How to Human: An Incomplete Manual for Living in a Messed-Up World

by Alice Connor

Being human is hard. Being a good human is even harder. Practicing kindness, honesty, and self-awareness in the face of doubt, failure, ambiguity, and vulnerability can feel insurmountable.

How to Human is here to help. Alice Connor draws on nearly a decade of experience as a college chaplain to provide a tender and irreverent take on one of life's most fundamental how to be a better human in a world dead set against it.

Connor offers sage wisdom and no-nonsense realism through real-life examples that strike right at the rashes and rubs of the human experience. She'll take you by the hand, tell you what you need to hear, and encourage you to embrace the chaos. How to Human will help you see life as an experiment--not a quest for the right answers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality

204 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 16, 2019

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps I'm biased because I'm a part of the campus ministry that this book describes, but I highly recommend this book. It perfectly describes many areas I've been trying to grow in personally over the past few years, and I think anyone could benefit from reading even one chapter in this book. Also, this would be a great resource for anyone in ministry interested in "engaging young adults" - if you're wondering what we want out of a community, this is it.

[Alan Dicken · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book to help offer guidance for all of our attempts to navigate this world with empathy, dignity, respect, and love! Alice's writing style is genuine, humble, and hilarious. She offers just as many stories of how to successfully try humaning as she offers vulnerable tales of her own failures and shortcomings. She invites the reader to explore practical advice while also sharing her own intimate examples of humaning in ways that encourage us all not to be perfect or to even worry about perfection, but to try something new so that we may be better together. The book is engaging, entertaining, and most of all, helpful as we as people try our best to live good lives together in this world. Thank you Alice!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alice perfectly models the vulnerability she preaches in this book through her own stories, lending language to feelings and visceral experiences I have never before been able to describe. She is clearly doing incredible work with the next generation of colleagues and parents; I hope it’s catching.

[Deborah Woolsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone else whose ministry is on a college campus, I am happy to see the stories of people, their struggles, and lessons we can all learn from them and our interactions with them in print for a wider group of people to see. Even if you aren’t around college students most of the time, there is wisdom in these pages for you. And deeper than wisdom, there is hope.

[Tara Chapin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so glad I found the time to sit down and read this book cover to cover. It was an entertaining, easy read. But it wasn’t the “self help” book I expected. It was thoughtful, unique, and written for “real people.” I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the content, and I know it will help me in practical ways, both personally and professionally. I very much recommend this book. #lifeofanauthor

[Annie Hartman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second read of Alice Connor's. You do not need to be a Christian to enjoy her writing, wit, and prospective. I felt that she was speaking to me specifically in each chapter; it is relatable, applicable, and overall enjoyable. We are all existing in 'a messed up world'.. this is a great read to remind one how to be kind while in it.

[Traci Rhoades · Rating 5 out of 5]

Using narrative from her own life and those of the college students in her ministry, the author reminds us how to come together in community even when we don’t agree. There’s a deep benefit in that for everyone involved. Connor does a great job reminding us.

[Neil White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable and would be good for a lot of people who are earlier in their life trying to figure out how to deal with the messiness and ambiguity of the world. This is written primarily for college students from the perspective of a chaplain on a college campus.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

A much needed (and honest) manual for a very crazy world.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the first half. Not sure it delivered everything it promised, though...

[Anne]

I half-booked this one. I can’t tell if it was just because I never really got to sit with it in a sustained way, if I’m not the audience for the book, or if it was a problem with the book itself.