Prentice Alvin - Orson Scott Card (The Tales of Alvin Maker, Bk. 3)

This really is a delightful series.  I am certainly looking forward to the next book.

The Big Trip up Yonder - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

While short, this story paints a horrifying picture of what happens when your children never grow up an move out because they never age.  A medicine halts the ageing process and everyone is still hanging onto Grandpa's coattails.  Ew.  This is some next level r/JustNoFamily bs.  Also, overpopulation, because no one dies and there's not enough housing or jobs or space.  Why would anyone reproduce in these circumstances? At least, not anytime in the first 100 years or maybe more.  This whole book just made me want to slap everyone, including Grandpa for letting it happen.

A good short read, a horror story about living in a 2 bedroom/1bath apartment with your entire extended family who are all leaches.

You Need a Budget - Jesse Mecham

This is a great book to pair with the Dave Ramsey method.  Ramsey repeatedly says you need to get control of your spending and YOU alone are responsible for that.  He says you need a budget and to stick to it, but he neither outlines how to go about doing that nor plans well for the necessary plasticity of a living, breathing budget.  This book picks up and details the how that Ramsey glosses over.  There is a little philosophical difference in where to place all emphasis, but I would say if you follow Ramsey using this method to create and work your budget, most people would be all set!

The emphasis of this book is on how relying on a rigid budget is a set up for failure.  You plan to spend only so much on food, go over the first month and immediately become disheartened. Not allowing for movement in your budget will set you up for failure before you begin.  He also encourages re-making the budget regularly, even after the first month if it becomes apparent that the amounts are wildly out of sync with the real world, a common mistake.  For example, the plan is to spend $350 on food each month.  The first month comes in at $550.  Obviously there is some major dreaming going on with that $350 figure.  Asking why it is so difference is important, but if you can't hit to goal, even after trying, the budget needs to be re-made to account for the difference and cuts need to be made to other categories, or long-term goals have to be scaled back, one or the other.  Stubbornly sticking to the first, unrealistic budget is demoralizing and after repeated failure will lead to giving up.  The author pushes how a budget is a living thing that must reflect the living beings that created it and be flexible.  Once a realistic budget is created, overspending is still possible on occasion.  The author pushes pulling from another category for one-off incidents.  This keeps the long-term goals on track.

The big difference between these two debt/spending management philosophies is when you get to have "fun". Ramsay hits hard that you do nothing until you're practically rolling in money.  That's another great way to get burned out and give up.  After creating a budget a person will have an idea of how far out their debt journey will take and when Ramsay says you can't enjoy life until you're there, years away for most people, makes it seem like you're never going to get there so what's the point of life?  This book addresses that failing.  The author still detests debt and promotes getting rid of debt above all else, but not at the risk of burn out and failure.  Essentially, he encourages going hard at debt, but also include something you want in the budget.  It gives you something to look forward to in the middle of the debt race, instead of the distant, seemingly unattainable, end.  This makes far more sense to me.  He encourages going all out to get a jump start like Ramsay, but emphasizes to set an "end date" for the money sprint before even beginning so it doesn't feel endless.

The other great bit about this book is there is a whole chapter about teaching children how to budget.  I don't have kids, but everyone who does and wants to see their kids succeed should 100% read that chapter. 

I would recommend this book to everyone who isn't rolling in money.

Cervical Cancer - Various Authors

I'm not sure I'd recommend this book to anyone.  It was rather indecisive and took an approach that both danced around accusing women of sluty behavior but also somehow refused to clearly detail that entering sexual relationships early and with partners who had many partners increases cervical cancer risk.  Several times the author referenced "in this country" but never stated what country that was.  The key points that they were afraid (?) to outright say were:
- most (90%) of cervical cancer is caused by HPV (and 60% of penile cancer, as well as most vulva cancer and a good number of mouth and throat cancers)
- you increase your risk of contracting HPV if you have a higher number of partners, if you (even 1 and only) partner had a high number of partners
- the earlier you enter the sexual field, the more likely you are to have a higher number of partners
- women who have had bad deliveries are more likely than women who have had easy deliveries to have get that other 10% of cervical cancer
- women who have never had children are less likely to be in that non-HPV induced cancer cohort than women who have (giving birth = more cancer BUT less of a concern than having many partners)
- hormonal birth control may increase cancer rate BUT women on hormonal birth control are way less likely to use condoms and are less afraid to engage in sexual encounters due to pregnancy fears, so is it really the hormonal birth control or is it the possible increase of partners without condom usage? 

The authors did NOT make this very clear.  They danced around it, but refused to outright say anything.  This book was weak and not recommended.

The Backyard Homestead Manual: A How-to Guide to Homesteading - self sufficient urban farming made easy - Chase Bourn

Great little book!  I think goes over all the major points.  Doesn't go into too much item specific details but does detail universal stuff, like soil.  I knew all of this information at some time or another, so nothing new for me, but if you have any interest in growing and making but didn't have the luck to be born into a farm-ish family, this is where you can start!

I don't have any specific opinions on this because it was a general overview, but I appreciate the review.  And it is ideal for a beginner!

The life-changing Magic of Tidying up: The Japanese art of decluttering and organizing - Marie Kondo

She's not wrong. Everyone has too much junk.  We keep it for different reason. For me it is a cross between the ecological disappointment of sending something still useful to the dump and knowing that as soon as I make the conscious decision to trash something, I'll need it and loath to spend money on another of the same after I threw it away.  Donating is good.  Selling is better though.  I've always got some old stuff I"m trying to wring a few dollars out of.  Sometimes it works out well, more often it doesn't.
Many of the things she goes on about I've seen other people do.  I once saw a friend's closet where she had dresses many sizes too small, still with the tags on. It was bizarre.  I've heard people talk about buying stuff on Amazon daily. I mean, no wonder you don't have any money!  These aren't my problem.  In fact, buying things in general is difficult for me.  I research prices until I'm blue in the face, but I am rarely disappointed with a purchase.
The author also has organizational advice that isn't relevant to me as well.  She says that at the end of each day, you should empty your purse.  This way you are less likely to forget something in the wrong handbag the following day.  That would be great if, you know, I had more than one?  Clearly I have purged the maximum number of purses.  (That's not true, I have some from my grandmother, but I'm keeping those for sentimental reasons. They aren't for use. But that's a different topic.)
All this being said, most of her ideas are spot on and as I put my new house away, I will implement many of them, particularly the folding.  When I was moving out, time was limited and I am aware that there are items that made the move who should not have.  I will find them and try to sell them.  I've recently been tracking down a good number of selling locations/platforms and plan to push hard on those. Until and item sells, it will be stored with the other items for selling.  I hope this will keep them in order better.
I'm not into the whole "essence of the home" thing she has going on, but I understand how it could help other people less pragmatic than I.  But the folding, the folding is spot-on!

Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood pulled off the most audacious Rescue in History - Antonio J. Mendez

This was a fascinating and fantastic story.  I know they made it into a movie maybe 10 years ago, and I definitely want to watch it now.  I was particularly fond of the background to see how the specialists embraced the art and power of makeup.  I had never before considered when or how modern disguises hit the spy scene.  I had incorrectly assumed as new things came out, they were gobbled up by people like the CIA.  I am always amazed at how some unconnected doofus in an office believes they know more than people on the ground.
This was a shitty time in our foreign policy agenda, but this is a story that near everyone should read.