Tag Archives: nonfiction

Aug 26 2026
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DNF Q&A: The Unplugged Hours by Hannah Brencher

Title: The Unplugged Hours

Author: Hannah Brencher

Series: N/A

Genre: Non-Fiction

Rating: 1/5 stars

The Overview: No matter what you do for a living, how much time your apps save you, or how much entertainment your phone brings, it is possible to unplug–and find an even better life on the other side. In the spring of 2021, Hannah Brencher found herself depleted and exhausted–and she knew the culprit was her constantly plugged-in lifestyle. Like so many of us, Hannah had been turning to her phone to cope with life in a time of isolation and uncertainty. Those coping mechanisms had calcified into habits she didn’t know how to break. Sound familiar? That’s when the nudge happened. Turn off your phone and keep turning off your phone. And a challenge was 1,000 unplugged hours in one year. Soon after she shared her tracker sheet on her website, thousands of people downloaded it and signed up for their own 1,000-hour challenge. Now in The Unplugged Hours, Hannah demonstrates how the act of powering down changed her entire life. It’s a strikingly small thing to do and a surprisingly difficult habit to maintain, but turning off your phone has a substantial impact on your mental health, relationships, time management, and outlook on the world. A powerful weaving of memoir, cultural commentary, and spiritual insights, this life-changing book helps. Reclaim your ability to be present and engaged with the world around youSwap the hurried, constant pace of technology for a steadier, more rooted way of livingEstablish your own unplugged rituals and rhythms in daily lifeUncover the magic within the ordinary awaiting you just beyond the screenThe Unplugged Hours gives you the practical ideas and spiritual inspiration you need to stop scrolling and start living. –Goodreads

The Q&A:

Did you really give The Unplugged Hours a chance?

I think I read about 40% before throwing in the towel. That was more than enough time spent with the book to determine that it wasn’t working for me. I even kept reading several chapters past when I was ready to put it down, just to see if the experience improved.

Have you enjoyed other books in the same genre before?

Yes, I’ve made it a point to consume as many digital minimalism books as I can to help me along in my journey to stay off my phone. In most cases, simply immersing myself into a themed book like this is enough to inspire me to make changes. Unplugged Hours was odd in the sense that I didn’t even get a secondhand glow from reading it. Here are some of the ones I’ve enjoyed more lately:


By far my favorite book on the subject is Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism, which I’ve read half a dozen times. The some of the others are not necessarily about DM per se, but they had a radical effect on making me re-evaluate how I spend my time.

Did you have certain expectations before starting it?

As I mentioned, I expected to feel at least a little inspiration from the book. I also was thinking it would provide a few actionable tidbits, rather than just being a passive narrative. Even non-fiction that don’t work well for me almost always give me at least something to ponder on. Not the case here, for whatever reason.

What ultimately made you stop reading?

I put this down because I realized I wasn’t getting any sort of self improvement “payoff.” It was written in a very creative writing class personal narrative way where it kind of meandered from one experience to another (almost like reading someone’s journal or testimony). My biggest issue was that these reflections were never drawn back to what makes her story relevant to the reader. It could have majorly benefitted from some structure – where an experience was included to illustrated a specific point, which would then be expanded on and highlighted for the reader. As it was, it feels like it was only halfway to where it needed to be to be relevant to anyone but the writer. Maybe some people would’ve been just fine with the casual presentation of the idea (I could only find one) within the book, but because I’ve read so many of these I’ve come to expect a certain level of engagement, which I just didn’t get.

I experienced this on audio and have to say I really struggled with it. The text was delivered in a very choppy, systematic cadence that reminded me most of someone giving a graduation speech or a talk at church. It had planned variation, but very little personality or authentic inflection. It was a struggle to listen to and definitely contributed to my decision to DNF.

Was there anything you liked about The Unplugged Hours?

The author presented a challenge of intentionally choosing to be unplugged for 1000 hours per year (or 100 hours per month, if you prefer) and even provides free trackers on her website: https://hannahbrenchercreative.com/unplugged.

That was pretty cool. And although I didn’t resonate with her at all by how the book was written, the essence of being less connected and more present in one’s life is something I can completely appreciate.

Would you read anything else by this author?

Given that my objections to the book were about the basic writing style, I don’t think I’d favor other works by her over the many others on my TBR.

So you DNF’d the book – would you still recommend it?

Unfortunately, I don’t think so. For actionable inspiration in this subgenre, I’d recommend any of the books in my list above long before I’d suggest this one.

This DNF review format was borrowed with permission from Nikki @ There Were Books Involved (who doesn’t blog anymore, but she still gets all the credit).

Thank you to my Patrons: Dave, Katrin, Frank, Jen, Karen, Sonja, Staci, Kat, Betsy, Eliss, Mike, Elizabeth, Bee, Poochtee, Kinsey, Alysa, Derek, Kelly, Grace, Carmen, and Leticia! <3

by Niki Hawkes

May 20 2025
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Book Review: Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkman

Title: Meditations for Mortals

Author: Oliver Burkman

Series: N/A

Genre: Non-Fiction

Rating: 5/5 stars!

