piabo's Reviews (301)

Wow. If I am not making significant steps towards the person I want to be by the end of this year, then I must have misunderstood this book badly.
I am incredibly motivated to get going with my goals for this year.

Really an incredible book that summarized greatly a few books on motivation and time management (especially those for my behavior class at uni) I read last year. And it also gives great extra resources to make starting easy.

I should revisit this review at some point during the year, to verify if the advice was good enough for lazy me.

It is just one of many stories. One of many reasons to leave home and eventually reach Europe.
But it is so powerful. If everyone read this book, I am sure our discussions on humanity would change drastically.

Books like this don't exist for a reason. It must be extremely difficult to speak about everything that happens on a journey like this one (I am calling it a journey because for the most part it was not a flight, but the word does not describe what Ibrahima Balde did well at all).

Can I quote the end poem of the book here? So powerful!

I have the incredible honor to know Jade in person as a classmate in uni. The fact that one of us students wrote a book is really crazy, and I am proud and inspired beyond words.

She did not just write this book during a busy school year, in which I was struggling to finish the normal workload of assignments, but on top of that, she wrote an incredibly useful book.
She said it herself: It is a book she wished she had when she was in high school.
And although I did not go to a UK high school and I had a very different focus during that time of my life, I think younger-Pia would have liked this book a lot!

From reading it, I learned many valuable study techniques and advice on how to thrive in a school setting. If I had read it as a teenager, it might have prevented me from dropping out and might have inspired me to give school another chance. Jade does not downplay the problems of the school system, but turns them into fun challenges. She highlights both disadvantages and advantages and motivates you to tackle them with the tools of the book.
After each chapter, I was inspired to start doing. Her advice sees a person as a full human being, Jade knows we are not machines, and she describes techniques that are realistic and actually work.

Jade combines science based insights into learning with her own experiences and advice from other people. While she always puts a focus on mental health and individual differences.
The book ends up feeling holistic and a complete study guide complete, which does the title justice. I find it easy and fun to read and finished it in two evening sittings.

Thank you, Jade, for sharing all your knowledge with the world. Thank you for being vulnerable and pouring your heart in your book. Thank you for your hard work!


One thing that has been on my mind while reading this book, and that might be fair to mention: I am definitely biased. Sometimes I felt her write like a true Minervan (I saw some HC applications!) and at this point I can't say anymore if that is good or bad :)

Another book that every person should read. I SAID EVERY PERSON.

I am still not very comfortable talking about sex and related things, but I want to try to be better. There are so many myths and cultural misinformation that result in trauma and bad experiences. This book describes how they came into being and how the scientific right reason is. We all deserve to know that we are not broken and that we can be "fixed".

We are all more similar and more unique than we think. Our bodies are beautiful and we deserve to use them however we wish.

I especially want to recommend this book to women!
Not wanting, or wanting a lot, or feeling like your body does differently than your mind. Those are all normal and valid things. Do not worry. Read this book. You'll be fine.

A must-read for every person who thinks monitoring what they eat is important to at least some level. And especially for every person calling themselves intersectional feminist and social justice activist.

I have been listening to Christy's podcast for a while now and really recommend checking that out as well, but this book is all you need for now.

Christy Harrison does a wonderful critique on the history of diet-culture, current research, and how it all plays into social issues and personal mental health.

She is also an excellent writer.
I can't believe this bs is so deep in our (Western) culture. Really hope we can get rid of that on every level.

Wow!
This book sharpens your senses to advertisement, compliance, and other social influence strategies. Regardless of unconsciously and employed or employed for profit, it's great to know some automatic "click, whirr" mechanisms of our psychology that make us act in a way otherwise irrational.

I hope I will remember these chapters and be more aware of what social traps I could fall into, and if I detect one, think deep if the mental shortcut is worth taking or if I should invest more time and energy.

Turned out, my minimalism helped me a lot to withstand influence pressures so far, at least when it comes to consumerism. Can just recommend it.

Also, I love books :)

It blew my mind! The is really long and it sometimes feels repetitive, but it is very interesting!
Science on decision making and psychological perception is so far already. This book covers groundbreaking research and explains it in an understandable way.

I had to read it as a preparation for my first year at uni in which we discussed it. One insight that summarizes part of the book by my professor, and quote that is good to keep in mind when analyzing behavior: "We think of people as utility optimizers but in reality, they are just cognitive load optimizers. People are tired and there is a lot going on in their heads!"

I am looking for a book that gives scientific background why meditation is good. Not just some idealogic talk. This guy is supposed to be a scientist, no? What's the book I should read?

Fuck you, my ancestors! How could you mess up this world with your misplaced values so much?

Indigenous wisdom makes a million times more sense. For the people and the planet. Why did exploitation, competition, and hatred have to win?
So sad.

This wonderful book shows a perspective on how the world could have looked like without the genocide against the Native Americans and without the rise of individualistic and capitalistic values.
Just beautiful.

It also gives advice for how we can rethink our relationship with the living and non-living beings around us. I believe a better world is possible, I just don't know how to get there exactly.

Good book, smart author.
Great summary and many new ideas about identity. Language, Race, Class, Gender and many more.