A concisely argued, worthwhile call to adopt Stoicism in key relationships with the online world.
An author takes an ideological approach to the overwhelming ubiquity of the digital world.
As Kastell points out at the start of her nonfiction book, nearly five billion people on the planet are fully engaged in the digital age, “heads buried in their smartphones, iPads, and laptops, which mediate most of our conversations and intimate connections,” completely hooked into the “Internet of Things.” “We now recognize,” the author writes, “that the overwhelm we feel about overload, unsavory digital exchanges, and online negativity are taxing everyone.” Her plan for dealing with this feeling is drawn from the ancient world, specifically the principles of Stoicism: accept events as they occur, control your reactions to things, continuously take stock of what’s really important in life—a totality she refers to as “Stoic scrolling.” “You are not in control of the world around you,” she reminds her readers, “but you can control how you let it affect you—or not—and how you respond, if at all.” This philosophical angle runs throughout the book, with Kastell touching on figures like Kierkegaard and the literary theorist René Girard and drawing from their writings to formulate strategies for handling our “responsibility to be rightful and truthful in how we use technology.” This approach is intriguing, and the author deepens it as she goes along, bringing in a wide variety of technology-related subjects, always with an upbeat, optimistic attitude. Even on touchstone controversies like artificial intelligence, she’s more hopeful about the possibilities than anxious about the dangers: “We are synergizing with our technology. It is not replacing us. It is empowering us.” This positivity, plus the much-needed call for balanced self-control, makes all this a refreshing take on the digital miasma that fills the modern world.
A concisely argued, worthwhile call to adopt Stoicism in key relationships with the online world.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2024
ISBN: 9781665765794
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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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