I continue the monthly realistic reviews of personal development literature. Today my analysis goes towards who will like and will not like ‘The gifts of imperfection’ by Brene Brown:
✅ This book is great if you like learning from other people’s experiences, reading case studies and personal situations. Brene shares a lot of her personal growth path and her daily struggles. She is a woman you want to be friends with. Reading her book is like finally being able to talk honestly with someone who understands exactly what you are going through because they’ve been there also.
✅ The book is based on Dr Brown’s academic research, but it is presented in relatable humorous ways. Relatable if you are a mother and a perfectionist, if you beat yourself up over the smallest things and have not really looked at what might be hiding underneath that.
✅ The book is infused with empathy and self love. Brene talks about courage, compassion, and connection being at the centre of our ability to develop an innate sense of worthiness. She offers ten guideposts that are meant as reminders of where the attention and priorities should go on your journey to returning to your authentic self.
✅ To sum up, this is a great entry-level book. If you feel you are hiding a lot from others, if you struggle to express yourself fully and feel like you are totally alone, this book can soothe and comfort you quite a bit.
❌ If you prefer scientific academic writing you will not like this book. I have gotten to know Brene’s work as an academic when I was studying for my PhD. I read her academic papers on vulnerability and loved her research. However, reading her popular psychology books irritated the shit out of me! Too many mommy stories, too much chewing over daily problems that I did not related to at all. I hated the dumbed down language and almost total absence of scientific evidence. Not that you need scientific evidence for an idea to be good.
❌ This book is a cheerleader-style self-help. It does not offer profound psychotherapeutic insights or structures. If you want some mild encouragement and some cute quotes to put on your fridge door, it could work for you. But if you are struggling with darker issues, you probably won't find answers here.
❌ Do not expect profound new insights here if you’ve already done some work on self-acceptance and self love. The book (to me at least) reads like a collection of simple little truths and obvious duh! statements. I still recommend this book to the beginners on the self-love journey, but do not use it myself, unlike some other books, which I will get to in the reviews to come.
What was your experience with ‘The gifts of imperfections’? Did you enjoy it? Why/why not?