This is a list of books I’ve read and links to notes that I’ve taken the time to type up. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while and I will continue to add notes from past books as I have time.
Please note, links are to my notes. They are NOT a summary of the book or a review. The notes are sections of the book that struck me in some way while reading them. I find it interesting to go back and see what I found interesting and looking at my notes together lets me see themes in my thought that I don’t always notice otherwise. Some books have a lot of notes, particularly if it’s a new topic for me. Some books have very few notes, this tends to happen if I’m already familiar with a lot of the ideas and have already digested them.
Authentic Relationships in Group Care for Infants and Toddlers – RIE: Principles Into Practice, by Stephanie Petrie and Sue Owen
Date Read: November 2020
An incredibly thorough resource about putting using the RIE approach as taught by Magda Gerber and Emmi Pikler to efficiently improve the quality of early education and infant care and why it is imperative that we do so.
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
The RIE Manual: For Parents and Professionals, Edited by Magda Gerber
Date Read: November 2020
An amazing resource on the philosophy and research supporting the Educaring™ approach developed by Magda Gerber as she learned it from her mentor Emmi Pikler. Dense but easy to read and very rewarding. So very glad I read this book.
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
Parent Effectiveness Training, by Thomas Gordon
Date Read: July 2020
Practical steps to use right away to improve your relationships with your kids or anyone else. Though the book has been around forever, it is just as relevant today. Highly recommended.
My Notes | PURCHASE
Experience & Education, by John Dewey
Date Read: July 2020
A short but dense book by one of the most important figures in progressive education theory. This book discusses the need for a new theory of education that avoids the “either-or” thinking and is based on the student’s experience.
My Notes | Purchase
Mathematician’s Lament, by Paul Lockhart
Date Read: July 2020
Notes coming soon…
My Notes | Amazon | AbeBooks
The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self, by Alice Miller
Date Read: May 2020
Notes coming soon…
My Notes | Purchase
The Continuum Concept: Allowing Nature to Work Successfully, by Jean Liedloff
Date Read: May 2020
Notes coming soon…
My Notes | Purchase
For Your Own Good, by Alice Miller
Date Read: February 2020
My Notes | Purchase
Instead of Education, by John Holt
Date Read: January 2020
My Notes | Purchase
Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving, by Pete Walker
Date Read: Jan 2020
Notes coming soon…
My Notes | Purchase
Air-Conditioning America, by Gail Cooper
Date Read: May 2019
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
The Simple Path to Wealth, by JL Collins
Date Read: MAy 2019
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
Your Self-Confident Baby, by MAgda Gerber
Date Read: Mar 2019
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
Punished by Rewards, by Alfie Kohn
Date Read: February 2019
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline without Shame, by Janet Lansbury
Date Read: Jan 2019
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
Elevating Childcare, by Janet Lansbury
Date Read: Jan 2019
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
Thermal Delight in Architecture, by Lisa Heschong
Date Read: Dec 2018
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
How Children Fail, by John Holt
Date Read: Dec 2018
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
Dear Parent: Caring for Infants with Respect, by Magda Gerber
Date Read: November 2018
The foundational work for Magda Gerber’s Educaring™ approach known as RIE® or Resources for Infant Educarers. A practical and useful book that shows parents how to put respectful parenting into practice.
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, by Marie Kondo
Date Read: September 2018
This book lives up to the title. I really can’t believe how much this book has changed my life. Every week or so for the last couple of years I think of this book and how grateful I am that I read it.
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, by La Leche LEague
Date Read: August 2018
Every new mother who has any interest in breastfeeding should read this. So much information that you won’t get anywhere else. Can’t recommend it enough.
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World, by Stan Cox
Date Read: July 2018
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki
Date Read: June 2018
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
Think and Grow Rich, by Napolean Hill
Date Read: November 2014
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
Deschooling Society, by Ivan Illich
Date Read: 2012
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson
Date Read: 2011
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
Dumbing Us Down, by John Taylor Gatto
Date Read: 2009
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
The Ascent of Humanity, by Charles Eisenstein
Date Read: 2009
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
The Underground History of American Education, by John Taylor Gatto
Date Read: 2009
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
A Pattern Language, by Christopher Alexander
Date Read: 2007
MY NOTES | PURCHASE
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A natural History of Four Meals, by Micheal Pollan
Date Read: June 2006
Notes coming soon…
My Notes | Amazon | AbeBooks
The Unprejudiced Palate: Classic Thoughts on Food and the Good Life, by Angelo Pellegrini
Date Read: 2006
My Notes | PURCHASE
The Wine Bible, By Karen MacNeil
Date Read: Jan 2005
Notes coming soon…
My Notes | Amazon | AbeBooks
The War of Art
Date Added to List: August 2020
Recommended by Derek Sivers (see his notes). This is one I really need. Definitely familiar with resistance.
From Derek’s notes:
“Inside the Actors Studio: The host, James Lipton, invariably asks his guests, “What factors make you decide to take a particular role?” The actor always answers: “Because I’m afraid of it.” The professional tackles the project that will make him stretch. He takes on the assignment that will bear him into uncharted waters, compel him to explore unconscious parts of himself. Is he scared? Hell, yes. He’s petrified. (Conversely, the professional turns down roles that he’s done before. He’s not afraid of them anymore. Why waste his time?) So if you’re paralyzed with fear, it’s a good sign. It shows you what you have to do.”
“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.”
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it. Begin it now.”
“None of us are born as passive generic blobs waiting for the world to stamp its imprint on us. Instead we show up possessing already a highly refined and individuated soul. Another way of thinking of it is this: We’re not born with unlimited choices. We can’t be anything we want to be. We come into this world with a specific, personal destiny. We have a job to do, a calling to enact, a self to become. We are who we are from the cradle, and we’re stuck with it. Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.”
“A hack, he says, is a writer who second-guesses his audience. When the hack sits down to work, he doesn’t ask himself what’s in his own heart. He asks what the market is looking for. The hack condescends to his audience. He thinks he’s superior to them. The truth is, he’s scared to death of them or, more accurately, scared of being authentic in front of them, scared of writing what he really feels or believes, what he himself thinks is interesting.”
“Of any activity you do, ask yourself: If I were the last person on earth, would I still do it?”
“If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.”
“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”