I Sure Hope I’m More Interesting Now…

I sure hope that after reading this I’m more interesting, because, according to my one daughter, I needed to read this. Footnote: never take your daughters to a public library sale – firstly, it will end up costing you a hundred (+plus) dollars, and secondly, you’ll be guilt tripped or harangued into buying books similar in title to this. Much like my daughter (Lily) did at Barnes and Nobles and harassed me into picking up 1200 Words To Sound Smarter – she also harassed me into getting this, citing that I wasn’t very interesting and could use this.

So for my daughter’s sake (and I suppose my own) I hope this book has rubbed off on me and I’ve become more interesting. (I think it didn’t work though……)

‘Pop’ Books

This falls under that category of ‘self help’ pop books. Like mainstream, popular, pseudo intellectual churn them out style books. Nothing in this is incredibly deep – but sounds like it is on the surface level; like “inspirational” Facebook memes / posts / pictures. The kind of near interesting quotes or sayings that make you go “oh thats deep”… until you spend an extra thirty seconds thinking about it (which most people don’t do – they click LIKE on it, and keep scrolling) and then you realize its not deep at all. Like swan diving into a pond only to find a puddle.

This book will not make you more knowledgeable, nor wiser, nor intelligent. It will not make you enlightened, or help you attain some kind of nirvana. Pick out that one girl you graduated high school with, but haven’t seen in about fifteen years, she sells Avon or leggins or Mary Kay, or some other similar thing, probably has a fascination with crystals and probably knows the best ‘home remedies’ and ‘protect – alls’ against all kinds of diseases. Scroll through her page, and I’m sure you’ll encounter a lot of her ‘inspiration’ memes. Some nifty quote with a beatific nature picture in the background. Thats what this is.

Every page is one such quote, with a Venn diagram to make it look like its more than it is. Its all really just a pad filler. You can practically read this book in less than thirty minutes, all two hundred or so pages, because most pages are just one paragraph, and some are even less, and they all come with a side page of a Venn diagram that you can easily skip over.

Overall

Overall, is there any merit to the book? Ehhh…… I don’t want to say this is utter and complete garbage. But I think it needs to be realized for what it is. It is obviously not a stellar piece of writing or work, and I think it knows that, and I’m sure the author knows that. This is targeting a niche. Aimed at kids just graduating high school, looking to start out on their own, unsure of themselves, but wanting to feel better, more cool, more in.

The idea that this book could make them interesting; possibly to be the life of a party, or to stand out for a potential partner, or for getting a job, or who knows what; is very appealing. And this is hoping to tap into that – that need, that want to become more than the person is.

So I suppose on that level, it does what it sought to do. So on a technical aspect it works. But on every other merit besides that, its a complete ‘nope’ burger. A big fat failure on anything other than achieving the goal of reaching to the lowest common denominator and giving them hope of being more interesting.

(Spoiler alert: this book will not make you more interesting.)

(Double spoiler alert: in fact it will probably do the opposite when people find out you read it.)

This “just is what it is”. Its not memorable, its not illuminating, its just super quick. Need to hit your Reading Challenge for GoodReads? Then this is the perfect book for it. Its a simple, quick run through of buzz words, pop words, catch phrases, and ‘sounds smart but really isn’t’ slogans that eat up a lot of pages and makes you feel more important / smarter after you read it.

My GoodReads Rating: **
Global GoodReads Rating: 3.69 (as of 11.6.21)
My LibraryThing Rating: *.5

Thanks For Reading

As always everyone, thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this book review, be sure to visit some other recent book reviews here:

• Book Review: The Philosophy of Snoopy (Charles M Schulz)
• Book Review: Guardians of the Whills (Greg Rucka)
• Book Review: Words You Should Know to Sound Smart – 1200 Words (Robert W. Bly)
• Book Review: On Bullshit (Harry G. Frankfurt)
• Book Review: Free Will (Sam Harris)
• Book Review: Free Will Explained (Dan Barker)

We’re now done with six days of November, and even going to change the clocks in a few hours (I’m getting this in just in the nick of time, finishing this up at 11:50PM). Six days so far and we’ve hit our goal of a new article every day. So be sure to be checking in daily for more news, articles, blog posts, beer reviews, book reviews, travelogues, and more. Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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Just minutes ago today – November 6th, 2020 – River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery announced they will be closing on their Facebook page, citing COVID-19 as the main cause.

