self-help book

The concept of Feral: Returning to the Wild by Kyle Cooper Shrivastava is that we have become too domesticated to be truly happy. Numerous comparisons were made throughout the text between animal and human behavior. This book is a call to action to escape from existential suffering that civilized societies inflict upon their members or rather individuals in civilized society inflict upon themselves.

Delightful parables introduce each section of the book. The Runner and The River Turtle set the stage to talk about mindfulness. The Author and the Ants broaches the topic of connection. Distant Family and Deep-Water Fish shows us the truth about adventure. And Finally, The Caged Accountant illustrates the concept of freedom.

I found the section on bias especially illuminating. Because I live in an area populated by my own culture, I find I get frustrated with the closed society that surrounds me. By taking a moment to examine the biases I have and those of my neighbors, I was able to see that prejudice is a natural, but limiting mindset. Becoming “feral” in this context would mean learning how to accept the presence of other “species” in my environment as a potentially beneficial relationship.

It may have been a case of preaching to the choir, but I found myself drifting off in certain sections. I definitely wasn’t present and needed to take some time away from the book. Maybe some of the information was a bit repetitive or maybe I had already incorporated some of the lifestyle and attitude changes and didn’t need to be convinced.

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed Feral: Returning to the Wild by Kyle Cooper Shrivastava. It was a great reminder that we are meant to live life a bit on the edge, focus on connectedness, and be mindful in our actions to be truly alive.

I received an ARC of this book. You can read my review at Reedsy Discovery here.

I had high expectations of positive motivation when I began Resilience Road: Exploring Your Authentic Life Path by Beth Koritz. Unfortunately, there were some issues that I couldn’t get past initially, although I did find some redeeming value towards the end of the book.

First, I felt like the author began with a sermon full of trite clichés. I hadn’t made a connection with her as a person yet, so I was unwilling to hear her advice without seeing how she applied these bits of wisdom in her own life.

From the advice section, we jump right into a major turning point in her life. The author describes being paralyzed from Guillain-Barré Syndrome as a wake-up call. She talks about that experience as well as others beginning from when she was a child of seven. She really did meet adversity head-on!

Mid-way through her life story, there is another sermon meant to be inspiring. Honestly, I would have preferred if these segments were all grouped together after the personal narrative comes to a conclusion. The jumping back and forth between the viewpoint of a counselor and a woman in need of counseling was abrupt. I also didn’t feel like the clients she referenced were helpful in self-analysis, if that was the intent. The points the author was trying to make would have been more powerful when drawn from her own life experience rather than her clients’.

These issues aside, I found that I developed a deep admiration for the author by the end of the book. She had overcome many obstacles to find her place and tribe. Having traveled with her through her memories, I felt more open at the conclusion of the book for the recommendations she made to better my own life. The list of Tools To Create Your Resilience was concise and practical. Everything recommended in this section, from focusing on what you can do and control to the idea that asking for help is a sign of strength not weakness was spot on.

In the end, I felt that the book was certainly worth the time I invested in reading it and rate it a 4 out of 5 stars. Get your copy from Amazon here.