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A review by lenjamin
How to Develop Emotional Health by Oliver James
2.0
I found the first few chapters of this book really interesting, and it appealed to the part of my brain that is very big on statistics. But as I continued to read, I became increasingly aware of the lack of references for anything Oliver James was writing, which at points made it impossible to seperate acedemic studies from his own opinion.
I'm assuming the intended audience for this book is women, too, since the chapter dedicated to good parenting only focuses on motherhood and how not to pick a bad partner (which also includes perspectives that were maybe too informed by Freudian theory) what makes this concerning is the fact that it seems that James's opinions on how to be an emotionally healthy woman includes being "unassuming and friendly. That she has a slim figure and a captivatingly pretty face is made incidental by her manner. By being modestly beautiful, rather than overtly, provocatively sexual, she discourages men from relating to her purely as an object of desire, and does not arouse the envy of other women." (p79) connecting Geraldine's emotional health to her unassuming beauty is a weird point to stress.
There is value in this book, don't get me wrong, but it becomes a challenge to seperate these nuggets from the rest of the text: particularly because there is no bibliography, and the further reading section of this book becomes an opportunity to promote many of the writer's other books.
I'm assuming the intended audience for this book is women, too, since the chapter dedicated to good parenting only focuses on motherhood and how not to pick a bad partner (which also includes perspectives that were maybe too informed by Freudian theory) what makes this concerning is the fact that it seems that James's opinions on how to be an emotionally healthy woman includes being "unassuming and friendly. That she has a slim figure and a captivatingly pretty face is made incidental by her manner. By being modestly beautiful, rather than overtly, provocatively sexual, she discourages men from relating to her purely as an object of desire, and does not arouse the envy of other women." (p79) connecting Geraldine's emotional health to her unassuming beauty is a weird point to stress.
There is value in this book, don't get me wrong, but it becomes a challenge to seperate these nuggets from the rest of the text: particularly because there is no bibliography, and the further reading section of this book becomes an opportunity to promote many of the writer's other books.