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The author made some really good points and I can appreciate his suggestions for putting these points into practice. However, I think it’s important for the reader to understand how valuable and incredibly useful “thought” and reflection can be. I found a lot of Nguyen’s points to be true for overthinking. Nothing he said was groundbreaking by any means and a lot of his writing was repetitive throughout the 130 pages. Also, he quoted Henry Ford who is a known anti-Semite. Why?
Nguyen provides an excellent approach to compliment and go deeper into any mindfulness practices you might already have.
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Really enjoyed the message of the book, but I feel like it was poorly executed. The writing was lackluster, repetitive, and even confusing at points.
fast-paced
"Buddhists say that anytime we experience a negative event in our lives, two arrows fly our way. Being physically struck by an arrow is painful. Being struck by a second emotional arrow is even more painful (suffering)." Pg 13, Ch 1.
I was hanging out at Barnes and Noble doing some reading on my own in the cafe, but decided to take a gander around the store. This book caught my eye. I have a personal interest in epistemology, and the title of this book suggested that the book was exploring how our emotions affect our perception and accurate understanding of truth...But to my disappointment, that was not what this book was about. This book isn't bad, but I don't think it is very good. It is pretty much a new age pop psychology/spirituality for contemporary audiences. The thesis of this book is basically "Thinking is the cause of suffering, so the solution to alleviating your suffering is to think as little as possible." I think I agree with what is taught in this book, but I disagree with the heuristics of this book. Heuristics as I understand them is the form that lessons are packaged in. They can be sayings or apologetics that the book emphasizes to try and get the reader to remember. I do think this book is great as a first principles of personal psychology, and your inner world/relationship with yourself, but by no means should this book be consumed by itself. I think how this book emphasizes that thinking creates mental suffering is accurate, but is incomplete. From my own experiences I do think that thinking can and does cause stress and anxiety, but is more of a correlative affect, and not directly causative. I am not a psychologist, and I don't think the author is either. This book does not provide a complete model of understanding, and lacks quality control, but it could help the reader, but I also think it could cause harm to the reader.
Suggesting the reader to not think is an incredibly dangerous idea, and one should weigh this books ideas carefully before you put your full faith in what it teaches. If the author was to release another book, I would want to see him explore models and methods of how to engage with the intellect, and how to think, in a way that is productive and does not cause emotional suffering.
Title: Don't Believe Everything You Think
Series:
Order:
Author/Editor: Joseph Nguyen
Note (Accolades):
Genre/Subject: Self Help, Mental Health, Psychology
Pages: 86
Owned/Platform: PDF
Excitement: 6
Rating: 4
How did I hear about it: Saw it on a table at Barnes & Noble. The title intrigued me, and it seemed relatively short, so I picked it up and read through most of it while I was at B&N.
Finished: Yes
Read over the course of: 2 days
Date Finished: Tue, Mar 25, 2025
Reason Finished: It was really short, and I was curious to see if my issues with the book would be resolved.
Reason Dropped:
Expectations: Below
Pacing Feel: Too Short
Style: Contemporary
Worth My Time: Not Really
I was hanging out at Barnes and Noble doing some reading on my own in the cafe, but decided to take a gander around the store. This book caught my eye. I have a personal interest in epistemology, and the title of this book suggested that the book was exploring how our emotions affect our perception and accurate understanding of truth...But to my disappointment, that was not what this book was about. This book isn't bad, but I don't think it is very good. It is pretty much a new age pop psychology/spirituality for contemporary audiences. The thesis of this book is basically "Thinking is the cause of suffering, so the solution to alleviating your suffering is to think as little as possible." I think I agree with what is taught in this book, but I disagree with the heuristics of this book. Heuristics as I understand them is the form that lessons are packaged in. They can be sayings or apologetics that the book emphasizes to try and get the reader to remember. I do think this book is great as a first principles of personal psychology, and your inner world/relationship with yourself, but by no means should this book be consumed by itself. I think how this book emphasizes that thinking creates mental suffering is accurate, but is incomplete. From my own experiences I do think that thinking can and does cause stress and anxiety, but is more of a correlative affect, and not directly causative. I am not a psychologist, and I don't think the author is either. This book does not provide a complete model of understanding, and lacks quality control, but it could help the reader, but I also think it could cause harm to the reader.
Suggesting the reader to not think is an incredibly dangerous idea, and one should weigh this books ideas carefully before you put your full faith in what it teaches. If the author was to release another book, I would want to see him explore models and methods of how to engage with the intellect, and how to think, in a way that is productive and does not cause emotional suffering.
Title: Don't Believe Everything You Think
Series:
Order:
Author/Editor: Joseph Nguyen
Note (Accolades):
Genre/Subject: Self Help, Mental Health, Psychology
Pages: 86
Owned/Platform: PDF
Excitement: 6
Rating: 4
How did I hear about it: Saw it on a table at Barnes & Noble. The title intrigued me, and it seemed relatively short, so I picked it up and read through most of it while I was at B&N.
Finished: Yes
Read over the course of: 2 days
Date Finished: Tue, Mar 25, 2025
Reason Finished: It was really short, and I was curious to see if my issues with the book would be resolved.
Reason Dropped:
Expectations: Below
Pacing Feel: Too Short
Style: Contemporary
Worth My Time: Not Really
slow-paced
slow-paced
I listening to this as an audiobook and of course the ideas really make you think about how your brain is wired and ways to understand it better but I think the way it was conveyed was a bit pessimistic.