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A review by flijn
Sane New World: Taming The Mind by Ruby Wax
4.0
It took me a little while to get used to Ruby Wax's style (she writes exactly like she talks), I found it destracting at first.
But overall, I really enjoyed this book. The combination of personal stories and jokes (honest, funny, painful), and the explanations and theories about how our minds work (or don't work) is a good one. The personal part makes it relatable, personal. The science part makes it more than just another self help flick that tells you how to live without explaning why on earth you should do it their way (I haven't read any self help manuals, maybe they actually have well-researched claims too). Knowing what is happening when you are thinking anxious thoughts is already a way to loosen it's grips, I found.
The book shows:
- how a partly disfunctional mind can disrupt your ability to be happy,
- why most of us have those disfunctional tendencies (anxiety, worrying, jealousy, obsession with striped cushions, etc)
- what it means to live with depression,
- what parts of the brain do what, and what happens when they over or underperform,
- why mindfulness is a solution for a lot of these problems,
- how to exactly do this mindfulness thing.
But overall, I really enjoyed this book. The combination of personal stories and jokes (honest, funny, painful), and the explanations and theories about how our minds work (or don't work) is a good one. The personal part makes it relatable, personal. The science part makes it more than just another self help flick that tells you how to live without explaning why on earth you should do it their way (I haven't read any self help manuals, maybe they actually have well-researched claims too). Knowing what is happening when you are thinking anxious thoughts is already a way to loosen it's grips, I found.
The book shows:
- how a partly disfunctional mind can disrupt your ability to be happy,
- why most of us have those disfunctional tendencies (anxiety, worrying, jealousy, obsession with striped cushions, etc)
- what it means to live with depression,
- what parts of the brain do what, and what happens when they over or underperform,
- why mindfulness is a solution for a lot of these problems,
- how to exactly do this mindfulness thing.