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A review by mcc
Awkward: The Science of Why We're Socially Awkward and Why That's Awesome by Ty Tashiro
3.0
Listened to this as an audiobook and flew threw it in about 2 days. I have spent a lot of time wondering "Do I have a mild case of aspergers? Or just extreme social anxiety? What's wrong with me??" I had never realized that I could just be "Awkward". It really fits because I've always felt like my social anxiety wasn't undue - it always seemed like a fairly rational response to how I perform sociallly. I've always had that feeling that everyone else was given some secret book to navigating social situations that I just...missed out on. It was so nice to hear some explanations of why and how it works - the descriptions of spotlight focus and how it's also a gift because it helps me see and appreciate some things others don't, while also being a curse, since it means I also don't see the larger choreographed pictures that others see, really helped me find the benefits of being awkward.
I also really appreciated the author's use of examples from his own life - they were both hilarious and totally relatable for me. While I never actually edited my Valentines cards in elementary school, I definitely sorted them in order of the intensity of the message and made sure to only give the strongly worded ones to people I really liked and the neutral ones to everyone else. I was already pretty sure that this kind of deliberate choice was NOT a behavior my peers were doing - I saw them just write names on each card without even READING the actual sentiment and became aware that something in me was very different...
The end of the book focused on the link between 'gifted' or intelligence and awkwardness and it felt a little self-indulgent, but also helped me make sense of the feeling of isolation and awkwardness I've felt my whole life and how when I finally find myself in the right sets of nerds, my awkwardness can disappear.
The science part was a little light and I didn't leave the book convinced that I was AWESOME, but I did leave it with a feeling of better understanding of myself and a comforting sense of camaraderie remembering that I am definitely not alone and in good company of my fellow awkward nerds.
I also really appreciated the author's use of examples from his own life - they were both hilarious and totally relatable for me. While I never actually edited my Valentines cards in elementary school, I definitely sorted them in order of the intensity of the message and made sure to only give the strongly worded ones to people I really liked and the neutral ones to everyone else. I was already pretty sure that this kind of deliberate choice was NOT a behavior my peers were doing - I saw them just write names on each card without even READING the actual sentiment and became aware that something in me was very different...
The end of the book focused on the link between 'gifted' or intelligence and awkwardness and it felt a little self-indulgent, but also helped me make sense of the feeling of isolation and awkwardness I've felt my whole life and how when I finally find myself in the right sets of nerds, my awkwardness can disappear.
The science part was a little light and I didn't leave the book convinced that I was AWESOME, but I did leave it with a feeling of better understanding of myself and a comforting sense of camaraderie remembering that I am definitely not alone and in good company of my fellow awkward nerds.