The Overview: Meditations for Mortals takes us on a liberating journey towards a more meaningful life – one that begins not with fantasies of the ideal existence, but with the reality in which we actually find ourselves. Addressing the fundamental questions about how to live, it offers a powerful new way to take action on what counts: a guiding philosophy of life Oliver Burkeman calls ‘imperfectionism’. How can we embrace our non-negotiable limitations? Or make good decisions when there’s always too much to do? What if purposeful productivity were often about letting things happen, not making them happen? Reflecting on ideas drawn from philosophy, religion, literature, psychology, and self-help, Burkeman explores practical tools and shifts in perspective. The result is a bracing challenge to much familiar advice, and a profound yet entertaining crash course in living more fully. To be read either as a four-week ‘retreat of the mind’ or devoured in one or two sittings, Meditations for Mortals will be a source of solace and inspiration, and an aid to a saner, freer, and more enchantment-filled life. In anxiety-inducing times, it is rich in truths we have never needed more. –Goodreads

The Review:

This might be my favorite non-fiction book.

Four Thousand Weeks no-joke changed my life with its core idea of embracing finitude and focusing on what matters most. Whereas that book was mostly philosophical in nature, this M4M companion book is almost completely practical application. You’ve embraced the philosophy with one, so now it’s time to implement the ideas.

Brilliant.

Out of the full 28 days of insight, there were only one or two ideas that didn’t totally resonate with my entire being. When coming up with material to talk about in a Youtube vid, I already had ten minutes of talking points from the intro alone. The book helps to increase understanding on why we as productive beings suffer stress, anxiety, and overwhelm. Then it offers new ways of thinking about situations and tools to feel more at peace amidst the chaos. At the very least, this book will help narrow down priorities and empower you to go through life with a little meaning, fulfillment, and grace.

If you can’t tell, I loved this book. I’ve already started in on a second read a few months later and am sure I’ll pick it up again for continued inspirations. The 5-7 minute daily snippets were absorbing, and whenever I started my day with one I experienced a lot more clarity and peace.

Overall, a 5-star winner. If Burkman hadn’t already been one of my gurus before, he absolutely is now.

Recommendations: Read this now if you want to get off the meaningless pursuit of chasing the bottom of endless to-do lists (an impossible task). The book encourages you to read it slowly over the course of 28 days, and I highly recommend that route. It lets you sit with each idea much longer and increases the efficacy at which you can apply it to your life. Consider this an Obsessive Bookseller favorite!

Thank you to my Patrons: Dave, Katrin, Frank, Jen, Sonja, Staci, Kat, Betsy, Eliss, Mike, Elizabeth, Bee, Tracey, Dagmara, and Poochtee! <3

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Feb 1 2023
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Non-Fiction Book Review: Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Title: Power of Habit

Author: Charles Duhigg

Genre: Non-Fiction [Habits]

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

The Overview: A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns inside her brain, neurologists discover, have fundamentally changed. Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new product called Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in company history. Suddenly, one of them detects a nearly imperceptible pattern—and with a slight shift in advertising, Febreze goes on to earn a billion dollars a year. An untested CEO takes over one of the largest companies in America. His first order of business is attacking a single pattern among his employees—how they approach worker safety—and soon the firm, Alcoa, becomes the top performer in the Dow Jones. What do all these people have in common? They achieved success by focusing on the patterns that shape every aspect of our lives. They succeeded by transforming habits. -Goodreads

The Review:

On reviewing Non-Fiction: Over the last few years I’ve read more and more non-fiction titles, but haven’t yet incorporated them into my reviewing strategy (until now). I didn’t feel inspired to review them as I would a fiction book, so instead I’m presenting non-fiction reviews as more notes and highlights of my favorite takeaways. It’s my way of journaling my experiences with the books so I have references for myself in the future. Here goes..

The Power of Habit is arguably the most well-written non-fiction book I’ve ever read. It’s a deftly woven exploration of habits through the use of case studies, engaging narrative, and individualistic habit implications. When I read James Clear’s Atomic Habits, I came away thinking, “great, I’m going to try to eat better… work out more, etc.,” but while reading Power of Habit it gave me some profound inspirations that I think I can use to help myself through some serious mental health stuff.. yeah, it’s that cool. There were more valuable takeaways from this book than indicated below, I just didn’t start taking notes until about the halfway point.

Takeaways:

It’s not about just cutting out a bad habit. It’s about finding something else to do in its place. The habit is the entire ritual of being compelled to do something through a trigger then following through for the payoff. If you want to stop eating cookies, don’t try to cold turkey your reach response for them when you’re hungry/stressed/whatever. Instead follow the habit perfectly but put a healthier alternative in the same spot as the cookies. <-Understanding the forces against change here has been super helpful.

After reading the chapter on Target shopping analysts, I’m now much more concerned with how much data retail companies have on me than I am on what the government has. Our destruction will be orchestrated by Target statisticians lol.

The Habit-Change Experiment:

1. Identify the Routines (what are the cues and rewards?)
2. Experiment with Rewards: change up random things to figure out which reward is driving the routines (the cafeteria/friends/cookie example).
3. Identify the Cue. 1. Where are you? 2. What time is it? 3. What’s your emotional state? 4. Who else is around? 5. What action preceded the urge?
4. Have a plan. Plan for the cue and chose a behavior that delivers the reward you are craving.

Doing these diagnosis experiments helps you gain power over habits that can sometimes feel powerless to change.

Overall rating: 4.5/5 stars. It was excellent.