Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenburg

Title: Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life
Author: Marshall B. Rosenburg
Type:  Non-fiction
Genre: Non-fiction
Series: No
Pages: 220
Copyright: 2003
Publisher: PuddleDancer Press
Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads.

Do you hunger for skills to improve the quality of your relationships, to deepen your sense of personal empowerment or to simply communicate more effectively? Unfortunately, for centuries our culture has taught us to think and speak in ways that can actually perpetuate conflict, internal pain and even violence. Nonviolent Communication partners practical skills with a powerful consciousness and vocabulary to help you get what you want peacefully.

In this internationally acclaimed text, Marshall Rosenberg offers insightful stories, anecdotes, practical exercises and role-plays that will dramatically change your approach to communication for the better. Discover how the language you use can strengthen your relationships, build trust, prevent conflicts and heal pain. Revolutionary, yet simple, NVC offers you the most effective tools to reduce violence and create peace in your life—one interaction at a time.

Over 150,000 copies sold and now available in 20 languages around the world. More than 250,000 people each year from all walks of life are learning these life-changing skills.

Feelings:
This is a valuable book that helped me to look at the language I use in a new way. I have to admit for a book that is talking about language and how we can better use it to communicate what we really mean and to reduce conflicts I found the language at times flowery and a bit annoying. That being said I realized the language being used has a different meaning for me than it might for someone else. Thus when I was able to look beyond my frustration and see the message, yes that is more NVC talk than me, I found that they book did have a lot of helpful information.

In forward is written by Arun Gandhi a granddaughter of M.K. Gandhi.

One of the many things I learned from Grandfather is to understand the depth and breadth of nonviolence and to acknowledge that one is violent and that one needs to bring about a qualitative change in one's attitude. We often don't acknowledge our violence because we are ignorant about it; we assume we are not violent because our vision of violence is one of fighting, killing, beating, and wars--the types of things that average individuals don't do. (page xiii)

In the book we learn about the components of nonviolent communication.

"NVC Process

The concrete actions we
observe that affect our well-being

How we feel in relation
to what we observe

The  needs, values, desires, ect.
that create our feelings

The concrete actions we request
in order to enrich or lives"
(page 7).

This process is the basis of NVC and is referred back to through out the book. We might use it in different ways to help us understand someone other than our self and what they are needing but it is mostly being able to understand and implement this in daily life. Rosenburg also talks about the importance of expressing feelings and how this can help us to connect with others even though it may be hard for us to express what we feel because of a culture that labels those that express feelings as weak. The skills in here are extremely valuable and I hope that I am able to use them in my own life.

The Best American Poetry 2011 edited by Kevin Young and David Lehman

Title: The Best American Poetry 2011 
Author: Many 
Editor: Guest Editor: Kevin Young, Series Editor: David Lehman 
Type: Poetry collection 
Genre: Poetry 
Series: Yearly publication 
Pages: 211 
Copyright: 2011 
Publisher: Scribner 
Rating: 2.5 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads.

The latest installment of the yearly anthology of contemporary American poetry that has achieved brand-name status in the literary world.

Feelings:
I think there were about 8 poems in this edition that I really enjoyed. For me the forward and introduction may have been the best parts of the book. David Lehman talks about what makes a poem great. He admits that this will vary by individual.

Poetry is "what gets lost in translation" (Frost); it "strips the veil of familiarity from the world, and lays bare the naked and sleeping beauty" (Shelley); it "is the universal language which the heart holds with nature itself" (Hazlitt). (page ix)

Kevin Young in the introduction talks about the economy of poetry and while it reflects the world it hasn't had a similar recession to the global economy. He argues that in tough times we need poetry.

The poems I encountered take on the world, including the workaday one, with real imagination, giving the lie to the idea that poetry is unconcerned with earthly matters. To me that's exactly where poetry lives--not only in the ether, though it may have its place there, too, but in the dirt and deep mud. (page xxi)

The introduction does a really good job tying this collection together and giving them more of a meaning as a whole. That being said, I didn't not enjoy most of the poems collected in here and wondered if this really was the best poetry America has to offer. Reading the biographical information the authors provided reads as though they are all professors, maybe 4 have different professions and another 4 didn't list their occupation. This makes me wonder if there is some club of poets that you can only enter as a professor of English or Creative Writing and thus join the authors that are getting published in this anthology. Now that I've had my dirt about this let me mention the poems I did think were worth reading.

Valediction by Sherman Alexi about depression showed how hard it is for those outside to understand and help the depressed.

To My Lover, Concerning the Yird-Swine by Julianna Baggott a request of a lover about love.

In November by Alan Feldman talks about family.

Morning on the Island by Carolyn Forche is observations of life on an island. This is a simple yet deep poem, I know some will disagree with me.

Word by Jude Nutter a poem about growing old and loosing language.

Pantoum for the Imperceptible by Bianca Stone I enjoy the form of the pantoum even though it adds a since of confusion to poems.

The Poem of the Spanish Poet by Mark Strand This is an interesting poem in that it has 2 parts one imagining to be the Spanish poet and the second that the imagining wrote.

Elegy by Natasha Trethewey an elegy for a father.

Out of about 75 poems I found that these 8 were the ones I might want to come back to later. I can't guaranty that I will think of them later, though. I think if you want to get an idea of where American poetry is this series might be a good place to start I just object to it being called the "Best American Poetry" because I hope there is something better out there than this.

