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caitlinmakesstuff's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
rachaelannestoll's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
malachi_oneill's review against another edition
4.0
Referred to me by a friend.
I always like reading books referred by friends or colleagues.
Helps me understand them much better.
Overall I liked this book.
I found myself distracted quite a bit throughout, however.
I'm usually one that thrives on examples of points being made.
In this case I became a little overwhelmed.
I think it perhaps it had to do with the cases themselves.
In many (most?) of the cases, I could not help but wonder about the trail of transitions that each of these interviewees was leaving behind in their own lives.
Not judging - just overwhelming for me.
Many of the transitions were of their choosing, thereby forcing events and changes upon others (some quite dramatic and perhaps traumatic). I found myself distracted by that, often.
I kept asking, as well, a sort of conundrum - is the lack of formal structure and our shared culture in our modern society causing a lot of these transitions in the first place, or have the transitions always been there and now they are just more visible and vocal?
Is the lack of formal structure (ritual, depth of culture, connectedness) exasperating the situation itself?
I think the author's point was that today's culture and society and it's condition of instability is just the way it is - and I appreciate that - he's correct.
I kept getting distracted by my own thoughts of trying to understand root cause analysis of it.
Just my brain trying to understand it.
Follow up question:
I'd like another book on a couple different topics -
People faced with similar struggles but that found stability and help in transitions in long-standing traditions, rituals, etc. - Not just personalized, individualized solutions but what community - based, historical, traditions or rituals have people benefited from and how?
It'd also be interesting - and I found myself distracting myself with this question as well -
Stories of people that faced challenges and instead of transitioning, figured out how to work through some of their own personal challenges in terms of staying together, or going to therapy to learn how to be a better (fill in the blank) for their children, or to deal with trauma, etc.
Perhaps I'm wondering how resiliency factors into this, or commitment, or other outcomes.
I realize that not every situation can be resolved with resiliency or commitment but there were enough examples in the book that I kept wondering about if there was an additional layer of initial triggering circumstances that would be interesting to understand (internal vs. external stimulus, etc.) Not judging anyone. Just curious and found myself being distracted by.
I really liked the ending - about Telling Stories.
It's a theme I've just been coming up against lately - People are dying to be heard.
Like literally dying, and they just want to be heard, felt heard, acknowledged as humans, as individuals.
Very touching ending with his Dad.
Really gave me a lot to think about in terms of what a gift is to give to others to just be able to listen to them and have them feel heard.
I wonder if nursing homes can or do a project where they do Guided Autobiographies for their residents.
I was impressed by the amount of work that went into the interviews themselves and detail.
Tremendous amount of work.
I really liked the interview questions at the end of the book.
Very insightful.
I always like reading books referred by friends or colleagues.
Helps me understand them much better.
Overall I liked this book.
I found myself distracted quite a bit throughout, however.
I'm usually one that thrives on examples of points being made.
In this case I became a little overwhelmed.
I think it perhaps it had to do with the cases themselves.
In many (most?) of the cases, I could not help but wonder about the trail of transitions that each of these interviewees was leaving behind in their own lives.
Not judging - just overwhelming for me.
Many of the transitions were of their choosing, thereby forcing events and changes upon others (some quite dramatic and perhaps traumatic). I found myself distracted by that, often.
I kept asking, as well, a sort of conundrum - is the lack of formal structure and our shared culture in our modern society causing a lot of these transitions in the first place, or have the transitions always been there and now they are just more visible and vocal?
Is the lack of formal structure (ritual, depth of culture, connectedness) exasperating the situation itself?
I think the author's point was that today's culture and society and it's condition of instability is just the way it is - and I appreciate that - he's correct.
I kept getting distracted by my own thoughts of trying to understand root cause analysis of it.
Just my brain trying to understand it.
Follow up question:
I'd like another book on a couple different topics -
People faced with similar struggles but that found stability and help in transitions in long-standing traditions, rituals, etc. - Not just personalized, individualized solutions but what community - based, historical, traditions or rituals have people benefited from and how?
It'd also be interesting - and I found myself distracting myself with this question as well -
Stories of people that faced challenges and instead of transitioning, figured out how to work through some of their own personal challenges in terms of staying together, or going to therapy to learn how to be a better (fill in the blank) for their children, or to deal with trauma, etc.
Perhaps I'm wondering how resiliency factors into this, or commitment, or other outcomes.
I realize that not every situation can be resolved with resiliency or commitment but there were enough examples in the book that I kept wondering about if there was an additional layer of initial triggering circumstances that would be interesting to understand (internal vs. external stimulus, etc.) Not judging anyone. Just curious and found myself being distracted by.
I really liked the ending - about Telling Stories.
It's a theme I've just been coming up against lately - People are dying to be heard.
Like literally dying, and they just want to be heard, felt heard, acknowledged as humans, as individuals.
Very touching ending with his Dad.
Really gave me a lot to think about in terms of what a gift is to give to others to just be able to listen to them and have them feel heard.
I wonder if nursing homes can or do a project where they do Guided Autobiographies for their residents.
I was impressed by the amount of work that went into the interviews themselves and detail.
Tremendous amount of work.
I really liked the interview questions at the end of the book.
Very insightful.
tiffyb's review against another edition
5.0
DNF about 3/5 of the way through, only because it felt that the author said what they needed to say in the first few chapters and didn’t have much to add the further you read. Still gets five stars because I REALLY enjoyed and was helped by the first few chapters!!
hananr8's review against another edition
I stopped reading self help books long time ago. They rarely provide genuine practical advice. The reason I picked this book though is because the author is a cancer survivor. I have a tendency to believe people who went through a life turning disaster more easily.
Going through a life transition myself, I thought he might have something useful I could learn.
Nothing is novel about this book. It is plain common sense that life is hard and that change is the one permanent truth. People are adaptive, they move on, they found new ways to live. How can anyone doubt that in the midst of a pandemic?
I have 2389 followers on Twitter. I can ask them to tell me their life stories and I would analyze them and interpret them way better that Bruce Feiler did with his 225 people but I can NOT call that robust data. Reading this book to the last page was a test of my endurance and I think I gracefully passed!
Going through a life transition myself, I thought he might have something useful I could learn.
Nothing is novel about this book. It is plain common sense that life is hard and that change is the one permanent truth. People are adaptive, they move on, they found new ways to live. How can anyone doubt that in the midst of a pandemic?
I have 2389 followers on Twitter. I can ask them to tell me their life stories and I would analyze them and interpret them way better that Bruce Feiler did with his 225 people but I can NOT call that robust data. Reading this book to the last page was a test of my endurance and I think I gracefully passed!
jvos's review against another edition
5.0
“And it’s clear that transitions are a lifetime sport that nobody is teaching us how to play.”
This book very much highlighted the quote above. I appreciated the various stories that the structure for which this book was written. It helped me not feel alone and inspired me as we are coming out of our own pileup.
This book very much highlighted the quote above. I appreciated the various stories that the structure for which this book was written. It helped me not feel alone and inspired me as we are coming out of our own pileup.