Blog Archives
Effective Care Leader
Breakthrough Alzheimer’s Care is a practical guide in which you transform your experience caring for your mother into a five-pillar framework for building safer, warmer, and more loving dementia care. Why was this an important book for you to write?
After my mom passed people told me I did some amazing and creative things that helped my mom live much happier and and nearly three times longer than expected and that I should write a book to help others in the same way. I thought I could help people, it was also therapeutic to help me with my grief of losing her, and it was a testement to my amazing mom too. So that is why I wrote my book.
How did your mother’s personality shape the care system you built around her?
My mom was always so loving and caring of me, my sister, and all the kindergarten children she taaught. So I wanted to show the same kind of loving and caring for her in her most serious time of need with Alzheimer’s. She was also so trusting of me my whole life; this made it fairly easy to try lots of things that helped her, and bringing in the most amazing home caregivers that helped me help her with happiness and longevity.
What advice would you give families who feel overwhelmed by the practical demands of Alzheimer’s care?
Just because there is no cure for Alzheimer’s does not mean you can’t make a huge difference in your loved one’s happiness and health. When you do make this big difference, you will feel happier and healthier too. Your positivity, energy, and happiness are key to your being a bold, empowered, and effective care leader for your loved one.
What do you hope caregivers remember most after reading Breakthrough Alzheimer’s Care?
1) Be positive, empowered, hopeful, and follow my plan, and your loved one will benefit immensely and so will you!!
2) Love is about sacrifice. Showing your loved one this love and sacrifice may be the hardest thing you have ever done, but it will make you a better version of yourself, and you will be so glad you had the privilege of being your loved one’s care leader.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Part memoir and part how-to guide, this compelling book blends personal reflection with research-based insights and practical tools that help families transform their Alzheimer’s care experience. Readers will find detailed guidance on how to:
Design a daily routine that supports physical, emotional, and cognitive well-being.
Apply nutrition and brain health strategies proven to enhance function and mood.
Use cognitive stimulation to preserve memory and engagement.
Select, coach, and lead caregivers as an effective care team.
Improve communication and outcomes during doctor visits.
Access mobile medical support and technology-based care solutions.
Prevent caregiver burnout through strong leadership and self-care.
Unlike traditional caregiver manuals, Breakthrough Alzheimer’s Care goes beyond coping to offer a vision of thriving-showing how compassionate leadership and innovative thinking can dramatically improve quality of life for both the person with dementia and those who care for them.
Drawing from his personal journey, Mark shares hard-won lessons, practical systems, and heartwarming stories that illustrate what’s possible when caregivers combine love with strategy. His unique approach reframes caregiving as a mission of empowerment rather than endurance, encouraging readers to build hope, resilience, and teamwork every step of the way.
Whether you’re just beginning to navigate the challenges of Alzheimer’s or have been caring for a loved one for years, Breakthrough Alzheimer’s Care will help you find renewed purpose, strength, and connection. It’s an inspiring and transformative guide for every family touched by dementia-one that proves a better, brighter caregiving experience is within reach.
The Real Jesus
God Is Good is a spiritual guide that walks readers through the Gospel of Matthew and emphasizes that the Gospel is a truth meant to remake the heart. Why was this an important book for you to write?
God Is Good, Simply the Gospel of Jesus Christ wasn’t something I wrote to fill pages — it was something I wrote because the Gospel had already filled me. Matthew kept pressing on my heart with one unshakable truth: Jesus doesn’t come to improve people; He comes to remake them. And I realized how many believers were living with a version of Christianity that was busy, complicated, or inherited — but not transforming. I wrote this book because the Gospel changed me, and I wanted to give people a clear, Scripture-rooted path to encounter Jesus in a way that changes their hearts.
Why did you choose the Gospel of Matthew specifically as the foundation for this book?
I chose Matthew because it’s the Gospel that refuses to let the reader stay on the surface. Matthew forces you to see Jesus as King, Messiah, Teacher, and Savior all at once — and that combination is exactly what the book is trying to restore in people’s hearts. In addition, Matthew gives the clearest, most structured picture of Jesus’ identity and mission, and I wanted a foundation that would lead readers into transformation, not just information.
In discussing the wise men, you gently challenge common assumptions. Why was it important to address those details?
