Getting past the Forward of this book was a task in itself.  As an advocate of self-help books, I could
not, however, surmise where the author was going with his  life stories, endless reflections or
quizzes.

Drawing on his father’s deplorable life, the author prefaces the book
with several statements on how reading it will change your life.  He should have added a chapter educating the
reader on how to make sense of the reflections, quizzes and power drills that
he adds at the end of each chapter.

The main goal of the book is to banish negative thoughts, work on
"healing yourself" as well as choosing the life you want.  The author also finds the need to bash
traditional therapy on more than one occasion.

Regaling the reader with stories of being lost at sea in a New Jersey
storm, high school football games, as well as his upbringing in a Catholic
school (what the Catholic school has to do with anything, I have no idea, nor
did I come up with one by the end of the book), the author tries to impart on
the reader the sense that all is not lost, and that for every problem, there is
an answer. Just follow his rules, take his quizzes and brand his "reflections"
into your brain, and you’ll live a free and easy life.   Just read Chapter Eight!  As a youngster, the author got fed up with
the fact that his model boat broke and threw the whole thing away!  Something I should have done with this book
after the first chapter.

Had the author himself completed the therapy he started many years ago,
he probably would have had the sense, as well as the authority to write better
self-help books.  The material in this
book is redundant, as evidenced in almost every chapter.  The quizzes are almost an insult to the
intelligent, the "reflections" are comparable to those you find on
inspirational calendars, and the True/False questionnaires are similar to those
found in teen magazines.

A boring read written by a self-proclaimed, self-absorbed psychologist.

©
2005 Dana Vigilante

Dana Vigilante is a hospice educator as well as an
advocate for proper end-of-life care and a certified bereavement group
facilitator. Currently writing a book based on interviews with terminally ill
hospice patients, she divides her time between New Jersey and San Francisco.

Categories: SelfHelp