her dedication to looking outward and beyond herself; each day she explored a different charity, like Big Brothers Big Sisters, Heifer International, Veterans in Film and Television, Step Up on Second, the Leap program, and many others. Each day of this journey was a “charity endeavor.” The author names specific charities, reports on their origins and natures (usually with website URLs), describes their missions, and outlines her participation in their work. All of this is seamlessly and enjoyably interwoven with anecdotes from the author’s personal life—work, family, yoga, therapy—with thoughtful asides about the imbalances of modern life. “I’m thankful that my busy time only lasts for a season,” she writes at one point about a particularly busy period of work. “For many people, possibly the majority, there is no downtime when it comes to earning a paycheck.” This combination of personal dimension and charitable information has a twofold effect even in such a short book: It both humanizes the author and demystifies the whole process of engaging meaningfully with the world of charitable donations. Even readers not charitably inclined (a distinct minority in America, if recent polling is any accurate indication) will most likely find at least a couple of good causes in these pages—certainly Stone makes clearly worded advocacy for every charity she describes.

An informative, concise handbook to learning and giving.