Book Review: Why We Make Bad Choices: The God’s Labyrinth of Good and Evil Encountering the Self by Maria Liviero

Book Details:

Author: Maria Liviero
Release Date: March 19, 2023
Series:
Genre: Spirituality-Religion, Non-Fiction
Format: E-book 
Pages: 244 pages
Publisher:
Blurb:
This book explores our sense of self and the source of the unhealthy behaviours and thinking patterns that cause us to make bad choices through the symbolic themes and characters of Genesis 1–3.
The journey towards understanding ourselves is undertaken by a character called Eve, who enters a parallel universe between Genesis and the present day only to discover the dark side of human nature that stems from God, and where she learns how to deal with the resulting false self.
This is a self-help book for anyone interested in investigating the depths of the human self and exploring how a false self can manifest itself causing us to make unhealthy choices. It will take you on a journey where you will encounter both the good and evil that exists within all of us, a journey first introduced in the creation story of Genesis.


Review

Rating: 4 out of 5.

In “Why We Make Bad Choices,” Maria Liviero delves deep into the labyrinth of the human psyche, exploring the intricate relationship between our sense of self and our propensity for unhealthy choices. This thought-provoking journey, inspired by the symbolic themes of Genesis 1–3, offers a unique and profound perspective on understanding and confronting our inner selves.

The narrative is skillfully woven around a character named Eve, who embarks on a journey through a parallel universe that bridges the biblical past with the modern day. Liviero’s use of Eve as a conduit to explore the darker aspects of human nature is both innovative and insightful. As Eve encounters various facets of the human condition, the reader is invited to reflect on the duality of good and evil within themselves. This exploration is not only enlightening but also deeply relatable, making the book a compelling read for anyone on a quest for self-understanding.

One of the most striking aspects of Liviero’s work is her ability to seamlessly blend complex theological concepts with practical self-help guidance. The book doesn’t shy away from challenging the reader to confront their ‘false self’ – the source of many unhealthy decisions. The journey is an intricate blend of self-discovery and introspection, providing readers with valuable insights into how they can identify and alter destructive thinking patterns.

Liviero’s writing style is engaging, making complex concepts accessible without oversimplifying them. Her approach to the creation story of Genesis as a metaphor for the human experience of grappling with good and evil is both innovative and enlightening.

In conclusion, “Why We Make Bad Choices” is a powerful and insightful read. It offers a unique lens through which to view the age-old struggle between good and evil within ourselves and equips the reader with the tools to navigate this terrain. Liviero’s book is an essential read for anyone interested in personal growth and understanding the deeper motivations behind their choices.

You can also read this review on:

Goodreads


Amazon


Bookstagram 101

Contrary to what most of the bloggers and vloggers suggest, I have a separate Bookstagram for my book blog, The Reading Bud. I created my Bookstagram account when it became clear to me that I might actually become an author and would need my Instagram for writing-related and personal pictures photos rather than the book-related pictures that I read and review. So on 1st April 2016, I created my book-related Instagram account, aka Bookstagram, and over the course of the 2 years I’ve had it, I’ve learned a lot about book photography.

TRB’s Bookstagram – @TheReadingBud

If you’re a regular Instagrammer then you might know that posting consistently good-looking pictures is not an easy task; some days are better than others, yes, but some days are worse. What is even more exhausting is to maintain a schedule for posting pictures along with having to edit these pictures to make them look more presentable. And don’t even get me started on the wearisome and dull task of coming up with captions for each and every picture.

TRB’s Bookstagram – @TheReadingBud

I’ve been asked, by emails obviously, about how I maintain my Bookstagram. Now, I do not have a lot of followers or a really, really snazzy account (though I do think my account is pretty cool), I guess, why I get asked about my Bookstagram is because I manage a decent Bookstagram in spite of being an author and pretty much managing around a hundred other accounts on various platforms. God only knows managing one Ig account is difficult enough and I have two! Along with a separate Fb page for TRB as well as a Twitter account (and I’m not even starting on the three different blogs I manage, including this one.) So I decided to do a couple of articles on how I tackle Bookstagramming and how I manage to keep surviving this endless whirlwind.

If you’re new to Bookstagramming or are planning to create your own Bookstagram, this might be a good place for you to start as you’d get the first-hand experience of someone who was (and still is in many ways) an amateur. If you’ve already begun your big journey and realize that you can do better with a bit of some tips and tricks (we all can always do with some tips and tricks) then you’re at the right place. And if you’re a pro, then do share your advice with the rest of us in the comments below to help us learn from your experiences.

Coming back to where I was, I’ve decided to do a couple of articles which will be on the following topics:

  • Photography
  • Editing
  • Scheduling
  • Captioning
  • Socializing

So stay tuned for my Bookstagram-related series of articles in the coming weeks.

I’m not a pro in any way, but I have been complimented enough times regarding the way my photography has evolved and well, I’ve worked pretty hard for it too as I love photography in general. But photography is not all that is needed for maintaining a Bookstagram account, you need to be able to edit the photos too, otherwise, you’ll end up with almost good photos and not the good ones. I’ve been fortunate to have studied photo editing when I studied 3D animation film-making, but to be honest, Bookstagram pictures can very well be edited with free software and sometimes even directly with Instagram’s various settings. And I am not talking about filters, I’m talking about adjusting every aspect fo the picture by oneself, as filters are just the quick fix and rarely give the desired effect. Though, sometimes filters do come in handy in order to determine which shades of light to use to make the picture look ‘perkier.’

There is so much to share on this subject that I’ll better stop right here for now and get started on the next post for the first topic – photography.

If you have any suggestions or any questions related to Bookstagram then do not hesitate to comment below.