advice – BookBunnies

Marshmallow reviews Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026 (42nd Edition) by Edward B. Fiske

For her last review before the book bunnies take off for the month of July, Marshmallow picked a book she has spent a lot of time with these past few weeks: The Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026 (42nd Edition) by Edward B. Fiske.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you are a high school student approaching the college application season, or if you are related to one, then this is the book for you!

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): The Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026 is organized very well! It has a comprehensive table of contents at the start to lay out every opportunity for exploration it will give you in the pages to come. There is an Index by State and Country, an Index by Price, an Index by Average Debt, and The Best Buys of 2026. Those first couple pages contain enough valuable information alone to justify obtaining a copy of this book. But what really makes this more valuable than just lists alone is what lies below those lists.

The Introduction and the “Sizing Yourself Up” section remind you of what the college search is supposed to be about. Instead of hunting for the lowest sticker price or the greatest name recognition, the reader is encouraged to remember that there are infinitely more factors to take into account in what should be a search for the educational nursery that will hopefully prepare you for a successful future later on in life.

There is a handy-dandy survey you can take which helps you evaluate what it is you want in a college; this is very useful, and I am not just saying that because I love taking Buzzfeed quizzes! While taking that test, I realized that there are many more aspects to the admissions process to consider while making your list. If half of the schools on your list are not places you would actually like to be in, then you are likely making a mistake.

For those who are certain in their choices and the path they want, there is a section titled “A Guide for Preprofessionals.” There is also a page listing the schools with the strongest support for students with disabilities; this could be life changing for many. The next part is also similarly crucial. Each school has two to three pages describing what life is like for students on campus, from architectural style to weather to culture to food to average political affiliations.

Personally, I have found that finding a good fit has been very difficult for me. When most colleges are in different states and you can’t really visit most of the places on your list, getting a feel for the “vibe” of a place is pretty hard. But with this book, you can get a much better sense of what life could look like for you in different places. There is no doubt that the college applications process is a truly stressful time, but with this book you will definitely feel much more comfortable and informed as you look ahead into an uncertain future.

Marshmallow is reading Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026 (42nd Edition) by Edward B. Fiske. — Marshmallow is reading *Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026* (42nd Edition) by Edward B. Fiske.

Marshmallow’s Review: I really, really appreciate Mr. Fiske and his team. I am very glad they took the time to write beautifully detailed entries for each school, not to mention the little information bars that go with each. Each entry has a box with the school’s website, location type, private / public designation, total enrollment, undergraduate count, male to female ratio, financial aid stats, Pell Grant stats, expense, student loan stats, average debt, applicant pool size, acceptance rate, enrollment rate, graduation rate, returning freshman rate, academics assessment, social life assessment, quality of life assessment, admissions info, and strong programs. I think this is the best way to learn more about schools besides visiting a place physically. Helpful indexes also help you break down how the book analyzes and ranks different parts to consider. I specifically, especially liked how the book emphasizes the social life and quality of life of different schools. Personally, I do not want to go to a school with too much of a Greek life focus and this has been one of the clearest ways for me to get a sense of different opportunities at different schools. There is also a box at the end of each entry for each school that tells you the details of how to apply to each individual school (such as their testing policy with the SAT and ACT).

Overall, The Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026 has been a really, really helpful resource for me. It has actually opened my eyes substantially to all the different opportunities and futures there are. I used to be a lot more narrow-minded in where I was going to apply, but I’ve definitely crossed off certain places and added new ones because I realized that I simply had not known enough about each school. Every place is uniquely perfect for someone and, with this book, you can feel much safer and much more confident while you search for your place in college.

A quick note for those looking into earlier editions of the book: I also had the chance to peruse the 2024 edition, and I did not see too many differences in coverage and content. So I was happy to get my paws on the latest edition, but other recent editions can also do the job if they are easier to access.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026 (42nd Edition) by Edward B. Fiske 100%. — Marshmallow rates *Fiske Guide To Colleges 2026* (42nd Edition) by Edward B. Fiske 100%.

Marshmallow reviews The Archer by Paulo Coelho and Christoph Niemann

Today Marshmallow reviews The Archer, a short book originally written in 2003 by Paulo Coelho, illustrated by Christoph Niemann, and translated into English by Margaret Jull Costa.

Marshmallow reviews The Archer, written by Paulo Coelho, illustrated by Christoph Niemann, and translated into English by Margaret Jull Costa. — Marshmallow reviews *The Archer*, written by Paulo Coelho, illustrated by Christoph Niemann, and translated into English by Margaret Jull Costa.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like simple yet somewhat profound books, then this is the book for you!

