The Vagus Nerve Reset by Anna Ferguson

The Vagus Nerve Reset
by Anna Ferguson

ISBN-13: 9780593689905
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Zeitgeist
Released: January 9, 2024

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Feeling anxious and disconnected are signs of a nervous system that’s out of balance. Something as small as a curt message from your boss can be perceived by your body as a threat—which triggers a change in your vagus nerve (a cranial nerve that runs from your brain to your abdomen). In The Vagus Nerve Reset , somatic therapist Anna Ferguson offers easy tools and exercises, grounded in the science of Polyvagal Theory, to help train your nervous system to stop overreacting and start responding more calmly to day-to-day stressors. By tuning in to your vagus nerve you can gently shape your nervous system to achieve greater resilience, improved sleep and digestion, relief from anxiety, and healing from past traumas.


My Review:
The Vagus Nerve Reset is a program designed to help with nervous system dysregulation. It's for someone who has experienced some trauma that left their nervous system stuck in flight/flight or in freeze. This leads to being physically out of whack and feeling overwhelmed when even little things go wrong. I was interested in the science and was disappointed that the author only described the nervous system and Polyvagal Theory in very simple, general terms. Back when my body was really out of whack, I learned about the vagus nerve and ways to help positively stimulate the vagus by watching and reading free information online. I didn't learn much new from this book.

The first third of the book was about the nervous system, the last third was glossary, index, and recommended resources, and the rest was her program. She recommends being aware of your body and moving it as a way to get well. The first step was to help you become more aware of your body, then she described some simple exercises and stretches to help reset the nervous system. Much of this section was encouraging the reader to really do each step and not get impatient with the process. There were no illustrations or diagrams, but most of the suggested activities sound simple enough to do just from written descriptions. Since my body got fired up (so I felt every little thing) rather than numbed sensation, which was her problem, I'm not really sure her journaling step would have even helped me. Her program may be helpful for some, though.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

How Not to Age by Michael Greger

How Not to Age
by Michael Greger

ISBN-13: 9781250796332
Hardcover: 608 pages
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Released: Dec. 5, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
When Dr. Michael Greger, founder of NutritionFacts.org, dove into the top peer-reviewed anti-aging medical research, he realized that diet could regulate every one of the most promising strategies for combating the effects of aging. We don’t need Big Pharma to keep us feeling young―we already have the tools. In How Not to Age, the internationally renowned physician and nutritionist breaks down the science of aging and chronic illness and explains how to help avoid the diseases most commonly encountered in our journeys through life.

There are eleven pathways for aging in our bodies’ cells and we can disrupt each of them. Processes like autophagy, the upcycling of unusable junk, can be boosted with spermidine, a compound found in tempeh, mushrooms, and wheat germ. Senescent “zombie” cells that spew inflammation and are linked to many age-related diseases may be cleared in part with quercetin-rich foods like onions, apples, and kale. And we can combat effects of aging without breaking the bank. Why spend a small fortune on vitamin C and nicotinamide facial serums when you can make your own for up to 2,000 times cheaper?

Inspired by the dietary and lifestyle patterns of centenarians and residents of “blue zone” regions where people live the longest, Dr. Greger presents simple, accessible, and evidence-based methods to preserve the body functions that keep you feeling youthful, both physically and mentally. Brimming with expertise and actionable takeaways, How Not to Age lays out practical strategies for achieving longevity.


My Review:
How Not to Age looks at scientific studies and explains what food, lifestyle choices, exercise, and supplements actually appear to slow aging and which popular remedies don't appear to work. The author sifts through scientific studies and eliminates ones that appear biased to get a certain result. He summarized these studies and scientific concepts (like aging pathways in the body) in understandable ways.

The book started out with aging pathways and what foods, exercise, and such modified these pathways to create slower aging. I found this section to be the most interesting. There was also a section on common diseases in the elderly and what can be done to avoid them. Some of this information was repeated from his other books. He also covered things more suited to his "How Not to Die" book, like urging people to get vaccines (like for shingles) for diseases that are more dangerous to the elderly or explaining a way to legally kill yourself (through starvation) if you lack quality of life. He included recommendations in each section for foods to add to your diet, exercise, etc.

