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How to Be Fine
How to Be Fine: What We Learned from Living by the Rules of 50 Self-Help Books | Kristen Meinzer, Jolenta Greenberg
16 posts | 19 read | 23 to read
A humorous and insightful look into what advice works, what doesnt, and what it means to transform yourself, by the co-hosts of the popular By the Book podcast. In each episode of their podcast By the Book, Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer take a deep dive into a different self-help book, following its specific instructions, rules, and advice to the letter. From diet and productivity to decorating to social interactions, they try it all, record themselves along the way, then share what theyve learned with their devoted and growing audience of fans who tune in. In How to Be Fine, Jolenta and Kristen synthesize the lessons and insights theyve learned and share their experiences with everyone. How to Be Fine is a thoughtful look at the books and practices that have worked, real talk on those that didnt, and a list of philosophies they want to see explored in-depth. The topics they cover include: Getting off your device Engaging in positive self-talk Downsizing Admitting youre a liar Meditation Going outside Getting in touch with your emotions Seeing a therapist Before they began their podcast, Jolenta wanted to believe the promises of self-help books, while Kristen was very much the skeptic. They embraced their differences of opinion, hoping theyd be good for laughs and downloads. But in the years since launching the By the Book, theyve come to realize their show is about much more than humor. In fact, reading and following each books advice has actually changed and improved their lives. Thanks to the show, Kristen penned the Amish romance novel shed always joked about writing, traveled back to her past lives, and she broached some difficult conversations with her husband about their marriage. Jolenta finally memorized her husbands phone number, began tracking her finances, and fell in love with cutting clutter. Part memoir, part prescriptive handbook, this honest, funny, and heartfelt guide is like a warm soul-baring conversation with your closest and smartest friends.
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BBooks
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3 stars, probably would have enjoyed the podcast more but this abbreviated version of all the different self help things they tried was interesting 😁

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5feet.of.fury
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Pickpick

Enjoyable. It is basically the Happiness Project, but whatever. Jolenta and Kristen crash test a self help book every 2 weeks. Year of Yes, Tidying Up, French Women Don‘t Get Fat, Girl Wash your Face, Girls Guide to Resistance ..and 45 others.. some will make it onto my TBR, others …well, I have seen what I needed to see (or heard). Nothing original really happened here but I liked the dual perspectives and the realistic application.

Tera66 Adorable picture, girl!🌻 3y
rather_be_reading cute hat! 3y
14 likes2 comments
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5feet.of.fury
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Got some listening in this morning and an #audiorun after work. This book is basically The Happiness Project… but it‘s good if not wholly original and I appreciate the duel perspectives. Def giving me a lot of suggestions for nexts reads - the 2 authors select a self help book to read and implement every 2 weeks and report back on their podcast By The Book 📚

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5feet.of.fury
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Contemplating my audiobook picks for August 🎧

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Texreader
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Today‘s Audible deal of the day. I‘m tempted just because it looks fun.

Nute It was nice to hear from you today!☺️ 3y
Texreader @Nute Glad you got it. 🤗 Sorry it was so late! 😳 3y
49 likes2 comments
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underground_bks
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Pickpick

In How To Be Fine, the co-hosts of the By the Book podcast sum up all they‘ve learned, useful and otherwise, from living by the advice of self-help books for two weeks at a time. I‘ve never listened to the podcast but I enjoyed Jolenta and Kristen‘s adventures and their key takeaways. This book highlights the best part of self-help books—most of the time, it‘s not the advice itself, but the perspective that you can intentionally change and grow.

ChaoticMissAdventures I absolutely love their podcast, one of the few I am religious about listening to, they are so charming and smart and funny. How did the book make it into your radar? 3y
underground_bks @ChaoticMissAdventures it was a free listening copy for booksellers from Libro.fm (audiobook provider that supports indie bookstores), back when it first published! My husband and I were looking for something to listen to while doing inventory at our bookshop and decided to give it a try! 3y
22 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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TheDaysGoBy
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Pickpick

The authors sum up their experiences with living with a variety of self-help books for two weeks per book. It was interesting hearing some of their experiences/ideas on what was worth their time and what wasn‘t. If anything I think listening to them helps you to put the self-help advice into perspective. You can adapt it to fit your life or disregard it completely if it seems to do you more harm than good.

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Moonprismpower
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Pickpick

Best self-help book I‘ve read! Meinzer and Greenberg live two weeks by fifty different self help books and they tell you what worked and what didn‘t for them and what they wish more self help books included. My takeaway is that self help books are not one size fits all and you can read them but “with a grain of salt” as they say. It‘s a good thing I‘m perfect.
Not.🤪😂😬😫🤔🥴
They have a podcast! By the Book.

