I checked out quite a few of these and was excited to re-learn and learn things for the first time. I skimmed the second half of this. I've read acting guides before and one had me aaaalll ready to pack up and move to LA or New York...until it sank in what they were really advocating, which was to turn myself into a living, breathing Barbie Doll. No; I am staying right here in Seattle and auditioning for so-called small projects. So, I approached acting guides this time with a -lot- more caution and a more solid sense of self, as I've been auditioning for Seattle stuff for five years or so. I read a guide that was legit nothing but condescending and creepily written second-person with massive, tangled heaps of name-dropping, and didn't bother reviewing or rating it.
This one wasn't written nearly as much in second-person, but about half was. It was probably supposed to impart a sense of warmth and "I've been there," but it did not. It was also victim-blamey, contradicted itself a lot and had definite bigotry in it, which the industry does and I hate that. There were mentions of animal cruelty that didn't need to be in there and just--I set the book down feeling self-righteous about staying in Seattle. Above all, this book stressed the utter and complete and forever desperate need for an agent and looked down on live theater, and tried to push readers to go out for movies and TV. Guess who does live theater and some student films. And seriously, all an agent does is get you auditions? Dude, I do that -myself- because a kind former actor alerted me to a bustling, great website. I thought an agent was--I think I imagined a talent manager, more closely. This book was -not- what I was looking for, but it helped me be firm all over again about staying in my relatively tiny city with a wonderful website for live theater actors.

The singing guides I got were waaaay above my pay grade. I think I would do best having my range checked and then singing in a college choir if I can get in, 101-type thing. Someday I'll learn to read music, but that's a ways away.
There was another acting guide that went way over my head, and a book on German Expressionism because I google it often and still don't understand. Maybe I can google if there's a "explain like I'm five" reddit thread on it. ( )