Overall, he's strongly in favor of making diet and lifestyle changes rather than taking drugs. He recommended whole, plant-based foods, though he did mention which animal products were better than others. Though I don't agree with some of his values, I found the information to be interesting and informative. I'd recommend this book to those who have the endurance to read 600 pages on the topic, and I'd recommend his free videos (many of which are linked to in the book) for everyone else.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

The Worlds of Sherlock Holmes by Andrew Lycett

The Worlds of Sherlock Holmes
by Andrew Lycett

ISBN-13: 9780711281677
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Released: October 10, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
In this dive into the contemporary world of Holmes and Conan Doyle, biographer Andrew Lycett explores all that encompasses the world of the great detective – tracing the infamous character’s own interests, personality and mythologised biography alongside that of his creator’s. From the Victorian crazes for detection and séance, to contemporary developments in science and psychology, Lycett weaves together everything that inspired Conan Doyle in creating the world’s most famous detective and one of fiction's most enduring, enigmatic and recognisable characters .


My Review:
The Worlds of Sherlock Holmes is a biography of Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, broken down by topic. The author started by covering the physical locations mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories, with a few details about and sometimes a picture of the real places. He also used illustrations taken from the stories. There were many quotes from the Holmes stories, so we often got more of what was in the book than new information about the place. We also got a bit about where Conan Doyle traveled during his life.

The next section focused on politics: mostly Doyle's views on current political issues during his life, but also how they were reflected in Holmes' views in the stories. The next section focused on science, starting with Darwin (evolution) and how that impacted Doyle's (and therefore Sherlock Holmes') views. The author also covered Holmes' scientific views and knowledge, as shown in the stories. Again, the focus seemed more on summarizing what the stories said about Holmes than comparing it to the real world forensics. The author also talked about Doyle's medical training and people that influenced his scientific views, some technological advances embraced by Doyle that weren't really mentioned in the stories, and Doyle's interest in the paranormal.

Next was about how crime was actually handled in the 1800s in England (as in, the founding of the police force and then the detective force), the emergence of crime fiction, Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and how he solved crimes, and how he inspired future crime fiction. Then the author covered how Holmes has been portrayed in films and plays. Next was about how The Strand Magazine (which published the Holmes stories) came into being and how the stories were later published as various types of books as literacy increased and printing costs decreased. The next section was about the art and music of the time period, especially that mentioned in the Holmes stories and a bit about Doyle's artistic relatives. Then he covered sports, especially those engaged in by Holmes or Doyle. The final section was about the enduring interest people have had in Holmes. I guess I expected more of a historical background for the stories than a biography of a fictional character and his author.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

Energy Rising by Julia DiGangi

Energy Rising
by Julia DiGangi

ISBN-13: 9781647823450
Hardback: 256 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
Released: September 26, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Your success in life—at work and at home—rises when you harness the energy that powers your brain. A neuropsychologist explains how. Your drive to create change, catalyze impact, and build relationships all come from neuroelectrical energy—real, electrical impulses—firing in your brain. Who you are as a person depends on how you work with this energy. When this energy rises within you, you feel empowered and dynamic. But when this energy falls, you feel down, stressed, and defeated. You may feel as if you don't control your emotional energy, that it's an inevitable consequence of the world around you and the forces bearing down on you. But that's not the case.

To reach your full potential, you can learn to recognize and harness the energy in your brain. Leading neuropsychologist Julia DiGangi will teach you how through eight "codes." Some of the codes will surprise you. All will fortify you. You will learn why these codes work and how to apply them to your own challenges through exercises and reflections. When you start viewing your life less about the activities you do and more about the natural energies within and around you, your power to live and lead with impact grows exponentially. Energy Rising offers you a provocative and neuroscientifically accurate path to greater emotional power, influence, and connection, both at work and at home.

