https://drewdebiasse.com/musings daily 0.75 2026-03-30 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/caydenboozerandtheturnoverseenacrossthecountry monthly 0.5 2026-03-30 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/whenathletesstarttobreak monthly 0.5 2026-03-27 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/jeremyfearsjrandtheedgethatcutsbothways monthly 0.5 2026-03-27 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/lukeferrellijaxsondartandthecosstofidentityinterruptioninsports monthly 0.5 2026-03-13 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/joshallensrecurringnightmare monthly 0.5 2026-01-24 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/thedarrynpetersonparadoxatku monthly 0.5 2026-01-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/901609dc-8afe-45c3-b985-854f2ced0605/Kansas+Jayhawks%27+Darryn+Peterson Musings - The Darryn Peterson Paradox: Kansas Basketball’s Battle Between Star Power and Team Synergy in the NIL Era. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/michiganslongadvertisedfallfromgrace monthly 0.5 2026-01-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/eaf740d8-523e-42a1-b77b-eb03eb1dcf0d/Sherrone+Moore+Paige+Shiver.jpeg Musings - Michigan’s Long-Advertised Fall From Grace. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/thelonliestjobinthenflyounghoekooandtheinnerviolenceofkicking monthly 0.5 2025-12-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/208b7322-b180-4e47-85bc-77248d839a17/younghoe-koo-atlanta-falcons.jpg Musings - The Loneliest Job in the NFL: Younghoe Koo and the Inner Violence of Kicking. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/keoncolemanthehiddencostofphysicaltalent monthly 0.5 2025-12-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/013a46d9-4ea7-42af-8af6-7651137a7523/KeonColeman.jpg Musings - Keon Coleman: The Hidden Cost of Physical Talent. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/c1dd1796-d071-4664-946f-89757e277843/DrewsomePerformanceDimensions.png Musings - Keon Coleman: The Hidden Cost of Physical Talent. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/biggerfasterhurtthenbaisbreaking monthly 0.5 2025-11-19 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/archmanningcrossroads monthly 0.5 2025-11-19 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/thehighstakesofwealth monthly 0.5 2025-08-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/ddf07ce0-bae5-40b5-8d36-aefba68c299d/sports+betting+boom.jpeg Musings - The High Stakes of Wealth: Professional Athletes, Overspending, and the Growing Shadow of Gambling Addiction. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/thedirestateofhealthinworkplacesandathletics monthly 0.5 2025-07-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/fcf095a3-1627-4b66-9fcc-d72f49b79ee9/IMG_0204.jpg Musings - The Dire State of Health in Workplaces and Athletics. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/ataleoftwofinalsatrolandgarros monthly 0.5 2025-06-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/8a2a479a-e316-47bb-ad9e-e2f68da2ec69/IMG_0077.jpg Musings - A Tale of Two Finals: Mastery, Manifestation, and Meltdowns at Roland-Garros. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/69cf1f77-e689-4929-a87c-850da1d76d44/Mastery+Diagram.jpg Musings - A Tale of Two Finals: Mastery, Manifestation, and Meltdowns at Roland-Garros. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/3424bca1-ab71-4756-ae96-cba04a5e8031/IMG_0064.jpeg Musings - A Tale of Two Finals: Mastery, Manifestation, and Meltdowns at Roland-Garros. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/threeerrorsonesystemicfailure monthly 0.5 2025-06-09 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/theparadoxofbarrybonds monthly 0.5 2025-05-28 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/theimpatiencetrap monthly 0.5 2025-05-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/a1533321-b844-4c80-9e2e-3c5bb23ed234/IMG_9694.jpeg Musings - The Impatience Trap: What Elite Athletes and the NCAA are Teaching Us About Trust, Transformation, and the Process. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/breathisjustthebeginning monthly 0.5 2025-05-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/582b300c-75ac-477d-8bee-4d358ce312fc/IMG_9541.jpg Musings - Breath Is Just the Beginning: A Somatic Revolution in Human Performance. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/theporntrapineliteathletics monthly 0.5 2025-04-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/efce2a2c-a6e2-4fae-973c-beff0d9f2bb4/Porn-Stats-by-Gender-in-the-US-1.png Musings - The Porn Trap in Elite Athletics: Distorted Desire and the Somatic Fix. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/thecreativecostofelitesports monthly 0.5 2025-06-12 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/alabamaandtheflowstatecomedown monthly 0.5 2025-04-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/6d16271e-62e7-49b8-a7b0-3f95f7b1feb5/Mark+Sears.jpg Musings - Alabama and The Flow State Comedown. - Make it stand out Alabama dynamo, Mark Sears. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/danhurleydynastyanddysfunction monthly 0.5 2025-03-30 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/thedeathofdevelopment monthly 0.5 2025-03-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/99725d96-f9f5-475c-9287-fb36e256cce9/Injury+Epidemic+in+Youth+Baseball+Coupled+with+NIL+Reality Musings - The Death of Development: College Sports’ New “Ready-or-Nothing” Reality. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/5b8fed44-a4df-47af-bd5a-4d4991fe5b79/D1+Transfer+Portal+Entrants Musings - The Death of Development: College Sports’ New “Ready-or-Nothing” Reality. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/thedoubleedgeswordofnil monthly 0.5 2025-03-25 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/breakingboxes monthly 0.5 2025-05-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/e107c514-6d76-4216-912d-b1c317f217f1/John+Wall+Mental+Health+Struggles.jpg Musings - Breaking Boxes: How Somatics Liberates Athletes from the Cage of High-Level Sports. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/brainspotting-for-peak-performance-in-leadership monthly 0.5 2025-03-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/c1116aec-7147-4366-9dd4-c7b07634bb3c/brainspotting+vs+talk+therapy.jpg Musings - Brainspotting For Peak Performance In Leadership. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/somatictherapyforfocaldystonia monthly 0.5 2025-04-03 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/treatingocdineliteathletes monthly 0.5 2025-04-23 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/boxbreathing monthly 0.5 2025-01-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/1735943216641-C18DXIO8PS8BS3BRI1XA/1.jpg Musings - Box Breathing For Increased CO2 & Performance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/1735943216685-KJ95IR7HQQ3JSBYV28Q0/2.jpg Musings - Box Breathing For Increased CO2 & Performance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/109965d8-884d-43db-84f9-a586c4b20179/Breathing-Basics-Oxygen-Carbon-Dioxide-Cycle.jpg Musings - Box Breathing For Increased CO2 & Performance. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/2024bookhighlights monthly 0.5 2025-01-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/bcae3217-fa94-43bb-a198-86d11cb6f5d5/James+by+Percival+Everett.jpg Musings - 2024 Book Highlights. - James by Percival Everett In this brilliant and provocative reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Percival Everett gives voice to Jim, the enslaved man whose courage and intellect have long been overshadowed. Facing the devastating prospect of being sold away from his family, Jim escapes to Jackson Island, where his path intersects with Huck Finn, who is fleeing his own troubled life. Together, they embark on a harrowing journey down the Mississippi River, navigating storms, deception, and peril in pursuit of freedom. While Everett preserves key moments from Twain’s classic—encounters with conmen like the Duke and Dauphin, and brushes with both tragedy and fortune—he reframes the narrative through Jim’s perspective, illuminating his agency, intelligence, and deep humanity. Darkly humorous, richly layered, and unflinchingly honest, James challenges readers to reconsider a cornerstone of American literature. Everett’s lacerating wit and soulful storytelling make this novel a landmark achievement, destined to reshape how we engage with our literary past. Don’t miss this one. Steven Spielberg is set to adapt it into a movie. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/7ca20525-6a28-4619-8341-fc59dbf3ef62/All+The+Colors+of+The+Dark+by+Chris+Whitaker.jpg Musings - 2024 Book Highlights. - All The Colors of The Dark by Chris Whitaker It’s 1975 in Monta Clare, Missouri, a small town unsettled by change and haunted by fear as young girls begin to disappear. Amidst this tension, Patch, a local boy from a hardscrabble background, becomes an unlikely hero when he rescues the daughter of a wealthy family. His courageous act reverberates through the community, but it also brings unexpected heartache and entangles Patch in a web of danger and despair. Whitaker masterfully blends a missing-person mystery, a serial killer thriller, and a tender love story in this deeply evocative novel. As Patch and those closest to him search for answers, they find themselves confronting the delicate boundary between triumph and tragedy, hope and obsession. With its richly drawn characters and unrelenting suspense, All The Colors of The Dark is both a chilling portrait of the shadows that lurk in the human heart and a moving exploration of resilience and connection. Whitaker’s ability to balance darkness with light makes this novel unforgettable. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/3a54af52-1aec-4ff7-ba34-230674c3756c/Martyr+by+Kaveh+Akbar.jpg Musings - 2024 Book Highlights. - Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar Cyrus Shams is a poet and addict navigating a life shaped by loss and longing. His mother perished in a tragic accident when her plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf, and his father’s life in the Midwest was defined by the grueling monotony of a factory farm. Now, Cyrus’s fascination with martyrdom sends him on a quest to untangle his family’s enigmatic past: to an uncle who roamed Iranian battlefields as the angel of death and to a painting in a Brooklyn gallery that challenges everything he thought he knew about his mother’s identity. Akbar’s debut novel is a lyrical exploration of displacement, belonging, and the search for meaning in a fractured world. Martyr! vibrates with the joy of language, weaving a tapestry of faith, addiction, and self-discovery. With unflinching honesty and emotional depth, Akbar illuminates the ways we seek to understand our histories and ourselves, creating a work that is as transformative as it is transcendent. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/23a58a0e-8c11-46c0-8353-d2dbeffe844b/Intermezzo+by+Sally+Rooney.jpg Musings - 2024 Book Highlights. - Intermezzo by Sally Rooney Sally Rooney is back and at her best! Peter and Ivan Koubek are brothers bound by blood but divided by temperament and circumstance. Peter, a polished Dublin lawyer in his thirties, appears to have it all—career success and romantic intrigue with two women: Sylvia, his enduring first love, and Naomi, a carefree college student. Yet beneath the surface, he is unraveling in the wake of their father’s death, numbing himself with medication and questioning the stability of his life. Ivan, on the other hand, is a 22-year-old chess prodigy and self-described misfit, preferring the solitude of his intellect to social engagement. Grieving the same loss, he encounters Margaret, an older woman with her own turbulent past. Their unexpected connection shakes his sense of identity, drawing him into a relationship both electrifying and fraught. Set during a fleeting moment of transformation, Intermezzo is an exploration of grief, desire, and the fragile connections that shape our lives. Rooney captures the tension between what binds and divides us, weaving a story that is intimate, insightful, and profoundly human. With her signature precision and emotional depth, she crafts a narrative that lingers long after the final page. