Month: June 2017

June 28, 2017

Book Review: Polished steel: Lessons from the dojo

Polished steel: Lessons from the dojo by [Davis, Shaz]

Polished Steel: Lessons from the dojo

Blurb:

Discover the wise words and life lessons gleaned from Sensei as he uses everyday dojo practice to encourage his students to learn and grow. Polished Steel recounts entertaining and amusing tales and lessons that have been learned by a range of students from different backgrounds, each of whom discovered some humility from their experience, but learned important life lessons at the same time.

Martial arts teaches more than just defense, it teaches humility, respect, and strength. This book is a collection of stories from the dojo featuring various students as they learn lifelong lessons.

Written with style and humour, Polished Steel will have you laughing and smiling while nodding in agreement throughout. Delve inside, learn something new and leave your ego with your shoes, at the door…

Join Mary, Edmund, Simon, and other students in the dojo as they learn important life lessons from their Sensei. There are no shortcuts in life and training with Sensei provides the tools to traverse it. This collection of stories beautifully illustrates these teachings through simple but effective lessons that you can use in your own life.

The stories in this book, with an accompanying haiku, cover many of the principles of several martial arts, as well as body, mind, spirit and life-lessons. In fact, it is likely that there will be something for everyone to learn inside.

Review:

A perfect leisure time read. The author had weaved stories from each martial arts class and the valuable lessons the students learn from Sensei. I find this book an interesting way to learn more about martial arts because these self defence classes are actually more than teaching just self defence alone. Students get to learn important skills and the right attitude to approach life as a whole. Therefore, anyone reading this book would find it very encouraging to take up martial art classes as readers will be able to see the beauty of it. Kudos to the writer for this brilliant book.

I personally liked how students from different background come to learn martial arts and how they put their differences behind to learn something martial arts that originate from another culture.

Ratings: 4/5 stars.

June 16, 2017

Book Review: Learning English with Tasha and Benji

Review:

If you are a non-native English speaker and looking to teach your children English, this book will help do that excellently. I loved how the author tried to use Benji and Tasha to attract young readers. The simple choice of words is appropriate for kids between the age of two and eight. The illustrations used in the book too are very attractive and I find this book appealing to young readers.

Blurb:

The Tasha and Benji series is published by an online English school for children. The website and books are created by English for Children Worldwide. The website offers free video lessons for young children. The Tasha and Benji books are presented by native speakers with a variety of accents, and they also produce beginning vocabulary lessons presented by Samantha Weiland the author of the Tasha and Benji books as well as the beginning vocabulary books also available for sale.

Tasha and Benji’s adventures are a delightful way for the young learner to learn vocabulary, practice reading, and listening English.
The Tasha and Benji books are delightful short stories for young children that introduce English vocabulary and sentence structure. The Tasha and Benji characters introduce young learners to English in an entertaining manner. Their adventures will captivate and hold the attention of children who are new to the language and provide a wonderful foundation for their future English language education.

These classic Books for beginning readers are dedicated to changing English for young children through the power of English language and English literacy education. The books contain innovative, modified language and reading platforms to drive progressive learning results in both beginning readers and children learning English as a second language (ESL).

Our goal is to help children under 8 years old begin their English education and provide a solid foundation in the language as well as an advantage when they begin school and throughout their life. When a child learns to speak and read fluently at an early age, they will develop skills that stand out from the rest.

June 16, 2017

Book Review: Of Elven Blood by Leslie Fish

Of Elven Blood by Leslie Fish

Blurb:

Roxanne Defarge has three strikes against her; she’s an unsuccessful painter, miserably unlucky in love, and is carrying psychological scars of a childhood spent in a wretchedly dysfunctional family. She has given up on love, and on any hope of selling her paintings, but at least she’s found a job she likes – working as a newspaper editor for a union in Chicago. But then Roxanne witnesses a murder in the newspaper’s office, and she’s sent to Arizona for her own protection. Now she must start again, and chooses to do so at Treemark Arabian Farms, working with horses. But who can protect her from Brian Treemark, the mysterious ranch owner who reveals that he and Roxanne are members of a mysterious, ancient race—and they’re in more danger than Roxanne ever could find on the streets of Chicago? She’s going to have to learn fast, because she has an immensely extended lifespan, very rapid healing ability, and vast but untrained psychic talent. In brief, she is now an Elf and must learn to live as one. Thrust into the middle of an Elven battle, and still needing protection from those in Chicago who’d rather see her dead, Roxanne finds herself in even more danger than she ever could have imagined. Only the training she receives at Brian’s hands can protect her life. Her heart is another matter, and it will take all the skills she possesses to keep it safe from the one who told her she was of Elven blood.

Review:

I would give this book a 4-star rating. It’s an interesting paranormal story that keeps you engaged to the events taking place in the lives of the main characters. I like Roxanne and the ordeals she go through in her life especially after witnessing a murder and then learning that she was of Elven blood. The story also cuts across many cultures, which makes the plot even more interesting as the story brings the readers to different dimension. A well-written story.

June 7, 2017

Book Trailer Decisions — Writer Site

Although I never had a book trailer for Doll God, I’ve since read that they are important because readers, like most people today, are used to videos and to receiving information in that format. So I am trying one for Kin Types. I hope you enjoy it. It’s only 53 seconds long and you can either […]

via Book Trailer Decisions — Writer Site

June 7, 2017

Indie Authors – Your Fellow Authors are Not Your Enemies

This is a reboot of one of my most popular posts from 2016 in my blogging incarnation. The words in this post are just as true today as they were when it was posted. I’ve made some updates based on what I’ve learned along the way. If you are like me, you are aware of the […]

via Indie Authors – Your Fellow Authors are Not Your Enemies — Don Massenzio’s Blog