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How to Be Fine by Jolenta Greenberg & Kristen Meinzer

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How to Be Fine

What We Learned by Living by the Rules of 50 Self-Help Books

by Jolenta Greenberg & Kristen Meinzer

Length 4 hours 54 minutes

Language English

Narrators Jolenta Greenberg & Kristen Meinzer

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Bookseller recommendation

“Enjoyable and engaging audiobook. I do listen to the podcast, By The Book, and find that both Kristen and Jolenta are funny and brutally honest. They share their lives and how it relates to the self help books they are living by for the two weeks. It doesn’t change in this book format and continue to dispense advice by weaving in what they, themselves, learned during their self help journey. I’m not a self help reader, but like knowing what’s out there, along with the books’ strengths and weaknesses.”
— Audrey • Belmont Books

Summary
About the authors
About the narrators

A humorous and insightful look into what advice works, what doesn’t, and what it means to transform yourself, by the co-hosts of the popular By the Book podcast.

In each episode of their podcast By the Book, Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer take a deep dive into a different self-help book, following its specific instructions, rules, and advice to the letter. From diet and productivity to decorating to social interactions, they try it all, record themselves along the way, then share what they’ve learned with their devoted and growing audience of fans who tune in.

Before they began their podcast, Jolenta wanted to believe the promises of self-help books, while Kristen was very much the skeptic. They embraced their differences of opinion, hoping they’d be good for laughs and downloads. But in the years since launching the By the Book, they’ve come to realize their show is about much more than humor. In fact, reading and following each book’s advice has actually changed and improved their lives. Thanks to the show, Kristen penned the Amish romance novel she’d always joked about writing, traveled back to her past lives, and she broached some difficult conversations with her husband about their marriage. Jolenta finally memorized her husband’s phone number, began tracking her finances, and fell in love with cutting clutter.

In How to Be Fine, Jolenta and Kristen synthesize the lessons and insights they’ve learned and share their experiences with everyone. How to Be Fine is a thoughtful look at the books and practices that have worked, real talk on those that didn’t, and a list of philosophies they want to see explored in-depth. The topics they cover include:

Getting off your device
Engaging in positive self-talk
Downsizing
Admitting you're a liar
Meditation
Going outside
Getting in touch with your emotions
Seeing a therapist

Part memoir, part prescriptive handbook, this honest, funny, and heartfelt guide is like a warm soul-baring conversation with your closest and smartest friends.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Science & Technology Self-Improvement Nonfiction

Jolenta Greenberg is a comedian, podcaster, pop culture commentator, and self-proclaimed reality television historian. As a performer, her stand-up and storytelling have been featured all over NYC. She's a Moth StorySLAM winner and from 2014-2016 she held a comedic residency at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn. Her credits include hosting Stitcher's By The Book; story editing for Risk! Hosted by Kevin Allison, and producing for Freakonomics Radio. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Kristen Meinzer is a podcast host, producer, and former director of nonfiction programming for Slate’s sister company, Panoply. Her hosting credits include Stitcher/Panoply’s By the Book, Stitcher’s We Love You (And So Can You), CNN’s Decades of Movies podcast, Panoply’s When Meghan Met Harry, and WNYC/PRI’s Movie Date. Her producing credits include Happier with Gretchen Rubin, The Sporkful, Food 52’s Burnt Toast, Girlboss Radio, and other award-winning shows. Kristen’s work has been celebrated in Time, the Washington Post, Bust, Buzzfeed, the Evening Standard, Real Simple, Indiewire, and dozens of other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.