In My TBR Stack:

Cyber Smart: Five Habits to Protect Your Family, Money, and Identity from Cyber Criminals
by Bart R. McDonough
Wiley
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

The rise of new technologies in our lives, which has taken us from powerful mobile phones to fitness trackers and smart appliances in under a decade, has also raised the need for everyone who uses these to protect themselves from cyber scams and hackers.  Every new device and online service you use that improves your life also opens new doors for attackers looking to discover your passwords, banking accounts, personal photos, and anything else you want to keep secret.

In Cyber Smart, author Bart McDonough uses his extensive cybersecurity experience speaking at conferences for the FBI, major financial institutions, and other clients to answer the most common question he hears: “How can I protect myself at home, on a personal level, away from the office?” McDonough knows cybersecurity and online privacy are daunting to the average person so Cyber Smart simplifies online good hygiene with five simple “Brilliance in the Basics” habits anyone can learn. With those habits and his careful debunking of common cybersecurity myths you’ll be able to protect yourself and your family from:

• Identify theft
• Compromising your children
• Lost money
• Lost access to email and social media accounts

Digital security is one of the most important, and least understood, aspects of our daily lives. But it doesn’t have to be. Thanks to its clear instruction, friendly tone, and practical strategies, Cyber Smart will help you rest more easily, knowing you and your family are protected from digital attack.

In My TBR Stack:

Crack the Code: 10 Proven Secrets that Motivate Healthy Behavior and Inspire Fulfillment in Men Over 50
by Louis Bezich
SOMO Publishing
Trade Paperback

Crack The Code presents an unconventional, motivation-based approach to health for men 50 and over. Ten strategies for creating and maintaining inspiration for a healthy lifestyle are advanced from a platform of survey research, interviews and the author’s personal experiences. Primary audiences for the book are men over 50 and the people that love them; their wives, partners, children and grandchildren. Additional audiences include health care providers, insurers, policy makers, men of all ages who want to find motivation for healthy behavior and anyone who has struggled with their health.

Asserting that without motivation no diet, exercise program, technology or other strategy will produce sustained results, Crack The Code describes how healthy-living men, one of the most health-challenged segments of the American population, exhibit a strong cognitive association between their life’s priorities and their behaviors; a catalytic awareness in which men often integrate their valued relationships into their health behaviors (they take walks with their wife). What the author terms Male Cognitive Behavioral Alignment.

The secret sauce of male motivation outlined in the book is derived from a nationwide survey of 1,000 healthy-living men. Crack The Code translates the findings into strategies and tactics with actionable exercises. Personal stories from interviews and focus groups add practical insights and emotion that engages readers. A discussion of relevant theories from psychology, management science and the fields of decision making and behavior change anchor the model in a context of well-established thinking. Crack The Code concludes with a call to action for a new culture of men’s health, outlining a confluence of social, economic and political factors in the US and beyond that represent a tipping point where healthy behavior among 50 plus men will become the new norm.

Crack The Code’s focus on motivation and the psycho-social underpinnings of behavior fills a gap in a market dominated by publications on traditional diet and exercise. By digging deeper and using everyday men as a source, Crack The Code breaks new ground for a burgeoning segment of the baby-boomer population that is in desperate need of help. The potential to influence men of other ages as well as health care providers, insurers and policy makers, creates a tremendously valuable read.

In My TBR Stack:

Second-Wave Millennials: Tapping the Potential of America's Youth
by Warren Wright
Second Wave Learning
Trade Paperback

One of the top reasons Millennials leave jobs is due to poor management. Millennials choose to work for and stay with “employers whose values reflect their own.” They place a higher emphasis on purpose as opposed to growth or profits. The three best ways for companies to provide a sense of long-term loyalty are identifying, understanding, and aligning with their values; supporting Millennials’ ambitions and professional development, and having a mentor. Additionally, the strongest ways to attract—and keep—the best working Millennials include a simple and sophisticated digital presence, and promoting a company climate that is positive and team-oriented.

Second-Wave Millennials reveals:

• Five ways to craft an ideal workplace for all generations
• The seven primary traits of Millennials
• Four lifestyle themes that make up the core of a Millennial’s identity

In My TBR Stack:

Two Years of Wonder: A Memoir
by Ted Neill
CreateSpace
Trade Paperback

September 25, 2012 Ted Neill picked up a knife to cut his wrists open and kill himself. Post hospitalization and treatment for major depressive disorder, he wrote Two Years of Wonder, an autobiographical novel based on his journey towards recovery. In it, he examines the experience that left him with such despair: living and working for two years at an orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS in Nairobi, Kenya.

