A heartfelt, thoughtfully constructed read that explores practical, self-driven solutions to common challenges and habits.
This debut self-help book by a psychotherapist explores the human experience of suffering and how readers may mitigate it to experience more joy and peace.
The author notes that she has master’s degrees in mental health nursing and divinity and a private psychotherapy practice, as well as more than 39 years of psychology experience. She alludes to an extensive knowledge of Buddhism, which resonates with many of her book’s premises, but she also strongly encourages readers to draw their own conclusions and seek their own paths. After an introduction that sheds light on the author’s personal journey with suffering, she presents its central question, which she’s often addressed with clients: “What the hell is going on?” The word “hell,” she says, expresses intense, unpleasant feelings in response to a life experience. She suggests using the phrase’s acronym, “WHIGO,” as a way to mentally soften the response to confusion and inject a positive spin that acknowledges the universal quest to make sense of it all. Once the WHIGO mantra is established, the book goes on to explore the notion of “secret” feelings, thoughts, and behaviors—that is, ingrained patterns that require real reflection. For example, one section (“We all think there’s something wrong with us, that we’re incomplete”) contains examples of people who, despite unquestionable success, still experience ongoing distress. The book highlights a common, correctable misstep, which underlies much of the content here: seeking fulfillment from outer, rather than inner, sources. In some parts of the book, the author jumps ahead, alluding too often to what’s coming in future chapters. However, the central metaphor of “hard drives” (basic, biologic operating systems) and “software” (changeable “programs” arising from experiences) works well, as do intermittent “Let’s stop for a minute” interjections. These pauses direct readers to think about a preceding section, apply it to an example, and finally, to a personal experience—an approach that allows for genuine self-reflection and problem-solving.
A heartfelt, thoughtfully constructed read that explores practical, self-driven solutions to common challenges and habits.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
For Howard Zinn, long-time civil rights and anti-war activist, history and ideology have a lot in common. Since he thinks that everything is in someone's interest, the historian—Zinn posits—has to figure out whose interests he or she is defining/defending/reconstructing (hence one of his previous books, The Politics of History). Zinn has no doubts about where he stands in this "people's history": "it is a history disrespectful of governments and respectful of people's movements of resistance." So what we get here, instead of the usual survey of wars, presidents, and institutions, is a survey of the usual rebellions, strikes, and protest movements. Zinn starts out by depicting the arrival of Columbus in North America from the standpoint of the Indians (which amounts to their standpoint as constructed from the observations of the Europeans); and, after easily establishing the cultural disharmony that ensued, he goes on to the importation of slaves into the colonies. Add the laborers and indentured servants that followed, plus women and later immigrants, and you have Zinn's amorphous constituency. To hear Zinn tell it, all anyone did in America at any time was to oppress or be oppressed; and so he obscures as much as his hated mainstream historical foes do—only in Zinn's case there is that absurd presumption that virtually everything that came to pass was the work of ruling-class planning: this amounts to one great indictment for conspiracy. Despite surface similarities, this is not a social history, since we get no sense of the fabric of life. Instead of negating the one-sided histories he detests, Zinn has merely reversed the image; the distortion remains.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1979
ISBN: 0061965588
Page Count: 772
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1979
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