DiGangi's lab and clinical work have been conducted at Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown University, the University of Chicago, DePaul, and the University of Illinois Chicago. Her fMRI and EEG research has helped business leaders, parents, couples, educators, and military leaders. Her work, rooted in resilience after extreme stress, will show you how to effectively deal with struggles you currently face. She tells the stories of business leaders, parents, couples—and even combat veterans and trauma survivors—who used the eight codes to rise.


My Review:
Energy Rising is about how you can change painful situations by uncovering the root causes of how you react to those situations. The intended audience is people in leadership positions with a focus on business, but the author also gave examples from marriage, parenting, and other areas of life. Each chapter covered a different "code," with 5 focused on yourself (which change how you interact with others) and 3 on influencing others. She clearly explained each concept and gave questions to work through to help you implement each concept.

Among other things, she talked about naming what you fear will happen if you change your behavior and evaluating how likely it is that bad result will happen. Also, about changing your outlook from negative to positive (like from a discouraged 'no one understands what I'm trying to accomplish' to seeing it as a positive challenge resulting from 'I'm at the cutting edge'). She explained the root fear that you don't matter and aren't worthy of good things and about becoming aware of our sense of worth regardless of the situation. She covered how our brain tries to avoid uncertainty, but how it's better to become self-assured and be willing to say, "I don't know." She also examined how ways of dealing with life that you learned in childhood aren't necessarily helpful in adulthood and exercises to rewrite those patterns.

She then talked about why you don't need to always be the one who's right or have everyone's approval to be an effective leader. She also explained how to get people to follow your lead because they want to and to visualize how you want your relationships to look in the future. Overall, I found the topics covered to be interesting and helpful, so I would recommend this book to others.

From the book: "Your most enduring pain comes from what you already think about yourself--that you're not good enough, important enough, or worthy enough. And the thing about this pain is that you can never outrun what you believe about yourself."


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.

Lies My Gov't Told Me by Robert W. Malone

Lies My Gov't Told Me
by Robert W. Malone

ISBN-13: 978-1510773240
ebook: 645 pages
Publisher: Skyhorse
Released: November 15, 2022

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
With contributions from eminent doctors, scientists, and experts in their fields, Lies My Gov't Told Me offers a comprehensive look at the coronavirus pandemic–where we are today, how we got here, and what's on the horizon. Challenging the mainstream government-pharma-media narrative, the chapters in this book will not only outrage readers but will also inform and give readers hope.


My Review:
Lies My Gov't Told Me was about things that happened during the 2020-2022 period (like censorship about various COVID treatments or when speaking out about concerns about the shots), and the book is still relevant today. Some of the content was written by others with an expertise in certain areas, but much of the book was written by Malone with his unique expertise. The writers explained their knowledge and experiences on topics like how governments were acting. They provided correct information about treatments, mRNA technology, and vaccines. Overall, I'd recommend this important book.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.

Brain On! by Deb Smolensky

Brain On!
by Deb Smolensky

ISBN-13: 9781637556641
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Amplify Publishing
Released: August 8, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
As incredible as your brain is, it hasn’t been upgraded since the beginning of time. Your brain is designed to keep you safe (thank you!), but it’s up to you to expand your operating system to be happy and productive in the office and at home. Fear is the default when you’re not intentional about how you use your brain. This translates to overwhelm, distraction, burnout, and other workplace stressors. In Brain On!, Deb Smolensky serves as your coach to retrain your brain through mental fitness strategies that will help you navigate the ever-changing and uncertain world in which we work


My Review:
Brain On! is about being more aware of how we're reacting to people and situations. The author's goal is for everyone to stay calm and ration and avoid being emotionally hijacked. Made me think of Spock. The advice was very focused on a business setting, and the last third of the book was specifically for leaders, the HR department, and the company culture. The leaders are told that emotions are contagious and that you can remove obstacles for those under you or trigger your workers to shut down, so you need to be constantly "brain on." No pressure there...

