just finished: The audio version of Michael Neill's The Inside-Out Revolution. It's super-short (about 2.5 hours to listen to; the book is only 169 pages long), but it changes how you think. He's one of my favorite self-help authors, and I was having one of those weeks where my brain chemistry was off, so I decided to listen for a few hours. And it helped. I haven't decided whether I want to write this up or not, because it's not a typical self-help book. He talks about how our minds work, about thoughts and consciousness. It's a little ethereal and a little woo-woo, nothing that you can really point to as advice or specific strategies, but I felt so much better after listening, like all the things I was worrying about just melted away and left me with a sense of peace and a stronger sense of myself. It sounds weird, but it's phenomenal. I highly recommend it!

currently reading: Edward Lee's Buttermilk Graffiti, which is turning out to be so much better than I expected. And I expected a lot from him. A thriller by Mary Torjussen, The Girl I Used to Be, which is really, really, really good. And Julian Barnes' The Only Story, which is (of course) fantastic. I mean, it's Julian Barnes. They don't hand a man the Booker Prize for nothing. I'm hoping to write about all these next week, and more. It's going to be a good week!

up next: The Performance Cortex, a deep dive into how our brains can be wired to improve performance, with a focus on athletes. And speaking of sports books, I've got some good soccer books coming up. Masters of Modern Soccer takes a look at some of the finest players and coaches in soccer today, including one of my favorite players, Christian Pulisic, Pennsylvania-born phenom currently playing for Bundesliga's Borussia Dortmund. I'm really looking forward to that one, followed by Bruce Arena's What's Wrong with US?, which I'm sure is his defense for coaching the Men's National Team that failed to make it to this year's World Cup. I was rooting for them, of course, especially since some of my favorite players from my hometown Sporting KC were there. But they lost, and while the rest of the world will be battling for soccer domination this summer, we (the United States) won't be there. But there will still be lots of good soccer to watch, so I'm, excited about that. And Sporting's season is just getting started, so for me there is lots of good soccer to watch. And read about.