Giveaway: Jennifer Niesslein's Practically Perfect in Every Way

So I just finished Jennifer Niesslein's excellent book Practically Perfect in Every Way, the account of the two years she spent trying to follow the advice of a great many self-help gurus. (You can read the list here.*) It's the kind of crazy, ill-advised experiment in self-improvement I might attempt if I had any willpower whatsoever. Although, in this case, maybe my lack of willpower is a good thing -- by the end of the two years, Jennifer was suffering from pretty severe panic attacks. And while she's careful to avoid blaming  the self-help stuff -- she says it's hard to tell if the panic attacks would have developed anyway -- it's impossible not to wonder if the intense self-scrutiny  she undertook might have had something to do with them. It was interesting to read her book on the heels of A Brief History of Anxiety. In that book Patricia Pearson argues that anxiety is so widespread in our culture  precisely because we are convinced that we have the power to control our own lives and that we are failing miserably as human beings whenever things aren't going as we'd hoped or planned. Jennifer (who notes this relationship between control and anxiety in her own book) was trying so hard to get everything together it's no wonder she started to fall apart.

Practically Perfect is friendly, funny, and conversational in tone -- it's also very thoughtful.  I was most struck, I think, by Jennifer's musings on the role luck plays in our lives and of the effect the self-help movement has on the larger culture. When we ignore chance as a factor in the course a life can take, do we start to blame people for their own misfortunes? Does self-help, in some cases, turn us into a more individualistic, less empathetic society?  While taking care not to jump to any conclusions, Niesslein asks all the right questions.

If you want my copy of Practically Perfect in Every Way, please email me at stephka dot eastlink dot ca with "practically perfect" in the subject line before Saturday May 17 at midnight. I'll use a randomizer to choose the winner. I'll also throw in a fabulous shrinky-dink elephant charm (see below). You'll have to read the book to find out why it's relevant.

*Beware of therapists who call themselves Dr. Insert First Name Here. This generally signifies the doctorate is in a field like physical education and is completely irrelevant to the advice they give. I'm looking at you, Dr. Phil and Dr. Laura.

Comments

[Kimberly]

Hello! Followed you back here from the comment you left on my site. As someone who's read her fair share of these books (Mars/Venus, Tony Robbins, that 'course in miracles' lady, Dale Carnegie and anything with SARK on it), I love this premise.