I was disappointed that how the brain works was described only in very general terms. She mentioned dozens of books whose ideas she was passing on but didn't refer to scientific studies. This book was also not about mental fitness but self-awareness. Her basic premise was that you're usually 'brain off' (sometimes described as responding to situations as if under threat or controlled by your primitive brain or your subconscious is driving your responses or being overwhelmed or emotionally hijacked) while you want to be 'brain on' (driven by your thinking brain, rationally analyzing at the situation, focused, and energized by what you're doing). The varying definitions of brain off made some of her statements seem absurd, like you can't use your thinking brain at the same time as you're in the threat response, yet you're supposed to use your thinking brain when feeling anxious to see if you have a rational worry.

The first third of the book was about why you need to be 'brain on' due to external and internal obstacles at work, etc. The next part was a detailed, step-by-step description on how to set doable goals so you can stay focused and be productive. She also pointed out how to look for your strengths and what you like to do so you're energize and enjoy your work. A short section talked about "brain fitness" but contained a couple questions to ask to see if you're brain on or off and a phrase to repeat to get 'brain on' again, suggesting naming the emotion you're feeling, and some breathing exercises to calm and focus yourself. She also suggested tips like get a good sleep, take a 20 minute nap, take breaks to move around or talk to a friend. The book wasn't really what I expected or needed, but it might be useful to business leaders.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

"Cause Unknown" by Ed Dowd

"Cause Unknown": The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 & 2022
by Ed Dowd

ISBN-13: 9780593197882
Kindle ebook: 381 pages
Publisher: Skyhorse
Released: November 9, 2022

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
2020 saw a spike in deaths in America, smaller than you might imagine during a pandemic, some of which could be attributed to COVID and to initial treatment strategies that were not effective. But then, in 2021, the stats people expected went off the rails. The CEO of the OneAmerica insurance company publicly disclosed that during the third and fourth quarters of 2021, death in people of working age (18–64) was 40 percent higher than it was before the pandemic. Significantly, the majority of the deaths were not attributed to COVID.

A 40 percent increase in deaths is literally earth-shaking. Even a 10 percent increase in excess deaths would have been a 1-in-200-year event. But this was 40 percent.

It isn’t COVID, of course, because we know that COVID is not a significant cause of death in young people. Various stakeholders opine about what could be causing this epidemic of unexpected sudden deaths, but “CAUSE UNKNOWN” doesn’t opine or speculate but just presents the facts and let's you decide.

The book begins with a close look at the actual human reality behind the statistics, and when you see the people who are represented by the dry term Excess Mortality, it’s difficult to accept so many unexpected sudden deaths of young athletes, known to be the healthiest among us. Similarly, when lots of healthy teenagers and young adults die in their sleep without obvious reason, collapse and die on a family outing, or fall down dead while playing sports, that all by itself raises an immediate public health concern. Or at least it used to.

Do you recall seeing these kinds of things occurring during your own life—in junior high? In high school? In college? How many times in your life did you hear of a performer dropping dead on stage in mid-performance? Your own life experience and intuition will tell you that what you’re about to see is not normal. Or at least it wasn’t normal before 2021.


My Review:
"Cause Unknown" focused on the sudden increase in non-COVID deaths that are creating a large rise in Excess Mortality. The author included many pages showing newspaper headlines about healthy young people dying suddenly. These included a web link and QR code so you can go read these articles yourself. Every time something is cited, there's a link so you can read the paper or article or look at the government statistics to make sure the information wasn't taken out of context.

The author mainly looked at young athletes (how often did they used to die versus in 2021 and 2022), young people dying in their sleep, younger medical professionals and famous people dying suddenly. He also looked at when the COVID shots were mandated compared to when the sudden deaths increased, the USA government's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting Systems for the COVID shots compared to previous vaccines, how other countries have stopped giving the shots to young people, and how disability claims have gone up. The data is convincing that we need to do something about this rather than just pretending it's not happening. I'd recommend this book to everyone.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.