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danijoy's reviews
135 reviews
What a thrilling adventure! The highlight of the book for me (other than the strong premise) was the book’s main character, Mark Watney. His ingenuity, resourcefulness, quick wit, and good attitude made for an excellent main protagonist. 4 stars because the science lingo and problem-solving was hard for me to follow at times which made it possible for me to put the book down several times before finishing it. Additionally, some of the 3rd person POV shifts felt jarring to me. Overall, I highly recommend this book if you like sci-fi and a read that keeps you on the edge of your seat!
This book was so validating to me as an introvert! It makes absolute sense that America’s cultural bias towards extroverts has heavily influenced the church as well. I just needed to hear that affirmation out loud. McHugh also had some good ideas on how to use our introverted “ineptitudes” as actual strengths that are vital to God’s kingdom.
How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back from Your Next Raise, Promotion, or Job
Marshall Goldsmith, Sally Helgesen
Great read for any woman who wants to move forward not only in her career, but her life too. This book helped me grow more self-aware of the habits I’ve picked up over the years that helped me early on, but might not be the most beneficial moving forward. I appreciated the authors’ intellectual understanding of how habits work and shape our lives and their emphasis that we are not our habits.
Bonilla-Silva skillfully delivered his theory of color blindness to his readers. It’s a theory that makes complete sense when you hear it. I thought his arguments were sound and well evidenced. His final words were perhaps a bit harsh towards those of us who’ve tried to avoid getting in the middle of tense racial relations in politics. I don’t disagree with the delivery, but I wish he’d given more specific smaller steps we can take in our everyday lives to move closer towards MLK’s dream of true equality in this country (but I think that might’ve been the point - he wants his readers to come up with ideas on how to do this themselves). I’d also be interested in the author’s thoughts post-2020 election. He discussed the Obama era and what led to the 2016 election - what does Biden’s win mean for Black Americans? Is there hope that it’s not too late to overturn the reign of color blindness and the systemic racial inequalities that make up the fabric of our country?
Finding meaning and purpose in our daily work lives can be a challenging endeavor - but Comer had some really insightful, Biblically-backed answers for his readers. In God’s perfect future world, work and rest work harmoniously together to create something beautiful. And in the meantime, we can experience a little bit of heaven on Earth by working hard at work for the Lord 6 days of the week and resting on the 7th, the Sabbath.
I enjoyed getting to know more about Melinda Gates and her work. I especially appreciated her dedication to making the purpose of the book to share the stories of the women she’s spent time with. She could’ve easily made the book about her and how she’s changed lives but that’s exactly what she didn’t want to do and asserted as such multiple times. Gates provides her readers with some incredibly wise insights on the importance of empathy and the power of listening to others when it comes to sparking change and spearheading issues of women’s inequality and inequity.