Rachel Miner

fan of life-prefers no definition, answers to any & respects yours. proud ️ advocate. views are my own- https://t.co/g8zIokqrTU… Exec Dir https://t.co/BwTpdBW3z3

We may earn commissions for purchases made via this page

Book Recommendations:

RM

Recommended by Rachel Miner

.@maggiedoyne @BlinkNow YOU are filled with such great love and joy, I am so grateful to be able to read this book and better connect with that! ❤️ https://t.co/1V4gW2utnE (from X)

Between the Mountain and the Sky shows us the goodness that is possible when a single person--regardless of age--takes action to help another and, in the process, changes the lives of hundreds. Maggie’s story begins in suburban New Jersey, in a comfortable middle-class family that supports her decision to travel the world during a gap year before starting college. During her travels, the trajectory of her life alters when she has a surprise encounter with a Nepali girl breaking rocks in a quarry. Maggie decides to invest her life savings of five thousand dollars to buy a piece of land and open a children’s home in Nepal. That home becomes Kopila Valley Children’s Home, and eventually, the nonprofit Maggie launches, the BlinkNow Foundation, also starts the Kopila Valley School, which provides tuition-free education for more than four hundred students. Maggie and BlinkNow’s work have been recognized around the world for their innovative, sustainable work. However, this book isn’t a how-to for fledging philanthropists or nonprofit founders--it’s a coming-of-age story about a young woman suspended between two worlds, as well as the love, loss, healing, and hope she experiences along the way. And Maggie’s inspiring, intimate tale shows readers an important truth: the power to change the world exists within all of us.

RM

Recommended by Rachel Miner

This book is so full of great information...honestly can not recommend it highly enough! Please let me know if you are reading it would love to hear from anyone who is! ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨🌎🌱 https://t.co/c9Rlanwwfv (from X)

Imagine It!: A Handbook for a Happier Planet book cover

by Laurie David, Heather Reisman·You?

An inspirational, accessible, and actionable guide for empowering and inspiring you to take concrete steps towards living more sustainably. “An excellent how-to guide [and] a great read for everyone from the socially conscious family to the most ardent climate activist.”—Former Vice President Al Gore Imagine It! is a handbook for those who want to begin or advance a journey toward living in better balance with our planet.It inspires, supports, and offers easy ways to replace old, planet-hurting habits with new healthy ones. In Imagine It!, the documentary filmmakers behind Writing on the Wall, Fed Up, The Biggest Little Farm, The Social Dilemma, and the Academy Award–winning An Inconvenient Truth highlight the need to change some of our food, clothing, and transportation habits and meaningfully lower our use of plastic, paper, water, and harmful chemicals. They call the changes in these areas lifestyle shifts, and there is a chapter devoted to each one of them in the book. Each begins with a short story on the shift being explored, and then provides clear steps for replacing old habits with new ones to create lasting change. Laurie David and Heather Reisman are no strangers to exposing hard truths and helping audiences understand their part in bringing about change. They know a cleaner, healthier world is ours for the taking—and to start, we just have to Imagine It!

RM

Recommended by Rachel Miner

@tenoko1 @audible_com Feel ill equipped to answer as I have not read most of these, I am currently on book 4 of the Witcher series, I did enjoy book 1, I like the world and found some of the commentary of magic especially to be inspired, but it is flawed, you have to be forgiving to enjoy the journey (from X)

Experience the world of the Witcher like never before with this stunning deluxe hardcover edition of The Last Wish! Featuring seven gorgeous new illustrations from seven award-winning artists—one for each story in the collection of adventures—this special edition celebrates the first chapter of Andrzej Sapkowski's bestselling, groundbreaking series that inspired the hit Netflix show and the blockbuster video games. Geralt is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary killer. His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world. But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good...and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth. Witcher collections The Last Wish Sword of Destiny Witcher novels Blood of Elves The Time of Contempt Baptism of Fire The Tower of Swallows Lady of the Lake ​Season of Storms Hussite trilogy The Tower of Fools Warriors of God The Malady and Other Stories: An Andrzej Sapkowski Sampler (e-only) Translated from original Polish by Danusia Stok

RM

Recommended by Rachel Miner

One the best things in the world is the feeling of having recommended a book to someone which they love. What an amazing thing to have the opportunity to share whole worlds with each other! Loving getting to to share the joy of reading on @goodreads https://t.co/DiKTPiJsfc https://t.co/cvzdlyODJ2 (from X)

“One of the most remarkable books I’ve ever read. It’s truly moving, eye-opening, incredibly vivid.”—Jon Stewart, The Daily Show NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • The Wall Street Journal • Bloomberg Business • Bookish FINALIST FOR THE BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE FIRST BOOK AWARD • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER You’ve never read a book like The Reason I Jump. Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism, it is a one-of-a-kind memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives, and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Parents and family members who never thought they could get inside the head of their autistic loved one at last have a way to break through to the curious, subtle, and complex life within. Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words, sentences, and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud, Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. Questions such as: “Why do people with autism talk so loudly and weirdly?” “Why do you line up your toy cars and blocks?” “Why don’t you make eye contact when you’re talking?” and “What’s the reason you jump?” (Naoki’s answer: “When I’m jumping, it’s as if my feelings are going upward to the sky.”) With disarming honesty and a generous heart, Naoki shares his unique point of view on not only autism but life itself. His insights—into the mystery of words, the wonders of laughter, and the elusiveness of memory—are so startling, so strange, and so powerful that you will never look at the world the same way again. In his introduction, bestselling novelist David Mitchell writes that Naoki’s words allowed him to feel, for the first time, as if his own autistic child was explaining what was happening in his mind. “It is no exaggeration to say that The Reason I Jump allowed me to round a corner in our relationship.” This translation was a labor of love by David and his wife, KA Yoshida, so they’d be able to share that feeling with friends, the wider autism community, and beyond. Naoki’s book, in its beauty, truthfulness, and simplicity, is a gift to be shared. Praise for The Reason I Jump “This is an intimate book, one that brings readers right into an autistic mind.”—Chicago Tribune (Editor’s Choice) “Amazing times a million.”—Whoopi Goldberg, People “The Reason I Jump is a Rosetta stone. . . . This book takes about ninety minutes to read, and it will stretch your vision of what it is to be human.”—Andrew Solomon, The Times (U.K.) “Extraordinary, moving, and jeweled with epiphanies.”—The Boston Globe “Small but profound . . . [Higashida’s] startling, moving insights offer a rare look inside the autistic mind.”—Parade