by Rudy Simone
Why You Will Like This Book:
- A very useful and informative book about Asperger's, with a female focus.
- It's easy to read and well laid-out, with separate sections for different perspectives (e.g. an Aspergirl, the parent of an Aspergirl, etc.).
And Why You Might Not:
- If you didn't have Asperger's or didn't know anyone with Asperger's, it would probably be more fruitful to get a different book, since this is a pretty personal type of book, specifically geared towards people who have dealt with this before.
by Parker J. Palmer
Why You Will Like This Book:
- It's beautiful, poetic, true, unusual.
- But with all this, it's very easy to read (and short).
- And I think it's ideas might be very important indeed for our modern life, where people forget their human nature.
And Why You Might Not:
- It's not Catholic, and often not specifically Christian. Some could be put off by this, because the ideas, though (I think) terribly important and true, could easily be misconstrued without the understanding of Christian moral theology.
- And that's my only criticism, because it's beautiful.
by Jeremy Dean
Why You Will Like This Book:
- Full of lots of helpful ideas & thoughts to get you to effectively change your life.
- But unlike many "self help" style books, this is backed up with many, many scientific studies.
And Why You Might Not:
- Sometimes he presents the studies in a way that is too generalized for my taste. (Academic studies are often misread in this way, I find. People misunderstand how specific these sorts of results are supposed to be.)
by Brené Brown
Why You Will Like This Book:
- It's a helpful reminder on the importance of "whole-hearted" living: connection, belonging, play, and resilience against shame and embarrassment.
- If you really take to hear what she's saying, and not just dismiss it as obvious, it have a really important impact on your life.
And Why You Might Not:
- There's a lot of emphasis on self-love. Although I completely agree with Brown's points on this, and she clarifies that she doesn't mean the kind of selfishness I think is not healthy, it still seems a slightly dangerous thing to emphasize. People misunderstand it very easily, and end up self-obsessed and narcissistic. I could have done with a more in-depth discussion on what exactly the healthy kind of self-love means, and what it doesn't.
- In fact, let's give this another bullet point: I could have done with more in-depth discussion in general. Really getting to the meat of things, with interesting statistics and perhaps even some philosophy. Though maybe that's just me...
