Editor’s Note:  How the brain works simply fascinates me.  Of other such books I’ve read, Burton is a bit more readable.  And this particular topic engaged me since I’m from a long line of Irish who are “often mistaken but never in doubt”.  Burton’s concept also seems an argument in favor of moderation, a scarce commodity in our current political environment.

Editor’s Note:  If you don’t have Netflix, there’s plenty out there online regarding this 90 minute interview of psychiatrist Phil Stutz by his client, Jonah Hill.  I’ve watched it twice and plan to watch it at least one more time.  Hill’s concept is to turn the tables on his shrink in order to share with the audience a few tools Stutz taught him over five years of therapy after Hill’s brother died suddenly.  The intensity of their vulnerability is nicely offset by their humor.

Editor’s Note: If you like John LeCarre, you will love McIntyre since, as close as the great spymaster came with his fiction, this is non-fiction. The author builds a page turning story (particularly as the book progresses) from the life of Oleg Gordievsky considered by most as the most important Russian spy of the Cold War. As Kim Philby was Russia’s infamous plant in Britain’s MI6, Gordievsky was a British plant in the Kremlin and KGB’s Lubyanka. McIntyre’s account of Philby in “A Spy Among Friends” is good, this story is even better.

Editor’s note:  This book affirms my own experience with good and bad habits over time.  The author’s great strength is in his step-by-step how-to approach.  He makes life-changing practices seem possible by breaking change down into edible pieces since, let’s face it: habits are elephants that can only be consumed one bite at a time.