In the book Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, authors Dan Harris, Jeff Warren and Carlye Adler, write about how meditation works for different people. Harris also tells his story of journey to meditation after his breakdown on national television. This is an interesting read with some good thoughts but the snarky humor throughout, a lot of it, gets old very fast. And it does not stop or slow down! I would reluctantly recommend this book. I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Contains useful and easy to implement tips for beginning a practice of meditation for those who are still somewhat skeptical after reading Dan Harris' first book 10% Happier. Harris manages to also make the information interesting, rather than simply being a dry, dull how-to manual.

MEDITATION FOR FIDGETY SKEPTICS by Dan Harris is a follow-up to his 10% Happier (2014) which has been recommended to me after a presentation on "Less Stress" resources at the AASL national conference this year. There is a bit of a snarky tone (I drew it; deal with it ... ew), but that also seems to be an attempt to add some humor and better connect with the reader. I do like that there is a feeling of acceptance: "I began my meditation practice slowly, with just five to ten minutes a day.... (and frankly, if you can only find time for one minute a day, you can count that as a win.)"

In addition, he stresses the importance of giving yourself permission to fail, including knowing that you need to re-focus your mind again and again (and again). Throughout this text, there are the stories from a road trip where he and co-writers travelled around the US, exploring the benefits of (and challenges to) meditation with others like radio show hosts and former prison inmates. I am curious to read more of Harris' comments about how meditation has helped relieve his anxiety and decreased the inclination to act impulsively. Harris was recently interviewed on NPR and Publishers Weekly called this a "clever guide." There are several meditations included in MEDITATION FOR FIDGETY SKEPTICS, plus a section with resources to help keep meditating. 3.5 stars
Links in post:
http://newtrier.libguides.com/Stress
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/01/04/575167967/meditation-for-fidgety-skeptics-offers-practical-advice-for-stressed-out-cynics

I loved this book so much that I bought it on audio and have been listening to it. It is packed full of humor, and yet real tips on how one that has a mind that squirrels can possibly mediate. I have found that tips in this book have helped me to relax and focus better.

This is definitely the book for anyone who wants to learn to meditate, but doesn't believe they can do it. This new book by bestselling author Dan Harris, with Jeff Warren and Carlye Adler, Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, share their experiences on a cross-country trip teaching meditation techniques to anyone who wants to learn, especially skeptics. 

It's written in a conversational, sometimes self-deprecating manner with a hefty dose of humor, but reminds us seriously that our minds are trainable. Harris insists that beginning with as little as 5 or 10 minutes per day is just fine, and that problems staying focused are common to all of us. Focus comes with time.
 
The book has lots of FAQs, and plenty of easy to follow instructions. This is a fun book that I really enjoyed. I think you will, too.

tl;dr Review:

If you loved 10% Happier, you need this guide.

Full Review:

I first read Dan Harris' original book, 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story (he enjoys long titles apparently), in 2015. It came into my life at a time when I was in desperate need to do all of those things: tame the voice in my head, manage my stress, and find self-help.

I tabbed the book and have re-read portions so many times that my original copy is starting to fall apart.

Needless to say, when I saw Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book by Dan Harris, Jeffrey Warren, and Carlye Adler, I knew I HAD to read it.

Thankfully, it does not disappoint in the least. And part of the description is all you need to know if you've read 10% Happier:

"[Dan Harris and Jeffrey Warren] create a taxonomy of the most common issues [with meditation] ('I suck at this,' 'I don’t have the time,' etc.) and offer up science-based life hacks to help people overcome them. The book is filled with game-changing and deeply practical meditation instructions. . . Amid it all unspools the strange and hilarious story of what happens when a congenitally sarcastic, type-A journalist and a groovy Canadian mystic embark on an epic road trip into America’s neurotic underbelly, as well as their own."

I own my neuroticness (umm hi, my main blog is called The Color Coded Life and this one is Color Coded Books. To say I'm a little Type A is like saying that Beyonce is a little famous), so to have a book that accepts that as well in the journey to understand meditation is exactly what I need.

I knew this book was perfect when in the first chapter, I'd already highlighted and bookmarked 3 different things.

I truly loved how each chapter broke down why any excuse we may have to not meditate is total bullshit and includes a step by step guide on how to overcome it.

If you're like me and have been wanting to really give meditation a try but keep feeling like you can't, then this book is for you.

Though you don't need to, I'd highly recommend reading Dan Harris' first book referenced above. It helps to give context to the entire process. However, if you don't want to do that and just want a guide to mindfulness meditation that's simple, straight-forward, and lacks the pretension of other mindfulness books, then this is the one for you!

I give this book 5 out of 5 thumbs up!

Thank you to NetGalley, Dan Harris, Jeffrey Warren, Carlye Adler, and Random House Publishing Group for allowing me to review an ARC of Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. I LOVED this book. It was not at all what I expected. Rather than being a technical and dry meditation manual, it was a fun (and funny!) interactive read, with bonus app content. I would recommend this book to anyone who is curious about meditation, practices meditation, thinks meditation is hokey.... well, anyone interested in gaining some balance in life or learning more about the benefits of meditation. Loved it. 5 stars.

I love this book. I loved 10% happier, and now this guide. This isn't just a recipe book of meditations. It's a journey of people who are trying to dive deeper into meditation. I would recommend reading 10% happier, then dive into this gem.

I need to admit up front: I am a Dan Harris fan. A friend suggested his first book (10% Happier) to me and since then I have been a convert.

If you aren’t familiar with the Dan Harris story: he is a journalist on ABC and he had a panic attack on air during a national newscast. This was due to many factors. In the book 10% Happier, he recounts the details running up to this incident, and how he investigated and found meditation and mindfulness as a solution, or at least helpful in his quest for managing his panic attacks.

When I saw there was a “How To” book for 10% Happier I was both excited (since I was a fan of the ‘franchise’) and skeptical. Skeptical because I was worried how he was going to follow up on the 10% Happier book. I shouldn’t have been concerned.

‘Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics’ follows Dan Harris and his friend/meditation mentor Jeff Warren on a 10 day cross-country tour of 10% Happier to spread the word about mindfulness and meditation.

The book is a good mix of story telling about the journey of the tour and it also gives hacks and instruction on how to start or pick-up a meditation practice. Jeff Warren is (as Dan Harris calls him) the MacGyver of meditations. My favourite is his ‘Welcome to the Party’ meditation: as you sit and find your breath, you just kind of go with the flow of your thoughts and anything that comes into your field, and say “Hey, welcome to the party, can I get you a cocktail?” (or something like that). The purpose is to just practice letting things come and go. Admittedly, it is explained much better in the book.

I really enjoyed this book. I think there was a good balance of storytelling, of instruction and theory behind how mindfulness and meditation works. It was re-assuring to me, as a intermittent meditator that this is an issue for many, and there were hacks on how to get back in swing of it, and how not to be too hard on myself about it. And there are many ‘hacks’ on how to weave mindfulness into everyday activities and not make it a ‘thing’.

If you were a fan of either the 10% Happier book, or the 10% Happier app (or podcast) you will thoroughly enjoy this. If you are meditation-curious, I think you will also enjoy this. Like 10% Happier, this takes the ‘mystical’ aspects of mindfulness and meditation out of the mix and helps to instruct you on a very simple and straightforward way.

I recommend this highly and gave it a 4/5 star rating on Goodreads.

Full disclosure: I received this eARC from NetGalley for a fair and honest review. (Thanks NetGalley!)

I consider myself a skeptic, so I am at least partially in the book's targetted demographic. After finishing it, I am intrigued to learn and try a few lessons, but not totally convinced.

Dan Harris expanded on his previous book, 10% Happier, with more concrete lessons. It goes into all the common objections like "I don't have time" or "If I get too happy I'd lose my edge", as well as specific tips like meditation can be as short as 1 minute, or as long as hours. However, all the stuff is sprinkled among the various anecdotes, such as his bus tour promoting the book and meeting with celebrities like Moby and Josh Groban, but also meeting people in malls and public places (normally, the worst place you can meditate). And it's kinda surprising the number of tales he had to tell, but being a reporter means he has the eyes for details. A lot of musicians seems to be fans of meditation, or interested in looking into such. Somewhere near the end of the book, it gets a bit too mystical, about "sending happy vibes into the universe" or such.

All in all, I am intrigued by the topic. The book hadn't quite convinced this skeptic, but it's worth exploring a bit further.

I highly recommend this book. After reading Dan Harris' 10% Happier I had an idea of what I was going to get with this book but I was happily surprised by what I learned. As an especially fidgety individual, this book pushed me even further in my meditative process.

You wouldn't expect humility and self-deprecation from news anchor Dan Harris. His high-profile career would suggest a very different outlook. He took to meditating after suffering a panic attack on air and is now an unlikely evangelist for mindfulness and meditation. He has an "if I can do it, anyone can" approach that is very winning.

As a fidgety, former skeptic of meditation, I found this to be a very easy to read introduction to meditation, that takes a very straight forward approach to getting someone to meditate. It took me years to get into meditation, then with a different approach and perspective change, all of a sudden everything clicked for me. I am a believer now already, but I still look for different perspectives for myself and to help introduce others into mindful meditation, because it really does work. I appreciate Dan's approach in this book, because I am fidgety and I was a skeptic. I wish I read this a decade ago or even more. It would have helped me so much at the time. This is definitely worth picking up for people who have trouble "getting it" or if you find your self "too busy" or too mentally active to get into meditation. Good for new and experienced alike.

I am copying my review from Goodreads.

3.5 stars 🌟

Dan Harris takes a cross country meditation tour with plans to convert people into secular mindfulness meditation along the way.

This book chronicles his journey as well as offers answers and suitable meditations for the top reasons people, skeptics especially, cite for not meditating.

Self deprecating humor is the tone used throughout the book. I enjoyed that in the beginning but by the time end of the book rolled out, I got a little tired of all the anecdotes. I wanted the author to just give me the important information without needing to read pages of the incident that happened with Dorothy/Sarah/Mary. I felt that this anecdotal style diluted the message of the book.