The “small” details aren’t actually small — they shape how people see Scripture, how they imagine Jesus, and how they understand the reliability of the Gospel. I addressed the assumptions about the wise men because I’m not just telling a story; I’m helping readers build a truer, cleaner, more faithful picture of the Gospel. Correcting the details isn’t about being picky — it’s about protecting the integrity of the Gospel and helping people fall in love with the real Jesus, not a cultural version of Him.
Who do you most hope will pick up this book, and what do you hope it does for them?
I wrote God Is Good, Simply the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with a very specific reader in mind — not a demographic, but a heart condition. The people I most hope will pick it up are the ones who are hungry, hurting, searching, or simply tired of surface‑level faith. And what I want for them is nothing less than a fresh encounter with Jesus through the Gospel of Matthew. I hope this book finds anyone who wants to see Jesus clearly again — or maybe for the first time — and I want it to steady them, awaken them, and remake their heart through the truth of the Gospel.
Author Links: Website
Discover Your Gold Mind
Discover Your Gold Mind by David L. Shabazz is a motivational and reflective guide about cultivating what the author calls a “gold mind,” a disciplined inner life shaped by self-awareness, faith, purposeful action, goal-setting, persistence, and care for the body as well as the spirit. Shabazz moves from self-concept and perception to dreams, confidence, perseverance, character, health, income, and legacy, drawing on examples such as Maya Angelou, Joe Dudley, Tom Dempsey, Satchel Paige, Walt Disney, and Maurice Ashley to argue that success begins long before the visible achievement. The book insists that poverty and abundance are not only material conditions, but habits of thought, and that a person’s future is deeply affected by the way they speak to themselves, imagine possibility, and act under pressure.
I found the book most affecting when Shabazz turns from broad exhortation to concrete human moments. The Volkswagen Jetta story, where he realizes he has neglected the value of what he already possesses, quietly becomes one of the book’s best metaphors: we often treat our minds like inherited property instead of sacred equipment. That idea stayed with me. So did the discussion of the Johari Window, especially the “unknown” quadrant, because it gives the self-help material a welcome tenderness. It suggests that we are not merely broken things to be fixed, but undiscovered countries. The book’s recurring emphasis on self-concept, inner speech, and disciplined imagination has real emotional force, particularly when paired with stories of people who had every reason to surrender to humiliation, injury, poverty, or delay.
The writing is warm, direct, and sermon-like, with the rhythm of a speaker who wants to reach the person at the back of the room. I admired that accessibility. Shabazz writes with conviction, and his best passages have the cadence of lived counsel rather than abstract theory. The phrases about goals, thought, discipline, faith, and self-mastery begin to accumulate like a drumbeat. By the time the book reaches practical habits such as planning the day, exercising the body and mind, and building a spiritual foundation, its message feels less like a slogan and more like a daily ethic.
I respected Discover Your Gold Mind for its heart, its moral seriousness, and its refusal to let readers hide behind talent, circumstance, or delay. I’d recommend it to readers who appreciate faith-inflected personal development, students or young professionals looking for a practical push, and anyone drawn to motivational writing that blends self-reflection, discipline, and purpose with a strong sense of spiritual accountability. Its best audience is someone ready not just to be encouraged, but to be confronted with the responsibility of becoming.
Pages: 149 | ASIN : B0GS7LK64L
God Is Good: Simply the Gospel of Jesus Christ
God Is Good: Simply the Gospel of Jesus Christ by Ivon Hartness is a heartfelt, chapter-by-chapter walk through the Gospel of Matthew, written as both a teaching guide and a personal testimony. Hartness begins with Jesus’ genealogy and birth, lingers over Joseph’s quiet righteousness, follows the wise men, John the Baptist, the Sermon on the Mount, the temptations in the wilderness, the parables, the cross, and finally the resurrection and Great Commission. The book’s central conviction is steady and unmistakable: God is good, Jesus is the promised Savior, and the Gospel is not merely information to study but truth meant to remake the heart.
What moved me most was the book’s sincerity. Hartness writes like someone who isn’t trying to impress a classroom but to sit beside a reader with an open Bible between them. I felt that especially in the early chapters, when Joseph’s choice to protect Mary becomes more than a familiar Christmas detail. It becomes a picture of restraint, mercy, and obedience under pressure. The same warmth appears in the discussion of the wise men, where Hartness gently corrects popular nativity assumptions without sounding smug, and in the resurrection chapter, where the stone rolled away is treated not as a theatrical flourish but as an invitation to look inside the empty tomb. That kind of devotional imagination gives the book its pulse.
