Review of Self-Help Sucks!
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Lexie Price 2
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- Latest Review: Self-Help Sucks! by Tony Blankenship
Review of Self-Help Sucks!
[Following is a volunteer review of "Self-Help Sucks!" by Tony Blankenship.]
Self-Help Sucks: The Anti Self-Help Guide to Inner Peace and Contentment by Tony Blankenship is a lifestyle guide that advocates for treating any unmanageable problem within one’s life through the lens of a twelve-step program. Furthermore, Tony Blankenship contends that 'self-help' is not enough and that we must rely on some kind of spiritual power, as well as everyday confidantes, in order to improve. Throughout his book, Tony Blankenship details his own struggles with pursuing unavailable women, frustrations with his career and family life, as well as control and anger issues. He then demonstrates the steps he took once he committed to making genuine changes in his life—from writing down the unmanageable habits he couldn’t seem to shake, to writing down what fears those habits are rooted in, to making amends with those he’s harmed, to setting aside time every day to be quiet and commune with a spiritual power. Tony Blankenship advises these courses of action to his readers over any 'self-help' methods and advocates for spirituality, self-reflection, community, and accountability.
The most positive aspect of this book was the writing style. Tony Blankenship has a very strong grasp of how to vary sentence structure and make his writing flow well. I find that to be especially important with regards to non-fiction books such as this, as they sometimes have more work to do in order to keep readers engaged. The charisma and emotionality of his storytelling shone through really well and it made me want to keep reading. I was also pleasantly surprised by the stories he included from other people in his life to showcase his points, which were not only equally well-written but also allowed for a level of accessibility the book might otherwise have lacked and showed that he was coming from more than one perspective.
I did find that there were negative aspects to this book, however. Tony Blankenship is critical of ‘self-help’ as a genre but neglects to showcase how his process is actually different, and I would argue that this is because it really isn’t. While ‘self-help’ is, perhaps, too simplistically named, I’ve found that most self-help books do encourage you to find and maintain a community and support system as you strive for improvement. Every time Tony Blankenship spoke against them, I couldn’t help but feel that it was a rather hypocritical grudge to hold, especially given that he didn’t provide a lot of examples of what harm 'self-help' ideologies actually do. It seemed like his insistence against ‘self-help’ as a genre had a lot more to do with semantics than with anything else. Furthermore, though I tried to keep an open mind, I struggled with the aspects of spirituality ingrained so heavily into Tony Blankenship’s book. When someone makes insistent guarantees about improvement as Tony Blankenship does throughout the text, I find myself hoping that the process of getting there will feel accessible. Unfortunately, I did not feel that way about this process. Tony Blankenship emphasizes the necessity of engaging with some kind of spiritual power throughout the entirety of his book. While he does touch on his own complicated history with religion and frequently reminds readers that they can call this spiritual power whatever they want, it doesn’t change the fact that for some, this spiritual power he speaks of cannot be divorced from associations with religion. There are certain marginalized groups who have experienced trauma born from religion and spirituality, and the fact is, this kind of work is not going to be accessible for some of them. As I said, I tried to keep an open mind, but as someone with my own complicated feelings regarding spirituality, I found that at times I felt condescended to and incredibly demoralized by the idea that this was the only way to make changes in my life. That’s generally not the desired end goal coming out of a lifestyle book that’s supposed to provide you with actionable steps to improve your life.
That being said, despite my misgivings about some of the content, I think the book itself is well-written and seems professionally edited. While I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, I absolutely believe there are some who would find this book useful on their own journeys toward improving their lives. All that being considered, I rate this book 3 out of 4.
I would recommend this book to those who are struggling to break out of destructive patterns and habits. If you're ready for a change in your life and traditional 'self-help' guides aren't the right fit, this may be the right book for you, especially if you value spirituality and accountability, and require routine in order to be productive.
******
Self-Help Sucks!
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Self-Help Sucks: The Anti Self-Help Guide to Inner Peace and Contentment by Tony Blankenship is a lifestyle guide that advocates for treating any unmanageable problem within one’s life through the lens of a twelve-step program. Furthermore, Tony Blankenship contends that 'self-help' is not enough and that we must rely on some kind of spiritual power, as well as everyday confidantes, in order to improve. Throughout his book, Tony Blankenship details his own struggles with pursuing unavailable women, frustrations with his career and family life, as well as control and anger issues. He then demonstrates the steps he took once he committed to making genuine changes in his life—from writing down the unmanageable habits he couldn’t seem to shake, to writing down what fears those habits are rooted in, to making amends with those he’s harmed, to setting aside time every day to be quiet and commune with a spiritual power. Tony Blankenship advises these courses of action to his readers over any 'self-help' methods and advocates for spirituality, self-reflection, community, and accountability.
The most positive aspect of this book was the writing style. Tony Blankenship has a very strong grasp of how to vary sentence structure and make his writing flow well. I find that to be especially important with regards to non-fiction books such as this, as they sometimes have more work to do in order to keep readers engaged. The charisma and emotionality of his storytelling shone through really well and it made me want to keep reading. I was also pleasantly surprised by the stories he included from other people in his life to showcase his points, which were not only equally well-written but also allowed for a level of accessibility the book might otherwise have lacked and showed that he was coming from more than one perspective.
I did find that there were negative aspects to this book, however. Tony Blankenship is critical of ‘self-help’ as a genre but neglects to showcase how his process is actually different, and I would argue that this is because it really isn’t. While ‘self-help’ is, perhaps, too simplistically named, I’ve found that most self-help books do encourage you to find and maintain a community and support system as you strive for improvement. Every time Tony Blankenship spoke against them, I couldn’t help but feel that it was a rather hypocritical grudge to hold, especially given that he didn’t provide a lot of examples of what harm 'self-help' ideologies actually do. It seemed like his insistence against ‘self-help’ as a genre had a lot more to do with semantics than with anything else. Furthermore, though I tried to keep an open mind, I struggled with the aspects of spirituality ingrained so heavily into Tony Blankenship’s book. When someone makes insistent guarantees about improvement as Tony Blankenship does throughout the text, I find myself hoping that the process of getting there will feel accessible. Unfortunately, I did not feel that way about this process. Tony Blankenship emphasizes the necessity of engaging with some kind of spiritual power throughout the entirety of his book. While he does touch on his own complicated history with religion and frequently reminds readers that they can call this spiritual power whatever they want, it doesn’t change the fact that for some, this spiritual power he speaks of cannot be divorced from associations with religion. There are certain marginalized groups who have experienced trauma born from religion and spirituality, and the fact is, this kind of work is not going to be accessible for some of them. As I said, I tried to keep an open mind, but as someone with my own complicated feelings regarding spirituality, I found that at times I felt condescended to and incredibly demoralized by the idea that this was the only way to make changes in my life. That’s generally not the desired end goal coming out of a lifestyle book that’s supposed to provide you with actionable steps to improve your life.
That being said, despite my misgivings about some of the content, I think the book itself is well-written and seems professionally edited. While I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, I absolutely believe there are some who would find this book useful on their own journeys toward improving their lives. All that being considered, I rate this book 3 out of 4.
I would recommend this book to those who are struggling to break out of destructive patterns and habits. If you're ready for a change in your life and traditional 'self-help' guides aren't the right fit, this may be the right book for you, especially if you value spirituality and accountability, and require routine in order to be productive.
******
Self-Help Sucks!
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Self-Help Sucks! by Tony Blankenship