The cheat sheets were helpful but I didn't really find the meditations to be that helpful but that's more me than the authors. I couldn't read and then later take a go at them. Maybe an audiobook would have been a more suitable format for people like me.

Having said that, it's a great book for meditation beginners and that's the only group of people who will find any value in it. People who have been already meditating a while may find it difficult to get even one useful nugget of information.

But you have never meditated before and would want to take a go at it and want some tips other than 'it's so good for you, why can't you do it already?' then this book is perfect. It will tell you the how and then give you steps to remove all the obstacles that are sure to arise in the first 30 days. After that, you would have to turn to more advanced books.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley.

Here's the link to the review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2198294882?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1

So I took a week or so off from my normal reading routine. Why? Because I've been reading this book and putting it into practice and since mindfulness and meditation are all about focus of your intentions......I did!

Easiest book that you will ever read on meditation and its benefits. And not only does the author give clear, simple advice on the practice of meditation, he makes it incredibly fun to move through the text. Mr. Harris was so engaging that I found myself experiencing meditation (which I have only sporadically practiced) in a lighter manner; with less concern for the 'outcome' and more respect for the process. Though, I must say, as his words were the ones that kept bouncing around in my head while I practiced (very, very funny) it may have increased the challenge for me. The "free-range" meditations were great reminders that you can slip a little meditation in just about anywhere, at any time. 

This book isn't just about meditation however. It's also a refreshingly light romp through relationship, community and self-love and learning to hear what our bodies are telling us and what we may even literally be saying out loud but missing because we aren't paying attention. I love that the writer shared his process and personal experiences....made me wish I'd been there for the journey!

I loved Dan Harris's first book 10% Happier, so I was excited to see that he'd written another one. This book is just as great! It's both a primer on meditation and a buddy road trip story, about Dan's cross-country trip with his friend, meditation teacher Jeff Warren, as they travel around in a bus to tell people about the benefits of meditation. The combination of Dan's hard-nosed, anti-sentimental nature with Jeff's hippy-dippy love and compassion attitude makes for a delightful read. These aren't lofty gurus, just two regular guys who are excited to share something they feel passionate about with others in order to improve lives. Dan's self-deprecating sense of humor and vulnerability about his flaws make him incredibly endearing, and I think his message comes across as so much more authentic than the kind of spiritual teachers who claim to have it all figured out and who sell promises of some kind of perfect enlightenment. If you're not new to meditation, the practices here are mostly not new, but personally, I can use reminders all the time! And Jeff's way of explaining and presenting them is a delight. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who is even a little bit interested in meditating.

There are many books on meditation out there and I have read many. This book was a pleasure to read, with its no nonsense approach and getting to the heart of the matter with some solid meditations to work with. I really liked the style and voice the book was written in and thank all the players in the book for their contributions.

If you are only going to read one book on how to meditate, this one is probably not it. But if you want to know how meditation works for different people while getting to know Dan Harris (and others), this will certainly give you an overview of both.

I was attracted to this book because of it's title and the fact that my own experience with meditation is hampered by both my fidgety nature and my inborn skepticism. The book did address both of these for me. Unfortunately, it's difficult to read this book in one, or even many sittings, without succumbing to ennui and putting it down till later.

That said, Dan Harris is an interesting and entertaining media personality who writes well. He and his co-authors ,Jeff Warren and Carlye Adler embark on a cross-0country bus trip to introduce meditation to varied groups of people (and some from police officers to prisoners), setting up meditation booths for practice in different venues from New York, across, the country, including New Orleans, Tempe and ending in California. Along the way, and interspersed with specific instructions and "cheat sheets to summarize them), we get introduced to personalities like Josh Groban and Stephen Colbert, as well as others, famous and not famous. We also learn about Dan Harris' panic attack, immortalized on YouTube, and Dan's wife and son.

The writing is clear and sounds like practical instructions. It serves a good purpose as introductory material. However, the volume of instruction and its repetitiveness makes it hard to stick with it, lacking a human teacher. I was able to follow some of it by making my own notes as I went along. Also, I did not download a meditation app (which might have helped.) Including Jeff's difficulties with ADD helped by allowing me to relate to him. (Is that what I suffer from?)

Finally, I felt that this book tried too hard to combine these two narratives. I might have enjoyed Dan Harris' autobiography more, all by itself.

This followup to "10% Happier" doesn't disappoint. Dan Harris' hallmark wit and snarky sense of humor make reading this book utterly enjoyable, whether or not you ever get around to actually meditating.

Dan Harris’s book 10% Happier is the book that got me into meditation in the first place, so I was excited to find out that he had written a new book filled with practical tips for meditating. Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics offers helpful, practical ideas that will help overcome the reluctance of those who want to get into meditation but aren’t into the more “woowoo” aspects.

Dan wrote this book with the help of his friend, meditation teacher Jeff, as they toured the country in a bus and talked to widely varying groups about meditation. Everyone from former juvenile delinquents to the military to news and radio personalities gets a mention, so no matter what your hangups about meditation, the authors have advice for you. The book is also filled with short meditations that you can try out for yourself.

I enjoyed this book, and if you’re interested in meditation but don’t want to get all mystical about it, you should definitely pick it up.