Hartness is passionate, direct, and deeply personal. The book explores themes of grace, repentance, obedience, spiritual warfare, and the new heart, with a preacher’s urgency. For me, that made the book feel wonderfully earnest in places. When he writes about the Beatitudes as a progression of the soul, or about Jesus resisting temptation through Scripture, the theology feels authentic. I didn’t always find the style polished in a literary sense, but I found it honest, emotionally present, and anchored by a genuine desire to help readers encounter Christ rather than merely analyze Him.
I found God Is Good to be an affectionate, plainspoken, and conviction-filled guide to Matthew, one that values clarity over complexity and devotion. Its concluding emphasis on the risen Christ gives the whole book a fitting sense of arrival, like a long walk ending in morning light. I’d recommend it especially to newer believers, small-group readers, or Christians who want a warm devotional companion through Matthew.
Pages: 199
Nurse Dorothea® Presents Distress Tolerance and Contentment, and Why We Need to Develop Those Skills
Distress Tolerance and Contentment and Why We Need to Develop Those Skills, by Michael Dow, frames itself as an after-school class led by Nurse Dorothea, who speaks directly to children about how big feelings work, what unhealthy coping can look like, and which practical tools can help. The first half focuses on distress tolerance, naming triggers, noticing distorted thoughts, and practicing strategies like “emotional surfing,” STOP, TIPP, ACCEPTS, and radical acceptance, while the second half turns toward problem-solving and contentment, urging kids to tell needs from wants, protect their time, and build steadier inner ground.
As a parent, I admired the book’s seriousness. It doesn’t speak to children as if they are decorative little optimists; it assumes they can confront anxiety, avoidance, shame, impulsivity, and loneliness with honesty. I found that bracing and, in places, genuinely heartening. There is a humane impulse underneath the instruction, the repeated insistence that mental health can be discussed openly, that distress is survivable, and that skills can be learned even when feelings arrive like weather fronts. This is much more didactic than lyrical. It reads less like a conventional picture book and more like a classroom script or guided workbook.
I liked the book’s practical texture. It asks children to journal, reflect, pause, observe, compare choices, and rehearse healthier responses rather than merely absorb a moral and move on. As a parent, I can see real value in that. I could imagine reading sections of it with a child who is old enough to discuss them, then stopping to talk rather than hurrying to the next page. I also think some families will need to mediate the material carefully: the examples of self-harm, binge eating, smoking, vaping, and drug use are frank, and the vocabulary lands closer to social-emotional curriculum than bedtime fare.
I would recommend Dow’s guide most strongly for older children, tweens, middle-grade readers, counselors, classrooms, and families looking for children’s mental health nonfiction, social-emotional learning, psychology for kids, or therapeutic read-alouds rather than a snug narrative picture book. In spirit, it sits closer to an educational companion than to the emotional parable of The Rabbit Listened, where that book comforts through quiet metaphor, this one teaches through direct instruction. This book is useful and earnest, less a lullaby than a toolkit, and sometimes that is exactly what a child needs.
Pages: 99
Nurse Dorothea® Presents Bullying and How to Create a Culture to Prevent It
Bullying and How to Create a Culture to Prevent It, by Michael Dow, feels less like a conventional storybook than a guided classroom session turned into a book. Nurse Dorothea leads an after-school mental health club and walks a group of children through what bullying is, the forms it can take, and the damage it can do, from insults and exclusion to cyberbullying, humiliation, extortion, and workplace cruelty. Along the way, different kids speak up with examples from school, work, and daily life, and the book keeps returning to the same core conviction: bullying shrinks a person’s sense of self, but communities can answer it with courage, candor, and mutual protection.
The book doesn’t treat bullying as a minor social hiccup or a rite of passage. It treats it as something corrosive, something that stains a whole environment. I found that persuasive, especially in the moments where the children’s comments give the lesson a human pulse, like Frida describing insults as social pollution, or Azamat recalling the humiliation of being shamed by a teacher in front of classmates. Those moments give the book a bruised, lived-in feeling. Even when the language is direct and didactic, there’s an unmistakable sincerity underneath it, a real desire to protect children and to name harms that adults often dismiss too quickly.
