Fearless By Max Lucado

I agree with the author Lucado about the statement "Each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons for fear" in times like these. I picked up this book Fearless, to understand how to handle fear.

The author has done a great job in identifying various types of fears that people go through and how to address them from Biblical perspective. He has allocated one chapter for each type of fear and addressed it in detail to understand the reasons for such fear, the consequences of it and how one can find an answer to handle the fear. I am very encouraged to find that in Christ and God's promises I can take comfort knowing that I can handle these fears with God's grace.

Each chapter is easy to read with interesting examples blended with the author's humor and precise promises elicited from the Bible to address the fear being presented. The chapters are of appropriate length for easy reading loaded with useful material.

There is one chapter on "One healthy Terror", where the author discusses about the fear of God, which is healthy and helps us to overcome all the other fears. I am very glad to appreciate the author for pointing out that one can imagine life without fear by anchoring oneself in Christ.

The book is hitting the stores in an appropriate time of need. I encourage the reader to get a copy of this book or present it to some one who is looking for a way to address the fears, one is bound to face each day of his life.

Think and Make It Happen by Dr. Augusto Cury

I have been eagerly waiting for this book to arrive in my mail because I was very much interested to learn some thing new from this book. My expectations from this book were met as I found some useful tips from this book to practice in my day to day life.

The author of this book, Dr. Augusto Cury is a world's leading psychiatrist and best selling author, has done extensive research on Multi-Focal Psychology. This theory investigates the following four primary processes of the human mind:

1. The construction of thoughts
2. The transformation of emotions
3. The forming of consciousness and the foundations of "self"
4. The role of memory and the forming of the existential story of one's personality

The theme of this book is not an explanation of Multi-Focal theory, but is an application of its principles which combine various disciplines such as education, psychology, philosophy, psychiatry and sociology. In essence what you learn from this book is "Think Correctly" principles.

Dr. Cury presents twelve "Think Correctly" principles as mentioned below:

1. Be the author of your own story
2. Direct your thoughts
3. Manage your emotions
4. Protect your memory
5. Learn to listen and dialogue
6. Learn the art of self-dialogue
7. Contemplate beauty
8. Unleash creativity
9. Be restored in your sleep
10. Living an enterprising lifestyle
11. Think existentially
12. Turn life into a celebration

The book contains twelve chapters, with one chapter dedicated to one principle. The material is presented in a well structured manner starting with a summary, the details of the principle, a practical way to cultivate the principle, examples from the life of Jesus Christ and from some of the day to day life experiences.

One useful strategy I learnt from this book is DCD technique (Doubt - Criticize - Determine), which can be used for various purposes such as managing emotions, thoughts, fears etc.

Dr. Cury presented these principles taking Jesus Christ as the role model. His focus was on the human side of Jesus Christ and I felt this is inadequate without understanding the divine nature of Jesus. The readers of this book are advised to be watchful in trying to model their lives after human side of Jesus without understanding His divine nature.

Yet times I felt the book is not very easy to read as it involves quite a bit of technical terms related to the field of psychology, but on the positive side, the chapters are well structured and appropriate in length.

In conclusion, I definitely refer this book to those who are looking for self help in personal growth.