Book(s) Recommendation Change Someone's Life?

[oeccscclhjhn]

Yes. Gary Taubes' Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It.

Before I finished this I cut carbs from my diet. More than a year in I'm still going strong and incorporate fasting (intermittent fasting, time-restricted eating (TRE)).

The Fasting Cure Is No Fad 8-1-19

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Originally Posted by oeccscclhjhn

Yes. Gary Taubes' Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It.

Before I finished this I cut carbs from my diet. More than a year in I'm still going strong and incorporate fasting (intermittent fasting, time-restricted eating (TRE)).

The Fasting Cure Is No Fad 8-1-19

What? Did you even READ the first post, or did you just read the title of this thread? Yes, by all means, tell the OP's incarcerated friend that he needs to lose weight by cutting carbs (even though there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the first post about him needing to lose weight) and to fast, even though that's probably not great advice for someone who is, you know, in prison. Holy crap.

(To others: sorry for the rant, but this is one of the things that drives me crazy about C-D -- people who don't even bother to actually READ anything, even the FIRST POST, before responding. )

OP, I really feel for your friend. I read a LOT and there are a lot of books that I remember well even though I read them 10 or 20 or 30 years ago (so I would call them memorable if not life-changing), but I'm not sure how relevant they would be to your friend's situation. How is he doing?

[oeccscclhjhn]

Originally Posted by karen_in_nh_2012

What? Did you even READ the first post, or did you just read the title of this thread?

Prison isn't the end of hope. Opportunity knocks whereever you find it. You just have to look at Rubin Hurricane Carter's story. He didn't let anyone take over his mind. What a great place to improve your health. Three squares? Just pick and choose more fats and proteins and avoid the carbs. That's it in a nutshell.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Originally Posted by oeccscclhjhn

Prison isn't the end of hope. Opportunity knocks whereever you find it. You just have to look at Rubin Hurricane Carter's story. He didn't let anyone take over his mind. What a great place to improve your health. Three squares? Just pick and choose more fats and proteins and avoid the carbs. That's it in a nutshell.

Again, I apologize for the rant, but come on. Your recommendations would have been fine for the health/dieting forum, but they simply made no sense at all in this thread. I think you were just answering the thread title.

To the OP: you asked for books that might help with self-esteem and self confidence, and I remembered one that was recommended to me by a friend several years ago, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. To be honest, I personally couldn't really get into it, but I think I am in the tiny minority as it has fantastic reviews and seems really appropriate for someone in prison. (Note, the version by Eckhart Tolle is the original best-seller and the one I'm recommending; some "authors" are selling a book with the same name that appears to me to be plagiarized. I hope amazon does something about it.)

[pinetreelover]

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore - It's the true story of two men both named Wes Moore who grow up in Baltimore in tough conditions.

Many of the books suggested here are good ones, too, but I'd be concerned that if your friend is struggling with loneliness and/or depression that stories of other's success could be dismissed as further examples of how HARD it all can be. Can you read the books along with him and have a bit of a virtual "book club" with some discussion?

[ClaraC]

OP, he needs to find a group to join while he's incarcerated that will offer him hope. And there are groups like that - run by volunteers, often by volunteers who are ex-offenders themselves. The amount of hope and inspiration you can find within a prison is amazing, to me. It's like a sink or swim. You reach for hope, or you just shrivel and die.

It's highly unlikely that a book will be a sole inspiration for him, but I'd recommend Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Both are tales of redemption (although Into the Wild ends sadly, you are told that right up front in the first page), that comes from freeing yourself from your past and your fears and anxieties.

[CrowGirl]

An older book than some mentioned but one I read in high school and have gone back to once or twice in my life is Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown. It is based on Mr. Brown's life growing up in Harlem. I can't remember all the details, but he was going on the wrong patch, dropping out of school, joining a gang, dealing drugs, etc. He gets sent to a reform school but then lapses back. But eventually he pulls himself up by his bootstraps and is able to become successful. He ended up attending law school and becoming a lecturer on urban and other issues.