A review by steph_84
Faster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain by Peter Shankman
3.0
2.5 stars rounded up. I thought there were two good things about this book: (1) the framing of ADHD in a positive light, which is a welcome constraint to all the books about how ADHD kids need to be forced into faking neurotypical behaviours (yuck), and (2) the reminder that ADHD is basically caused by a lack of dopamine so anything that increases dopamine (exercise, racing a deadline, public speaking) is helpful.
But the rest is bad in all sorts of directions. The author is like a parody of all the reasons that other people find American entrepreneurs annoying, gives advice that is totally impractical for anyone who isn’t self-employed with a wife who does all the parenting, and says a bunch of things that are blatantly untrue. Throughout the book I also often thought of the big overlap between ADHD and Autism, and how most of the ADHD Autistic people I know would hate many of the things that he claims most people with ADHD love (frequent international flights, skydiving, constant networking). He doesn’t seem to understand the reality of anyone’s lives that are different from his own.
On balance I guess I’m glad I read it? But also glad that I didn’t spend any money on it.
But the rest is bad in all sorts of directions. The author is like a parody of all the reasons that other people find American entrepreneurs annoying, gives advice that is totally impractical for anyone who isn’t self-employed with a wife who does all the parenting, and says a bunch of things that are blatantly untrue. Throughout the book I also often thought of the big overlap between ADHD and Autism, and how most of the ADHD Autistic people I know would hate many of the things that he claims most people with ADHD love (frequent international flights, skydiving, constant networking). He doesn’t seem to understand the reality of anyone’s lives that are different from his own.
On balance I guess I’m glad I read it? But also glad that I didn’t spend any money on it.