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/53f6c6c1-28b9-4ed4-88d0-d08b1c8f94df/The+Tainted+Cup+by+Robert+Jackson+Bennett.jpg Musings - 2024 Book Highlights. - The Tainted Cup: Shadow of the Leviathan #1 by Robert Jackson Bennett In the far reaches of the Empire, in Daretana’s grandest mansion, an imperial officer meets a horrifying and impossible death—killed by a tree erupting from his body. It’s a crime that defies explanation, even in a world where the blood of leviathans creates bizarre magical phenomena. Enter Ana Dolabra, a reclusive detective whose genius is matched only by her peculiarities. Rumored to wear a blindfold at all times, Ana is renowned for solving the unsolvable without ever leaving her home. Assisting her is Din Kol, a newly assigned aide who has been magically altered to complement Ana’s brilliance. Din is both bewildered and exasperated by Ana’s eccentric methods, but as the investigation deepens, he finds himself in awe of her uncanny intellect. Together, they unravel a conspiracy that could destabilize the entire Empire, even as Din struggles to keep his own secrets safe from Ana’s penetrating insight. Bennett deftly combines intricate world-building with the sharp wit and twists of detective fiction to deliver a novel that is both familiar and refreshingly original. The Tainted Cup is a fiendishly clever mystery brimming with charm, humor, and a gripping exploration of loyalty, power, and the cost of brilliance. Quickly hop on this one because the second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series—A Drop of Corruption—is coming in 2025! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/e1c8cc3c-906a-4883-bb73-a407ff636300/The+Women+by+Kristin+Hannah.jpg Musings - 2024 Book Highlights. - The Women by Kristin Hannah In 1965, twenty-year-old Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears a simple yet profound truth: women can be heroes. Raised in the idyllic confines of Southern California by conservative parents, Frankie has always followed the rules. But as the world around her shifts, so does her vision for her future. When her brother ships out to Vietnam, Frankie defies convention, enlisting in the Army Nurse Corps and following him into the heart of a war that will change her life forever. Arriving in Vietnam green and unprepared, Frankie is thrust into a maelstrom of chaos and destruction. Amid the horrors of war, she forges deep bonds with fellow nurses and soldiers—bonds that are as fragile as the lives they strive to save. Yet surviving the war is only half the battle. Returning to a fractured America, Frankie faces the disillusionment of a divided country, angry protests, and the silence that surrounds Vietnam’s veterans, especially its women. With unforgettable characters and a richly layered narrative, The Women illuminates the courage, sacrifice, and resilience of the women who served in Vietnam, often overlooked in history. Frankie’s journey—from the idealism of youth to the harsh realities of war and homecoming—captures an era and honors the unyielding spirit of those who dared to challenge expectations. Hannah delivers a poignant and powerful tribute to the unsung heroes of war. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/9f097569-7321-4647-b3f4-55dcbffdccb6/The+God+of+the+Woods+by+Liz+Moore.jpg Musings - 2024 Book Highlights. - The God of The Woods by Liz Moore In August 1975, at an idyllic summer camp nestled in the Adirondacks, a discovery shatters the morning calm: Barbara Van Laar, the 13-year-old daughter of the camp's owners, has vanished from her bunk. Her disappearance ripples through the camp and surrounding community, especially because it echoes a haunting family tragedy—her older brother disappeared from the same camp 14 years earlier and was never found. As the search for Barbara unfolds, Moore crafts a layered narrative that explores the hidden lives of the Van Laar family and the tight-knit, working-class community that depends on them. The investigation peels back decades of secrets, betrayals, and complex relationships, revealing how privilege and power intersect with the aspirations and struggles of those living in their shadow. The God of the Woods is perhaps Moore’s most ambitious novel to date, intertwining a suspenseful mystery with a deeply human exploration of class, family, and the weight of legacy. With its richly drawn characters and evocative setting, this novel is a haunting and powerful meditation on loss, resilience, and the unseen connections that bind us together. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/d7633d38-29e4-4403-a32a-13ad6397081a/The+Ministry+of+Time+by+Kaliane+Bradley.jpg Musings - 2024 Book Highlights. - The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley In a near-future world, a young civil servant accepts a dream salary, only to learn her new position comes with an extraordinary assignment. She must act as a "bridge," tasked with living alongside, assisting, and monitoring historical figures plucked from their timelines as part of an ambitious government project investigating the feasibility of time travel. Her housemate: Commander Graham Gore, a British naval officer believed to have died in the Arctic during the ill-fated Franklin expedition of 1845. Thrust into the modern world, Gore struggles to reconcile himself with the unfamiliarity of washing machines, Spotify, and the decline of the British Empire. His gruff charm and insatiable curiosity endear him to both the civil servant and a cast of chaotic fellow time travelers. Over time, their awkward coexistence transforms into a profound and unlikely romance. But when the Ministry’s true intentions come to light, the civil servant must confront impossible decisions about love, loyalty, and the ethical limits of rewriting history. Bradley’s debut is a thrilling fusion of genres: part time-travel romance, part workplace comedy, and part spy thriller. With wit, heart, and a profound exploration of power and human connection, The Ministry of Time is an inventive and unforgettable journey. It poses the tantalizing question: If history lived in your house, what would it teach you about the future? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/e18a0f1a-fcc9-42f9-90e8-f2b0f7a16f78/The+Serviceberry+by+Robin+Wall+Kimmerer.jpg Musings - 2024 Book Highlights. - The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Burgoyne In The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer, celebrated Indigenous scientist and bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, weaves a poetic and profound exploration of the natural world's lessons on gratitude, reciprocity, and community. Drawing inspiration from the serviceberry tree, which offers its fruits freely to sustain its ecosystem, Kimmerer reflects on how humans might reimagine their relationships—with nature, each other, and the systems that govern our lives. Through vivid storytelling, she contrasts the tree's gift economy, rooted in abundance and interconnectedness, with modern systems driven by scarcity, competition, and hoarding. Kimmerer’s insights challenge us to reconsider what we value most, inviting us to cultivate wealth not through possessions, but through the quality of our relationships and the health of the communities we build. Her vision is both a critique of destructive economic practices and a hopeful guide to restoring balance in a fractured world. Accompanied by John Burgoyne's evocative illustrations, this book is a hymn of gratitude to the Earth and a call to action for mutual flourishing. Kimmerer’s work reminds us that the path to a sustainable future lies in reciprocity—a lesson borne from nature’s most profound gifts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/c9e2251a-4317-4015-9126-99402fe0ec85/Challenger+by+Adam+Higginbotham.jpg Musings - 2024 Book Highlights. - Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Hogginbotham From Adam Higginbotham, the New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Chernobyl, comes a gripping, meticulously researched, and vividly told account of one of the 20th century’s most defining moments: the 1986 Challenger disaster. This minute-by-minute chronicle of ambition, innovation, and devastating failure reads with the intensity of a thriller while shedding new light on a tragedy that forever changed America’s relationship with space exploration. On January 28, 1986, the Challenger shuttle broke apart just seventy-three seconds after liftoff, claiming the lives of its seven crew members, including Christa McAuliffe, a schoolteacher poised to become the first civilian in space. With millions watching live, the disaster was a collective heartbreak that shattered the nation’s optimistic faith in technology and exploration. Yet, as Higginbotham reveals, the story behind the tragedy is far more complex and astonishing than many remember. Drawing on exhaustive archival research and original reporting, Higginbotham intricately reconstructs the years leading up to the accident, introducing the astronauts, engineers, and visionaries at the heart of NASA's shuttle program. He exposes the political pressures, cost-cutting measures, and ignored warnings that paved the way for catastrophe. The narrative also follows the courageous whistleblowers and investigators who fought to uncover the truth behind the disaster, revealing systemic failures that were deliberately concealed from the public. Blending human drama with the fascinating science of spaceflight, Challenger not only honors the bravery and lives of the shuttle’s crew but also explores the broader cultural and political forces that shaped—and ultimately imperiled—the space shuttle program. A riveting and sobering masterpiece, Higginbotham’s work redefines how we understand this historic tragedy and its lasting impact on America’s space ambitions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/7584ed52-4521-4910-896f-1f3e3b82be9b/Good+Energy+by+Casey+Means.jpg Musings - 2024 Book Highlights. - Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health by Casey Means with Calley Means In Good Energy, Dr. Casey Means reveals a groundbreaking approach to health, showing that many of the most common and debilitating conditions—depression, anxiety, infertility, heart disease, cancer, and more—share a root cause: metabolic dysfunction. This eye-opening book explores how our cells’ ability to create and use energy is directly linked to nearly every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. The key to preventing and even reversing many chronic health conditions lies in optimizing our metabolic function, which can be controlled more easily than we think. Through cutting-edge research and real-world examples, Dr. Means explains how our modern health challenges are often the result of poor cellular energy production. Drawing on data from the health technology company she founded, Good Energy offers readers the tools to measure and improve their metabolic health in ways that are both accessible and actionable. From identifying the five biomarkers that predict the risk of life-threatening diseases, to understanding the power of diet, sleep, and movement, Dr. Means provides a clear and empowering roadmap for a healthier, more vibrant life. With a practical, four-week plan, Good Energy breaks down the science of metabolism and offers strategies to transform your health. It uncovers the links between circadian rhythms, sleep, and metabolism, introduces simple methods for exercise, and teaches how cold and heat exposure can build resilience. Dr. Means also provides advice on navigating the medical system to ensure you get the optimal care you need. This book is a game-changer for anyone looking to take charge of their health and energy, offering a holistic approach to well-being that empowers you to live a long, healthy, and vibrant life. Good Energy challenges the conventional wisdom around health and offers a new, scientifically-backed framework to help you thrive. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/supplements monthly 0.5 2025-01-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/99092f08-9124-412c-89cd-12aa422fc919/unsplash-image-2qI_Vb_FKyg.jpg Musings - Essential Supplements for General Health and Athletic Performance. - Make it stand out One day after head injury (left), bright dye along the edge of the brain suggests damage to the meninges, or the brain’s protective lining. After 35 days (right), the dye no longer appears, indicating the meninges may have healed. Larry Latour, Ph.D., NINDS. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/powerofbreathwork monthly 0.5 2024-12-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/1729265906815-6FRPX7I4I4EXK0K0ZROP/athlete%2Bbreathwork%2B2.jpg Musings - The Power Of Breathwork: Unlock Your Well-Being & Performance. - Make it stand out One day after head injury (left), bright dye along the edge of the brain suggests damage to the meninges, or the brain’s protective lining. After 35 days (right), the dye no longer appears, indicating the meninges may have healed. Larry Latour, Ph.D., NINDS. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/breathworkandbrainspottingforconcussionrecovery monthly 0.5 2024-10-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/1729195345999-HBMS1TJY2C9XHJLHHBE2/Brain+Scan+-+Injury.jpg Musings - Breathwork + Brainspotting For Concussion Recovery. - Make it stand out One day after head injury (left), bright dye along the edge of the brain suggests damage to the meninges, or the brain’s protective lining. After 35 days (right), the dye no longer appears, indicating the meninges may have healed. Larry Latour, Ph.D., NINDS. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/brainspotting-for-peak-performance monthly 0.5 2025-03-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/c1116aec-7147-4366-9dd4-c7b07634bb3c/brainspotting+vs+talk+therapy.jpg Musings - Brainspotting For Peak Athletic Performance. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/eightmoretruths monthly 0.5 2024-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/a5bbccf0-5c4d-4294-95fa-bfc5c55f6c11/Floral%25252BLungs.jpg Musings - Eight More Truths. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/2023bookhighlights monthly 0.5 2024-12-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/f5de4940-10ad-4452-af04-ca56d9c8b573/Hello+Beautiful+by+Ann+Napolitano.jpg Musings - 2023 Book Highlights. - Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano William Waters escapes an unspeakably tragic and traumatic past through basketball, earning a college scholarship that takes him far away from his childhood home. Soon after, he encounters steadfast Julia Padavano, a spirited woman with three devoted sisters who are all full of life in their own unique ways. When Julia and William begin dating, the Padavanos quickly and lovingly embrace him as one of their own. As darkness from William's past resurfaces, he and Julia’s carefully planned future unravels. In the fallout, the girls’ unwavering loyalty to one another shatters, causing a catastrophic family rift that ripples for generations. Profoundly moving and beautifully written, Napolitano has given readers a modern epic akin to “Little Women.” Deep, devastating, and tender, this was my favorite book of the year. It’s a remarkable tribute to the power of loving someone not despite who they are but because of it. Don’t miss this one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/6939716a-9a37-4640-b031-42e1d539e7ac/Image+12-26-23+at+3.05%E2%80%AFPM.jpg Musings - 2023 Book Highlights. - Wellness by Nathan Hill Finally! Bestselling author (and one of my personal favorites) is back with his sophomore effort and it doesn’t disappoint. Packing multiple punches, “Wellness” is a poignant and witty exploration of marriage, the pursuit of health and happiness, and the stories that bind and break us. Jack and Elizabeth, once thriving in the underground art scene, now face challenges in married life—parenting, mindfulness cults, polyamorous suitors, and Facebook wars, to name a few. As they grapple with unfulfilled ambitions and confront personal demons from their own dysfunctional families, Jack and Elizabeth risk losing each other, forcing them into separate, essential excavations to salvage the best thing in their lives: their relationship. Hill is unmatched in his emotionally astute—and often hilarious—observations. From the '90s Chicago art scene to a suburban world of detox diets and home-renovation mania, “Wellness” is an instant classic that redefines the love story with insight, irony, and heart. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/035e4b7f-bbab-4bf5-91bd-7a1a9879605e/Lola+in+the+Mirror+by+Trent+Dalton.jpg Musings - 2023 Book Highlights. - Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton Trent Dalton is a master coming-of-age storyteller. His debut, “Boy Swallows Universe,” is an all-time favorite of mine, and it was a cultural phenomenon after its release. His latest, “Lola in the Mirror,” is—I can’t believe I’m saying this—even better. A girl with no name is on the run with her mum. They have been running from the police and from the monster they left dead in their kitchen for sixteen years. Now living in a torn-up van next to the Brisbane River, the girl begins working for known drug queen Flora Box in hopes of making enough money to fund her vision of a life as a groundbreaking artist of international acclaim. Impossible to encapsulate, “Lola in the Mirror” is a sprawling, darkly funny, violent, heartbreaking, and beautiful novel of love, fate, life, death, and all the things we see when we look in the mirror—all of the past, all of the present, and all of our possible futures. Dalton sums it up nicely in his acknowledgments: “The river is a metaphor, of course. The river is whatever stuff you carry inside that turns and stirs beneath your skin. Not trying to be all clever-like, just trying to say something about the people who pull us out of the river.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/d95bfee7-76a0-463e-965f-e7dc3b023bcf/Blaze+Me+a+Sun+Christoffer+Carlsson.jpg Musings - 2023 Book Highlights. - Blaze Me a Sun by Christoffer Carlsson Halland, a small Swedish town, is shaken by a serial killer's first murder on the same night the prime minister is assassinated. Policeman Sven Jörgensson is drawn into the case, haunted by the unsolved murders and a possible connection between the two shocking events. Unable to put the pieces together, more fall victim to the killer who remains on the loose. After retiring in defeat, Sven passes the obsession to his son. Years later, the murders are brought back up to the surface when a novelist returns home to Halland. He befriends a retired police officer who worked closely with Sven in hopes of unraveling the community's collective guilt for a story. Elegantly constructed with perfect pacing, the storytelling highlights the enduring shadows of violence and the elusive pursuit of truth. Carlsson’s American debut is brilliant—an atmospheric, moody noir that will stick with you long after you finish. It’s no wonder Carlsson is so beloved by critics and readers alike. He’s the youngest winner of the Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year award, the top prize for Swedish crime writers whose past winners include Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell. Keep him on your radar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/fb3d0623-20da-41db-abbe-ac6c72eb2503/Small+Mercies.jpg Musings - 2023 Book Highlights. - Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane Tread lightly; this one hits differently. The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author returns with a masterpiece that rivals “Mystic River.” Set against a scorching 1974 Boston summer, Mary Pat Fennessy, a Southie resident, faces financial struggles. When her daughter Jules goes missing on the same night a young Black man dies under mysterious circumstances, Mary Pat's desperate search unravels secrets that disturb Marty Butler, leader of the Irish mob. As the city grapples with the explosive desegregation of public schools, "Small Mercies" becomes an intense thriller, exposing the brutal realities of crime, power, and the dark heart of American racism. Lehane crafts a mesmerizing and wrenching narrative about one of the most tumultuous episodes in Boston’s history that only he could create. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/d26f6921-8d08-430e-b290-08a0f5c3b7ba/Lady+Tan%27s+Circle+of+Women+by+Lisa+See.jpg Musings - 2023 Book Highlights. - Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See Inspired by a true story, Lisa See transports readers to 15th-century China, where a young girl is raised by her grandmother to be a physician. Despite societal norms dictating a woman's worthlessness in education, Tan Yunxian defies expectations and learns the Four Examinations of Chinese medicine. Her friendship with a midwife-in-training, Meiling, becomes a source of mutual support and purpose. As Yunxian faces the constraints of an arranged marriage, she grapples with societal expectations and being forbidden from assisting women. Along her journey, Yunxian manages to break free from traditions, support women from all walks of life, and leave a lasting legacy that transcends five centuries. Despite its ancient origins, "Lady Tan's Circle of Women" resonates with relevance today, proving how female friendship and resilience go hand-in-hand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/7d0a8d55-de7c-4f94-9f04-8200fb2376f4/Happiness+Falls+by+Angie+Kim.jpg Musings - 2023 Book Highlights. - Happiness Falls by Angie Kim Angie Kim, acclaimed for her 2019 debut "Miracle Creek," is back with another gripping mystery of profound philosophical and psychological consequence. A biracial Korean-American family in Virginia faces a crisis when their beloved father goes missing. Initially unconcerned, Mia's reassurances crumble when her youngest brother, Eugene, returns home alone covered in blood. Unable to speak due to Angelman syndrome, Eugene is of no help to the family or authorities looking for answers. A ticking-clock investigation ensues, unraveling the family's secrets and raising questions of love, language, and race. However, out of the emotional upheaval of the unimaginable circumstances, comes a poignant and original tale of a family navigating extraordinary lengths to understand one another and find common ground. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/fd050866-09a2-4744-98c2-f75c0a698f77/Age+of+Vice+by+Deepti+Kapoor.jpg Musings - 2023 Book Highlights. - Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor In the quiet hours of New Delhi, a speeding Mercedes careens off course, leaving five dead. Surprisingly, the rich owner is missing, replaced by a shell-shocked servant without explanation. As the dust settles, "Age of Vice" unfolds, skillfully navigating contemporary India's seductive wealth, corruption, and violence within the powerful Wadia family. Amid lavish estates, extravagant parties, and political intrigue, three lives become dangerously intertwined. Ajay, the poverty-born servant, rises through the family ranks. Sunny, the playboy heir, dreams of surpassing his father at any cost. Neda, a curious journalist, grapples with morality and desire. Set against a backdrop of loss, pleasure, greed, yearning, violence, and revenge, their connections become a path to escape or a trigger for further destruction. If you’re looking for a cinematic crime thriller, pick this one up. It manages to pack gangsters, lovers, false friendships, forbidden romance, and the consequences of corruption into a single binge-worthy story. The entertainment is just getting started, too. This is the first of a rumored trilogy! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/04f86ced-9746-40ef-82d7-6c15c97d66e7/Yellowface.jpg Musings - 2023 Book Highlights. - Yellowface by R.F. Kuang R.F. Kuang takes on the world of publishing in her latest, a dark satire with biting truths at its core. Once the first domino falls, it’s impossible to put down. Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were meant to be twin rising stars, but Athena's literary success overshadows June's anonymity. When Athena unexpectedly and accidentally dies, June seizes the opportunity, stealing Athena's just-finished masterpiece on Chinese laborers in World War I. June edits and submits it as her own, becoming Juniper Song and achieving bestseller status. However, Athena's shadow looms, and mounting evidence threatens June's success. As June fights to protect her secret, the novel sickeningly and hilariously explores issues of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, all set against the backdrop of social media's alienating influence. Kuang delivers a timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable exploration of today’s hot topics. I read it in a single sitting! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/beb0254e-4826-4de6-936a-66b42b04f9f5/Monstrilio.jpg Musings - 2023 Book Highlights. - Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova In the midst of grief, Magos, a mourning mother, cuts out a piece of her deceased son Santiago's lung. Guided by fierce maternal instinct and an old folktale, she nurtures the lung into a sentient, carnivorous being, Monstrilio, hidden within her family's decaying Mexico City estate. As Monstrilio starts resembling Santiago, his innate impulses, though restrained by his chosen family, jeopardize this delicate second chance at life. Equally weird and wonderful, Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s horror debut is a thought-provoking exploration of grief, acceptance, and the monstrous aspects of love and loyalty. With bold imagination and evocative prose, he delivers a cathartic and precise portrait of humanity, blending emotional depth with uncanny clarity. Fingers crossed a movie studio like A24 brings this story to visual life. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/f944ead3-93ce-4182-88b4-961e26aa7a4a/Young+Bright+Women+by+Jessica+Knoll.jpg Musings - 2023 Book Highlights. - Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll I didn’t think it was possible, but Jessica Knoll has given readers a fresh—and partly fictional take—on celebrity-like serial killer, Ted Bundy’s, final murderous spree in 1978. In this inspired retelling, two different timelines and realities converge. In one, a Pacific Northwest serial killer haunts Florida State University's top sorority. Pamela's decision to stay home saves her life but puts her in the center of a terrifying mystery. In the other, Tina seeks justice for Ruth, a young woman gone missing. As Tina discovers connections to the Tallahassee tragedy, she collides with Pamela in a pursuit of justice and impending tragedy. "Bright Young Women" tells the story of two women from opposite sides of the country united in their quest for truth, challenging the narrative surrounding a charismatic serial killer and highlighting the exceptional lives of his victims. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/b5ba0959-3e4b-4a50-a22a-306f34693d37/Outlive.jpg Musings - 2023 Book Highlights. - Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity by Dr. Peter Attia with Bill Gifford “If you want to find someone's true age, listen to them. If they talk about the past and they talk about all the things that happened that they did, they've gotten old. If they think about their dreams, their aspirations, what they're still looking forward to—they're young.” In this comprehensive guide to longevity, Dr. Peter Attia leverages cutting-edge science to introduce innovative nutritional interventions, optimization techniques for exercise and sleep, and tools for enhancing emotional and mental well-being. Mainstream medicine, despite its successes, has struggled against age-related diseases like heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and type 2 diabetes. Dr. Attia advocates for a shift from this outdated approach to a personalized, proactive longevity strategy that prioritizes both lifespan and healthspan. Rejecting the notion of mere "biohacking," he emphasizes a scientifically grounded, strategic approach to extend lifespan while improving physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Rather than dictating specific actions, Dr. Attia empowers readers to develop a personalized long-term health plan by fostering a thoughtful and informed mindset. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/2022bookhighlights monthly 0.5 2023-05-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/877fff59-df6d-4f84-ae2e-b0a704540617/Lessons+in+Chemistry.jpg Musings - 2022 Book Highlights. - Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus I had no idea how badly I needed this book. And, I promise, all of you (men!) need it too. This was my favorite of the year. Elizabeth Zott is tirelessly working to be a respected chemist in the 1960s when her entire life comes crashing down due to forces outside of her control. Given the opportunity to pivot, she begins pouring her energy and expertise into a daytime cooking show that ends up debunking the devastating misconception that women are capable of nothing more than childrearing and homemaking. The brilliantly whimsical and humorous storytelling from Bonnie Garmus perfectly balances the dark undertone of Elizabeth’s infuriating reality. Even further, her journey pays tribute to all of the real life women who both successfully and unsuccessfully stood up to societal norms in the past, and also to those of us who are still relentlessly fighting for opportunities and equality today. Hollywood is finally starting to figure out that the best stories out there are written by and feature women. Apple quickly picked up the rights to this one and it will star the one and only Brie Larson. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/5af712f0-b7c6-4328-88c7-b796a358c61b/tomorrow+and+tomorrow+and+tomorrow.jpg Musings - 2022 Book Highlights. - Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin Gabrielle Zevin seems to have done the impossible with her tenth book, which is to create a quasi-platonic male-female relationship full of love, passion, romance, jealousy and betrayal surrounded by the world of gaming. Young Sadie meets Sam in the hospital while he’s recovering from a terrible accident. They instantly connect about video games and become entangled for decades as best friends and creative partners in the gaming industry. Their entire world changes after publishing blockbuster hit, Ichigo, and no one can predict the ensuing domino effect. They quickly learn that no amount of success, money and fame can protect them from life’s tragedies and that real world pain can’t stay hidden behind a screen forever. Gaming is nowhere near my wheelhouse, but Zevin beautifully draws parallels between the desires of those who game and those who don’t. I suppose we all want the same thing, don’t we? A chance to start over and create our own identity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/ce85f0ac-61fa-4bd1-9cc1-ab06328ac607/all+my+rage.jpg Musings - 2022 Book Highlights. - All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir I want to be entirely transparent about my initial feelings toward this book in case anyone else out there is feeling the same. I almost didn’t read it because, 1. the title really annoyed me, and, 2. it’s designated as “young adult”. Thankfully, I gave it a shot late in 2022 after it won the National Book Award because, I swear to you, it was one of my favorites of the year. Misbah and her arranged husband live in Lahore, Pakistan, and are quickly ravaged by tragedy after marrying. Dreaming of a brighter future, they make it to the United States where they open Cloud’s Rest Inn Motel. Sal, Misbah’s son, and Noor are young Pakistani outcasts living in the desolate California desert. They are best friends, family and eventually adversaries. When Misbah’s health takes a hard turn, Sal is left to take care of the Inn and settle outstanding debts. Becoming increasingly desperate to get out ahead of the problem, Sal devises a dangerous plan that goes sideways fast. Noor is then faced with an excruciating choice: compromise her own future to help her friend when he needs it most, or walk away from the greatest love she’s ever known. Sabaa Tahir wrote a near masterpiece in All My Rage. The story is rich and the language and lyricism are off the charts. If you love beautiful writing and unforgettable characters, this is a must-read. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/b6e7a3c6-25a5-450d-a10d-7352e0dfa15d/Black+Cake.jpg Musings - 2022 Book Highlights. - Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a doozy. It rightfully has the attention of literary critics and book lovers everywhere for its rich take on the identities we’ve been born into and the identities we choose to create. Eleanor Bennett has lived many complicated lives but her estranged children only know about one of them. This changes when Eleanor passes and leaves them with the whole story of her life and all of its details, start to black cake finish. The journey of discovery that Byron and Benny, her children, go on doesn’t just bring light to their mother’s long history, it also helps them uncover their own hidden, painful truths. The fact is, we are all on nonlinear paths and what we choose to share and withhold has the power to shape our existence and legacy. The problem is, our choices ripple and rarely are the feelings of others spared. Get on this one soon. Oprah Winfrey is among the producers adapting this story into a Hulu original series. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/78baec52-406d-446c-b9f4-2e97a93f5480/The+Return+of+Faraz+Ali.jpg Musings - 2022 Book Highlights. - The Return of Faraz Ali by Aamina Ahmad Born in the Mohalla—Lahore’s red-light district where mothers notoriously pass down the art of sex work to their daughters—Faraz Ali is abruptly sent away by his secret, high ranking father to have a better chance at an honorable life. Decades later and now a police officer, Faraz is called back to his birthplace on his father’s orders to cover up the gruesome death of an 11-year-old prostitute. Set against the raging war in Pakistan in the late 1960s, Faraz is fighting a different kind of battle as memories from his past come jolting to the surface. As he continues to seek justice for a common crime in a marginalized community, he also becomes determined to find answers to the buried questions of his youth. Aamina Ahmad impressively managed to make her debut both a layered multigenerational saga and a thrilling noir filled with existential questions people all over the world grapple with: Who am I, and to whom am I loyal to? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/d77693dd-5147-49b1-9ed2-3965e21364d6/Vladimir.jpg Musings - 2022 Book Highlights. - Vladimir by Julia May Jonas Many (too many?) authors try to write about sex and power dynamics but very few successfully say something fresh that is equally provocative and thought-provoking. The unnamed female narrator we follow is a beloved 50-something English professor at a small New England liberal arts school. Her husband—with whom she has an open relationship of sorts—also teaches at the school, only he is under investigation for having a slew of salacious affairs with young students. Further complicating the story is Vladimir, a new-to-campus novelist who catches the intense gaze of our narrator in ways that slowly derail her uniquely edgy yet incisive view on moral boundaries. What ensues is an elegantly written train wreck and it’s impossible to look away. Julia May Jonas’ high level of writing alone would’ve landed her on my list, but her debut also managed to cut above the extreme noise around these themes and conjure similar feelings to other juicy works like Lolita and Notes on a Scandal. A wildly impressive feat for someone publishing their first book, no doubt. Keep this author on your radar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/6d927687-1982-4704-b2a1-90819d7aacac/Little+foxes+took+up+matches.jpg Musings - 2022 Book Highlights. - Little Foxes Took Up Matches by Katya Kazbek With her magical debut, Katya Kazbek has joined the shortlist of writers who have the ability to marry modern prose and ancient folklore to tell a contemporary story about love breaking through the upheavals of life. I haven’t been this excited about a coming-of-age book since Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe back in 2018. Set against the collapse of the Soviet Union—and a retelling of Russian fairytale, Koschei the Deathless—the most pressing revolution happening is inside of eleven year old Mitya Fyodorovich. Born a boy but feeling more and more certain he should be a girl, Mitya sets out across the underbelly of Moscow to avenge the death of a homeless man who fondly saw him for who he truly was inside. On his often dark and tumultuous journey, Mitya finds levity and solace where there would otherwise be none thanks to a fast and fierce friendship with local girl, Marina. Filled with loads of empathy and humor, Mitya’s reality never reads like a tragedy even though it easily could have; instead, his transformation is a reminder that there will always be people who will support you on your journey. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/bb875fef-9181-43ba-a436-4a8828072973/When+Women+Were+Dragons.jpg Musings - 2022 Book Highlights. - When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill “Even imperfect things can be precious, after all. The choice itself is precious. The smallness and the largeness of an individual life does not change the fundamental honor and value of every manifestation of our personhood.” Minneapolis-based author, Kelly Barnhill, is proving me right with her debut adult novel about women inexplicably changing into dragons. In my 2019 Book Highlights post, I made the bold proclamation that Minnesota-set books and Minnesota-born writers are some of the best out there, and now you can add this name and title to the growing list of evidence that supports my claim. Alex Green is an ordinary girl growing up in Wisconsin in the 1950s until one day hundreds of thousands of women—her beloved aunt included—turn into dragons and flip her entire world upside down. Reeling from the Mass Dragoning event and being forced into silence, life continues to plummet for Alex: her mother dies of cancer, her father abandons her and she has no choice but to raise her young cousin on her own while trying to remain in school. While the overarching metaphor of the dragoning event is not hard to recognize, there are many subtle messages throughout the story directed at all people everywhere about standing up to unsustainable confinements and harmful ideals that force us to live small. By the end, so much hope and solace had built up that I felt like I had grown my own set of wings. Cheesy, but true. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/12460da2-f6d3-4022-aab8-56d1f2842bf0/Hello%2C+Molly%21.jpg Musings - 2022 Book Highlights. - Hello, Molly! by Molly Shannon Molly Shannon is an absolute delight, but she was at a steep disadvantage publishing her book. Celebrity memoirs are (unfortunately) everywhere these days, and most fail to get out beyond Hollywood dirt and into a place of deep honesty about the complicated human condition. Molly seems to avoid this trap with ease—she tells her story so candidly and beautifully that by the midway mark, you don’t even assign “celebrity” to her name. Instead, she’s just a real person doing her best to march forward with truth and resiliency. Many know Molly from Saturday Night Live and the Mary Katherine Gallagher spinoff movie Superstar, but the person behind all of the characters she plays is uniquely effervescent and well-adjusted, especially after experiencing unbelievable tragedy at a young age. At four years old, she and her older sister survived a car accident that took the lives of her mother, younger sister and cousin. Her father was drunk and fell asleep behind the wheel. While it easily could’ve been, the real takeaway from Molly’s story is not about loss and hardship. It’s a lesson in owning your power and living from your heart no matter what, which is something we all can do more of regardless of our circumstances. If you want to get a taste of Molly’s magic prior to picking up her book, I highly recommend listening to her podcast interviews on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend and Armchair Expert. Her humor, introspection and wild ingenuity should not be missed. She will make you laugh and cry. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/357cf25b-2353-4528-a84f-f0d59d34d9fd/how+high+we+go+in+the+dark.jpg Musings - 2022 Book Highlights. - How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu Trigger warning: This is a pandemic novel about death and loss. Silver lining: Sequoia Nagamatsu packed a lot of humanity and touching themes into these 300 pages. The book begins in 2030 following a grieving archeologist as he arrives at the Batagaika crater in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter. It’s here that advanced ice melt both uncovers an ancient virus and launches it in a new form into the ether for generations to grapple with. We meet a lot of interconnected people and beings along the way, and while the stories might seem like an involuntary rollercoaster ride, at the end you will understand and (hopefully) appreciate that every peak and valley had its purpose; that every death also carried some kind of rebirth. Feels familiar, doesn’t it? Fun fact: Nagamatsu has been working on this collection since 2011. Covid-19 clearly heightens its poignancy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/38e42200-d6d2-4733-89b4-a5f52b9df480/Book+Lovers.jpg Musings - 2022 Book Highlights. - Book Lovers by Emily Henry It’s likely both fitting and a little irritating that a self-proclaimed book lover would include Emily Henry’s Book Lovers on their lineup of annual highlights, but I promise I’m not making this recommendation frivolously. Nora Stephens loves books and is a hardcore literary agent prone to putting her own needs on the back burner in the service of others. Charlie Lastra is an equally cutthroat book editor caught between the life he wants and the life his family needs him to lead. When Nora and Charlie cross paths in the small town setting of a recent book she’s representing, sparks fly in all directions. In a time when the news and media at large is filled with heartache and turmoil, it can do wonders to escape to the land of meet-cutes and happy endings. If you need an easy, heartwarming book with fun, witty dialogue, this is it. I read it in a single, giddy sitting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/94e11b61-e986-459c-904c-dd1d5d615150/ntoes+on+an+execution.jpg Musings - 2022 Book Highlights. - Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka Ansel Packer is a serial killer on death row awaiting execution in twelve hours. He doesn’t deny what he has done but doesn’t believe he should die for his crimes either. The women in Ansel’s orbit tell most of the ill-fated story. Lavender, his mother, is too young and compromised to care for him; Hazel, his former sister-in-law, is entangled in but helpless against her sister’s relationship; and, Saffy, a homicide detective, is tirelessly invested in bringing justice down on Ansel and men like him with a penchant for killing women. Kukafka struggled to fully execute her vision but it’s worth giving her credit for taking a different approach to the common serial killer tale. She also manages to create suspense and intrigue throughout the book even when we all know the outcome, and she takes a stance against the growing cultural obsession* around finding meaning in the warped pathologies of violent men. *In one year, the average true crime consumer plows through approximately 84 episodes of true crime television, 44 chapters of true crime books, 34 episodes of true crime podcasts, and 20 true crime movies. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/eightuniversaltruths monthly 0.5 2024-05-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/e1bd9f09-00e9-4bb8-8621-69813a9e4d98/circle-of-life-art.jpg Musings - Eight Universal Truths. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/thepowerofprana monthly 0.5 2022-07-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/4a0b975e-cbb6-4389-8067-ee76fddf8c83/Lightning.jpg Musings - The Power Of Prana. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/2021bookhighlights monthly 0.5 2023-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/64567aec-c9d5-4d76-89ff-9f04827632c2/great+circle.jpg Musings - 2021 Book Highlights. - Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead If you could only read one of the books from this list, please pick Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle. It will stand the test of time alongside all the other great literary epics that have come before it, like Homer’s The Odyssey, Steinbeck’s East of Eden, and Follet’s The Pillars of the Earth. Spanning multiple generations and set across the entire globe, Great Circle follows a fearless female aviator—not unlike the original daredevil Amelia Earhart—determined to break down the walls people have tried to build around her in all areas of her life. Shipstead’s historical fiction is impeccably researched and thought-out. The writing is masterful. You won’t want this book to end. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/b27b5988-26d1-4d4a-b609-5485bb950395/razorblade+tears.jpg Musings - 2021 Book Highlights. - Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby The main selling point of S.A. Cosby’s latest novel is the thrilling action (what a wild ride!), but the real beauty of it is the heart-centered transformation of its two main characters in the aftermath of their sons’s deaths. Ike and Buddy Lee are ex-cons. Ike is black and Buddy Lee is white. Their sons marry and are hatefully murdered. Neither Ike nor Buddy Lee accepted their son for who he truly was, and then it was over. Their opportunity to come together and celebrate their boys and their love was gone. So, Ike and Buddy Lee come together in the spirit of revenge instead and all bets are off. Together they search for answers and end up finding their way out from under the weight of prejudicial thoughts. A result that feels both tender and humane. The truth is that we all can and should do this: Choose what kind of heart we want to have. One that is open and accepting of others around us, or alternatively closed off from everyone. Don’t miss this one! It’s set to be a movie too. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/d49807c0-ef52-4587-9ac2-52825dcfde57/the+hidden+palace.jpg Musings - 2021 Book Highlights. - The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker After 8 long years and a few delays, Helene Wecker finally released the follow-up to her genre-bending, debut masterpiece, The Golem and the Jinni, and it was worth every second of waiting that we endured as readers. The Hidden Palace continues the complex love story between its two main characters: Chava, a golem made of clay by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic; and, Ahmad, a jinni born of fire and fighting for his freedom. Their unlikely connection is magnetic and the world-building from Wecker is stunning. You’ll never read anything quite like The Golem and the Jinni and The Hidden Palace, two of my favorite books of all time. Unless, Wecker gives me what I want and writes a third. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/c253581e-fc30-456e-889a-0901fd5ec0c9/once+there+were+wolves.jpg Musings - 2021 Book Highlights. - Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy Charlotte McConaghy is producing some of the most important fiction available to us today. A staunch environmentalist herself, she gives a tremendous amount of life to characters devoted to conservation efforts and a profound sense of urgency to the untenable predicament we have found ourselves in as humans. In Once There Were Wolves, Inti Flynn puts her whole self into the task of rewilding native apex predators into the Scottish Highlands in an effort to strengthen the imbalanced ecosystem, and in order to save her twin sister, Aggie, from an unspeakable past. It’s inspired by the successful rewilding of wolves into Yellowstone National Park in 1995. I also loved McConaghy’s book Migrations last year. If you care about the planet and all of its inhabitants, read both of these. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/fbd9ea40-4084-468b-8032-1d22ee2be84d/Oh+William%21.jpg Musings - 2021 Book Highlights. - Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout In Elizabeth Strout’s latest, Lucy Barton is back for the third time and she takes a deep dive into her tender and complicated relationship with her first husband, William. Along the way, we learn about their respective families of origin and their combined family of creation; about old secrets and infidelity, and how all of life’s obstacles eventually point towards the same life lesson: our hearts are vulnerable in beautiful ways regardless of where we come from or where we’re going. Elizabeth (and Lucy!) is in a league of her own. Her technical writing is off the charts and her storytelling and relationship building are brilliant. It’s the kind of writing that makes you want to better at your own passions and pursuits. I was both aghast at the level of mastery on the pages and also entirely consumed with the relentless layers of story that continued to unfold throughout. It’s an unbelievably immersive experience—the people and circumstances feel so real that you all but assume you’re living this reality too. You can’t get this kind of nuance in film or television, so pick up this book soon. It’s a perfect example of why readers read. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/b2718571-c20a-49fd-a5ad-8c84f60f3499/The+Premonition.jpg Musings - 2021 Book Highlights. - The Premonition by Michael Lewis Michael Lewis's biting nonfiction thriller juxtaposes a group of well-intentioned medical visionaries against the dangerous and inhumane official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19. One day in the not-so-distant future, this book will be taught in schools. It proves how the United States had everything necessary to fight the pandemic—brilliant doctors and researchers, world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu—except official permission to implement a planned response. Brace yourself. The level of ignorance highlighted throughout the book is staggering. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/9a5bb566-06f9-4f25-876d-1184f540aff5/the+paper+palace.jpg Musings - 2021 Book Highlights. - The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller “Does letting go mean losing everything you have, or does it mean gaining everything you never had?” The Paper Palace snuck up on me. It was the last book I read in 2021 and I still think about the ending. Elle is caught between an undying love for her closest childhood friend, Jonas, and her faultless husband, Peter. This story is not uncommon but it does a beautiful job of illustrating the difference between making decisions as a child versus as an adult. When we are young and learning, our choices are either right or wrong, and they form our foundation of discernment. But, as an adult, it’s much more complicated. The spectrum shifts and our choices land somewhere between what is right and what is easy, and they shape the life we want to live. If you’re into love triangles or layered dramas, this one is for you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/3fdccfb1-dab7-48e6-8560-5f6f839e22c0/crying+in+h+mart+somebody%27s+daughter.jpg Musings - 2021 Book Highlights. - Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford & Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner Trigger warning. Both of these memoirs pack their fair share of extraordinarily tough material to get through, least of which is a common theme surrounding the implications of growing up in and around toxic parent-child relationships. It is evident from the first page of Somebody’s Daughter that Ashley C. Ford has a simple yet poetic way with language and she sums up this dilemma nicely: “Kids can always tell the difference between adults who want to empower them, and adults who want to overpower them.” Crying In H Mart balances all of the family tension and heartache with some of the most rich and vivid writing about Korean food and culture born out of her mother’s native homeland. If these hit close to home, you might need to clear your energy field after reading. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/fourtypesofpeople monthly 0.5 2021-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/1632443600804-9ORQXIANFG7MCP2NTBQ9/4+types+of+people.png Musings - Four Types Of People. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/listeningforhealthconnectionandproductivity monthly 0.5 2026-01-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/1624584893240-1W93JWYBF4LVSC9E9680/listening+3.jpeg Musings - Listening For Health, Connection, & Productivity. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/2020bookhighlights monthly 0.5 2022-12-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/33542445-eb7b-4dfe-86d9-0b7208cce156/migrations.jpg Musings - 2020 Book Highlights. - Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy Charlotte McConaghy has stormed onto the global literary scene with one of the most profoundly moving books that I’ve ever read. Of the 141 books I read in 2020, it stood out well above the others for its deep, intimate honesty and grounded, universal urgency. Franny Stone—the main character—will stay with me forever. Our reality today and Franny’s reality in Migrations are sadly the same. The planet is deteriorating and its inhabitants are dwindling. Franny leaves everything behind to follow the world’s last Arctic terns on what will likely be their final migration to Antarctica; but, as more time goes by, it becomes clear she is chasing much more than the birds. McConaghy’s storytelling is striking and layered, and Franny’s journey beautifully and hauntingly captures the ups and downs of navigating a life full of internal and external suffering. This instantly became one of my all time favorites. Don’t miss it. Also exciting: Benedict Cumberbatch is set to produce the movie adaptation with Claire Foy starring as Franny. Dream team! Although, is a movie ever better than the book? (No.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/4053f99f-6458-41ac-9c95-302a49126459/The+Book+of+Longings.jpg Musings - 2020 Book Highlights. - The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd “I am Ana. I was the wife of Jesus.” The opening of Sue Monk Kidd’s latest work is arguably my favorite hook ever written, and it comes at a time when we, as a society, are ready to read it, embrace it and want the story tied to it. Even if Kidd’s extensive and meticulous research was only partly true, Jesus almost certainly had a wife. And if Jesus had a wife, that would make her the most silenced woman in the world. The book in its entirety is just as impactful as knowing the wife of Jesus likely existed. Kidd doesn’t just give a powerful voice to Ana, she also humanizes Jesus in a way that is accessible to everyone, regardless of religious beliefs or affiliation. He was devout but also impressionable and open to discourse, regularly seeking counsel from Ana. Kidd is making an important statement here: We know a lot about important figures but too often overlook the influential voices in their inner circle that help shape their impact on the world. If you love historical fiction and intricate storytelling, The Book of Longings will likely be one of your new favorites. If considering the idea of Jesus having a wife feels lofty or ludicrous to you, I implore you to give it some honest thought, and then consider who in your life is closest to you and how their presence shapes your way of being. No one gets to where they’re going alone and acknowledging those influential people helps ensure all voices are heard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/95149867-999f-40c5-8fa1-4437a9648477/a+children%27s+bible.jpg Musings - 2020 Book Highlights. - A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet Millet is a longtime author of brilliant fiction and her latest is somehow equally upsetting and entertaining. The wild romp starts on a forced summer vacation at a sprawling waterfront estate. In attendance are twelve adult-like children and all of their child-like parents. The generational divide grows bigger and bigger until eventually the kids take off to face an apocalyptic world on their own. Unbelievable chaos ensues. This book got a lot of critical acclaim but some readers struggled with the delivery. My advice? Imagine this story as a Wes Anderson-directed film. It won’t let you down. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/c49ba36d-edbd-4cba-b6f0-b9d2b71ce878/interior+chinatown.jpg Musings - 2020 Book Highlights. - Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu There seems to be a mad dash to write and publish dark, depressing books about race, sex and identity. They are everywhere and they all produce the same feelings of guilt, shame and rage while reading. While these feelings are absolutely valid, these types of stories often fail to push readers beyond shock and trauma and into educational and healing territory. Charles Yu turned this on its head with a very different approach to his latest novel inspired by his own Asian American experience. I’ve never seen structure like this before and the result is wonderfully inventive and far more effective at addressing hot-button topics like immigration and cultural assimilation. No low frequency vibes in this one. Just a playful and stimulating story about transcending the roles we seem to be born to play. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/64b15228-1320-4701-a9da-e3f00b058fa5/The+Invisible+Life+of+Addie+LaRue.jpg Musings - 2020 Book Highlights. - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab “Because time is cruel to all, and crueler still to artists. Because vision weakens, and voices wither, and talent fades.... Because happiness is brief, and history is lasting, and in the end... everyone wants to be remembered.” Master of fantasy, V.E. Schwab, has delivered an unbelievably beautiful and sweeping story no one will ever forget—even though its main character is cursed with the inability to be remembered by all. In a small French village in 1714, Adaline LaRue makes a deal with the God of Darkness to escape the cage of an arranged marriage. In exchange for her freedom, she is relegated to living an endless and anonymous life where she’s unable to hold on to anyone. Listless and meandering in New York City 300 years later, everything changes when a man in a bookstore suddenly remembers her name. Told across centuries, countries and art modalities, Schwab creates a magical story about deep love and loss, and about how far we are willing to go in order to put a lasting stamp on the world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/2c9cd340-6ed5-4e58-921a-54fc911ebd1c/a+very+punchable+face.jpg Musings - 2020 Book Highlights. - A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir by Colin Jost On paper, it is easy to hate Colin Jost. He went to Harvard University and studied both Russian and British literature. He graduated cum laude and was the president of the Harvard Lampoon, the school’s highly prestigious and hilarious publication with former writers including Conan O’Brien, B.J. Novak and John Updike. He was the youngest head writer of Saturday Night Live and is now co-host of the popular Weekend Update segment. Oh, and he is married to Scarlett Johansson. Don’t let that maddening rundown of his life deter you from picking up his book. His above-average self awareness makes him invariably funny and, in the end, quite lovable. I laughed nonstop and couldn’t believe some of the personal stories he chose to share. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/08ac18d5-7c09-4bd1-8f55-df403ff77376/You+Never+Forget+Your+First.jpg Musings - 2020 Book Highlights. - You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe It has been recently estimated that there are upwards of nine hundred books and biographies written about our first president, George Washington. Only one of those has been written by a woman and it was well worth the wait to get it on shelves last year. Alexis Coe is unparalleled in her research of our nation’s presidents and her take on George Washington’s life and legacy is further proof of her mastery in the niche genre. https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/2019bookhighlights monthly 0.5 2022-11-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/811fafb7-a8d8-495a-87e7-979f70026fa6/know+my+name.jpg Musings - 2019 Book Highlights. - Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller On January 18, 2015, Chanel Miller was violently raped by Brock Turner on Stanford’s campus. Her story of surviving sexual assault and national scrutiny is powerful on its own, but the way she writes about her experience and the fallout is truly affecting. Everyone should read this book. It should be required in schools and talked about in families and amongst friends. We should know Chanel Miller’s name and remember all of her undue pain and suffering. We should know Peter Jonsson’s and Carl-Fredrik Arndt’s names and remember how they sprung into action upon witnessing the crime and saved Chanel’s life. We should know Brock Turner’s name too and remember all of the people—his parents included—who went out of their way to rewrite Chanel’s story and sabotage justice. Finally, we should know Judge Aaron Persky’s name and remember the upsettingly lenient sentence that ultimately led to him being recalled from his position of power in the state of California. Chanel’s experience is sadly not a novel one, but having regular conversations about consensual sex and how to set and honor personal boundaries is a simple and actionable step towards helping younger generations thrive in healthy and balanced ways. Let’s lift each other up. Start reading and talking. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/f1f753e8-1791-44ab-8622-8a9734d6d6bb/catch+and+kill+she+said.jpg Musings - 2019 Book Highlights. - She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey & Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow Like Chanel Miller’s book above, the never-ending explicit content published by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey and Ronan Farrow is bleak but far outweighed by its importance for our growth as a society and as individual people. Kantor and Twohey of The New York Times are credited with breaking the story of widespread abuse that brought down Hollywood heavyweight and serial rapist Harvey Weinstein. Ronan and his producer took it even further, exposing all of the ways rich and powerful people use their wealth and status to live above the law and keep others quiet. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/c77d2156-e52e-4f8d-9c32-7287386c50c9/maybe+you+should+talk+to+someone+2.jpg Musings - 2019 Book Highlights. - Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb “Above all, I didn’t want to fall into the trap that Buddhists call idiot compassion… In idiot compassion, you avoid rocking the boat to spare people’s feelings, even though the boat needs rocking and your compassion ends up being more harmful than your honesty. People do this with teenagers, spouses, addicts, even themselves. Its opposite is wise compassion, which means caring about the person but also giving him or her a loving truth bomb when needed.” Very few writers have the ability to capture the complexity of the human condition in a universally compelling way like Lori Gottlieb. Her background helps—she took a nonlinear path on her way to becoming a psychotherapist and openly celebrates her own ongoing mental health journey; two things that still face stigmas today. Gottlieb’s latest book, Maybe You Should Talk To Someone, gives us a look into the lives of some of her patients navigating modern ups and downs while simultaneously chronicling her own time as a therapy patient struggling to cope with sudden change. Sound familiar? We can all relate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/b0028e2c-0775-4a52-8548-7d20b98202c6/the+most+fun+we+ever+had.jpg Musings - 2019 Book Highlights. - The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo Outside looking in, the Sorenson family has it all: a childhood house with a tree to climb in the backyard, loving and madly-in-love parents who married in the 70s and four wildly different but beautiful daughters living nearby throughout the Chicago area. Inside looking out, things are very messy as all of the daughters struggle to cope with their own independent lives in the shadow of their parents’ undying love for one another. Wendy drinks and sleeps with much younger men after her husband dies; Violet discontentedly stays at home with her kids after leaving a high-paying job as a litigator; Liza is pregnant with a baby that she’s not sure wants by a man she’s not sure she loves; and Grace, the youngest, is seemingly beyond any kind of help. Get on this one soon, as it’s set to be an upcoming HBO series produced by the brilliant Laura Dern and Amy Adams. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/74ba5ccb-58af-4338-a432-1079b6f3fded/Recursion.jpg Musings - 2019 Book Highlights. - Recursion by Blake Crouch If you need a fast-paced, twisty plot with lots of action and thought-provoking themes, this is your book. Barry Sutton, a New York City cop, is investigating False Memory Syndrome—a mysterious ailment that afflicts its victims with endless memories of events they never actually lived. Helena Smith, a neuroscientist, is trying to build technology that will preserve memories so people can relive their most precious moments at the snap of a finger. Both are working in a warped reality that’s constantly changing and humanity depends on them coming together to defeat the terrifying disease. Blake Crouch hits lots of home-runs—shout out to Dark Matter and The Wayward Pines trilogy—but this might be his best yet. I read it in a single sitting! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/2964a25e-1151-49bd-9f03-0bee6bc41fa9/humankind+talking+to+strangers.jpg Musings - 2019 Book Highlights. - Humankind by Rutger Bregman & Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell I’m a sucker for books that are equally entertaining and educational. We got two standouts that checked both boxes this year and each helped me shake off the heavy 2019 funk we’ve all been carrying around. Rutger Bregman went against the negative societal grain with “a hopeful history” of the last 200,000 years of humankind. His perspective on our cooperative nature and his supporting evidence are very compelling and would give even the most cynical person at the table a reason to reconsider their doom. Hopeful, indeed. Malcolm Gladwell is up to his usual tricks in his latest release about our interactions with strangers and how they often go wrong—it turns out our instincts aren’t as spot on as we’d like to think. There is a lot of timely information included that we should all be looking at as we continue to examine policing and its roll in keeping us safe (or putting us in danger). Insider tip: Listen to this one on Audible! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/2a10726a-9c32-45a0-8042-e99120e3eef4/the+lager+queen+of+minnesota.jpg Musings - 2019 Book Highlights. - The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal I firmly stand behind this statement: Minnesota-set books and Minnesota-born writers are some of the best out there. Evidence in support of this statement keeps getting stronger too. The Lager Queen of Minnesota is a gem of a story about two feuding sisters set against the backdrop of rural Minnesota and hoppy breweries. The characters are so real you’ll believe that they came out of your own childhood neighborhood; or, if you’re like me, you’ll google (more than once) whether it’s a true story. This is a warm hug of a book. To all of my lovely Minnesotans: don’t miss this one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/8d20a573-04a3-4d16-bf80-67a32cd42a4b/this+is+how+you+lose+the+time+war.jpg Musings - 2019 Book Highlights. - This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone Red and Blue are high-ranking operatives on opposing sides in a bloody and turbulent time war. And yet, word by poetic word, they fall in love with each other through their letters. El-Mohtar and Gladstone went full method to produce the searing saga. Each author embodying one of the characters, they literally wrote to each other blindly as Red and Blue until the book was finished. I have never read anything like this before and I doubt I will ever come across anything similar to it ever again. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/d815b86c-1fac-42ec-8cc6-de815297efb0/Trick+Mirror.jpg Musings - 2019 Book Highlights. - Trick Mirror: Reflections On Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino Similar to many of the books on my list this year, Jia Tolentino’s collection of nine original essays is not for the weak or weary. She tackles topics from toxic wedding culture to women in politics and her sharp observations are backed by meticulous research and a searing intention to get people outside of their society-induced bubbles and into the world of critical thinking. Many writers try to enter the cultural criticism sphere and often end up coming off as pretentious and out of touch at best and completely insufferable at worst. Jia dodges both ends of the spectrum with ease—her next-level writing and biting humor definitely help—and I’m willing to bet she somehow gets even the most deluded readers to find a small fraction inner clarity. Progress! https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/category/mindfulness monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/category/yoga monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/category/sustainably+made monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/category/TV+%26+Movies monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/category/Books monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/category/woman-owned monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/category/Drewsome+approved monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/category/products monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/tag/brainspotting monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/tag/performance monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/tag/podcasts monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/tag/mindfulness monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/tag/yoga monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/tag/health monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/tag/athletes monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/tag/Books monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/musings/tag/Drewsome+approved monthly 0.5 https://drewdebiasse.com/testimonials daily 0.75 2026-01-20 https://drewdebiasse.com/contact daily 0.75 2023-02-18 https://drewdebiasse.com/drewsomewellnessquestionnaire daily 