ItsAnotherJen I have listened to a ton of their podcast episodes! The book sounds interesting. 4y
Zelma I used to listen to their podcast; they are pretty fun and interesting. 4y
26 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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Sharpeipup
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Arming myself with information for a better week.

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annahenke
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Finally got this library hold in! This is the book associated with my favorite podcast, By the Book. I‘m it, two comedians read and abide by a self-help book for two weeks, taking it seriously but also adding funny anecdotes. Loving the book version!

8little_paws oh I want to read this! I actually love the idea of this podcast but don't like actually listening to it and I think it would work *way* better for me in book form! 4y
annahenke @8little_paws I would definitely check it out in book form then! 4y
Sharpeipup I‘m still waiting for that one 4y
73 likes4 stack adds3 comments
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MallenNC
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Pickpick

This was a fun recap of what the hosts of the podcast By the Book have experienced from following the rules of many self-help books. In their own book they tell what worked, what didn‘t, and what they wish self-help covered more. I heard their voices as I read. If you don‘t listen to their show this is a good intro.

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MallenNC
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I‘m excited to start this book. I don‘t love self help books but their podcast is great.

ItsAnotherJen I love their podcast🤗 4y
31 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Beatlefan129
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Pickpick

My sister and I have been fans of the By The Book podcast for years, so we agreed we had to read this book when it came out. This book was a fun recap of many of their best episodes, and felt like visiting with old friends. Just don‘t go into this expecting anything new. If you‘re a fan of the podcast, you‘ve probably heard these stories before.

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ReadingEnvy
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Pickpick

Well this title is surprisingly apropos of everything right now. The two hosts of the By the Book podcast have talked about putting self-help books into practice for a while. This book pulls those experiences together like a review article, if you know academic writing. ⤵️

ReadingEnvy Rather than make each chapter a different book, they concepts into two chapters found in the books (things that worked and things that didn't), and add an additional section with things they wished more books had recommended (basically their own mini self help book.) I think you could enjoy both the podcast and the book, I'll know soon as will consume them in reverse.⤵️ 4y
ReadingEnvy I think also i wish I'd read this in audio if the podcasters narrate their own book, which I imagine they do!

This came out March 17, 2020, into a world that could use a little help.
4y
48 likes2 comments
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Smrloomis
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8little_paws I feel like this genre is in the middle of a renaissance. I love self-help books! Recently I read Atomic Habits, and it is fantastic. I also read Make Time and quite liked that as well. And I'm currently reading one about parenting infants and toddlers. 4y
Smrloomis @8little_paws You‘re probably right. I always think there will be some good stuff and a whole lot of crap 😂 so glad you found some good ones. I don‘t think I‘ve read either of those yet. What‘s the toddler parenting book? Do you think it‘s good? Parenting books are a whole other category! (edited) 4y
8little_paws The parenting one is an old one. I love her underlying concept of respecting children but I think sometimes she goes too far in her actions at least at this early age. For example she doesn't recommend baby playmat gyms or mirrors, but my son seems to act with joy when he's playing on his playmat or looking in the mirror. When he seems to no longer enjoy those activities we remove them. 4y
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8little_paws It's hard for me to say if it's good for toddlers because my son is just 11 weeks old and I am really only trying out the infant ideas in it thus far. I do plan on reading the whole book though and saving ideas for the future. 4y
Smrloomis @8little_paws I feel like parenting books are so hard to evaluate. It seems like how useful it is to you depends on a lot of factors like age, siblings, family or living dynamics etc. Maybe that‘s just me 🤷🏻‍♀️ but I think all that matters is what works (somewhat) for you right now. That‘s good enough 😂 4y
8little_paws @smrloomis As I got to the end the author focuses on toddlers. She puts in a lot of sample conversations. There was one between two children where they were both fighting over a chair. One would sit in it, the other would push the kid off, then they'd get up, then the kid sits in it again and so on. And it was like how the carer should interact when this happens. OMG it was exhausting and I thought “what have I gotten myself into“ 😄 4y
Smrloomis @8little_paws 😂 yup. I really don‘t know how my mother survived me and my brother fighting all the time. Glad my Dad didn‘t just make us live in the backyard 😂 4y
46 likes7 comments
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akaGingerK
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Pickpick

Sprung from the podcast that I will now be listening to, this book is a great overview of the highlights and lowlights of a large swath of self-improvement books. The authors‘ opinions on what advice worked, what didn‘t, and what got overlooked made for an entertaining & fairly informative listen. #ALC

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