Hi friends,

Happy Saturday. As we dive into the second quarter of the year, I'll be trying my best to get back into weekly YouTube videos. Do you have any requests for specific videos? Reply and let me know.

Today, we're wrapping up Shift by Ethan Kross.

​For the month of April 2026, we're reading Validation by Caroline Fleck.​

— Maneet

Weekly Discussion

Every once in a while, I stumble upon a book that I have a hard time finishing.

This month's book was one of them.

​Shift by Ethan Kross had some insightful lessons that I genuinely enjoyed. Learning about emotional regulation and how it can be directly linked to our five senses was something I'll probably always remember. However, I found myself not wanting to read the book and avoiding it.

This surprised me. I thought this would be a topic that would keep me hooked.

Even though I found the content interesting, the way it was written didn't keep me engaged. I liked the stories that were used to introduce the concepts, but once those stories were told, it felt as if the book became a lecture. This month, I listened to this book every week as I drove to class (1-hour commute).

Normally, when something is good, the time flies by and I think about the book deeply. I even record little voice notes to myself instead of highlighting so I remember what I'm learning.

With this book, my mind ended up wandering a lot. I just couldn't focus on the material being read.

After a few months of 5-star books, it's actually nice to give a book 3 stars.

I'm sharing this because it's important to talk about the books that we don't finish. Whenever I come across a book that's boring, I usually feel some pressure to finish it. But what ends up actually happening is I avoid the book, and I end up not reading anything at all. My entire reading habit suffers because of one book.

This month, I gave myself permission to let go of that pressure.

You may have noticed that last week I didn't send a weekly email. That's because I honestly did not read any more of this book, and I decided to put it down. Even though I can't say that I completed this month's book, I can happily say that I focused on reading other things instead and ended up finishing another book that I enjoyed a lot more.

I'd love to hear from you. How do you handle books that you don't enjoy reading?

Weekly YouTube Video

​🎬 This is the worst part about using a Kindle.​

I just published a new video that digs into something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: what Kindles are actually missing.

It’s not the hardware or features. It’s the emotional experience of reading itself. I connect this to Shift by Ethan Kross and how our senses shape how we feel when we read.

With that being said, I’m not ditching my Kindle anytime soon. I also share why I still think e-readers are the better long-term option and how I think about balancing both.

Three ways I can help you...

🎬 Check out my latest YouTube video. My channel is all about Book Tech and using technology to live an intentional life.

📖 Need something new to read? Check out all the books I've written and support my work along the way.

📚 Check out the Presently Reading book log. It is a complete list of every book we've read in the book club since I started it.