Brene Brown - Gifts of Imperfection

[Oli]

Cheesy cover, great, easy read. If you liked her TED speech, you'll love the book.

[Zac]

link? Tell us about it puhlease.

[Oli]

Gifts of Imperfection

It's a book about what, according to the author, actually matters for our happiness, or "wholehearted living". These things are connection, gratitude, fun, and some others. She also explains what stands in the way of these things and how to remove the obstacles. For example, shame and worrying about fitting in get in the way of connection. To remove shame you have to expose it. To avoid focusing on fitting in you have to be authentic. The book is well researched, considering she's a researcher whose entire career is based around certain subjects mentioned in the book (eg. shame, connection).

[Guyintheback]

I'm reading the book at the moment, too. I'm halfway in.

So far gabe's summary seems to cover it. Though the author claims that the contents of the book "love, wholehearted living, etc." used to be "new-agey", they are still a bit too esoteric for me.
It get what she wants to say, and I think she is right, but the tone of the book doesn't really work for me.

[Oli]

I don't find it very esoteric, but more that she doesn't overanalyse concepts that shouldn't be. I think I learned more that way because I could a) remember the important concepts in the book b) take the few things she did make sure to give details of and make the connections to my own life. If you're looking for a how-to and break down of large concepts, then this book isn't for you. But if you're looking for a couple of simple concepts that can probably increase your happiness, then it is.