The COVID-19 pandemic followed by an extended lockdown kept all children worldwide inside the four walls of their rooms. Moreover, parents had a tough time educating their kids to make use of smartphones, computers, and the Internet for online learning purposes. With the decline in COVID-19 cases, schools have started to ring bells again and kids started attending classes inside their old classrooms. Even though Back to School is not much of a problem, few students face issues including mental health while attending classes after long time and extended usage of Gadgets. Back to School: A Useful Guide to Navigate through the Pandemic by Lavitha Vaz & Shalini Mukund critically examines the various aspects involved with attending schools during the pandemic.

Back to School: A Useful Guide to Navigate through the Pandemic span 86 pages and is available in both paperback and ebook formats. The book has been authored by talented educators and is published by Sita Infobytes Solution based in Mumbai. The first part comprises three chapters. The book has covered the role of teachers and relationship building including various mental health-related aspects. The author has examined Gadget addiction, which is very much required in these tough times. The kids also addicted to cartoons and the techniques applied in this section can also employed here. In Chapter 3, the author prompts parents to talk to their children about a particular factor.

Part 2 consists of several chapters. You will learn excellent techniques to empower children. This includes several relaxation methods such as meditation, deep breathing, Yoga, fun games, book reading, music listening, and much more. The remaining chapter deeply examines self-affirmation practices and social skills training. You will learn about the art of effective communication and group activities. The book includes useful helplines across the world.

Back to School: A Useful Guide to Navigate through the Pandemic by Lavitha Vaz & Shalini Mukund is an excellent book to help students and parents to come out from the shackles of the post-COVID syndrome. The content will be also useful for adults and senior citizens as well. The author is written in a lucid style. I would appreciate if the Table of Contents include bookmark links so that readers can directly jump to the relevant section. The author has provided only the text content without any figures. It would be beneficial if the content is supplemented with relevant images. I hope the authors will take this aspect into consideration while preparing the second edition of the book.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has left people critically bored because of the continuous lockdown over several months. Imagine, sitting at home for a long time by hitting your keyboard and dragging your mouse before your laptop/PC. There were cases where kids got addicted to smartphones and gaming. However, popular author Teja Lele seems to have spent quality time doing various household chores during the long lockdown despite her busy life. With the gradual reduction of the COVID-19 pandemic, Teja decided to help others by illustrating her various household activities invention in the form of a hacking book. Live Smart: 100 Hacks for a Healthier and Happier Life by Teja Lele examines several useful jobs that can be done during spare time. In this review, we will examine the book in detail. Toward the end of the review, you will be able to know whether the book will be useful or not.

The Live Smart: 100 Hacks for a Healthier and Happier Life book is divided into five sections. In the first section, you will learn the steps to fix leaking tap, AC filter cleaning, Electricity bill reduction, wood polishing techniques, screen cleaner, fixing flat tyre, and much more. You will learn useful hacks about food and kitchen in Section 2. This includes the preparation of fruit jam, pizza and pasta including vegetable freezing. The author covers several interesting unseen hacks about beauty. This includes hair oil preparation, mouthwash, and soap.

The next section is lengthy because it discusses health hacks. There are fixes for resolving ear and tooth pain, meditation, insomnia in addition to few simple exercises that can keep your health fit and perfect. In the final section, the author examines the reuse of items and recycling them for daily consumption.

You will know the steps required to prepare scrubber and peels including effective usage of vegetable scraps. We all throw away several vegetable bits on a daily but Teja shows that you can really reuse them for useful purposes. The author also included bonus hacks inside various pages of the book. You will have to locate them to read them.

We liked the way Teja presented the content because the author followed uniform pattern in all hacks. You will find the essential things you need, time required to complete, and the steps required to complete the hack. The smart tips provided inside boxes serve as additional reading material. There are images in several hacks that are exclusively prepared for this book.

I would appreciate if the author provides few hacks as YouTube video so that readers can directly view the steps that are being followed. Moreover, the author should try to provide technology and computer-related hacks since 90% of readers spent time before their workstations. The publisher should try to increase the font size so that readers will be able to read the content effectively. The paper quality and the smell emitting from it are nice.

No doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only forced people to remain inside their homes but also enabled them to work on their own. You should note that not all people will take the courage like Teja Lele to experiment DIY hacks and document them as a book for other people to take advantage of them. Live Smart: 100 Hacks for a Healthier and Happier Life will be very useful for kids, homemakers, and even senior citizens because they can pass time by doing all the fun DIY hacks. You will not find any other book that examines DIY stuff in a step-by-step manner. The book looks very handy and can be carried on to go during vacation. I highly recommend Live Smart: 100 Hacks for a Healthier and Happier Life for all those who would like to spend a productive, healthy, and happier life.

This review is powered by Blogchatter Book Review Program.

Book Name: Live Smart: 100 Hacks for a Healthier and Happier Life
Author: Teja Lele Desai
Publisher: Harper Collins India
Genre: Non-Fiction/Self-Help
Pages: 272
Availability: Paperback
Rating: *****

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Nowadays, bloggers are finding new avenues for the promotion of their content. In addition to traditional blogging, we now have podcasting and video blogging. You should note that video creation is a tedious process since it involves several parameters such as capturing, editing, and much more. Hence, you should tap deep into Podcasting, which is a simple way to spread your content across the globe. You just need to write the script and record your voice. However, you should know the tips and tricks involved with the creation of Podcasting. Dr Amrita Basu recently published Podcasting, Wellness and Monetizing for Writers in India ebook in association with Blogchatter. The book has been published as part of the Blogchatter Ebook Carnival.

My first impression after scanning the book is that the design layout is beautiful and organized. Unlike traditional Table of Contents, Amrita has integrated pictures as TOC, which is a new way to introduce content. You will not be able to locate this type of TOC in print books and hence the importance of ebooks comes into the picture. The author has mentioned several crucial tips using which you can start your own podcast. This chapter will be very useful for beginners.

You will learn how to record a podcast including few medicine-related tips because the author is a professional ENT surgeon. The book examines the pros and cons of a particular podcasting app, which will be useful not only for beginners but also for experienced podcasters. Amrita has explained why she preferred one particular podcasting app over another.

The book also includes a separate chapter on Mental Health. The author has added her own ads in between chapters. The book also covers monetization and digital marketing tips, which will be surely useful for beginners. The writing style is simple and I really enjoyed the book. The book design looks identical to kid’s book with large fonts. The chapter title is mentioned on each page and this will help readers to know the discussed content without going back to the TOC. There are only 30 pages and you will be able to complete the reading quickly. Please download my Windows 11 Kickstart ebook if you would like to explore Windows 11 in detail.

Podcasting, Wellness, and Monetizing for Writers in India by Dr Amrita Basu is an excellent ebook using which you can explore the world of podcasting. The book will be useful for beginners and for those who are not aware of podcasting. The book is just a starting point in your quest to enter the podcasting world.

The review has been written as a part of Blogchatter E-Book Carnival book reviews.