Diana

ABSOLUTELY! As in, once or twice a year!

It's SO easy to get caught up in our negative society. Talking with friends really is just griping or gossiping anymore. News is gossip or depressing. Everything around us just shows us the horrible, depressing world we live in.

But this book is a great reminder that, no, it ISN'T all that bad, and we have much for which we should be grateful.

It's like a friendly, loving, spiritual slap in the face. HEY! Snap out of your crank mood, you! Look at everything you should be grateful for!

and then you're like... "oh yeah!"

I like that.

The reader has a little Southern twang (not that that's bad), and she does a great job of reading the book in a natural way, almost as if the author was in your kitchen, telling you what she's written over a cup of tea.

I look forward to using the accompanying PDF to practice the 30-day gratitude challenge.

This book is a Christian look at Gratitude.

I think I finished this book in two days, and when it was over, I didn't want it to end. It was that good.

First, a note about the reader, author Gary Chapman. I don't know where Chapman is from, but it's clearly somewhere in the South. He's got a very Southern accent that some might find annoying. I did, at first, but eventually it grew on me. By the end, it didn't bother me at all. But it is worth noting for those who have issues with heavy accents.

As for the content of the book, I have to say I think this might be the best, most useful book on marriages and relationships that I've ever read. The information is so clear, so easy to understand, I regret not having read this book sooner, perhaps even before I had married my husband. How different our lives might have been.

But this book has made me so excited to move forward, and to have my husband "read" it, as well! I can see myself listening to this book many times, to make sure I make the most out of Chapman's wonderful advice.

If you have a difficult marriage, this is the book for you. Read it. Open your heart. It will change your life.

I should also note that while the entire book is not written from a Christian perspective, there are parts that reference Christian themes. As a Christian, I found these to be extremely helpful. I don't know how non-Christians would feel about it, but I thought it worth mentioning.

Open Your Eyes. I think that's best, bc this book really opened my eyes to the science, the facts behind the foods we eat. And it was eyeopening. :)

How the science was presented in an interesting and understandable manner.

there aren't scenes in this book. :) it's nonfiction.

learning about how the wheat we eat today isn't what our grandparents ate, and how that affects our health was amazing.

After reading this book, I've completely changed my diet--just started doing the Whole30 challenge. I've really shied away from wheat products and feel so much better as a result!

Absolutely. This is the kind of book you give to girlfriends you love, almost like saying, "Hey! You have to read this! It will help." And it does. It's hard to say, why... it's just such useful information presented in such a wonderful manner.

I liked how it presented each lie in list form, then gave plenty of anecdotes to help illustrate them.

I don't think so. She does a great job of presenting the material in a manner that is easy to listen to and not distracting.

YES! I couldn't stop listening to it!

This is a Christian book, using Adam and Eve as a wonderful foundation for the lies we women believe.

Michael Pollan is great. He does his research and he writes well.

I'd recommend reading/listening to this book AFTER The Omnivore's Dilemma, if you're considering reading/listening to both.

The reader is overly dramatic, but you sort of get used to it. I do wish Pollan would pick a new reader for his next book, though.

I agree with everyone else. This reader needs to chill out a bit. This isn't melodrama.

The content is absolute aces, though. Very helpful info, excellently researched and written.

First, I would like to comment on the reader/author's reading style. She is VERY soft spoken, almost annoyingly so (at least, in my taste). It makes this book difficult to listen to while driving (granted, my car is noisy). But also, it sounds like the author is reading a story to a child before bed. Her voice is so calm and soothing, it sort of puts you to sleep.

As for the content, I found some of the content to be helpful, but a good majority of it to be annoying and painful to listen to. The author analyzes the female brain from conception, almost, moving on through the stages--infancy, the terrible twos (a term she doesn't use), childhood, the teen years. That's about as far as I've gotten, because, at every stage, this author presents women as if they are purely selfish beings, incapable of doing or thinking anything that isn't all about ME ME ME. I understand that we all have the capability of selfishness, perhaps even that we tend toward it, but I have a hard time believing that we are hard wired toward being selfish, and that every woman is or behaves as this doctor claims she does.

Maybe I've missed something. But, as I'm in the middle of the author's discussion of the teen years, and this teenager she's describing is an absolute hellion, I am having a hard time caring about her or what she is like when, and if, she ever grows up.

Nota Bene: this book is written by Christian therapists who look at things (at least in this book) from a Christian point of view. That said, if you are a Christian, you will find this analysis exceedingly useful. If you are not a Christian, I would imagine that you could still find the book useful, although, you might get annoyed by the constant references to God and what God wants for our lives. It depends on your tolerance for that kind of talk, I think.

That said, I (as a Christian) found this book to be SO helpful, I have listened to it at least ten times since I bought it about a month ago. I will listen to a chapter, then listen again and again, taking notes and trying to remember the endless amounts of good advice and analysis provided.

This book is split into parts, with lots of lists (something I loved).

The first part discusses in detail the characteristics of Unsafe People.
The second part analyzes why we befriend Unsafe People.
The third part discusses the characteristics of Safe People, how to become one, and how to befriend them.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has trouble making and keeping friendships with people who make them feel good and happy, and who help them to be the best people they can be. You need this book if most of your friends are dysfunctional people (aren't we all) who persist in their dysfunction, instead of who seek to grow and move out of their harmful ways. Or for those who have simply given up on trying to make new friends because they have been let down so many times, they just don't see the point anymore.

This book is for you.

As for the reader, he does a fantastic job of reading this book, even going to the point of using different voices for other men, women, or children. It's actually quite endearing. He does a great job of capturing the emotion behind the author's words, but without being maudlin. Great job, reader!

It's a very well-written book, and the reader does a great job.

? This question doesn't apply to this book.

Absolutely. I got this book because I was curious about Opus Dei--what do the members do? How do people join? What is the point? This book answered all those questions and more.

This is a fantastic Introduction to Opus Dei. Highly recommended.

Yes. I also bought the e-book for this title, and the audiobook helped me speed through the first part--the explanation of the rules.

nothing was exceptionally memorable.

I suppose. Bob is great on TV being himself, but when he reads an audiobook, it sounds like he's READING. Very stiff.

?

This audiobook is best used IN CONJUNCTION WITH the book itself. It doesn't include any of the menus or recipes, which is essentially the follow-through of the rules. I found it helpful to listen to the audiobook to get through the Rules quickly to move on to the How To part.