Book Review: iPhone Only Photography

How many pictures do you take with your iPhone?

The answer is probably a lot.

How many of those pictures turn out the way you wanted?

The answer is probably not so many. 

I guess if we are going to spend a lot of time and effort taking pictures with our iPhones, it would behoove us to learn how to actually do it well. For this reason I read David Molnar's iPhone Only Photography book.

Name: iPhone Only Photography

Genre: Mobile Photography

Price: $29

Stars: 5/5

Now you all know by this time that stars are not something I hand out like candy, I am pretty conservative in my use of stars in order to maintain their value. So why would I give 5 stars to this book? Because I think what it teaches is so important that everyone should know it.

This book will teach you how to capture memories using your iPhone. It does this primarily two ways by:

1. Teaching you to take better photos
2. Teaching you how to edit to recreate feeling

If you use any iPhone from the 4s up then you have a great camera in your pocket all the time and you aught to take a little bit of time to learn how to use it a lot better. Here is a quick example of what editing can do:

Before

After

It is still not a perfect picture, but the second one describes much better visually what I felt on that fall day. And I did it all from an iPhone 4s.

Honestly I have always felt that photography was something that I was not very good at but that I wanted to be. iPhone Only Photography has opened up the complicated world of cameras and photo editing to me in a way that I can understand and work with. 

It is a really freeing experience to learn how to do something new that you know you can use for the rest of your life. Especially something that will help you remember your life better. I hope you will go check out iPhone Only Photography and see if it is something that can help you. You can try three videos for free that teach the skills from the first few chapters of the book.

One more for the road:

Before

After

And remember, live better.

Book Review: The Noticer Returns by Andy Andrews

Name: The Noticer Returns

Author: Andy Andrews
Stars: 5/5







Now, if you have read my blog in the past you probably know that I am very stingy with my stars. I very rarely give five stars to anything. If I do, it is because I recomended it totally and completely, I think it is among the best in its class, and I believe everyone should read it during their life. Clearly all those things apply to this book, since I have given it 5 stars.

Of course, since I thought very highly of the first Noticer (my review here) you probably are not surprised that I also felt this one was incredible. In this story Andy again encounters Jones, the old man of unknow age and origin with a large share of perspective. The majority of the story revolves around the members of Jones's "parenting class" which is made up of a small group of couples that he has hand picked to join him on the journey.

Jones's primary concern in this book is the lack of standards the world has accepted about raising children. While Jones also teaches a good deal about personal development and buisness, which is similar to the first book, it is the parenting conversations that I think make this a 5 star book. Parenting, and the lack there of, is one of the biggest problems that we currently face. Andy has said elsewhere that "Parenting is the fulcrum society rests upon." I don't know that there could be a truer statement.

One thing I like about Jones is that he doesn't mince words, he tells it like it is. I appreciate that because you don't do anybody any good by not telling them the truth. Jones has the right way of doing this because he loves the people that he talks to. He may say things that bother them, but it's always to make them better in the end.

I don't want to ruin the book for you, but let me just say that the reading is quick and easy, but the thinking is not. I hope you will read this book and leave a comment below to let us all know what you thought. And remember, live better.

You can purchase The Noticer Returns here (affiliate link)

Book Review: The Noticer by Andy Andrews

Title: The Noticer: Sometimes All a Person Needs is a Little Perspective
Author: Andy Andrews
Genre: Introspective
Stars: 4

I loved this book so much. Probably because at its heart it was all about living better. In all honesty I was teetering on the edge of giving it 5 stars, and you know what that means from me. This is a short read that won't take you very long at all, but you may very well think about it for the rest of your life.

Book Review: Platform, by Michael Hyatt

Title: Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
Author: Michael Hyatt
Genre: Business
Stars: 4

Michael Hyatt is the name in Platform building, probably because he wrote the book on it. This book has been on my to read list for a while. I just recently finished it, and it was excellent.







Summary
In this book you walk through the steps of building your own platform. You learn how to take your wonderful idea, concept, product, or service, and turn it into something people will notice. A big part of this book is dedicated to blogging and social media, teaching you how to do them better.

Thoughts
I really liked this book. It is easy to read because Michael writes in a conversational style and sets up his chapters with subheads and bullets. For me it was fun because he writes the way he talks and I first discovered Michael through his podcast, This Is Your Life, so I could hear him speaking to me through the book.

Reading this book will help you build a better platform. Like with most books I read I did not agree with everything this one taught, but most of it was good advice. I'm sure anyone who follows all the directions in this book will build a great platform. Michael does not want you to spend a lot of money, that is one of the main points of the book. Unfortunately, not spending a lot of money can mean very different things to a former CEO and a college student. For that reason, there are some things the books instructs to do that I am just not able to do.

Recommendations
I would recommend this book to just about anyone. In today's world we all need to be savvy about things like social media, even if we don't want to build a platform right now. However, I would not recommend that you run out and buy this book right away. Much of the actual content of this book can be found on Michael's blog. That is where I recommend you start. If you like what you find there and would enjoy having everything compiled in a cohesive step by step reference then go ahead an get the book.

I truly believe this is one of those books that can help you live better. I think if you do not already follow Michael Hyatt it would be well worth your time to look through some of his work and see if you can benefit from it.

What books have helped you live better? Please share your recommendations, thoughts, and comments below.

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Thanks for reading, and remember, live better.

You can purchase Platform here (affiliate link)

Book Review: Getting Things Done, by David Allen

Title: Getting Things Done
Author: David Allen
Stars: 4

If you start thinking about productivity at all you will, probably within a matter of a few google searches, blog posts, or podcasts begin to hear the term GTD and the name David Allen getting kicked around. This book and the method of productivity it describes is generally what it being referred to. Despite its importance in the productivity realm, I have been avoiding this book for a while, probably just because of some negative things I first heard about it.

I first started warming up to the whole thing when Erik Fisher had David Allen as a guest on Beyond the Todo List, one of my favorite podcasts. Hearing David talk about it himself really intrigued me. So the book made it onto my list of things to read and finally got a hold placed on it at my library (using the BookMyne app) when Merlin Mann was featured on Mac Power Users, by the time it came in I was anxious to read it.

So here is what I thought I about it: the book is great, the principles are true, the system is good, but its a little outdated. The book has been dated by the advent of the Smartphone and the Tablet, but since David teaches the system to be universally applied that does not really make much of a difference, although it is sometimes humorous. The workflow is still the good even if he neglects to explain some modern tools. Here is just a diagram from the book of the type of workflow it advocates.

I will say I felt a lot pressure reading this book because I realized all the pressure I was subconsciously under, so it definitely does not make you stress free from the get go. But it is probably like a splinter where in order to get rid of the constant dull pain you have to go through a sharp pain for a moment.

I'm not going to explain everything that is involved in the GTD system here, I'll leave that for your own reading. I do plan to implement parts of the system in little chunks over time. It would certainly be better if I could dive in full force right away, but that requires a lot of activation energy and time up front that I don't possess right now. I can however change little things about the way I work, especially since I am just starting a new job. I just need to remember to live better ;) in small ways everyday. Hopefully in a couple months I'll be doing pretty well and be able to make the full implementation.

Well I think that is it for today folks. Don't forget to or Tweet this post so  that others can read it as well. Leave a comment here telling me what your favorite productivity book is.

Have a fantastic day, and remember, live better.

You can purchase Getting Things Done here (affiliate link)