Presence: Bringing your boldest self to your biggest challenges by Amy Cuddy

I started reading this book because I had heard of Amy Cuddy via her Ted Talk on Power Poses and I had loved those scenes in Grey’s Anatomy when the surgeons would stand like Wonder Woman before a surgery. In a recent Women in Cable Television event a presenter had mentioned that Cuddy’s research was being challenged, I thought I might as well read her findings before they became irrelevant.

I chose to listen to the book as opposed to reading it because that is the only way that I could guarantee that I would complete it before a mentorship meeting where I had volunteered to lead a book club and discuss you guessed it Presence by Amy Cuddy. She read the book herself, I was not surprised by this as she was already known as a good speaker and had quite a bit of experience in presenting. Generally, this doesn’t work out, Neil Gaiman aside, most writers benefit by hiring someone else to perform their book. Amy Cuddy unfortunately, also falls into this category. While her voice is pleasant and her speaking is understandable her tone is predictable and patterned which makes it easy to check out while listening. She also speaks quickly so while, I normally listed at 1.3x for this book I had to move the dial back to 1.1 to listen at a comfortable speed. I still would recommend the book in the audio format because it allows you to participate fully with the activities suggested in the book while listening.

The content of the book was interesting and applicable to daily life. I felt confident in the research presented and compelled to make changes in my own life. I’m already a fan of pretending to be wonder woman so it is a pretty easy sale.

As I indicated earlier recent studies have shown that her research could not be replicated. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170911095932.htm

Even if power poses don’t work, there is still some practical knowledge that can be gleaned from this book. Being cognizant of our postures, focusing on being present, listening, being aware of how positions of power and imposture syndrome can impact our performance are also important subjects addressed in this book. Also now I kind of want to read more about yoga and it’s impact on mental health.

Wonder Woman – See it NOW

I breathed a sigh of relief as the critics reviews and rotten tomatoes scores revealed that Wonder Woman was the exception to the current calamity that has become DC films.  I wasn’t surprised, Gal Gadot’s portrayal of the Princess of Themyscira was the bright spot of Batman vs Superman, but I was relieved.  I needed this movie to work because I love Wonder Woman and I love Wonder Wonder merchandise, two things which I will get more of provided that the public continues to want these things as well.   But the critics and I don’t always agree, so a part of me still held my expectations back,  it was a small part because most of me was deliriously happy that I was finally going to see my favorite super hero on the big screen in her own movie.

Full disclosure, I am a fan of Wonder Woman.  I have cosplayed the amazon on more than one occasion including last night when I attended opening night.  It was a hard decision between seeing my nephew graduate from High school or seeing the preview but as it turns out family, prepaid plane tickets and the pride of an alumni outweighed the possibility of enjoying this feature film early.   So instead I saw it opening night, in all its glory with my favorite people.

And it was amazing! I laughed, I cried and I ate ice cream.  Spoiler alert! Turns out that love of ice cream is just another thing that Diana Prince has in common with me.   So yeah now I am even more of a fan.  That is not to say that the film didn’t have some issues.  The CGI was ridiculous, and I say that still wanting you to see this movie, needing you to see this movie.  But it was pretty bad.  The scenes where wonder woman jumped into the air or over a building were too fast maybe, just not realistic.  It took me out of the moment and I had to struggle from audibly saying “really?!?”  out loud.   But that aside there was a moment when she ran into battle and the music swelled and that amazing wonder woman theme screamed into the theatre and I was moved to tears.  It was such a beautiful moment, it was the moment that she became the Wonder Woman I needed her to be.   I am hooked, if I didn’t already have an invisible Lego plane on my desk at work I would have rushed out to buy one.  This movie solidified my love of Wonder Woman and gives me a little hope for Justice League.

So clearly I am saying you should see this movie in the theatre.  Not just because it is female directed and a female led action movie but because it is a great movie.  The characters were well developed from Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) and Diana (Gal Gadot) whose need to do the right thing pulled this movie forward to The Chief (Eugene Brave Rock), Sameer (Said Taghmaoui) and Charlie (Ewen Bremner) that reminded the audience of the toll of war and the bounds of friendship.  Wonder Women took us on a horrible adventure from the beautiful Themyscira to the gray skies of London only to deposit us into a cloudy war torn landscape.  But it was well worth it, because in the end, we understood that humanity is worth saving.   That even if we don’t deserve a hero, we can still believe in one.