Neill interweaves his story with the experiences of Oliver, Miriam, Ivy, Harmony, Tabitha, Sofie, Nea, and other children, exploring their own paths of trauma, survival, and resilience. In prose that is by turns poetic, confessional, and brutal, Neill with the children he comes alongside, strive to put the pieces of their fractured lives back together as they search for meaning and connection, each trying to reclaim their humanity and capacity to love in the face of inexplicable suffering and loss.

Two Years of Wonder has been compared to BryanStevenson's Just Mercy, Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love, and BreneBrown's Daring Greatly and Dare to Lead. Fan's of these authors, theirvulnerability, their depth, and their focus on social issues will findthat Neill's story and the story of the children he knew in Kenya,resonates. 

About the Author: In addition to his time living in Kenya, Ted Neill has worked for CARE and World Vision International in the fields of health, education, and child development. He has written for The Washington Post and published multiple novels. His share of proceeds from Two Years of Wonder are donated to the children featured in its pages as well as other Kenyan based organizations that support vulnerable children and youth.

In My TBR Stack:

Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication
by Oren Jay Sofer
Shambhala Publications
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

We spend so much of our lives talking to each other, but how often are we simply running on automatic—relying on old habits and hoping for the best? Are we able to truly hear others and speak our mind in a clear and kind way, without needing to get defensive or go on the attack? In this groundbreaking synthesis of mindfulness, somatics, and Nonviolent Communication, Oren Jay Sofer offers simple yet powerful practices to develop healthy, effective, and satisfying ways of communicating.

The techniques in Say What You Mean will help you to:

• Feel confident during conversation
• Stay focused on what really matters in an interaction
• Listen for the authentic concerns behind someone’s words
• Reduce anxiety before and during difficult conversations
• Find nourishment in day-to-day interactions

In My TBR Stack:

50 Ways to Love Wine More: Adventures in Wine Appreciation
by Jim Laughren, CWE
Crosstown Publishing
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

Do you enjoy wine, but wish you knew more about it? Are high prices, confusing choices, and snobby attitudes a constant turn-off?

Jim Laughren, Certified Wine Education, agrees. The award-winning author of A Beer Drinker's Guide to Knowing & Enjoying Fine Wine is back, and guiding readers ton a stress-free, fun-filled journey through the spectacular world of wine. 

You’ll find no snobbery or elitist attitudes here. Laughren believes in the joys of wine and the pleasures of tasting, sharing, and exploring. His obvious love of wine shines through on every page. In 50 Ways to Love Wine More you will learn new and exciting approaches to wine appreciation.

• Plan the coolest wine vacations ever,
• Discover fabulous (bargain) wines from around the world,
• Savor some wacky food and wine pairings… Why not!
• Get beyond the cork versus screwcap conundrum.

            

And so much more!

Wine lovers find the author’s easy-going style a pleasure to read. There is no more enjoyable way to expand one’s knowledge of wine tasting or wine buying, wine growing or winemaking, wine regions, countries, or history than in the delightful and enlightening pages of 50 Ways to Love Wine More.

If you want your own personal Certified Wine Educator to show you around, to reveal wine’s inside secrets, the best and easiest ways to learn and share, and fifty very specific techniques to enhance your understanding and appreciation of wine, you’ll love this open, heart-felt celebration of all things vinous.

In My TBR Stack:

Ed Sheeran; Memories We Made — Unseen Photographs of My Time with Ed
by Christie Goodwin
Harper Design
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

When photographer Christie Goodwin first met Ed Sheeran he was unknown and unsigned— just a young busker trying to make it big. But she could see something special in Ed. Goodwin agreed to photograph him for free to help him on his way to the top.

That was the beginning of a 10-year collaboration, with the two crossing paths as Ed rocketed to fame—a story told here, through Goodwin's camera.

Ed Sheeran: Memories We Made shares these images and stories for the first time in a stunning collection of rare and unseen photographs charting Ed Sheeran's rise to global superstardom. Featuring a foreword and additional photo captions by Ed's father, John Sheeran, this is an up-close and intimate view of the singer who has captivated audiences around the world.

In My TBR Stack:

Driven: A Daughter's Odyssey
by Julie Heldman
Trade Paperback

From the book website:

In the mid-20th century, the Heldmans were tennis royalty. Julie was a volatile and gutsy tennis star, twice ranked number 5 in the world. Her mother Gladys was broadly admired for her unique magazine, World Tennis, and for engineering the women’s tennis revolution. No one guessed that Gladys’s hidden emotional abuse was the source of Julie’s powerful drive.

Driven is a highly readable insider’s account of a pivotal time in women’s tennis history; an in-depth look at Gladys’s complex character; and the revealing story of Julie’s interior journey, both on and off the court.

In My TBR Stack:

Let Go of Emotional Overeating and Love Your Food: A Five-Point Plan for Success
by Arlene B. Englander
Rowman & Littlefield
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Let Go of Emotional Overeating and Love Your Food is for anyone who would like to eat whatever they like, yet stop just at the point of satisfaction without overeating. 