0.75 2023-02-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/48cdf607-1048-4fc8-84b5-60634a184dc4/Drewsome+Wellness+Questionnaire+-+English.jpg Drewsome Wellness Questionnaire - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://drewdebiasse.com/offerings daily 0.75 2026-03-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/1746106947126-V21I1XYQOMKNCUIHGA6R/DSC08084+%281%29.jpeg Offerings - Build the systems that support elite performance. Drew works with athletes, leaders, and organizations seeking a deeper level of performance development—one that addresses the cognitive, emotional, and physiological systems that shape how people perform under pressure. Her work is grounded in The Drewsome Performance Method, an integrated approach that combines nervous system science, sports psychology, and somatic training to help individuals and teams build the internal architecture required for durable high performance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/a6fbc1c4-b0e6-4b8c-8976-ae6d9d79e790/unsplash-image-e-f17L4EBBc.jpg Offerings - Make it stand out Athlete Development. Elite sport demands more than physical preparation. The athletes who sustain excellence are those who learn to regulate the internal systems that shape focus, decision-making, recovery, and execution under pressure. Drew works with professional athletes and elite prospects to develop these deeper layers of performance through an integrated approach that combines high-performance coaching, brainspotting, performance yoga, breathwork, and mindfulness training. Rather than focusing only on mechanics or mindset, this work strengthens the nervous system patterns that determine how athletes access their training in competition. The result is greater clarity, composure, durability, and consistency when the stakes are highest. Drew works with a limited number of athletes each year through private sessions, training blocks, and long-term performance development partnerships. Perfect For: Professional athletes and elite prospects seeking a deeper competitive edge and long-term performance stability. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/6888c902-c1a4-4b56-9dbc-637824993786/image-asset.jpg Offerings - Make it stand out Program Consulting. Elite performance environments require more than talented individuals—they require systems that support sustainable growth, recovery, and resilience. Drew partners with teams, organizations, and training programs to design and implement performance systems that integrate somatic training, mindfulness, recovery practices, and mental performance development. Working closely with leadership and coaching staff, she helps organizations build environments that support both immediate performance and long-term athlete and employee well-being. Consulting engagements may include program design, staff training, leadership education, and strategic integration of performance and recovery systems across the organization. Perfect For: Professional teams, collegiate programs, and organizations seeking to integrate holistic performance systems into their culture and operations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/ec99465a-fe44-4b89-aa7b-1abfa8e95ff5/drewsomecorporateperformance.jpg Offerings Leadership Performance. High-performing teams operate under constant pressure—tight timelines, high stakes, and environments where small decisions carry significant consequences. Drew works with executive leaders, corporate teams, and organizations to develop the internal capabilities required to navigate these demands with clarity and resilience. Through experiential training grounded in nervous system science, mindfulness, and somatic performance practices, teams learn to regulate stress, improve communication, and make more effective decisions under pressure. These sessions move beyond traditional leadership workshops by addressing the physiological and emotional patterns that shape performance in high-stakes environments. Programs range from focused executive sessions to half-day and multi-day leadership intensives tailored to each organization. Perfect For: Executive teams, leadership groups, and organizations seeking to strengthen communication, resilience, and performance under pressure. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/1616129808223-ZHSEE21CP0BK4CYCUYIV/IMG_2580.jpg Offerings Retreats. In high-performance environments, recovery is often overlooked until performance begins to decline. Drew’s retreats offer immersive environments where athletes, leaders, and high performers can step away from daily demands and reset the systems that support clarity, creativity, and sustained excellence. These experiences combine mindfulness, somatic movement, breathwork, and performance development practices designed to restore nervous system balance while sharpening mental focus and long-term vision. Rather than traditional wellness retreats, these gatherings function as performance resets—helping participants reconnect with purpose, refine priorities, and return to their work with renewed energy and perspective. Spaces are limited and locations are selected to support both restoration and deep personal reflection. Perfect For: Athletes, leaders, and high performers seeking intentional space to reset, refine priorities, and strengthen the internal systems that support sustained performance. https://drewdebiasse.com/venmopayments daily 0.75 2022-01-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/8a0a3bc6-cd2c-4acf-a818-e4f8a03a4fa6/Venmo.jpg Venmo Payments https://drewdebiasse.com/about daily 0.75 2026-03-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/e19c2190-d0a9-47c3-bdac-7bad6a2f6224/Serene+portrait+with+soft+lighting.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/a216b38c-cf5d-465c-b8c7-214102595a75/E-RYT500.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/1598381977387-HHQJ5QY78HX79BSHZKZ8/YACEP.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/deb51f14-9593-4223-8002-a8500c28e531/RMBI+Logo.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/57677730-e005-40fe-bd48-c10f3fe7c43d/NFL+Drewsome+Yoga.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/ecc15174-1019-48dd-a1ed-80fa961adc2e/Brett+Auerbach+Drewsome.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/18de4835-c8b1-42c8-ae02-d5bbfc83499a/IMG_8973.jpg https://drewdebiasse.com/book daily 0.75 2026-03-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/cf7d8ef2-10fe-483c-82fc-a283a9400faf/unsplash-image-HL3EOgFiy0k.jpg https://drewdebiasse.com/subscribe daily 0.75 2025-01-22 https://drewdebiasse.com/athletes daily 0.75 2026-03-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/12e7e372-07da-4e6e-a1be-46ab40da5c62/DSC08082+%281%29.jpeg Athletes - Find your new edge. Elite sport has never been more advanced, and yet one critical dimension of development remains largely ignored: the nervous system. Modern training environments invest enormous resources in strength, conditioning, biomechanics, analytics, and skill acquisition. But very few programs teach athletes how to understand and regulate the physiological signals that shape focus, decision-making, emotional control, and execution under pressure. When that internal environment becomes unstable, the consequences show up everywhere—inconsistent performance, injury cycles, burnout, and athletes whose physical tools outpace their ability to manage the demands of elite competition. Drew DeBiasse works inside that missing layer of development. Her work integrates nervous system science and sports psychology with somatic practices—including breathwork, mindfulness, performance yoga, and brainspotting—to help athletes develop the awareness and regulation required for sustained high performance. Athletes learn to work with the body’s signals rather than fight against them. Over time this leads to greater physiological stability, clearer decision-making, faster recovery, and a level of resilience that traditional training alone cannot produce. Drew works with a limited number of athletes and teams each year who are serious about developing the internal systems behind their performance—because the athletes who can regulate their internal environment are the ones who stay durable, adaptable, and dangerous when the pressure rises. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/60f042d0-b98b-4775-a3d1-bded4597c354/The+Drewsome+Performance+Method+-+Four+Energy+Dimensions.jpeg Athletes - The Drewsome Performance Method. Elite performance operates across multiple dimensions of the human system. Physical ability matters—but at the highest levels of sport, it is rarely the factor that determines who sustains excellence and who struggles to access their training when pressure rises. Drew’s work is built around a model she calls The Four Dimensions of Performance. These dimensions operate like concentric circles. Each layer influences the ones inside it, shaping how athletes train, compete, recover, and navigate the demands of elite sport. Most development systems focus almost entirely on the physical layer—strength, speed, mechanics, and conditioning. But as athletes progress, the differences in physical ability become increasingly small. What separates careers is often the stability of the deeper layers. Athletes who develop across all four dimensions tend to perform with greater clarity, composure, and consistency—especially under pressure. Drew’s work focuses on strengthening these internal systems through an integrated approach that combines nervous system science, sports psychology, somatic training, and brainspotting. The goal is simple: help athletes build the internal architecture that supports durable high performance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/65a8c14a-1959-485b-b037-02a510d58ae4/IMG_1233+%281%29.jpg Athletes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/1aef0c8d-0991-4f91-baf2-796343c34c85/IMG_1232+%281%29.jpg Athletes https://drewdebiasse.com/trustedproviders daily 0.75 2026-03-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/df305cce-1e53-4516-840a-ff0f4c6ffcf0/Krista+Juerling.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/79b08ae3-d86e-46ff-93f8-694cd47b0650/Erika+Fay.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/60939013-6ace-49a7-931e-3300bbddd958/Dr.+Rolando+Gonzalez.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/068a2703-12b8-4167-88e8-39bd973aa006/Dr.+Mark+R.+Allen.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/fac24aec-2546-49e8-9bfb-ea4bc8049f54/Ashley+Kuchar+Headshot.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/6f0c205f-628b-44ad-ae04-baa32ccfd6ad/Drew+Jay+Davis.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/f87b90ce-a6c6-4840-9643-3f069db6336a/Thad+pic.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/ffe3f365-8af9-45a7-b5c7-467bbe77ccd5/Justin+Orenduff.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/2b731e60-04af-47de-8fd7-20602e959f62/Michael+Halpert.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/d0476c90-bcd7-4178-8c71-20113b8b8a9f/Erika+Olivarez.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/5852a653-68c2-4b09-b86a-d47ac59a7c89/Chef+James.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/8df21602-b687-465f-b3b4-a911556adae1/Dr.+Brandon+Mines.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/45629308-db00-4d0d-88de-cffee305e65a/Kelly+Davis.png Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/8a368e5c-787c-47d4-947c-93745422b46f/Jolisa+Castell.jpg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/f21117db-7344-489d-83e3-ec6bc944374d/IMG_5311.jpeg Trusted Providers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/c30878d3-b41a-454f-a89a-a8d394ade68b/00DD2F7B-F884-4D66-B370-D7EAEE9BCCB0_1_105_c.jpg Trusted Providers https://drewdebiasse.com/workwithdrew daily 0.75 2023-11-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a70dfb9aeb625d3cdb89ccf/39412598-9fa2-4af9-b90b-4ed223de7345/Drewsome+One+Pager.jpg https://drewdebiasse.com/home daily 1.0 2026-03-09 https://drewdebiasse.com/store daily 0.75 2023-02-21