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: Dec. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Sedaris at his darkest—and his best.
In which the veteran humorist enters middle age with fine snark but some trepidation as well.
Mortality is weighing on Sedaris (Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002, 2017, etc.), much of it his own, professional narcissist that he is. Watching an elderly man have a bowel accident on a plane, he dreaded the day when he would be the target of teenagers’ jokes “as they raise their phones to take my picture from behind.” A skin tumor troubled him, but so did the doctor who told him he couldn’t keep it once it was removed. “But it’s my tumor,” he insisted. “I made it.” (Eventually, he found a semitrained doctor to remove and give him the lipoma, which he proceeded to feed to a turtle.) The deaths of others are much on the author’s mind as well: He contemplates the suicide of his sister Tiffany, his alcoholic mother’s death, and his cantankerous father’s erratic behavior. His contemplation of his mother’s drinking—and his family’s denial of it—makes for some of the most poignant writing in the book: The sound of her putting ice in a rocks glass increasingly sounded “like a trigger being cocked.” Despite the gloom, however, frivolity still abides in the Sedaris clan. His summer home on the Carolina coast, which he dubbed the Sea Section, overspills with irreverent bantering between him and his siblings as his long-suffering partner, Hugh, looks on. Sedaris hasn’t lost his capacity for bemused observations of the people he encounters. For example, cashiers who say “have a blessed day” make him feel “like you’ve been sprayed against your will with God cologne.” But bad news has sharpened the author’s humor, and this book is defined by a persistent, engaging bafflement over how seriously or unseriously to take life when it’s increasingly filled with Trump and funerals.
Sedaris at his darkest—and his best.Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-39238-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
PROFILES
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