Written by a Columbia University trained psychotherapist and former emotional overeater, Let Go of Emotional Overeating and Love Your Food offers psychologically sound techniques for recognizing the symptoms of emotional overeating and methods for addressing it in ways that are both effective and enjoyable. 

Readers will learn how to become aware of the difference between eating in a healthy way and eating emotionally – neither to satisfy hunger, nor for enjoyment, but in a desperate attempt to distract oneself from painful thoughts and feelings. Diets don’t work for people who eat through their emotions. Instead, learning to recognize the stressors that lead to emotional eating and to address those tensions through other methods besides eating is the goal. When we handle stress well away from the table, we’re free to relax and really savor our food when we choose to eat. Proven techniques like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) are presented in an innovative, easy-to-remember way. Learning to eat mindfully, for health and enjoyment, becomes the goal, and Arlene Englander walks readers through table techniques designed to make mindful eating easier, habitual, and ultimately second-nature. 

Allowing for both fun foods and healthy foods, Englander’s approach emphasizes eating healthfully and being aware of best practices and the behavioral objectives of coping with stress, exercising regularly, mindful eating, good nutrition and hydration, and controlling overeating situations. She addresses late-night eating, parties, vacation, and other situations where overindulging may be a risk. She concludes with a prescription that is meant to last so that readers can love their food for a lifetime.

In My TBR Stack:

The Infinity of Roads: Suns of the End Volume Three
by Robert Gryn
Trade Paperback

From the author's website:

Thus spoke Ondranapastha; “I see the cold place between two fires, where the last general prays. She is blind, but to what I cannot tell.

“I see the shining graveyards, where the young king takes up his weapon against the gods. He sees clearly all before him but is blind to his own desire.

“I see beyond the cosmos proper, where in places only divine beings used to tread, the dead servant of forgotten gods walks again. He is blind to those who would betray him.

“I see your sister walking in darkness. She sees her palace in flames. But she is blind to the loss of her heart’s longing.”

In My TBR Stack:

Barons of the Sea: And Their Race to Build the World's Fastest Clipper Ship
by Steven Ujifusa
Simon and Schuster
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

There was a time, back when the United States was young and the robber barons were just starting to come into their own, when fortunes were made and lost importing luxury goods from China. It was a secretive, glamorous, often brutal business—one where teas and silks and porcelain were purchased with profits from the opium trade. But the journey by sea to New York from Canton could take six agonizing months, and so the most pressing technological challenge of the day became ensuring one’s goods arrived first to market, so they might fetch the highest price.

“With the verse of a natural dramatist” (The Christian Science Monitor), Steven Ujifusa tells the story of a handful of cutthroat competitors who raced to build the fastest, finest, most profitable clipper ships to carry their precious cargo to American shores. They were visionary, eccentric shipbuilders, debonair captains, and socially ambitious merchants with names like Forbes and Delano—men whose business interests took them from the cloistered confines of China’s expatriate communities to the sin city decadence of Gold Rush-era San Francisco, and from the teeming hubbub of East Boston’s shipyards and to the lavish sitting rooms of New York’s Hudson Valley estates.

Elegantly written and meticulously researched, Barons of the Sea is a riveting tale of innovation and ingenuity that “takes the reader on a rare and intoxicating journey back in time” (Candice Millard, bestselling author of Hero of the Empire), drawing back the curtain on the making of some of the nation’s greatest fortunes, and the rise and fall of an all-American industry as sordid as it was genteel.

On My Radar:

The Dean: Best Seat in the House
by Rep. John D. Dingell with David Bender
Harper
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Democrat John David Dingell served in the U.S. House of Representatives for fifty-nine consecutive years, from December 13, 1955 to January 3, 2015—the longest tenure of anyone in Congressional history. The son of a Congressman, Dingell worked in his father’s office from childhood and became a house page in 1938, when he was just eleven years old. Retiring from Congress at eighty-nine, he has witnessed some of the most significant events that have shaped our nation and the world. 

In The Dean, Dingell looks back at his life at the center of American government and considers the currents that have reshaped our Congress and America itself, from his childhood memories of wartime Washington during the FDR administration, through the Reagan Revolution, to the election of the first black president, Barack Obama. 

Rife with a wisdom that literally only Dingell can possess, The Dean is the inspiring story of some of the greatest congressional achievements, of which Dingell was an integral part, and of the tough fights that made them possible. Dingell offers a persuasive defense for government, explaining how it once worked honorably and well—in defeating Hitler, sending us to the moon, ending segregation, and providing for the common good of all our citizens. He argues that to secure our future and continue our progress, we must work together once again—lessons desperately needed today.