As many of you know, in today’s climate with Covid-19, it has become more and more difficult to continue to keep River Bend’s doors open with the regulations we must follow. After 3 wonderful years of bringing you carefully cultivated craft beer to drink, local musicians to listen to and beautiful views to enjoy, we are closing our doors. Know that this decision has been a difficult one.To all that made River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery a destination, thank you for navigating the road less traveled and supporting us at Perry County’s Oldest (and 1st) Brewery. We will be forever grateful to our patrons for allowing us to serve you!

Thank You Again,
Tom & Melissa Beers
Denny & Wendy Browne

River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery Facebook

Unfortunately today’s blog post is a sad one. River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery is the latest to be closing their doors. The above post doesn’t go into too much detail about how, when, or what capacity they are closing, but it looks to be in complete. Hopefully the venue will stay for restaurant purposes or weddings in the future, and their hop yard will still be used, but as of this posting above, it doesn’t state.

I got to go there once about two years ago, and enjoyed the beers wonderfully. I was there with my (now ex)-wife, and my three daughters, on a cold foggy Friday night nearing Christmas. They were selling Christmas trees by their parking lot, and it was about as dangerous to get to their place as possible in the fog and darkness, but once there, the old barn turned brewery was absolutely beautiful, the workers and staff were all super friendly and nice to my children, and the atmosphere was fantastic. The beers were delicious and we had a good time, and left with full stomachs and happy memories. So it is very sad to see them closing their doors.

They join other recent breweries announcing their closing like Spigot Brewing, Stoudt’s Brewing, Crystal Ball Brewing, and Mikkeller NYC.

We would like to extend the condolences and sadness with everyone exiting and losing this great brewery, venue, and restaurant. And we would like to wish Tom and Melissa Beers, and Denny and Wendy Browne happy trails and good success in the future and hope for the best.

COVID-19 has been exceptionally rough on the service industry. From restaurants to breweries to small mom and pop stores. Please, now is the time everyone to support local. Buy from the small stores, go to the small restaurants to eat, shop where you know the person the money is going to, eat where you know the servers by first, last, and middle name. Let’s help support local now more than ever! The winter months will be especially hard for many restaurants, breweries, bars, etc. We can all do this, we can all pull together and help out, so let’s do it. Wear your masks, keep your distances, help the staff, be nice to the workers who are already extremely stressed. We got this people, we can do it!

Cheers Everyone. If we all stick together, stay safe, and help each other out, soon, before you know it, we’ll be all hanging out, maskless, at our favorite breweries drinking some cold crisp drinks together!

-B. Kline

You can read about more brewery closures here:

• Stoudt’s Brewing Closing
• Crystal Ball Brewing Closes
• Voodoo Brewery Lancaster Closes
• Spigot Brewing Closes
• Full Pint Brewing Closes
• Night Shift Brewing Cancels Expansion
• Mikkeller Brewing NYC Closes Permanently

And in better, happier news, check out our articles on brewery openings:

Be sure to check out our other articles on brewery openings:

• A Sneak Preview of Rubber Soul Brewing (Hummelstown)
• Midwest Coast Brewing Opens (Chicago)
• Rally Point – Cox Brewing Taproom Opens (Elizabethtown)
• Boneshire Brew Works to Open Second Taproom in Harrisburg (Harrisburg)
• Irv’s Pub Rebranded as Rotunda Brewing Pub (Hershey)
• Official BBQ (Pizza Boy Secondary Location) (Rutherford)
• Pilger Ruh Brewing Needs Your Help (Pottsville)
• Highway Manor Brewing Co. (Camp Hill)
• Grand Opening: Rubber Soul Brewing Company (Hummelstown)
• Tap Room Opening: Howling Henry’s Brewery (Hummelstown)

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!