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jazz_maree's review against another edition
3.0
This book started off great. The first few chapters were both very interesting and insightful and there is lots to be learnt about the complexity of anxiety disorders, however it went totally down hill towards the middle. It was just very boring. In fact, I skipped the whole chapter about Smith’s love interest because after reading so many pages about his anxiety disorder I just did not care about his heterosexual relationship.
iamanna's review against another edition
✎☆I don't really like to rate biographies/memoirs because it's someone's experience of life and their struggles. I did find this book okay, witty at times, and with a specific humour for the author's mental illness.
holly_keimig's review
2.0
I had rather high expectations going into this book. I wanted to better understand the anxious people in my life and was hoping for something other than just breathing tips to be able to help them. Since this was a biography, I was hoping it would help me understand better what it's like inside an anxious mind. The main character did have some helpful ideas near the end of the book and I could relate to some of what he said based on personal experience with anxiety. That said, I spent most of the book wishing that the author wasn't blaming his anxiety on his upbringing/mother or talking about his experience with a potential rape. I found it very hard to relate to him and found the things he fixated on rather grating at times. This book could have been so much more. It might be helpful for those who have dealt with the things the author has, but as a general anxiety memoir, it probably isn't for most people seeking something relatable. There are some pretty triggering topics in the book as well.
cynnreads's review against another edition
2.0
This is a memoir about the authors struggle with anxiety. Unfortunately I keep reading books that are just not pulling me in. The way the author writes was hard for me to follow and keep interest. He jumps from one thing to a completely different thing. This book was very difficult for me to read and I kept reading it to get to the 'good part' which never came. I was so relieved to be done with it. I do not recommend this book.
skylarkochava's review against another edition
5.0
As an anxious person, I thought this book was fantastic. I wish I could get my friends and family to read it, but they didn't think it sounded interesting. Anxiety comes in many forms and my problems weren't really represented in the book, but it conveys so well what an anxious mind is like. I felt that I understood myself a little better, and I even learned a thing or two along the way. It's also a very entertaining read.
stevenyenzer's review against another edition
3.0
As someone who has struggled with anxiety, I was struck by how familiar Smith's very specific descriptions were. Although I enjoyed his deep look at this truly shitty affliction, I couldn't shake the feeling that he found himself just a little bit funnier than I found him.
algae429's review against another edition
2.0
I'd heard this book talked about on NPR and thought that it sounded funny and could be a glimpse into the world of anxiety I was beginning to think I had issues with. I was expecting a more holistic look at living with anxiety and how people deal with.
Instead, this book is a self-absorbant look at one man's anxiety. Much of the first half of the book deals with the loss of his virginity and the second half kind of speeds through everything else in his life. He doesn't expand on his ideas.
It's not that this is a bad book; it's pretty well written, if wordy and wandering, and you really feel sorry for the dude at several times. It's just that it's so about him that you feel there's no room for anyone else.
Instead, this book is a self-absorbant look at one man's anxiety. Much of the first half of the book deals with the loss of his virginity and the second half kind of speeds through everything else in his life. He doesn't expand on his ideas.
It's not that this is a bad book; it's pretty well written, if wordy and wandering, and you really feel sorry for the dude at several times. It's just that it's so about him that you feel there's no room for anyone else.
sarahenn's review against another edition
5.0
What a tremendously wise and insightful book about anxiety. Couldn't recommend it enough.
anitaashland's review against another edition
3.0
Smith's acute anxiety makes one's own seem very ordinary in comparison. His memoir approach to writing about anxiety, versus a self-help/how-to approach, is interesting. "Admit the anxiety as an essential part of yourself and in exchange that anxiety will be converted into energy, unstable but manageable."