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titus_hjelm 's review for:
Notes on a Nervous Planet
by Matt Haig
Self-help books generally make me cringe. Either they are new agey rip-offs, or written from an academic perspective that helps you understand the big picture, but do nothing to actually help. What I call n=1 approaches are useless in politics, for example, but for personal issues they work. Someone else's personal experience of depression will never be the same as yours, but reading about the process can help you understand yours. Most importantly, sometimes it is just important to know there are people out there struggling with similar issues.
Matt Haig is a very sympathetic guide to situations where the walls seem close in. This book is perhaps a tad less personal than Reasons to Stay Alive, but written with honesty. The panic-inducing urgency of the modern world is very well discussed here. There are the fashionable do and don't lists, citations from serious research, and personal anecdotes that weave together a story that is pleasure to listen to (Note: I love author-read audiobooks).
The only negative thing to say is that, although only middle-class people read self-help books in the first place, some of the advice here is so blindly middle class that it is a bit of a downer from otherwise such a thoughtful author. For example, not all people can just ditch their job because it isn't fulfilling. Middle class problems are as real as 'not-first-world-problems', but when you give practical advice, some sensitivity to the diversity of positions people find themselves in (based on class, race, sexuality, etc.) would have been nice to hear.
But overall, if you think you would benefit from reading (or listening to) a self-help book on the 'modern condition', there's hardly a better place to start.
Matt Haig is a very sympathetic guide to situations where the walls seem close in. This book is perhaps a tad less personal than Reasons to Stay Alive, but written with honesty. The panic-inducing urgency of the modern world is very well discussed here. There are the fashionable do and don't lists, citations from serious research, and personal anecdotes that weave together a story that is pleasure to listen to (Note: I love author-read audiobooks).
The only negative thing to say is that, although only middle-class people read self-help books in the first place, some of the advice here is so blindly middle class that it is a bit of a downer from otherwise such a thoughtful author. For example, not all people can just ditch their job because it isn't fulfilling. Middle class problems are as real as 'not-first-world-problems', but when you give practical advice, some sensitivity to the diversity of positions people find themselves in (based on class, race, sexuality, etc.) would have been nice to hear.
But overall, if you think you would benefit from reading (or listening to) a self-help book on the 'modern condition', there's hardly a better place to start.