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A review by talonsontypewriters
Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig
reflective
fast-paced
1.0
Straight up badly written: scattered and repetitive with a bunch of shallow, obvious platitudes masquerading as wise advice/insight into the world. Reeks of white middle-class privilege with little to no self-awareness thereof (there's a whole word vomit chapter on what it would be like if we ignored race/gender/etc and just saw each other as ~human~, and another part about how ~inspiring~ a visit to a homeless shelter was... all right man). No direct citations or sources aside from some books quoted in the text; even if you're being purposefully messy, you should still say where you're getting any actual statistics from? I think the alternative is called "plagiarism" or perhaps "making shit up."
Some weird leaps of logic based on anecdotes too -- I really don't think panic attacks occur frequently in supermarkets because of, uh, the unnaturalness of processed foods or the subconscious realization of how companies are manipulating us or whatever tangent Haig went on there. I'd wager it has more to do with the much more obvious factors of the amount of people in them and required interactions with those people, general intense sensory input (smells, noise, lighting, etc), and thought spirals about choices and money.
Overall made me more rather than less anxious, so also kind of failed in its basic purpose.
Some weird leaps of logic based on anecdotes too -- I really don't think panic attacks occur frequently in supermarkets because of, uh, the unnaturalness of processed foods or the subconscious realization of how companies are manipulating us or whatever tangent Haig went on there. I'd wager it has more to do with the much more obvious factors of the amount of people in them and required interactions with those people, general intense sensory input (smells, noise, lighting, etc), and thought spirals about choices and money.
Overall made me more rather than less anxious, so also kind of failed in its basic purpose.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Minor: Medical content