A practical guide to building authentic confidence through incremental change.
Nguyen offers a road map for readers ready to start becoming who they want to be.
The author, a speaker and leadership coach, opens with a disclosure of her own vulnerability; she describes standing terrified before an audience of hundreds at her first company-wide presentation two decades ago. That moment of choosing courage over comfort became the foundation of her approach, which she calls “mini-shifts”: “small, intentional changes that may seem minor in the moment but that accumulate into something life-changing.” The concept echoes James Clear’s Atomic Habits (2018), but Nguyen grounds her framework specifically in confidence-building rather than general behavior changes. The book’s strength lies in its clear-eyed realism about what confidence actually is: “real confidence is quieter” (it’s about knowing who you are rather than shouting about how great you are). The author dismantles the myth that self-assurance requires charisma or fearlessness, positing that confidence isn’t about never doubting yourself, but rather progressing despite those doubts. This distinction—between eliminating fear and acting alongside it—permeates the work and gives readers permission to be human while still moving forward. Each chapter combines personal narrative, psychological research, and actionable exercises. “Own Your Light” teaches readers to accept compliments rather than deflect them—a deceptively simple practice that reinforces self-worth. “Let Your Why Lead You” connects purpose to resilience, citing studies showing that people with clear purpose experience 15% lower mortality risk. The final chapter, “You Don’t Have To Grow Alone,” acknowledges that confidence develops in community, not isolation, which is particularly resonant for introverts who may feel overwhelmed by networking advice. Nguyen backs her insights with credible research—citing Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, Dweck’s growth mindset, and studies on imposter syndrome—while maintaining an accessible, conversational tone. Her personal story of surviving abuse as a teenage immigrant demonstrates the transformative power of purpose-driven action. The prescriptive action steps conclude each chapter without overburdening readers; the author explicitly encourages tackling just one step at a time. This clear, attainable approach makes the book equally valuable for veteran self-help readers and newcomers exploring inner work for the first time.
A practical guide to building authentic confidence through incremental change.Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2025
ISBN: 9798990893030
Page Count: 181
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: yesterday
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 virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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