Interested in the chaos workings of the brain of Coffeechug? Read on to find out more.

Another caffeine fix for your brain

Issue #16

7.8.14

Question of the week:

What are you reading this summer? Summer is halfway over so hopefully you have had time to explore some new books and authors. Let me know!

What I Am Thinking and Learning This Week

I have not created a newsletter in several months. As stated on my site, I have taken a brief stint from my blog and writing to just get away, explore different avenues, and to be able to come back strong and deliver quality content.

This newsletter will look a bit different. I will post links as a I see fit as done in previous newsletters, but this one and future ones will now be where I place my books that I reading. It will be more of my book review and thoughts platform and no longer posting on my website each time I read.

I hope you enjoy and if you have thoughts, questions, and/or suggestions let me have it!

Here is a book list sent to me by an amazing soon to be 8th grader at my school. She shared with me here top 10 summer reads. What a great list! I have read 3/10 and I want to read a few of these this summer. Thanks Emma. You can find Emma in our Play and Tinkering in the Classroom PD G+ group.

I added this list on my Amazon page as well so you can explore them right away!
1. Book Thief

2. A Natural History of Dragons

3. Hyperion

4. Paper Towns

5. Will Grayson Will Grayson

6. The Penderwicks

7. Killing Jesus

8. The Magicians

9. Behind The Beautiful Forevers

10. The Girl In The Arena

What books am I reading?

Above you can see the three books I devoured last week. I have not read in quite some time(I am referring to books) and it felt good to find three reads that really challenged my mind and thinking.

You can access all three books here as I have them saved to my Amazon page

1. Vagabonding by Rolf Potts - This is about traveling long term with just the essentials. It does not sound that exciting and is something I just don' have the time to do right now. However, I highlighted so many excellent passages. It is more about a philosophy and outlook on life. I read this book in two days and just found myself really pondering my views on life. A great short read and one I will recommend to others because I know many have not read this one.

2. Think Like a Freak by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner - I love these guys! I am a huge Freakonomics fan. This book was good, but was not mind blowing. I am going to sound picky, but I am tired of the references to the same old stories that every author uses. However, with that being said I grabbed some really great ideas to help me improve my thinking and productivity. This book is a good read and if you have not read a million lifestyle/how to books, then you will love the stories. Lastly, the examples they use in other cases are just fantastic and are the reason so many people love them. Anytime you can read about how to solve problems, then you know you will gain something.

3. Beyond Training by Ben Greenfield - This book is massive. It covers so many topics about helping you with your health, nutrition,and being healthy. I have faltered for the last year with my training for triathlons and endurance sports. There are so many great things in this book. You have to sit and really absorb. Then throw in all the online content and you have months of reading and research. What I liked about this book was that it covered many topics not typically covered. I marked so many passages that I had to buy the book because I am going to have to go back and read it in sections to fully grasp everything.

Here is a short video with some more content and reflections on my reading.