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): At the beginning of this story, a stranger seeks out Tetsuya. Tetsuya is a humble carpenter now, but he used to be famous throughout the land for his prodigious gifts with a bow and arrow. His sudden retirement and disappearance were rather mysterious, but he is content to live in quiet and obscurity. The stranger searching for him is determined to find him though. He asks a boy from the town to take him to the carpenter and the two arrive at his shop. The stranger pleads Tetsuya to watch him shoot, saying he has mastered the way of the bow and merely wants Tetsuya’s approval to know that his training is complete. To show his worth, the stranger shoots a cherry off a cherry tree a certain distance away. Tetsuya calmly agrees and leads both the stranger and the boy up the mountain in silence. They arrive at a fraying bridge traversing a perilous river and Tetsuya walks to the middle. He shoots a peach off a tree only half the previous distance away from him. He asks the stranger to do the same, but the stranger fails. Tetsuya then tells him that he has mastered the bow but not his mind. With that lesson, he sends the stranger off, after having him promise to keep his identity secret.

The boy—who had been unaware of Tetsuya’s archery prowess till then—is awestruck and asks to be taught the way of the bow. As the master and young boy begin their long trek back to his shop, Tetsuya explains some of the founding ideals of the way of the bow and life as whole. After all, “the way of the bow is present in any human activity.”

Marshmallow is reading The Archer, written by Paulo Coelho, illustrated by Christoph Niemann, and translated into English by Margaret Jull Costa. — Marshmallow is reading *The Archer*, written by Paulo Coelho, illustrated by Christoph Niemann, and translated into English by Margaret Jull Costa.

Marshmallow’s Review: The Archer was an intriguing book. To be entirely honest, some of the advice is a little too vague and seemed slightly generic. I think a lot of what the author said has been said before, just in different ways.

The pictures by Christoph Niemann were very pretty though, and the minimalistic illustrative style was very calming to look at. They were, I thought, often unrelated to the text, but you can find connections between any two things if you look hard enough.

This goes for this entire book. The text is short and simple with only a couple words or a paragraph per page, making it very spread out. There are 130 or 131 pages but it does not take a lot of time to read at all. If one were to put all words into standard book pages, you would probably not need to go beyond 30-40 pages max.

The Archer is very calming to read. However, the advice and wisdom feels very simplistic and slightly obvious. I feel like this experience is very inspiring if you are willing to analyze every word, every page, every picture and infuse it with your own meaning. If you work hard to interpret everything in a new way, in a way besides the true simple meaning, then you might emerge with a new perspective on life. Without that kind of effort on the side of the reader, most of the text felt like a repetition of ideas that most people have already heard. That said, it was still nice to read. I just don’t know how truly novel this book is.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 94%.

Marshmallow rates The Archer, written by Paulo Coelho, illustrated by Christoph Niemann, and translated into English by Margaret Jull Costa, 94%. — Marshmallow rates *The Archer*, written by Paulo Coelho, illustrated by Christoph Niemann, and translated into English by Margaret Jull Costa, 94%.

Marshmallow reviews Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying (A Guide for Kids and Teens) by Barbara Oakley, Terrence Sejnowski, and Alistair McConville

Marshmallow occasionally reads and reviews books about how to be a good student and today she is writing about one such book: Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying (A Guide for Kids and Teens), a neat book by Barbara Oakley, Terrence Sejnowski, and Alistair McConville, published originally in 2018.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you are a student, a teacher, or anyone who has felt lost in school, then this is the book for you!

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): The book starts off with a note to parents and teachers who are reading the book to help a young student. The book officially starts with one of the authors, Oakley, introducing herself to the reader. She writes that she used to be a student who focused only on her liberal arts subjects, feeling that science and math (the subjects she struggled in) were not relevant to her because she was following her passions. However, I was a bit surprised to read the next sentence in which she reveals that she is now a professor of engineering—which requires a deep understanding of science and math as she admits. The enabling factor of this switch was her ability to learn how to learn. She next introduces her co-authors Sejnowski and McConville and then describes how her life changed and how she changed to adapt.

Most chapters in the book have case examples of somebody who, like Oakley, demonstrates the importance of knowing how to learn. Some of the chapter names are as follows: “The Problem with Passion,” “Easy Does It: Why Trying Too Hard Can Sometimes Be Part of the Problem,” “I’ll Do It Later, Honest! Using a Tomato to Beat Procrastination,” “Brain-Links and Fun with Space Aliens,” “Learning While You Sleep: How to Wake Up Smarter,” and “Learning Surprises: Pssst…Your Worst Traits Can Be Your Best Traits!”

One can probably tell that the book is full of interesting yet slightly silly-sounding topics. The authors talk about and teach a lot about fascinating neuroscience, but they explain everything with metaphors and cartoon drawings. There are a lot of pictures and the text of the book is large, so it is overall very comprehensible.

I liked how the authors synthesize the most relevant parts into tips at the end of the chapter. In order to teach the reader how to get better at learning, each chapter also has a list of questions to answer that help you do some active recall. I felt like these end-of-chapter activities make the book feel very interactive and energetic!

Overall, the authors provide a lot of intriguing information and shrewd advice. Some of the strategies were ones I had heard of before or have discovered on my own as a student, but a lot of them were also new to me. Each chapter focuses on a general theme or topic, expanding on the subject at hand throughout. This book is a great source for all students, teachers, and bunnies looking to get better at learning or just understand how the brain works better!

