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How to think, act and live better - great books and other material!

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brotherS:
I originally replied in https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=6146 and then split the topic. If you read a book that changed your life in the best meaning of the phrase, please share what you know!

Please don't just post the book name, post the Amazon link (like I did below for Radical Honesty), so that we can check its ratings and reviews easily. Thanks!

the inspiration that I've been looking for to help get out of the rut that I feel I've been in lately, and to make some major improvements in my lifestyle.  Highly recommend for anyone looking to do more positive things in and with their life.  :Thmbsup:
-fhayes (January 04, 2007, 06:07 PM)
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Along those lines I also recommend you buy the book Radical Honesty. Not an easy read but well worth the time invested!

tomos:
Along those lines I also recommend you buy the book Radical Honesty. Not an easy read but well worth the time invested!-brotherS (January 05, 2007, 03:00 AM)
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brotherS, any chance you could tell us something about the book?
thanks, tom

brotherS:
Along those lines I also recommend you buy the book Radical Honesty. Not an easy read but well worth the time invested!-brotherS (January 05, 2007, 03:00 AM)
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brotherS, any chance you could tell us something about the book?
-tomos (January 05, 2007, 03:04 AM)
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Sure, let me just quote Beth Hartford's excellent review:

Whenever I pick this book up off the bookshelf I am reminded of the Jack Nicholsons character in A Few Good Men where he says "The Truth? You cant handle the truth!". This is an in your face book that will make some people terribly uncomfortable. People who are afraid of honesty. I believe that while many people will say they want the truth that when they hear it they are livid. Truth hurts. And I admit that I have a double standard with myself when it comes to truth. Most of the time I speak my mind and say what I believe. But I also admit that I also deflect questions from some people whom experience has shown me cannot handle the truth, simply because I don't need the nonsense in my life.
And I admit that I winced when I first saw the books title and then became intrigued when I heard him speak on a variety of radio and television shows. So I bought the book and am glad. And yes it is heavily politically incorrect in an era where pushing and enabling the whole woe is me victim mode is so popular.

One of my favorite parts of this book and advise that I believe more people need to take is where the author writes on page 179" Many of the people who go to therapists or physicians seeking relief are tired. They are tired from having worked out their lives in such a way that they get worn out instead of recharged by living. When someone like this takes responsibility for exercise, nutrition, and rest, a number of their "psychological" problems disappear. The human body has a wonderful capacity to restore itself it is given a break from abuse and a chance to rest. Wellness is a natural state of being for people who have learned how to get out of their own way. "

On page 185 the author notes wisely that "What happens when therapy works and keeps on working is that people want to learn about how to stay well. They become interested in living in the world by constantly renewing their leases on life rather than by being lost in their minds. They can do that best within the context of a sustaining community of other people in the same boat--people who have created wellness and are committed to maintaining wellness."

On page 187 he shares that most people don't take care of themselves out of knowing they should. That there was a man who was told by his physician to lose 15 lbs but didn't and in fact gained 10 more pounds and was told at his next doctors visit by the doctor "If you aren't willing to take care of yourself, why in the hell should I?". That it took having a heart attack that could have been prevented for the man to change. Dr Blanton then wisely notes that "learning to take care of ourselves creatively rather than resentfully is a big step in growing up".

On page 212 Dr Blanton notes "Responsibility means that whatever you are doing, you are willing to experience yourself as the cause. You are the source of your troubles as well as your successes." "As long as you are blaming, explaining, apologizing, trying, resolving to be good, hoping or feeling guilty, you are not being responsible." On page 215 "To get back in touch with who you are when you have been lost in your mind is to get back to your source. This is hard to do. You have to die to live."

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tomos:
jeez,
there's enough in that review alone to keep a body thinking a while  :)

..
"learning to take care of ourselves creatively rather than resentfully is a big step in growing up"
...
"As long as you are blaming, explaining, apologizing, trying, resolving to be good, hoping or feeling guilty, you are not being responsible."
..
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(my italics)

p.s. thanks brotherS

nudone:
books that changed my life:

A Brief History of Time by S.W. Hawking http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brief-History-Time-Black-Holes/dp/0553175211/sr=1-2/qid=1167998174/ref=sr_1_2/202-6750647-0951050?ie=UTF8&s=books
i pretty much hated the idea of reading books because of what i was forced to read at school. i then picked this up in my early twenties and realised i was a complete moron and that there were people out there that knew things i couldn't even imagine.

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins http://www.amazon.co.uk/Selfish-Gene-Richard-Dawkins/dp/0199291152/sr=8-1/qid=1167998085/ref=pd_ka_1/202-6750647-0951050?ie=UTF8&s=books
after being introduced to the marvelous world of popular science by mr. hawking i then read dozens more by popular science authors. reading the selfish gene was not unlike being woken from a dream - or to be more dramatic - like the scene in 'the matrix' when neo discovers things aren't quite what he thought they were.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell http://www.amazon.co.uk/1984-Nineteen-Eighty-Four-George-Orwell/dp/014118776X/sr=1-1/qid=1167998605/ref=sr_1_1/202-6750647-0951050?ie=UTF8&s=books
i don't read many novels but this is one i read at school. i think it fair to say it shaped my view on the world from that point on.

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