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A review by candisjean
101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think by Brianna Wiest
2.0
** I’m not saying don’t read it, just fair warning to flip through a couple essays in a bookstore before you commit to buying it - you might not be the target demographic **
I picked this up because everyone and their mothers (at least in social media circles) seems to be promoting this as a Book You Have to Read.
I expected a thoughtful collection of essays that had a wider topic range - and relatability range. The target audience in this seems to be 20-something year olds (given away in later essays with titles like ‘things to survive your 20s’, and advice that sometimes includes things like ‘plan a sleepover like when you were in middle school’ - which is fine but confusing when it’s making the lists of Books That Will Change Your Life.
I wish the book had been more appropriately titled, but I was swayed by the minimalist cover and design.
This did not change my life, or bring any new information. A few good thoughts I highlighted were interspersed through it, but overall I was disappointed. Some of the advice… is not good advice. And since each essay was written for short thoughts, it didn’t get into the depth that the author might have found it she’d taken 10 essays (instead of 101) and fleshed them out. A lot was redundant, with essays hitting on the same themes, with the same verbiage, over and over again.
Some of the essays seem to be back from when Listicles were popular, and on closing the last page of the book, I finally realized this was a collection of Thought Catalog posts - something I read religiously in my early 20s, but haven’t looked at since.
I picked this up because everyone and their mothers (at least in social media circles) seems to be promoting this as a Book You Have to Read.
I expected a thoughtful collection of essays that had a wider topic range - and relatability range. The target audience in this seems to be 20-something year olds (given away in later essays with titles like ‘things to survive your 20s’, and advice that sometimes includes things like ‘plan a sleepover like when you were in middle school’ - which is fine but confusing when it’s making the lists of Books That Will Change Your Life.
I wish the book had been more appropriately titled, but I was swayed by the minimalist cover and design.
This did not change my life, or bring any new information. A few good thoughts I highlighted were interspersed through it, but overall I was disappointed. Some of the advice… is not good advice. And since each essay was written for short thoughts, it didn’t get into the depth that the author might have found it she’d taken 10 essays (instead of 101) and fleshed them out. A lot was redundant, with essays hitting on the same themes, with the same verbiage, over and over again.
Some of the essays seem to be back from when Listicles were popular, and on closing the last page of the book, I finally realized this was a collection of Thought Catalog posts - something I read religiously in my early 20s, but haven’t looked at since.