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SUMMARY
Dr. Leonard Sax, a premier child psychologist, peels back the veneer of successful families in his latest bestseller The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups. Originally intending to contrast American parents with those outside the U.S., Sax explains how and why bonds across generations have been broken. Today, American parents are confused about their role, resulting in status insecurity.
Having traveled and lectured frequently throughout Germany, Scotland, German-speaking Switzerland, and New Zealand, Dr. Sax extols the virtues of these foreign countries where the culture still supports strong families and parent-child bonds. American kids used to spend their weekends hanging out with grownups, being mentored, and learning values and skills. Now, they are now much less creative than they were 20 years ago and far more likely to be diagnosed with mental illness such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression.
Dr. Sax sends a clarion call to parents to renew their relationship with their children by asserting themselves as authority figures. He gives us a vision for how to better prepare our children to thrive. Parenting, after all, is for teaching children what matters not only now but in the future.
PARENTING IDEAS FOR BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES
QUOTES FROM SAX
BUY The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups
RECOMMENDATIONS
Watch Andy Griffith episode “Opie, the Birdman”
BUY Gidget: The Complete Series
Read or watch To Kill a Mockingbird
BUY To Kill a Mockingbird (Harperperennial Modern Classics)
BUY To Kill a Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Edition
OTHER BOOKS BY DR. LEONARD SAX
BUY Girls on the Edge: The Four Factors Driving the New Crisis for Girls--Sexual Identity, the Cyberbubble, Obsessions, Environmental Toxins
BUY Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men
BUY Why Gender Matters, Second Edition: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know About the Emerging Science of Sex Differences
Send your parenting questions directly to Dr. Sax on his website.
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SUMMARY
In her newest book, The Good Fight: Use Productive Conflict to Get Your Team and Your Organization Back on Track, Liane Davey explodes the myth that “conflict” is a bad word or something to be avoided. She boldly claims, "Organizations require conflict." Without it, stagnation and resentment settle into the cracks of an original issue, making it hard to move forward. Even though conflict aversion seems to be baked into how we’re socialized, we can learn strategies for “fighting” in a productive, healthy way.
KEY POINTS
QUOTES FROM DAVEY
BUY The Good Fight: Use Productive Conflict to Get Your Team and Organization Back on Track
RECOMMENDATION
Find “new approaches for resolving conflicts, creating new common ground, and achieving greater levels of intimacy” in Dr. John Gottman’s New York Times bestseller.
BUY The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country's Foremost Relationship Expert
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SUMMARY
Craig Borlase, a New York Times and international bestselling author of more than 60 books, co-authors the unexpected worldwide bestselling memoir, "Finding Gobi: The Little Dog with a Very Big Heart."
This true story features co-author and ultramarathoner Dion Leonard who crosses paths with a stray dog while racing 150 miles across the Gobi Desert in China. The dog he later names “Gobi” unexpectedly runs for miles alongside him in the scorching hot desert. Gobi’s instant loyalty and love win over Leonard, a hardened Aussie man, and eventually turns him into a tender-hearted advocate for dog adoption.
Co-author Borlase, a prolific and renowned memoirist, specializes in crafting dramatic, engaging stories and has collaborated with a wide range of people all over the world. Some of these include a two-time Grammy-winning songwriter, an Iranian refugee who spent four months in a Turkish jail, a female transatlantic rower, a World War II veteran, and a former Muslim woman who was one week away from becoming a suicide bomber.
Leonard praises Borlase’s attention to detail that turns a simple memory into something that makes us feel we were there. “Craig turned words into gold.”
