MD Saly – ~*LunaSea*~

Saly, M.D. How To Master the Power of Silence. 2026.

Reason read: I received this book by mistake. As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I often request ten to twelve books at a time. I cannot always remember which books I requested so when How to Master the Power of Silence showed up I assumed I had requested it. Nope. I didn’t realize my mistake until the real MD Saly book showed up.

Confessional: because this book was received in error I stopped reading it. In truth, I was relieved to not have to finish it. There was a great deal of redundancy in such a short book. In fifty pages, this is what I learned about silence.
Here are the things silence can do: give you perspective, give you room to think, encourages others to reflect, teaches you, makes you notice noise, gives you space, changes the way you communicate, protects emotional energy, acts like a filter, gives you more authority, creates space, starts reshaping who you are, creates respect, strengthens emotional relationships, improves self awareness, opens the door for you to understand yourself, helps you chose words, reshapes the room, serves as a tool to detect dishonesty, freeze chaos, make you smarter, make you calm, make you disciplined, gives your mind space, slows the moment, regulate behavior, prevent emotions form taking over, create space, refine perception, train you to observe, build confidence, brings a sense of self control, prevents misunderstanding, keeps situations from escalating, train your inner compass, interrupt the cycle, transform dynamics, and reshapes the room without aggression.
Here are the things silence is: a subtle authority, an advantage of emotional control, self control, stabilizing, an anchor, a physiological reset, a protective barrier, a filter, a doorway to clarity, space, about endurance, productive, fertile ground, strategic in social settings, a secret weapon, a tool (mentioned twice), a powerful tool, power (mentioned twice), powerful, active, hilarious, effective.
Here are the things silence is not: boring (mentioned twice), passive (mentioned three times), emptiness (mentioned twice), coldness, a sign of confusion, weakness, detachment.
Here are the things silence does not do: announce itself, argue, make you distant.
Everything in this book seemed to be common sense.

Saly, M.D. Deep Work for Distracted People: Simple Methods to Stay Focused, Think Clearly and Finish What Matters. 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing here is the correct book I was supposed to receive from M.D. Saly.

Cal Newport, Adam Grant, J.K. Rowling, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, reporters, engineers… They all devised ways to stay focused in times of heavy or concentrated work. Cal Newport is quoted the most as he wrote an entire book on the subject. Saly’s version, Deep Work for Distracted People: Simple Methods to Stay Focused, Think Clearly and Finish What Matters is much shorter with common sense tips for success. I found the suggestions about noise-canceling headphones and smart phone settings to be the most helpful (until I missed an important call from a not-so important number). A question though – if you are supposed to break up with your device, why encourage more apps to download? For the truly addicted this seems like a trap.
My favorite part of Deep Work for Distracted People was the information at the end of every chapter. Saly supplied a summary, the lesson learned, and specific takeaways relating to the chapter. It was a great way to sum up the extensive information covered in the previous chapter.
As an aside, I was inadvertently sent a different early review from Saly and I found Deep Work for Distracted People to be far more informative and less repetitive with subject matter. In fact, I enjoyed Saly’s writing in Depp Work for Distracted People. I was reminded of a runner I follow on Instagram who talks the same way Saly writes. I didn’t mind the analogies because I think in analogy all the time. I especially liked the comment about turning a noisy street into a quiet library.