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lanaboz's review against another edition
5.0
I can’t believe how connected I felt to this book. Lauren perfectly hit all my emotions and I feel lighter having read it
genthebookworm's review against another edition
5.0
The Book of Moods provides an incredibly accurate and relatable look at something so many of us deal with, our moods. And what are moods you ask? Lauren Martin explains it so perfectly on her Words of Women Instagram post that I had to share it here...
"When I talk about #moods I don’t just mean generic emotions. I don’t mean angry or sad or stressed. I mean those feelings we have that we can’t explain. The suffocating feeling at the end of the day when you don’t know what you want or need but you need something to stop whatever is going on inside. I mean the restlessness you feel even though you don’t have anywhere to go. I mean the horrible feeling of looking in the mirror and feeling ugly even though yesterday you thought you looked great. I mean the feeling that something is wrong when everything is right and good and as it should be. These are moods. These feelings that come up and take hold and we don’t know why or what to do about them."
Everyone has these patterns of self-doubt, worries, and emotional triggers, but they can also feel so isolating because they really can come out of nowhere. Backed with research, personal stories, and self-reflection -Martin provides insight on how to better understand your own emotions, and stop them from becoming moods that can stop you in your tracks.
No matter how grateful we are for all the good things we have in our lives, everyday life is also made up of so many of the in-between moments of struggle and self-doubt. Instead of looking at these moments as a way to self-sabotage, we can use them as a powerful vessel to help us reflect, forge ahead, and ultimately transform ourselves and our paths forward.
What I loved most about this book is Martin's honesty. Lauren Martin is most definitely in a different stage of life than me, but even if many of our daily struggles are different, we have something we common, we experience these kinds of emotions. It doesn't matter how old you are or how many truly difficult situations you have endured, even when you regularly reflect on how fortunate you are in so many ways, there are going to be moments you just feel down.
Her quotes and anecdotes and advice normalize how you can be rocking along with work, an important project, etc, and then one small comment can make you question everything. We all have inner struggles and recognizing that these are a thing, can help us acknowledge them and then continue to move forward.
While I read this book on my kindle, as soon as I finished I pre-ordered a physical copy because it is the perfect book to highlight up the wazoo because there is just so much insight here. While we will never be able to control life or the people around us (wishful thinking right?) we do have the power to choose how we react. Emotions are a useful tool when we hold them, reflect on them, and then ultimately let them propel us ahead.
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for an advanced copy of this book in change for my honest review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. You can read this and other book reviews at genthebookworm.com
"When I talk about #moods I don’t just mean generic emotions. I don’t mean angry or sad or stressed. I mean those feelings we have that we can’t explain. The suffocating feeling at the end of the day when you don’t know what you want or need but you need something to stop whatever is going on inside. I mean the restlessness you feel even though you don’t have anywhere to go. I mean the horrible feeling of looking in the mirror and feeling ugly even though yesterday you thought you looked great. I mean the feeling that something is wrong when everything is right and good and as it should be. These are moods. These feelings that come up and take hold and we don’t know why or what to do about them."
Everyone has these patterns of self-doubt, worries, and emotional triggers, but they can also feel so isolating because they really can come out of nowhere. Backed with research, personal stories, and self-reflection -Martin provides insight on how to better understand your own emotions, and stop them from becoming moods that can stop you in your tracks.
No matter how grateful we are for all the good things we have in our lives, everyday life is also made up of so many of the in-between moments of struggle and self-doubt. Instead of looking at these moments as a way to self-sabotage, we can use them as a powerful vessel to help us reflect, forge ahead, and ultimately transform ourselves and our paths forward.
What I loved most about this book is Martin's honesty. Lauren Martin is most definitely in a different stage of life than me, but even if many of our daily struggles are different, we have something we common, we experience these kinds of emotions. It doesn't matter how old you are or how many truly difficult situations you have endured, even when you regularly reflect on how fortunate you are in so many ways, there are going to be moments you just feel down.
Her quotes and anecdotes and advice normalize how you can be rocking along with work, an important project, etc, and then one small comment can make you question everything. We all have inner struggles and recognizing that these are a thing, can help us acknowledge them and then continue to move forward.
While I read this book on my kindle, as soon as I finished I pre-ordered a physical copy because it is the perfect book to highlight up the wazoo because there is just so much insight here. While we will never be able to control life or the people around us (wishful thinking right?) we do have the power to choose how we react. Emotions are a useful tool when we hold them, reflect on them, and then ultimately let them propel us ahead.
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for an advanced copy of this book in change for my honest review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. You can read this and other book reviews at genthebookworm.com
kathydubs10's review against another edition
3.0
I have mixed feelings on this one! Overall, I would say that I really liked this book. From my understanding, the author worked on this as a passion project to try and better understand what was going on in her life. The stories and tools she gained along the way are shared nicely in the text. That being said, I almost wish there were more tools in the book. However, I know this isn't technically a self-help book so that shouldn't be expected. As a psychologist, any time I read a book that even enters the territory of mental health concerns, I tend to expect the author to shoulder some of the responsibility for offering explanations for tools they are speaking about. I think this author did the best that she could in this book and was very clear about how this book was just only about her journey, so what she was offering in the text was what worked for her. I think that approach is what makes it such a relatable read for so many. She also does well normalizing concerns for her readers, which I appreciated. That being said, like some of the others reviews left, I did find myself feeling concerned over how up and down her moods seemed to be and how much they impacted others around her. Again, I'm a mental health professional, so I'm going to go that direction with anything I read. I was glad to read that she addressed going to therapy in the text and trying to better understand herself through this project. I would encourage anyone reading this to take a step back and also think about their own moods and how a similar pattern might be playing out in their own lives.
shannenlc's review against another edition
I've been on a non-fiction/self-help kick lately. Admittedly, I often have a lot of gripes with these types of books so I have a tendency to pick out the bits that are valuable to me rather than reading it from cover to cover.