QUOTE FROM BORLASE
BUY Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart
OR
BUY Finding Gobi: Young Reader's Edition: The True Story of One Little Dog's Big Journey
RECOMMENDATIONS
BUY Stranger No More: A Muslim Refugee’s Story of Harrowing Escape, Miraculous Rescue, and the Quiet Call of Jesus
BUY Becoming Mama: How I Found Hope in Haiti's Rubble
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SUMMARY
Bilha Chesner Fish, M.D., an Israeli-American immigrant and distinguished radiologist, shares her new book, Invincible Women. Based on personal "Conversations with 21 Inspiring and Successful American Immigrants," Invincible Women is a collection of stories illustrating the grit, willpower, and conviction of women fighting to achieve the American dream. Dr. Fish manages to interview immigrant women of all stripes: artists, doctors, fashion designers, authors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, business executives, chefs, scientists, philanthropists, entrepreneurs, and even an opera singer. Each tells her struggles and triumphs while taking risks and struggling to assimilate into a new country. All the while, the common thread among them is giving back.
Dr. Fish, a longtime advocate for community service and women’s empowerment, honors and celebrates these women through the careful reconstruction of her interviews. The book Invincible Women is especially critical and this moment in America's history when immigrants are often mistreated, misunderstood, and undervalued. The stories align with Dr. Fish's own commitment to stand up to hate, racism, and fear born of misinformation.
QUOTES FROM THE WOMEN
BUY Invincible Women: Conversations with 21 Inspiring and Successful American Immigrants
RECOMMENDATIONS
BUY The Newcomers: Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom
Listen to the podcast: https://www.nonfiction4life.com/newcomers-helen-thorpe/
BUY Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream
Listen to the podcast: https://www.nonfiction4life.com/117-spare-parts-joshua-davis/
BUY Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother
Listen to the podcast: https://www.nonfiction4life.com/119-enriques-journey-sonia-nazario/
BUY Wish You Happy Forever: What China’s Orphans Taught Me About Moving Mountains
Listen to the podcast: https://www.nonfiction4life.com/wish-you-happy-forever/
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SUMMARY
Whitney Johnson, named one of 50 leading business thinkers in the world, shares her groundbreaking work in Disrupt Yourself: Master Relentless Change and Speed Up Your Learning Curve. With a new introduction, the book is endorsed by business heavy-hitters such as Eric Ries, Clayton Christensen, Liz Wiseman, Adam Grant, Steve Wozniak, Susan Cain, and Tom Peters.
Aware that all companies--large and small--need high-growth individuals to implement high-growth plans, Johnson helps us apply the theory of disruptive innovation to our own path. Specifically, understanding how to master the S-curves in our lives will propel us upward as we move forward in time. In other words, when we disrupt ourselves, we jump, learn, leap, and repeat! Johnson warns, "If you don't disrupt when you feel you are called to do so, you'll die inside just a little. There's even a name for it: the innovator's dilemma. Whether you innovate or not, you risk downward mobility."
KEY POINTS
QUOTES FROM JOHNSON
BUY Disrupt Yourself, With a New Introduction: Master Relentless Change and Speed Up Your Learning Curve
RECOMMENDATIONS
BUY How Will You Measure Your Life?
BUY Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life
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SUMMARY
Codi Shewan, a former funeral director and embalmer, encourages us to live fully today. In his new book, Everyday Legacy: Lessons for Living with Purpose, Right Now, he shares personal anecdotes and no-nonsense insights to show us how to live our legacy rather than just leave a legacy. His book helps us be more intentional and recognize the impact we’re having on others right now. In short, Everyday Legacy is meant to inspire conversations with ourselves and to encourage us to live the way we want to be remembered after death.
What’s the job of a funeral director?
What can we do to live an everyday legacy?
QUOTES FROM SHEWAN
BUY Everyday Legacy: Lessons for Living With Purpose, Right Now
RECOMMENDATION
Listen to Heather Lende in Nonfiction4Life podcast Episode #39 discuss her book, Find the Good: Unexpected Lessons from a Small-Town Obituary Writer.
