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249 reviews for:
The Chimp Paradox: The Acclaimed Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness
Steve Peters
3.74 AVERAGE
249 reviews for:
The Chimp Paradox: The Acclaimed Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness
Steve Peters
3.74 AVERAGE
Slow for basic concepts that weren't adding anything to my understanding of psychology or self
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This is a great book for those who have never engaged in any kind of self-appraisal whatsoever, especially if you are also unfamiliar with even the most basic elements of psychology. And I mean really, really basic. In The Chimp Paradox, Steve Peters presents his radical theory that there are two parts to the mind: a rational part and a emotional part. Wow. And that the emotional part sometimes interferes with the decision-making ability of the rational part. Hey, slow down brainiac!
And slow down he does. Because this idea is too taxing, he explains it thusly: there is a chimpanzee in your brain that tries to get you to act stupid. "You" being the rational part, because of course the over-emotional chimpanzee is a separate entity that needs to be placated. Oh, and also there's a giant computer in your brain and you and the chimp are constantly fighting for control over it (I assume that the computer is meant to represent the superego, but who even cares at this stage). The computer has gremlins in it which you must remove while trying to battle the chimp. All of this is taking place in space by the way, because you and the chimp and the computer with the gremlins are rocketing through the Psychological Universe (which is actually a solar system with 8 planets).
This would make a fantastic 8-bit platform game, and indeed it is all illustrated with the most bizarrely lousy hand-drawn graphics, which look like the result of 15 minutes work in MS Paint. Sadly it's not an awesome computer game, but is actually a pretty lousy self-help/psychology book. Also, by using the chimp in his metaphor rather than a monkey, his section on impulse control is called "Boxing The Chimp" rather than "Spanking The Monkey". A wasted opportunity, Steve Peters.
Apparently this book formed the basis of a programme that helped Chris Hoy win all of those gold medals. So there you are. Chris Hoy cycles so fast because he's scared that if he doesn't then an evil space-chimp will seize control of his brain-computer. Makes perfect sense.
And slow down he does. Because this idea is too taxing, he explains it thusly: there is a chimpanzee in your brain that tries to get you to act stupid. "You" being the rational part, because of course the over-emotional chimpanzee is a separate entity that needs to be placated. Oh, and also there's a giant computer in your brain and you and the chimp are constantly fighting for control over it (I assume that the computer is meant to represent the superego, but who even cares at this stage). The computer has gremlins in it which you must remove while trying to battle the chimp. All of this is taking place in space by the way, because you and the chimp and the computer with the gremlins are rocketing through the Psychological Universe (which is actually a solar system with 8 planets).
This would make a fantastic 8-bit platform game, and indeed it is all illustrated with the most bizarrely lousy hand-drawn graphics, which look like the result of 15 minutes work in MS Paint. Sadly it's not an awesome computer game, but is actually a pretty lousy self-help/psychology book. Also, by using the chimp in his metaphor rather than a monkey, his section on impulse control is called "Boxing The Chimp" rather than "Spanking The Monkey". A wasted opportunity, Steve Peters.
Apparently this book formed the basis of a programme that helped Chris Hoy win all of those gold medals. So there you are. Chris Hoy cycles so fast because he's scared that if he doesn't then an evil space-chimp will seize control of his brain-computer. Makes perfect sense.
medium-paced
I am ambivalent about this book. I think some of the self help advice is a good reminder and useful to read once in a while but the model itself disturbs me. I think the mind is more integrated than he leads us to believe.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Thoroughly enjoyed the first half and totally buy into its premiss but then found it slow and a bit tedious to finish.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.5*
It was good, just wasn’t for me. Would definitely be a good read for highly sensitive people or people who struggle with understanding and controlling their emotions. My problem is more that I hardly experience any emotions in the first place, so the advice and model weren’t really useful for me.
Also the model just became more and more far fetched and stretched out the metaphor too much. The point I lost it was when I saw “The Moon of Carrots” actually written on a page in a published book.
That being said it raised some interesting ideas and some points were relevant to me so not a complete waste of time.
It was good, just wasn’t for me. Would definitely be a good read for highly sensitive people or people who struggle with understanding and controlling their emotions. My problem is more that I hardly experience any emotions in the first place, so the advice and model weren’t really useful for me.
Also the model just became more and more far fetched and stretched out the metaphor too much. The point I lost it was when I saw “The Moon of Carrots” actually written on a page in a published book.
That being said it raised some interesting ideas and some points were relevant to me so not a complete waste of time.