So I should start this with a disclaimer and say that skipped a lot of sections of this book, and specifically all of the personal stories and anecdotes from the author. Instead, I focused more on the practical advice and tips for understanding and dealing with moods and the research. There were some genuinely informative tidbits in here that I will take forward, particularly the section about distorted thoughts.
However, I have a lot of issues with the book and wouldn't recommend it. It doesn't properly reference any of the citations, is under-researched, reeks of privilege and entitlement, perpetuates gender stereotypes and is built upon biological essentialism. Let's take the time to look at each of these more in-depth.
First, whether a book is written for academic purposes or not is irrelevant, when citing other material, there should always be a clear reference list for readers to refer to. Without this, there is no merit to anything that is shared in this book, no matter how valuable I might've found it. Hand-in-hand with this, there were a lot of generalisations that were made that were clearly the perspective of the author but sometimes presented as more of an objective fact. The general lack of clear citations makes it difficult to separate the author's personal biases, commentaries and experiences from the empirical evidence. Again, the importance of referencing correctly and clearly cannot be understated.
The other issues I had with the book stem from the author herself and her perspectives. I know nothing about her other than what's in this book. Whilst I appreciate her courage and bravery in being vulnerable, she doesn't come across well in this book. Her privilege and entitlement seeps off the page. This is a book she wrote about herself and to herself. I related to almost nothing that she referenced and the assumption that every woman can relate was infuriating.
My biggest issue with this book is the gross over simplification and generalisations of what it is to be a woman, and the thread of biological essentialism that runs throughout. The author repeatedly hammers home the same point - "women are moody because of our biology, it's not our fault." I can't even be bothered to go into all of the reasons why this is a flawed perspective but suffice to say that biology is one aspect that shapes us and if you dig a little deeper into the science around sex and gender, it shows there's a lot less significant differences between males and females than is commonly thought. Yet this book feeds into the whole old fashioned notion of sex defining an entire person's physical, mental and emotional make-up. In doing this, it also excludes queer, trans, intersex and/or non-binary individuals.
All in all, the value I took from this book is the works of other people that were cited. Unfortunately, due to the absence of a full reference list, it is now up to me to go out and dig around for these works, which I believe will offer more insight and value into the topic of emotions and moods than this book did.
So I should start this with a disclaimer and say that skipped a lot of sections of this book, and specifically all of the personal stories and anecdotes from the author. Instead, I focused more on the practical advice and tips for understanding and dealing with moods and the research. There were some genuinely informative tidbits in here that I will take forward, particularly the section about distorted thoughts.
However, I have a lot of issues with the book and wouldn't recommend it. It doesn't properly reference any of the citations, is under-researched, reeks of privilege and entitlement, perpetuates gender stereotypes and is built upon biological essentialism. Let's take the time to look at each of these more in-depth.
First, whether a book is written for academic purposes or not is irrelevant, when citing other material, there should always be a clear reference list for readers to refer to. Without this, there is no merit to anything that is shared in this book, no matter how valuable I might've found it. Hand-in-hand with this, there were a lot of generalisations that were made that were clearly the perspective of the author but sometimes presented as more of an objective fact. The general lack of clear citations makes it difficult to separate the author's personal biases, commentaries and experiences from the empirical evidence. Again, the importance of referencing correctly and clearly cannot be understated.
The other issues I had with the book stem from the author herself and her perspectives. I know nothing about her other than what's in this book. Whilst I appreciate her courage and bravery in being vulnerable, she doesn't come across well in this book. Her privilege and entitlement seeps off the page. This is a book she wrote about herself and to herself. I related to almost nothing that she referenced and the assumption that every woman can relate was infuriating.
My biggest issue with this book is the gross over simplification and generalisations of what it is to be a woman, and the thread of biological essentialism that runs throughout. The author repeatedly hammers home the same point - "women are moody because of our biology, it's not our fault." I can't even be bothered to go into all of the reasons why this is a flawed perspective but suffice to say that biology is one aspect that shapes us and if you dig a little deeper into the science around sex and gender, it shows there's a lot less significant differences between males and females than is commonly thought. Yet this book feeds into the whole old fashioned notion of sex defining an entire person's physical, mental and emotional make-up. In doing this, it also excludes queer, trans, intersex and/or non-binary individuals.
All in all, the value I took from this book is the works of other people that were cited. Unfortunately, due to the absence of a full reference list, it is now up to me to go out and dig around for these works, which I believe will offer more insight and value into the topic of emotions and moods than this book did.
vineconnoisseur's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
jacquipizza's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.25