A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong

Title: A Short History of Myth
Author: Karen Armstrong
Type: Audiobook
Narrator: Sandra Burr
Genre: History
Series: Canongate Myths #1
Copyright: 2006
Publisher: Brilliance Corporation
Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Summary: From GoodReads

What are myths? How have they evolved? And why do we still so desperately need them? The history of myth is the history of humanity; our stories and beliefs, our curiosity and attempts to understand the world, link us to our ancestors and each other. Myths help us make sense of the universe. Armstrong takes us from the Palaeolithic period and the myths of the hunters right up to the "Great Western Transformation" of the last five hundred years and the discrediting of myth by science. Heralding a major series of retellings of international myths by authors from around the world, Armstrong's characteristically insightful and eloquent book serves as a brilliant and thought-provoking introduction to myth in the broadest sense - and why we dismiss it only at our peril. 

Witty, informative and contemplative: Ms. Armstrong can simplify complex ideas, but she is never simplistic. - New York Times Book Review 

Armstrong writes with sensitivity and wisdom. She employs a breadth of learning that reflects the scintillating, shifting light and shade of human experience. - The Times

Feelings: 
I thought that the early history of myth that was included in here was information. It disused parts of myth that I was unfamiliar with. The discussions of what myth meant to early civilizations reflect what many in current times are lacking. Armstrong looks at myth up through 2000 and how the scientific revolution that started with philosophers trying to rationalize everything began the dismantling of myth and the significance it played in our lives.

Myths were not to be taken as the literal truth but as a guide for us an example we could live up to. Once literal truth was place on myths they started to be pushed aside. Christianity was based on myth and Armstrong discusses how when we take literally, as fact, what is written in the bible we are taking away much of it's meaning and putting a meaning that wasn't their originally.

The discussions of how human myth evolved from prehistory to the current age is interesting. My fault with this book was the last chapter on the current time. I think she makes some interesting points but I felt like she was doing a lot of speculating on how novels, most of which I have not read, are at times working in the same way as myths used to. I think this was the weakest part of the book and she may have been using it to demonstrate her thesis that human kind has relied on myth and when we don't have myth we are lost. I think that she may be right in some points but it was to rushed for me to really agree with the ending.

Over all I think that the first part of the book is a very good discussion of myth and I would recommend this to individuals looking to expand their knowledge of how myth has evolved through history.

Throw Out Fifty Things by Gail Blanke

Title: Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear The Clutter, Find Your Life
Author: Gail Blanke
Type: Audiobook (abridged)
Narrator: Gail Blanke
Genre: Self-Improvement
Series: No
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Listen & Live Audio, Inc.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5


Summary: from GoodReads.

Throw Out Fifty Things is truly an eye-opener. According to Blanke, our lives are so filled with junk from the past—from dries up tubes of crazy glue to old grudges—that it's a wonder we can get up in the morning, never mind get to work, care for our children and parents, and just put one foot in front of the other. Blanke wants to start a movement across America of people throwing out fifty things (magazines count as only one!) that will help liberate us from the stuff—both physical and mental—that clutters our lives. It’s the physical stuff that keeps us from being happy and calm in our house—not to mention keeps us from finding our keys in the morning! And it's the clutter in our mind that drags us down and holds us back from living the life we want to live. Blanke takes us through each room in the house and helps us get rid of 'toxic' possessions that remind us of failed relationships, bad jobs, etc., then she'll help us figure out what to keep so we can move forward and find out who we really are!

Feelings: 
Throw Out Fifty Things by Gail Blanke was not an exceptionally good book. The audiobook was abridged for which I am grateful. At times I wondered what was cut to make this the abridged version because it still felt clunky and cluttered with examples.

What this book did well was give motivation and guidelines to get up off the couch and do. In this case getting rid of the clutter both physical and mental. She is much better at telling us how to let go of the physical objects than the mental ones. She suggests or tells us to start by getting rid of the physical stuff and start one room at a time. Here the instructions are pretty clear. If you have to think about whether or not you should keep it you should let it go. Also, by no means should you throw out someone else's things. Darn, I was so looking forward to keeping all of my stuff and trashing others...just joking.

When it comes to helping us let go of mental things she is far less helpful. Saying, now that you got rid of all that stuff it should be a lot easier to let of of the mental stuff. She gives hints like you will have to keep reminding yourself not to do these things or you will have to work at it. That just isn't all that useful when it comes to letting go of mental things. She does provide lots of examples here too. this was when I was really grateful for them. Maybe this is when you would need to actually meet with her in person and have her council you through the process of mentally letting go. I'm not sure I would feel confident that talking would help that much more if she can't give a good explanation in the book. The examples of people who did changed or let go of mental bag are what inspire others to try.

If this wasn't a self-improvement, motivational, get up off the couch and stop thinking about doing it and actually do it kind of book I don't think I would have finished listening to it. The style of the writing was a bit much at times and it was helpful in the doing but not really written in a way that I enjoyed. At times I found it slightly annoying to listen to and I think reading would have evoked the same feelings.

What this book in audio form does do is start giving you the tools to get started on uncluttering your life and deciding what is really important to us. I know for myself that it can be hard to let go of things as well as to figure out why I don't want to let go of them. This book starts to give us the tools to let go of what we don't need physically and to mentally let go and redefine who we are, to reflect who we want to be.