Inspirational and uplifting; a thorough guide to making a change.
A leadership coach lays out a personal transformation plan in this debut manual.
Self-empowerment is the basis for most books in the self-help category, and this lively work follows that pattern. Here, Ruth’s focus is on helping readers make fundamental change, even if it does not come easily: “Wherever we experience the most resistance, either internal or external, to a shift we want to make, that is where we have the greatest growth opportunity.” To facilitate making a major “shift,” the author details a process called “Twelve Stages of Transformative Shift,” borrowed from the workshops she conducts. The stages are lucidly explained in individual chapters, each ending with immersive exercises readers are asked to complete. Such stages as “Surrender,” “Get Clarity,” and “Get Uncomfortable” are not necessarily for the faint of heart, but Ruth is a sensitive, positive instructor whose writing is both inspirational and practical. The text is augmented by examples from her own life and coaching practice. She exhorts readers to work tirelessly on their own behalf, urging them to “learn to trust the fire within” and advising that “there is really no greater freedom or power than realizing we always have choices, and we get to take the responsibility for making them.” Throughout the book, the author offers helpful tools and techniques as well as insightful observations and counsel. For example, “Five Power Questions”—which include “How does this align with my values?” and “How am I owning this decision?”—are designed to encourage deep introspection. The author’s “three basic reasons to make a shift…greater freedom, power, or passion—or perhaps some combination of the three” provoke considerable reflection. Ruth’s belief that “shifting becomes real and sustainable when we see ourselves differently, from the inside out” is a cleareyed assessment of what a major change truly implies. The volume features a fair amount of motivational psychology intermingled with spirituality that makes for engaging content. While it will take a concerted effort by readers to participate in the process proposed by the author, this work is a commendable blueprint for learning how to shift.
Inspirational and uplifting; a thorough guide to making a change.Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-99-951563-1
Page Count: 185
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 6, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
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
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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