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delaney253's review against another edition
It was hitting too hard, too close to home. I couldn’t get through the book fast enough for the library loan and it the content was weighing too heavy on me 😮💨😔 wanna try again when I have capacity to take it all in.
riannereads's review against another edition
Very interesting book that explores how so many different parts of society affect our health.
yoana_zarova's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
eguy's review against another edition
3.75
The "voices" used in the interview parts really threw me off.
hanzy's review against another edition
3.0
I love Gabor Maté's talks but while this book shares a good deal of information, it got tiresome and dry with a lot of anecdotal bits. It just felt a little all over the place and like the same information could have been presented in a more concise way.
azureyoshi's review
2.0
When I initially read Mate's works a few years ago, I was pretty sympathetic to his viewpoints - I believe that modern society causes a lot of trauma to individuals and that the mind-body connection is a real phenomenon. And I actually enjoyed When the Body Says No as a companion book of sorts to The Body Keeps the Score. So I figured a broader take by Mate could make a really solid magnum opus that I could recommend to others.
However, this book was a long-winded mess. I don't disagree with the book's recommendations for things people can do to help process and move through trauma (living authentically, feeling the full range of emotions, changing the culture of "normal", etc), but I strongly disagree with the lack of nuance in its core message. While I believe trauma exacerbates most medical conditions, I do not believe it *causes* all of them, which is the message Mate is trying to push this time. His cherry picked stories to back up his message this time were questionable at best and downright dangerous at worst (cancer patients making a spontaneous recovery).
Skim if you really want to check this out. It's not devoid of good content, but the nuggets of gold are surrounded by either trash or fluff.
However, this book was a long-winded mess. I don't disagree with the book's recommendations for things people can do to help process and move through trauma (living authentically, feeling the full range of emotions, changing the culture of "normal", etc), but I strongly disagree with the lack of nuance in its core message. While I believe trauma exacerbates most medical conditions, I do not believe it *causes* all of them, which is the message Mate is trying to push this time. His cherry picked stories to back up his message this time were questionable at best and downright dangerous at worst (cancer patients making a spontaneous recovery).
Skim if you really want to check this out. It's not devoid of good content, but the nuggets of gold are surrounded by either trash or fluff.