Book Review - The Magical Book of Affirmations

The Magical Book of Affirmations by Jack Canfield and Ram Ganglani

Core Idea discussed - Affirmations (for Success)

The book is all about Affirmations and that too plenty of them, about 405 of them (not sure why this number!). The affirmations are based on the 64 principles of Success by Jack Canfield, who is also a co-author. There are multiple number of Affirmations for each of the 64 Success principles mentioned in the book. Some of the success principles stand out as mandated ones to lead a good life and the affirmations pertaining to them are quite powerful and relevant.

While reading the affirmations in the book, these affirmations may themselves appear like basic principles of living a successful life. At times, it many become an overdose of Affirmations but keep going as it will definitely provide you with set of affirmation suited to your context.

The best way to derive the maximum benefit from the book is to handpick your set of affirmations and start applying them in life to bring about the desired change.

The book may be previewed and bought from http://amzn.to/2pHTcNJ (Amazon India) or http://amzn.to/2l6iyjr (Amazon Global)

Book Review - The Noticer

The Noticer by Andy Andrews

Core Idea discussed - Perspective

The book deals with the idea of Perspective and how it could bring about a desired positive change in our life. In life, when we get stuck and are unable to move forward, the key culprit is our perception of the situation. With a slight shift in perception, we could move beyond the roadblock and gain momentum in life. The title of the book, "The Noticer" is derived from what the chief protagonist, "Jones" does best i.e. "Notice" or "Observe". He notices and observes and gets in a new, different perspective to things and situations that hold us back in life; things that pull us down and at times blind us to reality and facts. The book presents multiple stories of different characters where the key protagonist plays the role of a guide/ mentor who helps build up a different perspective for the protagonist of each story. Each story is quite relatable which brings our practical dilemmas that we face in our lives. Jones, the  the key protagonist plays a coach and helps the characters build perspective that's obvious and common sensical but which we sometimes tend to oversee. There's no connection between the different stories and the only connecting factor among these stories is "Jones", who assumes the hat of a sage too, at times, and renders advice to the protagonists of the different stories. At times, the book becomes drab with Jones playing the same card again and again and overdoes of "perspective" but it's still worth the time and effort to read the book for gems of wisdom that it delivers.

Key Learnings/ Interesting bits from the Book

The following are some of the wonderful learnings that i derived from the book

• The description of 4 dialects of love is unique where characteristics of four popular animals/ birds relate to our behaviour patterns in love relationships. The four animals/ birds mentioned are Dog, Cat, Goldfish and Canary

• Describing about Worry, the book again reiterates how just 8% worries are legitimate concerns which we actually need to deal with in life.

• The first 10 minutes after we wake up should be spent on thinking the following
• What i have to do today?
• Who i have to call/ meet/ connect?       
• Things i need to deal with
• mixed with other thoughts like "Things i am grateful for"

• A person could lose everything chasing nothing

• Focus on what can be controlled

• Many of life's treasures remain hidden from us simply because we never search for them

• If your purpose has not yet been fulfilled, then the most important part of your life has not yet been lived

• When you need most to accomplish something great in your life, you are only lacking an idea.

Even if the key protagonist remains an enigma till the end, the book is worth a read for all its simple, practical doses of wisdom !

You may buy/ review the book at http://amzn.to/2BvgzLF

Book Review - How to Develop Your Personal Mission Statement

How to Develop Your Personal Mission Statement - Stephen R. Covey

Core Idea discussed in the book - Personal Mission Statement

A highly relevant book on a very powerful idea, an idea that holds great importance in our lives. The

book discusses in great depth about "Personal Mission Statement" which is like the nucleus of our life; the core of our life around which our entire live revolves. It deals with the following key components of the topic i.e. Personal Mission Statement

• What is a Personal Mission Statement?
• Why is it important to have a Personal Mission Statement? 
• What impact does a Personal Mission Statement creates in our lives?
• How to develop a strong Personal Mission Statement?
• How to evaluate whether the existing Personal Mission Statement is giving the desired results?

A Personal Mission Statement is very crucial for defining our success in life as it lays down the principles with which we live our lives.Right from establishing the need for Personal Mission Statement to developing a proper Personal Mission Statement, the book delivers it all extremely well.The book draws not only from the rich experience, knowledge and thought process of the author but from other renowned personalities also such as Viktor Frankl, Norman Cousins and Goethe to reiterate how having a Personal Mission Statement in our lives changes it all and guide us towards more success.

The book provides a useful linkage between "Personal Mission Statement" and our Purpose, Vision and Goal and how to establish among them. 

If you still fail to develop your "Personal Mission Statement", you need not lose hope as the trigger questions towards the end will ensure that you have your "Personal Mission Statement" in place before keeping the book down.

There couldn't be a better time to pick the book and start reading it !

You may preview/ buy the book from the following link - http://amzn.to/2zkx8vn

Smitten by Bibliosmia !

Technology has immensely transformed the landscape of books and reading for book lovers and readers. We have dedicated reading apps, reading devices and just about anything digital provides us with capability to read and do so much more. Even this "paradigm shift" that has occured in the domain of books has not deterred the "traditional" book lovers to swear by paper based books. These category of readers still go gaga over the touch and feel of a book in hand. They are smitten by the Bibliosmia bug, which refers to act of "smelling" books. For a traditional book lover or readers nothing can beat the aroma of a book in hand and that may be one key reason for print books to be still in circulation.

Bibliosmia is not merely the act of smelling books; it's about the sensory experience that a reader gets, the aroma through the nostrils that fills his/ her mind, body and soul (sorry if it appears like extrapolating :)! ).

Ever wondered how this smell gets generated in a book !

The phenomenon of Bibliosmia is indeed very interesting - there's a science behind the wonderful sweet smell or enticing odour that emanates from the book and leave us fascinated. The paper contains cellulose and small amounts of lignin and lignin is responsible for the yellow colour of the paper. There is a stark difference in the smell of old books compared to new books and this is due to the various chemical reactions that take place in the paper over a period of time. A detailed explantion of the process can be read in the wonderful article at http://bit.ly/2kP7MPV  

If you thought this was all about Bibliosmia then hold on, there's a lot more that Bibliosmia can achieve other than just spell-binding book readers. Book conservationists/ preservationists are now using the aroma/ smell of books to judge the age of the book, get insight on the degradation of the paper and in identifying ways to preserve the text. 

The following links give a detailed explanation about the same.

• http://bit.ly/2o71jih
• http://bit.ly/2kqoaE8

Let the aroma of books keep lingering in us !

Must know words for every Book lover

Could it get any more pleasing for a book reader than the sight of words dedicated to the community! The internet is abuzz with such words and the list is growing. In this post, I have picked up such 10 words which according to me are a must know for a book lover or a reader. 

The selected 10 words are mentioned as below:

• Bibliobibuli –  people who read too much

• Biblioklept –  a person who steals books

• Bibliophagist –  a person who loves to read book

• Bibliosmia –  the smell or aroma of a good book

• Bibliolatry –  an excessive love of books

• Book-Bosomed  - one who carries a book at all times

• Librocubicultarist – A person who reads in bed

• Omnilegent – reading, or having read everything

• Shelfrighteous – a feeling of superiority about one’s bookshelf

• Tsundoku – buying books and not reading them

For readers looking for more such words may visit the following interesting links 

• http://bit.ly/2BD0zel
• http://bit.ly/2kZZXIC
• http://bit.ly/2fztKoZ
• http://bit.ly/2y2FDMD
• http://bit.ly/2iLYOTU
• http://bit.ly/2jgSRP7
• http://bit.ly/1MfYB2w
• http://bit.ly/2ebZJXH