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shauna_reads's review against another edition
2.0
Not a fan.
King, a self-proclaimed non-worrier, writes a book about.... worrying. I understand the intention was to outline some tips on how to worry less and be more like Dr. King, especially for those who are plagued by worry in our daily lives. But how many times did he have to remind the reader he is naturally laid-back, generally unbothered, and go-with-the-flow? We. Get. It. All of us who worry constantly are annoyed by now!!!
Also, the help offered was actually not all that helpful in that nothing written was profound. All of it has been heard before many times. If I heard one more analogy referencing either a bear or a traffic jam, I was going to s c r e a m.
In all honestly this book annoyed me and I had to push myself to finish it.
So why did I finish it? It was a short, quick read and I kept hoping there would be some small nugget of helpful takeaway info.
King, a self-proclaimed non-worrier, writes a book about.... worrying. I understand the intention was to outline some tips on how to worry less and be more like Dr. King, especially for those who are plagued by worry in our daily lives. But how many times did he have to remind the reader he is naturally laid-back, generally unbothered, and go-with-the-flow? We. Get. It. All of us who worry constantly are annoyed by now!!!
Also, the help offered was actually not all that helpful in that nothing written was profound. All of it has been heard before many times. If I heard one more analogy referencing either a bear or a traffic jam, I was going to s c r e a m.
In all honestly this book annoyed me and I had to push myself to finish it.
So why did I finish it? It was a short, quick read and I kept hoping there would be some small nugget of helpful takeaway info.
cfeely's review against another edition
5.0
Helpful and Hilarious
I feel like I learned a lot more than I expected through reading this book. It really provided numerous tangible actions that I could take into my own life while also being pretty dang funny. Would totally recommend this book to others!
I feel like I learned a lot more than I expected through reading this book. It really provided numerous tangible actions that I could take into my own life while also being pretty dang funny. Would totally recommend this book to others!
teanahk's review against another edition
2.0
Take your vacation time, breathe, think positively, gratitude journal, laugh. We’ve all seen the advice. There is nothing new here except the tangents about the authors life and loooooooooooooooong anecdotes and interviews. There is a whole chapter about the author having sleep apnea to illustrate how sleep is important.
Meh. Oh so very meh.
Meh. Oh so very meh.
kermit_the_cat's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
4.5
kvill's review against another edition
4.0
I wasn't expecting a deep diagnosis into any disorders - that's not what the book is about. Instead, I felt like I got a chance to learn about how to identify when something should be considered stressful - bears vs traffic - and what kind of attitude to adopt in order to address it.
The tone helped reinforce the author's own approach to "stress" - sometimes what we consider to be stressful isn't as big of a deal as we might think and just takes a bit of reframing/planning/thinking to feel more confident in our ability to overcome.
I enjoyed his anecdotes, stories, and interviews on his friends/family. Particularly, I liked the outright pride and optimism for his daughter.
I believe this is towards the end; my favourite quote was:
I was happy to discover that I ended the book knowing a little more about the ways stress can impact us in the long term, the importance of resilience and problem-solving, and how sometimes we just need to stick a pencil between our teeth and fake (a smile) til we make it.
The tone helped reinforce the author's own approach to "stress" - sometimes what we consider to be stressful isn't as big of a deal as we might think and just takes a bit of reframing/planning/thinking to feel more confident in our ability to overcome.
I enjoyed his anecdotes, stories, and interviews on his friends/family. Particularly, I liked the outright pride and optimism for his daughter.
Spoiler
I believe this is towards the end; my favourite quote was:
"I wanted to live my life to the fullest at every age and when people asked me about the best time of my life, I would have no problem pointing to the present."
I was happy to discover that I ended the book knowing a little more about the ways stress can impact us in the long term, the importance of resilience and problem-solving, and how sometimes we just need to stick a pencil between our teeth and fake (a smile) til we make it.
scarlet_begonia21's review against another edition
3.0
This is a quaint and funny book about stress, and I really wish goodreads had 0.5 stats available because this is a solid 3.5 (aka, it was good but not 4-star great). Brian King is a PhD psychologist and comedian, so this book was smart as well as funny! I picked this up as part of OverDrive’s April 2021 Big Read. Yes, I did like it and learned a lot about how our happiness is tied to reducing stress, and the ways in which we can reduce stress/worry/anxiety. However, I felt like a lot of what the author was saying basically boiled down to 1) recognize your stressors and then 2) “don’t worry about it.” I did like the stories and analogies about how to recognize our sources of stress and combat them. But, it was a lot of advice that I felt could be categorized as “easier said than done” for someone struggling with anxiety or depression. Still worth a quick read if you’re interested in this type of self-help/stress reduction.
books10's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book because it was part of a library Big Read program where lots of people were reading the same book together. I liked it! The author is a Ph.d and comedian so it has some funny parts. Bit the overall theme is that stress and worry are bad on my levels and what we can do to avoid it
ekcronin1's review against another edition
This was challenging to read. The attempts at humor were forced and the author’s position of privilege as an educated white man overwhelmingly seeped into all his anecdotes and left a bad taste.