Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Review: Say Goodbye to Anger by Ondrej Hrdy


Genre: Non-fiction/Self-Help

Description:

“We live in a society that is swimming in anger. We can see it in news, politics and even at home. Anger can unconsciously ruin our health. It is one of the most powerful and dangerous emotions. Moreover, you probably don't see yourself as being an angry person. But your constant annoyance and impatience are all anger based.

And that’s exactly what this book is all about. It'll help you with not just the anger, but also with your irritation, annoyance and impatience problems. The book is laced with stories and step by step techniques. You’ll find there 3 powerful techniques which will surely help you to say goodbye to all your anger problems forever.”

Author:

The author specializes in what he calls “mindfulness.” The short explanation of this is realizing that the route to happiness is as much about your perception as it is about what happens to you. For a longer, more detailed, and probably more accurate explanation, visit his website.

Appraisal:

To say I have conflicting thoughts and opinions on this book would be an understatement.

I’ll start with the issue I had that is easiest to explain. That is there are a lot of issues with grammar. They’re all minor nitpicky things. Sentences that I felt had an extra or missing word or the wrong form of a word was used. Something like this … “To change your behavior, to be able to reprogram your subconscious mind, you have to change your perception of an anger.” What is “an anger”? Or saying, “They looks like …” rather than “they look like …” If this kind of thing bothers you, you might want to stay clear. There is enough of this here that I’d have noticed it in a book much longer, with an issue every couple page turns on a Kindle.

Assuming you can overlook or work through the grammar issues for good information, give it a read and see what you think. I’m torn on that as well. The author’s advice makes a lot of sense, to a point. I don’t want to say too much and steal his thunder (so this will be way more vague than you might like). I believe that adjusting our thinking in the ways that he proposes will, to a point, both improve our lives and focus our energies more productively.

However, I did say I was torn, right? I think at some point, applying his advice in every situation, you might be going too far. Allowing yourself to be taken advantage of to an extreme degree and then blaming yourself. I almost wonder if the term Stockholm Syndrome wouldn’t apply at some point. The trick is figuring out how far to take it and how to react when it goes too far.

Sorry for the vagueness. If you’re intrigued enough to grab yourself a copy and give it a read, I’d be interested in hearing other opinions.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

Way too many issues with grammar and proofing. Almost all are minor nitpicky things, but the number I saw were bad enough I’d find it unacceptable in a full-length novel many times longer than this short read.

Rating: *** Three Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 12-13,000 words

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