Marshmallow is reading Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying (A Guide for Kids and Teens) by Barbara Oakley, Terrence Sejnowski, and Alistair McConville. — Marshmallow is reading *Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying (A Guide for Kids and Teens)* by Barbara Oakley, Terrence Sejnowski, and Alistair McConville.

Marshmallow’s Review: I would highly recommend Learning How to Learn to everyone, especially students. I think (and I have heard some of my friends at school talk about this) that a lot of students feel as though they have never actually been taught how to learn. This is partially true, as most students are never told how to study or do their homework. When students are working on their own time, away from school and the direction of teachers, they are not always very good at knowing where to go or what to do. This book provides a lot of good instructions and helps steer the reader on a clearer, better path.

I regret not having read this book earlier. I will try to establish some of the habits suggested by this book and I hope that I will be better at learning and learning how to learn. I have already, on my own volition, focused a lot on how to learn and be a good student. For people also interested in this topic, I would also recommend looking at Cal Newport’s How to Be a High School Superstar and How to Become a Straight-A Student. This book is a lot more kid-friendly though, and a lot easier to read and understand. I really liked how interactive Learning How to Learn is and how it has a lot of images to break down the more complex ideas. I think the authors have done a very good thing by writing this book.

I would highly recommend that parents read Learning How to Learn with their children—the younger and earlier, the better. Too many bunnies fall behind in school because they feel like they simply aren’t smart enough to learn the material. This book shows that you don’t need to be smart, at least not in the way you think; you just need to try your best in a smarter way.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying (A Guide for Kids and Teens) by Barbara Oakley, Terrence Sejnowski, and Alistair McConville 100%. — Marshmallow rates *Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying (A Guide for Kids and Teens)* by Barbara Oakley, Terrence Sejnowski, and Alistair McConville 100%.

Marshmallow reviews Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown by Pema Chödrön

The book bunnies are back! Today in her first review for the new 2025-2026 season, Marshmallow is writing about Pema Chödrön’s short but impactful book, Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown, published first in 2015.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books about self-improvement, contemplation, and dealing with challenges, then this is the book for you!

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): The book starts with a foreword by Seth Godin, in which he introduces an interesting phrase from the author: “getting all the frogs in the bowl.” This essentially means that, despite all efforts, if you’re trying to get frogs to stay in a bowl, there will always be some that hop right out–which I presume is a metaphor for the occasional, unavoidable failure. He describes his own past with failure, citing the plethora of publishing rejections he experienced. But Chödrön, he says, teaches one how to dance while the frogs continue to jump. This piqued my interest.

Godin also mentions the “infinite game” (one you play not to win, but simply to play). He ties this into the jumping frogs, claiming that perhaps the jumping frogs are the point, rather than the orthodox objective of just getting them to sit still in the bowl. I found this point a little more difficult to tie into the objective of the book. Rather than focusing on how to grow from failure, it suggests that the entire purpose of existence is failure. I felt that this is a separate thesis that is harder to defend. But the foreword made me excited to start.

The central core of the book is derived from a speech Chödrön gave at her granddaughter’s college graduation. In it, she explains that she wasn’t sure her topic choice would be appropriate since preparation for failure (her topic choice) is superfluous–teachers and students hope–if one is taught to avoid mistakes in the first place. Yet, she says that the “fine art of failing” may be the most important lesson that these new graduates will learn in their entire lives.

Most of her speech centers on the topic of “welcoming the unwelcome.” Through this, Chödrön explains, one can turn towards their pain and their failures and learn from them by letting go.

Chödrön describes the two main responses we have towards failure: we often blame other people or other factors for it, and we almost always begin to experience some sort of self-identification with failure. The author describes how she hit rock bottom after leaving her second husband and found guidance with the founder of the college she is speaking at, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. She also recounts an old story which I found fascinatingly eye-opening. The speech then ends, and rather abruptly, but she delivers her message effectively and really does not need to say much else.

The third and final part of this book is an interview with the author conducted by Tami Simon. This section really goes way deeper on all the ideas introduced more briefly in the speech (which was shorter and interspersed with little calming illustrations).

Marshmallow is reading Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown by Pema Chödrön. — Marshmallow is reading *Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown* by Pema Chödrön.

Marshmallow’s Review: I found this to be a very engaging book. I agree with many of the ideas, and actually found that some of my own ideas appeared in this book. The author certainly has many novel, wise suggestions and is clearly trying to make the world and the reader better. I liked how the solution presented is more about addressing the pain of failure rather than how to prevent it because there are many amazing books about that too (see for example all the books by Cal Newport that I have already reviewed for our blog). But overall, the speech itself is like a calm, easy-to-read intro to the ideas that are expanded more in the interview.

I thought this was a very intellectually and emotionally engaging book. Overall, Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown is short, but engenders deep contemplation that will last for a long time.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 98%.

Marshmallow rates Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown by Pema Chödrön 98%. — Marshmallow rates *Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown* by Pema Chödrön 98%.