Recent Posts

the cover of the book How Children Succeed by Paul Tough featuring the title over a line of colored pencils in the background

Book review: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough

Why do some people succeed and others fail? This book argues that it's not just how you're born. Instead, the key is noncognitive skills—and the good news is, you can practice and improve them.
the cover of the book Good Prose by Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd featuring a stack of books

Book review: Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction by Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd

The authors' fundamental assumption is that you can learn to write better. This book is their attempt to help you do that. Here's what I found helpful and inspiring in their work.
tags: writing books
a shelf of colorful cognitive science books

How Reading Books Can Help You Reclaim Your Attention

Ever felt like you can't concentrate the way you used to? You're not alone. Scrolling through social media is easy. But reading a novel? You're in luck. Here's how to retrain your attention span.
ebook cover of homeschooling with gentleness book

Book review: Homeschooling with Gentleness: A Catholic Discovers Unschooling by Suzie Andres

This book discusses questions such as: Is moral education separate from academic education? What are common objections to Catholic unschooling?
sunlight and blue sky behind wide green leaves

Book Review: Forest Therapy by Sarah Ivens

A book filled with suggestions for seasonal ways to embrace nature, ideas for incorporating the outdoors into daily life, and research on how being outdoors improves well-being.
Hardcover edition of the book Live Not By Lies by Rod Dreher

Book Review: Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher: A Manual for Christian Dissidents

This book argues that communist totalitarianism is coming to America, soon, and we have to prepare now if we're going to survive. But Dreher isn't nearly worried enough.
Paperback copy of the book The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher

Book Review: The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation

This book presents a strategy for Christians living in a post-Christian nation: namely, that we've lost the culture war and need to focus on preserving the light.
Drawing of Sherman Avenue in Couer d'Alene, Idaho

America Needs Strong Towns and Community, Not More Infrastructure

How do we build prosperity? The key is in little actions that have big payouts—because human cities are complex systems that learn and adapt, not complicated machines we can fix.

Join our community!

Did you know a group of owls is called a parliament?

About

We're Jacqueline and Randy, a blogging duo with backgrounds in tech, robots, art, and writing, now raising our family in northern Idaho.

Our goal is to encourage deliberate choices, individual responsibility, and lifelong curiosity by sharing stories about our adventures in living, loving, and learning.

Learn more about us.


Connect:

whoo@deliberateowl.com

Start here

Curious about our life and journey? Here are some good places to start reading:

Jacqueline and Randy leaning their heads together smiling at the camera

A Blog About Education, Lifestyles, and Community

A brief history of how the Deliberate Owl came to be and why we're writing a blog about us, our lives, and how we're living out our values.
Priests in red and gold celebrate a traditional Latin Mass

Discovering the Traditional Catholic Mass

How I discovered the traditional Latin Mass a few years ago, why that discovery changed everything for me, and what was wrong with the Novus Ordo Masses I'd attended.