Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Butterfly breathing

Already a Butterfly: A Medication Story by Julia Alvarez

by Leave a Comment

Do you need a reason to read Already a Butterfly: A Medication Story other than the fact it is by Julia Alvarez and Raul Colon? I mean, it almost does not get much better than this. Yet, it does get better when you read this picture book on meditation for kids and even, adults. However, if I have one comment that leans towards a negative it is that the word “medication” is used.  I completely enjoyed the journey of our heroine Mari Posa. I just […]

A sweet little book about walking

by Leave a Comment

Walk is a book that attempts to expand the simple act of walking. Written in short vignettes Radford describes everything from breathing, to tempo, to using the senses in a different way while walking. All of this is meant to transform walking from a simple mode of transportation, but rather take advantage of the slowness in walking as a sort of meditative state. Included in the book are loads of exercises that are pretty easy to do, it doesn’t require many tools and while it […]

A Starting Point for Christian Mysticism

by Leave a Comment

Earlier this year I wrote a review of Yumi Sakugawa’s Your Illustrated Guide To Becoming One With The Universe, which is a charming and profound comic that helps the reader meditate on and contemplate life. I also reviewed Martin Laird’s Into the Silent Land and compared that book to The Matrix for thoughtful Christians. Keeping in the same neighborhood of meditative searchers, I’m reviewing The Way of the Mystics. I picked this one up at Half-Price Books a decade ago, but it never felt like the right time to […]

Self Help that is mostly helpful with a touch of Goop-ness

by Leave a Comment

I presently work at Northwestern University, in the Career Management Center of Kellogg School of Management. As such, I have access to neat personal and professional development opportunities. Kellogg yearly holds a day-long conference called “Kellogg on Growth,” and staff are able to attend this thoughtful and exciting day of learning, reflection, and intellectual discourse. Mallika Chopra was the keynote speaker at Kellogg on Growth this year, so my interest was thus piqued in her book. I have obviously heard of her papa, Deepak, but […]

10% Useful

by 8 Comments

10% Happier is, like Shonda Rhimes’ Year of Yes or Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, part self-help book and part memoir. In fact, the first 80+ are essentially a chronicle of Dan Harris’s life as he rises through the ranks of broadcast journalism, becomes addicted to cocaine and ecstasy, and eventually has a panic attack on live television. It’s mildly entertaining, behind-the-curtain stuff, and it serves to frame his journey toward mindfulness and meditation, but it’s not especially useful if you’re hoping, as the extremely long […]

Meditation Might Not Be For Me

by Leave a Comment

Many people find themselves with over-scheduled social lives, or work situations filled with a seemingly endless stream of projects, meetings and deadlines. Perhaps these people are facing challenges at home, or school, or with health. The challenges might seem minor to others, or perhaps others observe and wonder how the person is still functioning given everything that’s happening in their lives. We hear it a lot from women who have children and also work outside of the home – there are demands everywhere, and these […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo