Review: Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body

Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body by Michael Matthews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you're trying to lose weight, and have access to a gym, this could be the 2nd or 3rd best way to go about it. I like the book because it's to the point, short yet comprehensive. The author talks in a very genuine, clear tone, and describes everything in scientific enough way to make sense spilling any jargon around.

The book does a great job of motivating and inciting action, not by BSing you, but by simply making it look so easy. This book made Mike one of favs.

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10 ways to have a better conversation

1. Don't multitask. Don't think about anything else. If you want to get out of the conversation, get out of the conversation. Don't be half in it. 
2. Don't pontificate. If you want to talk about without listening, write a blog (lol). Everybody you ever meet, will know something you don't. Everybody is an expert is something. Strive to learn that. Assume that you have something to learn. 
3. Use open ended questions. Who What When Where How.
4. Go with the flow. Ideas and stories are gonna come to you during the listening period, let them go. 
5. If you don't know, say that you don't know. 
6. Don't equate your experience with theirs. It's not the same. It's never the same. Every experience is the same. Secondly, it's not about you. Conversations are not a promotion opportunity. Conversations. Are. Not. A. Promotional. Opportunity!
7. Don't repeat yourself.
8. Stay out of the weeds. Forget the details. People don't care. 
9. Listen! If you're moth is open, you're not learning. No man ever listened his way out of a job. 
10. Be Brief. 

source

When you really want to marry someone, but? By Mufti Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf

Another Perspective

Seven things you should always keep secret

Copied verbatim from here


There are a few things which are always worth keeping to yourself. Telling the world about them — however much you want to — just won’t bring you anything good. Here are seven of the most crucial things we think you should always keep secret.

1. Don’t reveal your most ambitious plans. Keep silent about these until you’ve actually managed to fulfill them. Such plans often have weak spots and ill-thought out parts which you haven’t noticed; therefore, the chances are that someone could pick them apart quite easily, leading you to become too disheartened to even try to overcome them.
   
2. Don’t deliberately share information about any good or generous deeds or charitable work that you’ve done. The greatest virtue lies in doing something good without hope of recognition. Boasting about such things can quickly lead to arrogance. If you feel the need to, perhaps you should evaluate why it is that you’re really doing these things — is out of altruism, or the desire to be praised?
   
3. Never reveal the secrets of your lifestyle. It’s not worth bragging about how you’ve gone on a diet, or overcome your habit of sleeping too much in the morning, or stopped indulging your appetite for sex. If you’ve given up on worldly pleasures for the sake of spiritual goals, then it makes no sense to talk about this — your emotional condition needs to be harmonious, and such a desire to impress others and receive praise is a sign that it is not.
   
4. Another thing it is always worth keeping silent about are those moments when you’ve shown courage or heroism. We all come up against various challenges every day — both in the external world and on the inside, in our own minds. Your achievements in dealing with both, should they become known, will be rewarded appropriately. It’s not for you to decide whether they are worthy of recognition — therein lies the lesson.
   
5. Never share your thoughts on what you consider to be your enlightened knowledge of the universe and on questions of life and death. It’s only your interpretation, rather than objective truth, and the chances are you will only seem condescending to others when you try to convince them that they’re mistaken.Only in very rare cases will someone benefit from your thoughts on this subject.
   
6. It’s never worth revealing any conflicts or problems in your family life to others. Always bear in mind: the less you divulge such secrets about your family to others, the stronger it will be. Such things can only ever be resolved within the privacy of your own home, between loved ones. The more you complain to others about them the harder they will be to overcome.
   
7. Don’t talk about all the unpleasant things you’ve heard people say or do. Just as it’s possible to get your clothes dirty, you can also soil your mind. And the person who recounts all the foolish and awful things he hears and sees going on in the world as soon as he gets home is no different from the one who forgets to take of his shoes when he walks through the door.

The kinds of books I read

The Books I read can be broadly classified into 5 categories:

1. Islamic
2. Inspirational / Self help / Self improvement / Depression  (This also contains Biographies
3. Philosophy - I think they fall under #1
4. Technical (Compter Science, Programming, Math, Cooking)
5. Psychology
6. Literature (Classics, Pulp)

Oh wait, That's 6! Not cause 1 and 3 are different, but because I haven't really read a Psychology book that wasn't driven out of self-improvement, never really read a technical one. But I have bought one, and I will read it next.

Currently Reading: To Kill a Mockingbird
Last finished (May 14, 2016) Thinner Leaner Stronger by Mike Mathews
Last finished: Of Mice and Men
Next up: Psycho Cybernetics

Review: Animal Farm

Animal Farm by George Orwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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