The writing is earnest and clear, and it often speaks in declarations, so it can feel more instructional. This isn’t a book driven by plot so much as by accumulation. Example after example, consequence after consequence. Yet I didn’t mind that because the ideas are unusually expansive for a children’s book. It isn’t content to say bullying hurts feelings. It follows the damage outward into anxiety, isolation, sleep problems, burnout, lower performance, family strain, even housing instability, and fear of deportation. That reach gives the book a grave, almost civic imagination. It wants children to understand not only that bullying is cruel, but that it distorts whole cultures if nobody interrupts it. I respected that ambition because the book is trying to build conscience, not just deliver a tidy lesson.
This book is blunt, compassionate, and deeply invested in the idea that young readers can handle serious conversations about power, shame, and self-worth. I would absolutely recommend it for classrooms, counselors, parents, and older children who are ready to talk openly about bullying in a structured, reflective way. It’s a children’s book for readers who need language for what they’ve lived through, and for communities trying to become braver on purpose.
Pages: 123
A Life Manual-Finally!
Gerry O’Reilly’s A Life Manual (Finally) is less a conventional self-help book and more of a sprawling personal handbook for everyday living. It presents itself as an eighteen-month course in becoming more cultured, capable, and self-possessed, beginning with cleanliness, posture, manners, and presentation, then widening into cooking, writing, finances, religion, languages, flags, politics, nature, survival, psychology, the arts, and even antiques. The book openly announces that range and ambition from the start, with O’Reilly calling it “a life encyclopaedia after all,” and that description fits. It’s a manual in the old-fashioned sense: part guidebook, part reference work, part encouragement from someone who wants to pass along everything he’s gathered.
What gives the book its identity is O’Reilly’s voice. He writes like someone talking across a kitchen table, excited to share a stack of notes, hard-won habits, and odd bits of trivia that he genuinely thinks might improve your life. That tone is there in lines like, “You are about to commence your own journey,” which captures the book’s basic spirit: he’s not lecturing from a distance, he’s trying to accompany the reader through a long process of self-education. Even when the material gets dense or idiosyncratic, the voice keeps it personal. You always know there’s a specific person behind the advice, and that makes the book feel more human than polished.
The book is at its most distinctive when it embraces its huge scope. O’Reilly doesn’t stop at etiquette or grooming. He wants to teach the reader how to move through the world with more awareness, from table manners and bar behavior to cultural literacy and practical resilience. That’s why the same volume can move from “proper presentation” and restaurant conduct to tolerance, spirituality, and detailed pandemic and terrain survival planning. Read as a whole, the book becomes a portrait of the life O’Reilly admires: disciplined, curious, courteous, informed, and ready for almost anything. It’s not just about refinement. It’s about building a broad base of knowledge that he believes can steady a person in daily life.
What I found most interesting is that A Life Manual is really a map of one man’s idea of self-formation. O’Reilly tells the reader that this grew out of his own effort to become “more cultured and refined,” and that sense of private project turned public book gives it a memorable character. The result is a book full of instructions, opinions, encouragement, and personal conviction, all arranged into a long curriculum of improvement. It can feel eccentric because it reflects one person’s worldview so directly, but that’s also why it holds attention. You’re not reading bland advice assembled by committee. You’re reading a deeply individual attempt to answer a big question: what should a person know to live well and carry themselves with dignity?
A Life Manual is a big, earnest, wide-ranging compendium that wants to be useful, motivating, and memorable all at once. This book is a conversation starter, a personal syllabus, and a running attempt to make everyday life more intentional. Even when it wanders, it stays committed to that central mission, and that commitment gives the book its real charm.
Pages: 3054 | ASIN : B0GNR9J4NF
Cats are Good at Hiding Illness
The Cat Owner’s Guide to Health Emergencies provides cat owners with concrete methods for coping with the most difficult feline crises, including solid answers on when to wait and watch and when to act quickly. Why was this an important book for you to write?
As an emergency veterinarian, I frequently witness the impact of the knowledge gap among cat owners, particularly when it comes to emergencies. Cats are notorious for hiding illness, making it challenging for owners to recognize when something is wrong. While we do see cats brought into the emergency room for minor issues that likely could have waited, we also encounter many cases where subtle, yet crucial, signs were overlooked, leading to unnecessary and often unsafe delays in care. Cats are not small dogs— they will conceal illness for as long as possible. That’s why it’s so important for owners to be prepared and knowledgeable about which symptoms may indicate a serious problem.
My goal with this book is to equip cat owners with the education and tools they need to confidently assess their cat’s health. This book offers vital insight into common emergencies and toxicities, while teaching practical methods for evaluating a cat at home. While no one wants to think about emergencies, especially when their cat is healthy, I strongly encourage a degree of advanced preparation to reduce stress when emergencies do arise.
I believe this book can be a valuable resource for all cat owners, but its greatest benefit may be for newer cat owners, adopters, and fosters.
What gap were you hoping to fill that other pet care books don’t address?
It’s no surprise that I love books, and I deeply respect and admire all those out there aimed at improving pet lives by supporting their owners. That being said, I noticed a few patterns in some of the existing books that I wanted to approach differently. Many books on this topic offer valuable and accurate information but can be visually overwhelming, often feeling like reading long articles or textbooks. Personally, I find those types of books challenging to get through, and I’m sure many pet owners feel the same. My goal with this book was to present information in manageable, digestible chunks that are easy on the eyes. To further enhance usability, I color-coded the chapters for quick reference, so owners can easily identify sections even when the book is closed.
Additionally, I’ve seen pet care books that are more story-based, using anecdotes to illustrate key lessons. While these books are excellent for teaching, I believe they’re not ideal for quick reference. My book is designed to serve as a practical guide, both to prepare owners before emergencies happen and to provide clear reference points if a concern arises.
What sets my book apart is my background as an emergency veterinarian. The scenarios highlighted in the book are ones I encounter regularly in my practice and conversations I have with pet owners often. The knowledge and expertise I bring to the table offer pet owners practical tools and a deeper understanding of their pets’ health, all presented in a way that is friendly to non-medical individuals and designed for quick, easy reference when it’s needed most.
You highlight specific dangers like urinary obstruction and open-mouth breathing. Why are these so frequently misunderstood?
Urinary obstructions and open-mouth breathing are two excellent examples in the book where misconceptions and lack of knowledge can result in missing vital signs. Let me explain why these issues are often misunderstood.
Urinary concerns, particularly in male cats, are extremely dangerous. Male cats can develop urinary blockages that, if not addressed quickly, can be fatal. Unfortunately, many people are unaware of this. A common misconception is that urinary changes in cats are always due to a urinary tract infection, which is more common in female cats. In fact, it’s really quite uncommon in males. This misunderstanding can lead to delays in seeking care, allowing the condition to worsen. Another factor is that cat owners don’t always pay close attention to their cat’s use of the litter box. Unlike dogs, whose bathroom habits are more noticeable during walks, cats’ litter boxes are often hidden from view, making it easy to miss important signs. While urinary obstructions can’t always be prevented, I believe that greater awareness could lead to earlier recognition and, ultimately, better outcomes.
Open-mouth breathing in cats is another issue where education can make a significant difference. Cats are not small dogs, and this distinction is crucial when it comes to respiratory issues. Many people mistake open-mouth breathing in cats for normal panting behavior seen in dogs. However, cats are obligate nasal breathers—meaning they breathe only through their nose. Since they do not breathe through their mouths effectively, open-mouth breathing (panting) is a sign of respiratory distress that should never be ignored. Note that overheating and pain can sometimes lead to short bursts of open-mouth breathing—which should resolve quickly.
Because cats are so adept at hiding symptoms, it’s important for owners to know how to assess their cat’s health. In the book, I not only highlight key warning signs like these but also provide practical tools for owners to evaluate their cat’s hydration, posture, gum color, behavior, and more. The goal is to help owners answer the critical question: Is this behavior normal or abnormal?
If a reader remembers just one thing from your book in a crisis, what do you want it to be?
There are a few key points I hope readers take away, but the most important is this: cats are incredibly good at hiding illness, often masking problems until they become serious. Even small changes in behavior or health can signal a bigger concern underneath. If you notice something concerning, it’s crucial to have a veterinarian assess the cat.
When preparing to transport the cat, safety is key. Make sure the cat is secured in a carrier, and if necessary, gently wrap them in a towel to get them safely into the carrier. Also, remember that the veterinary team is also invested in your cat’s wellbeing. Effective communication is essential, so share what you’ve observed at home in a clear, chronological order if possible. We’re always most successful when we work together—pet families and veterinary teams.
