Thin Slices of Anxiety: Observations and Advice to Ease a Worried Mind by Catherine Lepage

Title: Thin Slices of Anxiety: Observations and Advice to Ease a Worried Mind
Author: Catherine Lepage
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 978-1452145792
Genre: Non-Fiction, Self-Help
Pages: 104
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 5 Stars

Why do we get anxious? What is it about us that make us feel that way? Is it us or the environment or the circumstances surrounding us? Catherine Lepage’s books “Thin Slices of Anxiety” talks to us about anxieties, fears and phobias in a manner that is not only easy and simple but also fun.

I came across this book on a friend’s blog and I knew that I had to have it on my bookshelf. This book is unlike anything I have read on anxiety and what it takes to calm down. I have read self-help books but I also cannot classify this book in that category.
“Thin Slices of Anxiety” is a meditation on how to ease the worried mind. In today’s day and age we are flooded with worries. We don’t know when one begins and the other ends. Life is almost a battle and it doesn’t have to be that way.

Catherine Lepage takes us through anxiety by distilling it for us into four habits that are very clear and plain to see that actually set anxiety into motion. They are: Accumulation of fatigue, Repressing emotions, setting goals too high and collecting responsibilities. Maybe the first step is to let go and then take a back seat (how many of us actually want to do that at all?) and go through the emotional repertoire and see how we can use that better to ease life.

This book doesn’t preach. It doesn’t promise to change your life. It will not do all those things. It is a basic and most needed primer of our times – given the lifestyle choices we make and how perhaps we really do need to stop and smell the roses and not run all the time – from pillar to post, without getting anywhere at all.

The Dot and the Line by Norton Juster

Title: The Dot and the Line
Author: Norton Juster
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 9781587170669
Genre: Fiction, Children, Mathematics,
Pages: 80
Source: Borrowed Copy
Rating: 5/5

There are books that warm the soul. There are books that you know will have that effect on you. “The Dot and the Line” by Norton Juster is one such book. A friend recommended it to me and I borrowed her copy and could not stop gushing about it. It is a book that will make you chuckle, will make you want to cheer for the line and will make you want to go to your loved one and say, “I Love You” over and over again. When such books come along, you just read them and reread them and reread some more.

“The Dot and the Line” as the title suggests is about a dot and a line. It is about a line who loves a dot who loves a squiggle and does not think much of the line. The line tries hard but fails and that’s when he decides to change and something unexpected comes out of it.

The illustrations and the story per se are just superb. It is a book for all ages as well and not just limited to children. I think it is more for adults than anything else. There are mathematical expressions throughout the book which is so much fun to glance, infer and understand. The puns are hilarious and more than anything else the illustrations fit straight right in with the story. I don’t even know if I can place it any single genre as it deserves to be a part of so many.

I am grateful to my friend for introducing me to this book. It is magical, wondrous and full of life and vitality. “The Dot and the Line” is the kind of book you must read with your better-half or loved one for the impact to be doubled.

Affiliate Link:

Buy The Dot and the Line : A Romance in Lower Mathematics