An earnest and sincere book fueled by a clear belief in sharing as a means of catharsis.
A memoir and guidebook about recovering from shame.
Years ago, after her employer discovered that she used to work in the sex industry, Petro was demoted from her job as a teacher in the South Bronx. Petro, now a freelance writer, resigned amid “unrelenting humiliation.” More recently, when her special-needs son was exiled from the public school system, she wrestled with shame and feeling “like a pariah.” Loneliness often begets shame, Petro explains, which is why she repeatedly emphasizes the importance of connection. “Let’s get our shame out there on the table,” she writes, “and pick over its carcass, together.” The author interweaves her personal story with revelations gleaned from interviews with “real women talking about their self-conscious feelings and fears of inadequacy”; a broad look at the cultural roots of woman shaming; and a multifaceted approach to personal and collective healing. “Recovery isn’t a straight line,” writes the author. “I think of recovery and shame resilience as synonymous. Both are a struggle to trust people in a world where people have proven themselves untrustworthy.” Petro divides the book into two sections: “Identifying Shame” includes chapter headings such as “Perfect Monsters: How Society Weaponizes Shame Against Women,” and “Overcoming Shame” contains chapters such as “First Comes (Self) Love: Putting Ourselves First” and “Happier Endings: We Are More Than Monogamy and Mothering.” Though spirited and encouraging, the text suffers somewhat from repetition—e.g., “Here’s what we can all do to reclaim ourselves and banish shame: start to tell our own truths” and “The cure is telling and claiming our stories.” Petro’s primary qualifications are her experiences, dogged curiosity, and commitment to spreading compassion and understanding about shame and its many ramifications in the lives of women.
An earnest and sincere book fueled by a clear belief in sharing as a means of catharsis.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593714997
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
A sharp, entertaining view of the news media from one of its star players.
The veteran newscaster reflects on her triumphs and hardships, both professional and private.
In this eagerly anticipated memoir, Couric (b. 1957) transforms the events of her long, illustrious career into an immensely readable story—a legacy-preserving exercise, for sure, yet judiciously polished and insightful, several notches above the fray of typical celebrity memoirs. The narrative unfolds through a series of lean chapters as she recounts the many career ascendency steps that led to her massively successful run on the Today Show and comparably disappointing stints as CBS Evening News anchor, talk show host, and Yahoo’s Global News Anchor. On the personal front, the author is candid in her recollections about her midlife adventures in the dating scene and deeply sorrowful and affecting regarding the experience of losing her husband to colon cancer as well as the deaths of other beloved family members, including her sister and parents. Throughout, Couric maintains a sharp yet cool-headed perspective on the broadcast news industry and its many outsized personalities and even how her celebrated role has diminished in recent years. “It’s AN ADJUSTMENT when the white-hot spotlight moves on,” she writes. “The ego gratification of being the It girl is intoxicating (toxic being the root of the word). When that starts to fade, it takes some getting used to—at least it did for me.” Readers who can recall when network news coverage and morning shows were not only relevant, but powerfully influential forces will be particularly drawn to Couric’s insights as she tracks how the media has evolved over recent decades and reflects on the negative effects of the increasing shift away from reliable sources of informed news coverage. The author also discusses recent important cultural and social revolutions, casting light on issues of race and sexual orientation, sexism, and the predatory behavior that led to the #MeToo movement. In that vein, she expresses her disillusionment with former co-host and friend Matt Lauer.
A sharp, entertaining view of the news media from one of its star players.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-53586-1
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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