Books: Non-Fiction Edition

In case you haven't caught on, I got behind on book posts (again) and felt overwhelmed (again) so I'm splitting them up into genres (again). So, this time, just non-fiction books. Non-fiction tends to go more slowly for me. I hear a lot of people at the library say they only read non-fiction, but I do a lot of my reading right before bed, and it has to be a fiction book or I'll never fall asleep!

Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and (Almost) No Money by Dolly Freed: I've heard about this book for YEARS, but it was out of print and hard to find until it was reprinted last year. It makes a great companion read to The Moneyless Man which I wrote about in April. They are basically about the same thing, living without cash flow, but Dolly Freed talks about it all so matter-of-factly you almost wonder why you're not doing it!

A typical sentiment from Possum Living:

It's easier to learn to do without some of the things that money can buy than to earn the money to buy them.

You can also watch the film version of Possum Living on You Tube.

The Power of Half: One Family's Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back by Hannah and Kevin Salwen: Motivated by the inequities they saw around them, the Salwen family decided to downsize to a smaller house, sell their large house, and give half the proceeds to charity. This could have really gone wrong and turned into a 200 page, self-congratulatory pat on the back, but it managed to avoid that. Even if you aren't about to give away hundreds of thousands of dollars, it offers good perspective on recognizing what you really need (they had to pare down their possessions considerably to fit into a smaller house). Another thing I really liked about this book was it's discussion of how they chose the charity. It offered good insights into what kind of help really works.

29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life by Cami Walker: I didn't expect this book to be as "woo woo" as it turned out to be. I'm not into spiritual advisors and altars and such, but the idea at the core of the book, which is basically the benefit of focusing on the positive, is solid. Check out the 29 Gifts website for more information.

Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life by Judith Orloff: This book drove me crazy, because it seemed to have a split personality. Sometimes I would be thinking how sensible it was. I had quite a few a-ha moments when something she said shed a new light on my usual thought patterns. But then the new-agey stuff would come on strong, and I'd wonder what the heck I was listening to. Overall, I think I benefited from listening to this book, but--be warned--there is quite a bit of "alternative" content!

Fiction books up next!