The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters

Emily Esfahani Smith's book, The Power Of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters, was a powerful and insightful read. Through her research, Smith argues that a person's pursuit of life's meaning can be achieved by making connections with people to feel like you belong, finding a purpose in life, making sense of our experiences through storytelling, and seeking transcendent experiences.

All the stories in the book were all very touching and compelling, from the veteran whose life spiraled out of control but used his pain and suffering to help other veterans to a young gay man's story at The Moth about how his parents refusal to accept his sexual orientation lead him to put a pause on his life. All the stories perfectly illustrates the four pillars of meaning (Belonging, Purpose, Storytelling and Transcendence), according to Smith.

After reading this book, it is making me seriously think about aspects of my own life (areas that I need to work on) to achieve the meaning in my life that I want. I highly recommend to book to anyone who is interested in a self-help book or just a book that will get you thinking about your own life and what it means to you.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. 

The Moth Presents All These Wonders

I had only recently heard of the The Moth Storytelling when I was watching Lena Dunham's "Girls". On one of the episodes, Dunham's character goes on The Moth to tell her story about her break-up. When I got an opportunity to review The Moth Presents All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown edited by Catherine Burns with foreward by Neil Gaiman, I jumped on the opportunity. I LOVE short stories because it works well for my short attention span when it comes to fiction.

The stories in this compilation are all very raw and honest. Some stories are sad and some are more happy and funny, but all the stories are very compelling, and I just couldn't put the book down. There are 45 intriguing stories in this compendium. The stories range from a child soldier from Sierra Leone to a child surviving the concentration camp to more lighthearted stories about an author writing a controversial children's book that was meant for the parents.

All the stories in this book were originally told live in front of an audience. That is the whole premise of The Moth, it is live storytelling. I imagine these stories were even more dynamic and captivating when they were told live. I would love to attend a Moth live storytelling one day.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.  

A Review of Democracy In Black by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

Democracy in Black by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. was a thought-provoking and eye-opening read. This novel comes at such a troubling time in America when unarmed black men were being gunned down by police officers at an alarming rate. Glaude argues that in our society there is a "value gap" where we value white people over colored people. Glaude also argues that everyone has "racial habits," and it's our racial habits that shape us and our lives which reinforces our value gap. To uproot the racial inequality in our value gap and value habits, Glaude offers up three components of a revolution of value: (1) change the view of our government; (2) change how we view black people by changing how we see white people; (3) change what matters to us as Americans by telling better stories.

This book couldn't come at a better time. With all the chaos that has been going on with our government, I can't help but evaluate my own thoughts, feelings, values, and concerns about our society and our culture during this time. I don't know if our society will ever find peace and equality, but we need books like Democracy in Black to push us to evaluate our own personal values and to look into our racial habits in hopes to achieve racial equality one day.


Disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.