Book Review: ‘Really Very Crunchy’ by Emily Morrow

Book Review: ‘Really Very Crunchy’ by Emily Morrow
Short Url
Updated 02 June 2024
Follow

Book Review: ‘Really Very Crunchy’ by Emily Morrow

Book Review: ‘Really Very Crunchy’ by Emily Morrow

Instagram sensation Emily Morrow, the creator of the viral “Really Very Crunchy” social media accounts, published a book in March titled “Really Very Crunchy: A Beginner's Guide to Removing Toxins from Your Life Without Adding Them to Your Personality.”

In 240 pages, she expands on her quirky, fun and informative mission.

“Less screen time and more green time,” is what she ironically writes, knowing that the majority of the book’s readers likely picked it up due to her online presence.

Morrow guides the reader through the ins and outs of starting and maintaining what she labels a “crunchy lifestyle” or a “crunchier” life. Crunchy refers to a sustainable lifestyle that uses natural materials that were prepared in an eco-friendly way.

She splits life decisions into three main categories: crunchy, scrunchie and silky. Silky is the most convenient option, like buying a sugary snack from the supermarket, crunchy is like making something from scratch using ingredients planted in your home garden and scrunchie is the one in between, like prepping something in a semi-homemade way.

She reminds us that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to things.

“It’s important to do what’s best for you and your family and make decisions in the micro rather than in the macro,” she writes.

One of the main takeaways for me was how she tries to help you shift your mindset when it comes to shopping for clothes, food and cleaning products. It does not seem like she is trying to sell anything and it feels like she genuinely really wants you to just make better choices because she wants the world to just be better.

The book is easy to read and conversational. It is nonjudgmental and full of good advice, packed with practical tips on adjusting your lifestyle to make it a bit more holistic.

It is a wholesome guide that is more like a chat with a good friend who has done all the research and simplified it for you without being preachy.

“Little decisions overtime make a big difference,” she writes.

Indeed, perhaps choosing to read her book will make the little difference you might need to help jump start your journey to achieving a slightly less toxic and more crunchy life, today.

Morrow and her husband, Jason, have traveled the world together, creating video content for the past 15 years. Jason chimes in every so often with his own takes on certain things or to offer a bit more context — always in a lighthearted way.

The couple live in western Kentucky in the US with their two young children. Her tips are universal and could be used anywhere, at any time, for any age group.


What We Are Reading Today: The Power to Destroy

Photo/Supplied
Photo/Supplied
Updated 16 February 2025
Follow

What We Are Reading Today: The Power to Destroy

Photo/Supplied

Author: Michael J. Graetz

The postwar US enjoyed large, widely distributed economic rewards — and most Americans accepted that taxes were a reasonable price to pay for living in a society of shared prosperity.
In 1978 California enacted Proposition 13, a property tax cap that Ronald Reagan hailed as a “second American Revolution,” setting off an antitax, antigovernment wave that has transformed American politics and economic policy.
In The Power to Destroy, Michael Graetz tells the story of the antitax movement and how it holds America hostage — undermining the nation’s ability to meet basic needs and fix critical problems.

 


What We Are Reading Today: Habitats of Africa

What We Are Reading Today: Habitats of Africa
Updated 15 February 2025
Follow

What We Are Reading Today: Habitats of Africa

What We Are Reading Today: Habitats of Africa

Authors: Ken Behrens, Keith Barnes & Iain Campbell

With breathtaking wildlife and stunningly beautiful locales, Africa is a premier destination for birders, conservationists, ecotourists, and ecologists. 

This compact, easy-to-use guide provides an unparalleled treatment of the continent’s wonderfully diverse habitats. 

Incisive and up-to-date descriptions cover the unique features of each habitat, from geology and climate to soil and hydrology, and require no scientific background. Knowing the surrounding environment is essential to getting the most out of your travel experiences.


What We Are Reading Today: An Untraceable Life

Photo/Supplied
Photo/Supplied
Updated 14 February 2025
Follow

What We Are Reading Today: An Untraceable Life

Photo/Supplied

Author: Stephen J. Campbell

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) never signed a painting, and none of his supposed self-portraits can be securely ascribed to his hand. He revealed next to nothing about his life in his extensive writings, yet countless pages have been written about him that assign him an identity: genius, entrepreneur, celebrity artist, outsider.
Addressing the ethical stakes involved in studying past lives, Stephen J. Campbell shows how this invented Leonardo has invited speculation from figures ranging from art dealers and curators to scholars, scientists, and biographers, many of whom have filled in the gaps of what can be known of Leonardo’s life with claims to decode secrets, reveal mysteries of a vanished past, or discover lost masterpieces of spectacular value.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Snakes of Australia’

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Snakes of Australia’
Updated 13 February 2025
Follow

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Snakes of Australia’

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Snakes of Australia’

Authors: Tie Eipper & Scott Eipper

With more than 1,000 photographs, Snakes of Australia illustrates and describes in detail all 240 of the continent’s species and subspecies—from file snakes, pythons, colubrids, and natricids to elapids, marine elapids, homalopsids, and blind snakes. It features introductions to each family, species descriptions, type locations, distribution maps, and quick-identification keys to each family and genera.

It also covers English and scientific names, appearance, range, ecology, disposition, danger level, and IUCN Red List Category.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Bees of the World’ by Laurence Packer

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Bees of the World’ by Laurence Packer
Updated 12 February 2025
Follow

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Bees of the World’ by Laurence Packer

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Bees of the World’ by Laurence Packer

When many people think of bees, they are likely to picture the western domesticated honey bee, insects that live in large, socially complex societies inside a hive with a single queen and thousands of workers. 

But this familiar bee is just one of more than 20,000 species of bees—and almost none of the others is anything like it. In “Bees of the World,” Laurence Packer, one of the world’s foremost experts on wild bees, celebrates the amazing diversity of bees—from size and appearance to nests and social organization.