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SUMMARY
For our special Mother’s Day episode, award-winning journalist Jo Giese shares her delightful memoir, Never Sit If You Can Dance: Lessons from My Mother. Late in life, Giese realized what a treasure she had in her mother (nicknamed “Babe”). So, she began collecting her mother’s life stories and instructions that she had internalized, including “Never sit if you can dance.” Babe’s joie de vivre inspired everyone around her, friends and family alike, to take chances and live life fully. The book inspires us to appreciate our mothers right now rather than wait until we and our mothers grow old.
A FEW MORE LESSONS FROM BABE:
QUOTES FROM GIESE
BUY Never Sit If You Can Dance: Lessons from My Mother
RECOMMENDATION
Enjoy watching Jo Giese in the book trailer video talking about some of the lessons from her mother.
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SUMMARY
Bridgett Miller, with almost two decades of experience as a teacher and parent, writes What Young Children Need You to Know: How to See Them So You Know What to Do for Them. Supporting adults to nurture the children in their lives using their heads and their hearts, Miller brings to the table her credentials, including being an authorized Facilitator of the Neufeld Institute and the creator of Look with Love and Parenting with Intention on Facebook and Instagram.
In essence, Miller says about children, “What they desire and deserve most is to be in the presence of a caring adult who acknowledges and validates what they are feeling. Most important, they need an adult who stays connected to them in a heartfelt way by resisting the temptation to suppress or judge their behavior in their most vulnerable moments.” In short, children crave a strong and loving connection, and “we keep showing up because we love them.”
KEY POINTS
QUOTES FROM MILLER
BUY What Young Children Need You to Know: How to see them so you know what to do for them
RECOMMENDATIONS
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SUMMARY
In her latest book, Limitless Mind: Learn, Lead, and Live Without Barriers, Dr. Jo Boaler, Professor in the School of Education at Stanford University, explodes myths surrounding “giftedness." She asserts, “The myth that our brains are fixed and that we simply don’t have the aptitude for certain topics is not only scientifically inaccurate; it is omnipresent and negatively impacts education and many other events in our everyday lives. When we let go of the idea that our brains are fixed, stop believing that our genetics determine our lives’ pathways, and learn that our brains are incredibly adaptable, it is liberating.”
KEY POINTS
QUOTES FROM BOALER
BUY Limitless Mind: Learn, Lead, and Live Without Barriers
RECOMMENDATIONS
Watch the video, "Rethinking Giftedness."
For “limitless” resources, visit Boaler’s website (youcubed.org).
Listen to a related Nonfiction4Life podcast: Episode 70 - “Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying."
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SUMMARY
In The Quest for Eternal Sunshine: A Holocaust Survivor's Journey from Darkness to Light, Myra Goodman shares her father’s story of transformation posthumously. As a Polish Hassidic Jew, Mendek Rubin is the object of anti-Semitism even before Hitler closes in on the Jews. After surviving the Holocaust, he becomes a brilliant inventor who revolutionizes the jewelry manufacturing industry, generating numerous patents in the 1960s and 1970s.
When he retires, he invents the equipment to wash and package baby greens for Earthbound Farm―the largest grower of organic produce in the world and the first company to successfully market ready-to-eat salads for retail sale. Yet, now in his sixties, Mendek still carries all the trauma, pain, and despair of childhood and the concentration camps. Finally, applying his genius to his own psyche, he starts to change, discovering and implementing practices that enable him to fully let go of the bad and embrace only the good life has to offer.
To round out her father’s neglected manuscript, Goodman spends four years researching, interviewing, and gathering historical information. By publishing the book as a co-author, she chronicles Mendek’s transformative healing journey while also creating an inspiring roadmap for herself and others seeking self-awareness and inner growth.
KEY POINTS
QUOTES FROM GOODMAN
QUOTES FROM RUBIN
BUY Quest for Eternal Sunshine: A Holocaust Survivor’s Journey from Darkness to Light
RECOMMENDATION
Read Myra Goodman’s article, “Healing Generations of Pain.”
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From the publisher's feed