Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The Humanist Approach to Happiness: Book Review

I received this book from the author to read and review.  One of it's aims is teens so Roger (age 12) read parts of it as well.

Rogers Review:
          It was a pretty good book, but needed something to make it a little more interesting.  Something along the lines of more short stories to explain the stuff.

My Review:
        This was well written and used more basic terms that people could understand.  I jumped on this one because as we all know when dealing with autism we are always trying to find ways to explain ethics, morals, and what to do in situations.  This book was very clear cut and to the point. Exatly what Roger needs. True stories and examples are helpful but when you get into a lot of what if's and hypothetical you lose him.
        I liked the portion on credit cards and how they should be used in emergencies only and how the author did not have one and got stuck in China. Luckily her mom was able to help her out.  Being able to use that as an example as why you do not want to have a card maxed out all the time was helpful.  Roger was able to see it as OK if she had a credit card and didn't use it when she got stuck she would have emergency money to use.
  Another good point in the book was ignore it.  Now the author is not saying if you ignore everything it will go away, but she is saying there are things that happen that you can ignore. Why overwhelm yourself with things that really are not important. If the issue is not important then when you ignore it it will go away. If it is important it will not go away.
     You name it it was covered, love, money, health, addition, sex.  While not every section was right for Roger those that were he read, those that he is not ready for will come later.  He did have a hard time understanding being skeptical and scams but we are getting there. When you have a very literal mind these concepts can be hard to grasp but it did start him thinking about them.
   This book is a easy read, practical and easily comprehensible.I could really see this not only being used in youth groups but for talking points for parents. Sometimes you just don't know where to start the discussion and this can help you jump start them.

check out her website
 This book is available at any online retailer you use.

Discount Codes:
Ebook - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22621  : Coupon code: UT36F - Price will be $4.80 instead of $6.00 - that coupon expires Oct 1st 2012.

Paperback go to: https://www.createspace.com/3463716and use the discount code: 2SV7A43M  That will give you 20% off the list of $12.98 - so the price will be $10.38

1 comment:

  1. Thanks - I'm glad you enjoyed the book and that it is working for you and Roger. His feedback about wanting more stories is really helpful too!

    Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete