A disappointment, 05 Jan 2009
I suppose that it falls to me to provide a negative review of this book. I've not given the book a low rating because while it didn't meet my expectations, it's certainly well written and interesting.

Having read Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" in which ( I think) this book is referenced, I chose this book hoping that Sacks would provide some insight into how or why a man might mistake his wife for a hat. Unfortunately the book turned out to be a rather less ambitious series of case histories of his patients. True, they're interesting and tragic histories and certainly Sacks does empathise with his patients, treating them as more than just medical subjects. However the book was, for me, profoundly unsatisfying as it didn't go into the mechanics of their problems or shed any insight (at least for a neurological layman like myself) on the inner workings of even undamaged brains. Return to Dennett for that, perhaps?

I was also a little perturbed by the occasional foray into less than scientific discussions about whether the more deeply damaged patients could be thought of as having "souls". I think that I would be deeply concerned if, had I been brain damaged, my neurologist spent any time worrying about the state of my soul!

I didn't find the book hard to get into although I agree that there's plenty of jargon that could/should have been explained (a glossary at least?) and I certainly didn't find it over-academic - quite the reverse in places. However, I neither did I manage to get more than half-way through before dropping it so maybe aI missed something in the later chapters.

Interesting read, 27 Mar 2008
Fairly well written, and as someone who has no prior background in this field, it was easy to understand and descriptive enough to be interesting. it was not too technical that i got bogged down with terms, unlike some other neurology books i've read.

A little disappointing, 19 Mar 2008
An interesting book though I have to admit I didn't enjoy the writing style. I find Sacks to be overly academic (I'm in the medical field myself) and his use of technical jargon can be somewhat off putting. Unlike the popular work Phantoms of the Brains Sacks seems uninterested in explaining the ideas in scientific terms in any great detail, he instead takes a more anthropological approach and merely details the cases. Whilst the cases themselves are off considerable interest I found his analysis to be lacking. His writing style didn't sit well with me, though this may be more my fault than his, and ultimately I didn't find myself much wiser after having read the book.

The book is still worth reading, however for a non-medical reader I'd recommend the far superior Phantoms of the Brain before approaching this work as it'll help you understand a lot of what Sacks talks about. There were, within the book, one or two cases that viewers of House M.D. would recognise.


A Fascinating Read, 15 Feb 2008
A neurologist, Oliver Sacks, discussed and brought to light the neurological disorders in case by case in this book with an interesting choice of the title: "Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat." This is the first book by Sacks that I have read, and I found his writing style to be quite enjoyable.

Not only that, this book contains an extraordinary collection of cases of individuals with neurological disorders that brings one to understand a bit on how human brain works. While this book was first published in the early 1970s and the understanding of the human brain mechanism has changed and increased since then, I found this book to be very insightful.

Out of all the cases I have read from this book, I found the following cases (or stories) to be of great interest to me: "Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," "The Man Who Fell Out of Bed," "Witty Ticcy Ray," "Cupid's disease," and "The Autist Artist."

This book is a fascinating read and deeply recommended.

A lovely book, 03 Feb 2008
I first came across Oliver Sacks in a doctor's waiting room. There, lying on the table, was a copy of his first book, "Migraine". Since I suffer from bad headaches, I picked it up and started reading. Thoroughly intrigued by the elegantly written case studies it contained, I asked the doctor if I could borrow it, took it home, and finished it that evening. I then began to notice that Mr. Sacks periodically wrote articles for the New Yorker on strange neurological cases, and every time one came out I read it with delectation. So when I saw Mr. Sack's book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" at my local bookstore I bought it immediately.

I was not let down. The book is a fascinating compendium of neurological case studies, classified into four parts: Losses, Excesses, Transports, The World of the Simple. Mr. Sacks takes us on a journey through a series of neurological disturbances with extreme effects. Initially, one reads them with appalled fascination, with a feeling of being at the Circus staring at the Bearded Lady or the Elephant Man; I was forcefully reminded of Sylvia Plath's lines in "Lady Lazarus":
The Peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand in foot --
The big strip tease.

But Oliver Sacks writes soberly and with great compassion about his cases, and drags us away from mere peanut-crunching voyeurism to finally contemplate what the cases tell us about what it means to be us.

There was a time when IQ was considered the leading determinant of success. In this fascinating book, based on brain and behavioural research, Daniel Goleman argues that our IQ- idolising view of intelligence is far too narrow. Instead, Goleman makes the case for "emotional intelligence" being the strongest indicator of human success. He defines emotional intelligence in terms of self-awareness, altruism, personal motivation, empathy and the ability to love and be loved by friends, partners, and family members. People who possess high emotional intelligence are the people who truly succeed in work as well as play, building flourishing careers and lasting, meaningful relationships. Because emotional intelligence isn't fixed at birth, Goleman outlines how adults as well as parents of young children can sow the seeds. --Amazon.com

A disappointment, 05 Jan 2009
I suppose that it falls to me to provide a negative review of this book. I've not given the book a low rating because while it didn't meet my expectations, it's certainly well written and interesting.

Having read Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" in which ( I think) this book is referenced, I chose this book hoping that Sacks would provide some insight into how or why a man might mistake his wife for a hat. Unfortunately the book turned out to be a rather less ambitious series of case histories of his patients. True, they're interesting and tragic histories and certainly Sacks does empathise with his patients, treating them as more than just medical subjects. However the book was, for me, profoundly unsatisfying as it didn't go into the mechanics of their problems or shed any insight (at least for a neurological layman like myself) on the inner workings of even undamaged brains. Return to Dennett for that, perhaps?

I was also a little perturbed by the occasional foray into less than scientific discussions about whether the more deeply damaged patients could be thought of as having "souls". I think that I would be deeply concerned if, had I been brain damaged, my neurologist spent any time worrying about the state of my soul!

I didn't find the book hard to get into although I agree that there's plenty of jargon that could/should have been explained (a glossary at least?) and I certainly didn't find it over-academic - quite the reverse in places. However, I neither did I manage to get more than half-way through before dropping it so maybe aI missed something in the later chapters.

Interesting read, 27 Mar 2008
Fairly well written, and as someone who has no prior background in this field, it was easy to understand and descriptive enough to be interesting. it was not too technical that i got bogged down with terms, unlike some other neurology books i've read.

A little disappointing, 19 Mar 2008
An interesting book though I have to admit I didn't enjoy the writing style. I find Sacks to be overly academic (I'm in the medical field myself) and his use of technical jargon can be somewhat off putting. Unlike the popular work Phantoms of the Brains Sacks seems uninterested in explaining the ideas in scientific terms in any great detail, he instead takes a more anthropological approach and merely details the cases. Whilst the cases themselves are off considerable interest I found his analysis to be lacking. His writing style didn't sit well with me, though this may be more my fault than his, and ultimately I didn't find myself much wiser after having read the book.

The book is still worth reading, however for a non-medical reader I'd recommend the far superior Phantoms of the Brain before approaching this work as it'll help you understand a lot of what Sacks talks about. There were, within the book, one or two cases that viewers of House M.D. would recognise.


A Fascinating Read, 15 Feb 2008
A neurologist, Oliver Sacks, discussed and brought to light the neurological disorders in case by case in this book with an interesting choice of the title: "Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat." This is the first book by Sacks that I have read, and I found his writing style to be quite enjoyable.

Not only that, this book contains an extraordinary collection of cases of individuals with neurological disorders that brings one to understand a bit on how human brain works. While this book was first published in the early 1970s and the understanding of the human brain mechanism has changed and increased since then, I found this book to be very insightful.

Out of all the cases I have read from this book, I found the following cases (or stories) to be of great interest to me: "Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," "The Man Who Fell Out of Bed," "Witty Ticcy Ray," "Cupid's disease," and "The Autist Artist."

This book is a fascinating read and deeply recommended.

A lovely book, 03 Feb 2008
I first came across Oliver Sacks in a doctor's waiting room. There, lying on the table, was a copy of his first book, "Migraine". Since I suffer from bad headaches, I picked it up and started reading. Thoroughly intrigued by the elegantly written case studies it contained, I asked the doctor if I could borrow it, took it home, and finished it that evening. I then began to notice that Mr. Sacks periodically wrote articles for the New Yorker on strange neurological cases, and every time one came out I read it with delectation. So when I saw Mr. Sack's book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" at my local bookstore I bought it immediately.

I was not let down. The book is a fascinating compendium of neurological case studies, classified into four parts: Losses, Excesses, Transports, The World of the Simple. Mr. Sacks takes us on a journey through a series of neurological disturbances with extreme effects. Initially, one reads them with appalled fascination, with a feeling of being at the Circus staring at the Bearded Lady or the Elephant Man; I was forcefully reminded of Sylvia Plath's lines in "Lady Lazarus":
The Peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand in foot --
The big strip tease.

But Oliver Sacks writes soberly and with great compassion about his cases, and drags us away from mere peanut-crunching voyeurism to finally contemplate what the cases tell us about what it means to be us.


Lifechanging, 08 Dec 2008
This is a wonderful book that will open your mind to a new way of thinking. Enjoy the lovely stories and think about what is truely important in your life!

A Bit Too Contemporary, 23 Nov 2007
This book gets off to a good start, but then falls into the Maslow trap of when you've got a hammer, you see every problem as a nail. By the end of the book I thought 'emotional intelligence' was a pretty weedy phenomemon and there was far too much doom and gloom in the book.

One of my favourite books of all time is The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton. Most of the stuff in Burton (written over 400 years ago) is covered by Goleman. Only Goleman dresses it up as the latest scientific research.

Things like reliving trauma as a way of purging it were intriguing. By the end I was skipping pages so I could take it to the charity shop.

interesting - but mostly about children, 20 Oct 2007
Very interesting for someone new to the concept of emotional intelligence, especially parents or teachers. Almost all examples and studies are drawn from children (kindergarten or primary school age, mostly), and how their EQ can be observed and stimulated. However, the book of limited use to adults who want to understand the strengths and limitations of their own emotional intelligence, or how to improve it.
I gather when this book first came out it was a groundbreaking work. Much research and writing has been done since then, so there are probably better choices for someone who wants to learn about emotional intelligence in adults.

Poor mans Dianetics, 31 Dec 2006
I was first introduced to this book at a work seminar. After several hours of team work activities, communication coaching and munching on the finger food- the seminar leader (hired by my employer) gave all the staff an insight into how the mind works by doing diagrams and giving examples using data she had garnered from the book 'Emotional Intelligence'. I was struck by how many of the concepts and ideas seem to by synonymous with L.Ron Hubbards 'Dianetics- The Modern Science of Mental Health', but presented in a more loose fashion and with a less long term technique for solving the problems to the primitive area of mans behaviour.

Whilst I do agree that some of the authors statements are true- I would recommend reading the real thing first.

Life Intelligence, 31 Oct 2006
This book is not just about getting on better in the work place, but getting on better in life in general. I came to read this book through a desire to try and better myself and from reading `self help' books from authors like Susan Jeffers and Paul McKenna. Having only just finished reading it, it is to early to say whether what I have learned will be of long term benefit in terms of my career and other problems like occasional social anxiety and comfort eating. The book challenges you to confront unhelpful and self-defeating thoughts when they arise and to locate where and when they first came from. It is fair to say that this book has given me a huge insight into why I think the way I do and the possible reasons why I am the way I am. Although it does not go into practical solutions to deeply, it does give you insights into your own emotional thinking and that alone I believe can be of enormous benefit. I now feel I have a fresh desire and impetus to push through these ways of thinking. If you have problems in your life like me then this book could help to give you the same insights.

A disappointment, 05 Jan 2009
I suppose that it falls to me to provide a negative review of this book. I've not given the book a low rating because while it didn't meet my expectations, it's certainly well written and interesting.

Having read Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" in which ( I think) this book is referenced, I chose this book hoping that Sacks would provide some insight into how or why a man might mistake his wife for a hat. Unfortunately the book turned out to be a rather less ambitious series of case histories of his patients. True, they're interesting and tragic histories and certainly Sacks does empathise with his patients, treating them as more than just medical subjects. However the book was, for me, profoundly unsatisfying as it didn't go into the mechanics of their problems or shed any insight (at least for a neurological layman like myself) on the inner workings of even undamaged brains. Return to Dennett for that, perhaps?

I was also a little perturbed by the occasional foray into less than scientific discussions about whether the more deeply damaged patients could be thought of as having "souls". I think that I would be deeply concerned if, had I been brain damaged, my neurologist spent any time worrying about the state of my soul!

I didn't find the book hard to get into although I agree that there's plenty of jargon that could/should have been explained (a glossary at least?) and I certainly didn't find it over-academic - quite the reverse in places. However, I neither did I manage to get more than half-way through before dropping it so maybe aI missed something in the later chapters.

Interesting read, 27 Mar 2008
Fairly well written, and as someone who has no prior background in this field, it was easy to understand and descriptive enough to be interesting. it was not too technical that i got bogged down with terms, unlike some other neurology books i've read.

A little disappointing, 19 Mar 2008
An interesting book though I have to admit I didn't enjoy the writing style. I find Sacks to be overly academic (I'm in the medical field myself) and his use of technical jargon can be somewhat off putting. Unlike the popular work Phantoms of the Brains Sacks seems uninterested in explaining the ideas in scientific terms in any great detail, he instead takes a more anthropological approach and merely details the cases. Whilst the cases themselves are off considerable interest I found his analysis to be lacking. His writing style didn't sit well with me, though this may be more my fault than his, and ultimately I didn't find myself much wiser after having read the book.

The book is still worth reading, however for a non-medical reader I'd recommend the far superior Phantoms of the Brain before approaching this work as it'll help you understand a lot of what Sacks talks about. There were, within the book, one or two cases that viewers of House M.D. would recognise.


A Fascinating Read, 15 Feb 2008
A neurologist, Oliver Sacks, discussed and brought to light the neurological disorders in case by case in this book with an interesting choice of the title: "Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat." This is the first book by Sacks that I have read, and I found his writing style to be quite enjoyable.

Not only that, this book contains an extraordinary collection of cases of individuals with neurological disorders that brings one to understand a bit on how human brain works. While this book was first published in the early 1970s and the understanding of the human brain mechanism has changed and increased since then, I found this book to be very insightful.

Out of all the cases I have read from this book, I found the following cases (or stories) to be of great interest to me: "Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," "The Man Who Fell Out of Bed," "Witty Ticcy Ray," "Cupid's disease," and "The Autist Artist."

This book is a fascinating read and deeply recommended.

A lovely book, 03 Feb 2008
I first came across Oliver Sacks in a doctor's waiting room. There, lying on the table, was a copy of his first book, "Migraine". Since I suffer from bad headaches, I picked it up and started reading. Thoroughly intrigued by the elegantly written case studies it contained, I asked the doctor if I could borrow it, took it home, and finished it that evening. I then began to notice that Mr. Sacks periodically wrote articles for the New Yorker on strange neurological cases, and every time one came out I read it with delectation. So when I saw Mr. Sack's book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" at my local bookstore I bought it immediately.

I was not let down. The book is a fascinating compendium of neurological case studies, classified into four parts: Losses, Excesses, Transports, The World of the Simple. Mr. Sacks takes us on a journey through a series of neurological disturbances with extreme effects. Initially, one reads them with appalled fascination, with a feeling of being at the Circus staring at the Bearded Lady or the Elephant Man; I was forcefully reminded of Sylvia Plath's lines in "Lady Lazarus":
The Peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand in foot --
The big strip tease.

But Oliver Sacks writes soberly and with great compassion about his cases, and drags us away from mere peanut-crunching voyeurism to finally contemplate what the cases tell us about what it means to be us.


Lifechanging, 08 Dec 2008
This is a wonderful book that will open your mind to a new way of thinking. Enjoy the lovely stories and think about what is truely important in your life!

A Bit Too Contemporary, 23 Nov 2007
This book gets off to a good start, but then falls into the Maslow trap of when you've got a hammer, you see every problem as a nail. By the end of the book I thought 'emotional intelligence' was a pretty weedy phenomemon and there was far too much doom and gloom in the book.

One of my favourite books of all time is The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton. Most of the stuff in Burton (written over 400 years ago) is covered by Goleman. Only Goleman dresses it up as the latest scientific research.

Things like reliving trauma as a way of purging it were intriguing. By the end I was skipping pages so I could take it to the charity shop.

interesting - but mostly about children, 20 Oct 2007
Very interesting for someone new to the concept of emotional intelligence, especially parents or teachers. Almost all examples and studies are drawn from children (kindergarten or primary school age, mostly), and how their EQ can be observed and stimulated. However, the book of limited use to adults who want to understand the strengths and limitations of their own emotional intelligence, or how to improve it.
I gather when this book first came out it was a groundbreaking work. Much research and writing has been done since then, so there are probably better choices for someone who wants to learn about emotional intelligence in adults.

Poor mans Dianetics, 31 Dec 2006
I was first introduced to this book at a work seminar. After several hours of team work activities, communication coaching and munching on the finger food- the seminar leader (hired by my employer) gave all the staff an insight into how the mind works by doing diagrams and giving examples using data she had garnered from the book 'Emotional Intelligence'. I was struck by how many of the concepts and ideas seem to by synonymous with L.Ron Hubbards 'Dianetics- The Modern Science of Mental Health', but presented in a more loose fashion and with a less long term technique for solving the problems to the primitive area of mans behaviour.

Whilst I do agree that some of the authors statements are true- I would recommend reading the real thing first.

Life Intelligence, 31 Oct 2006
This book is not just about getting on better in the work place, but getting on better in life in general. I came to read this book through a desire to try and better myself and from reading `self help' books from authors like Susan Jeffers and Paul McKenna. Having only just finished reading it, it is to early to say whether what I have learned will be of long term benefit in terms of my career and other problems like occasional social anxiety and comfort eating. The book challenges you to confront unhelpful and self-defeating thoughts when they arise and to locate where and when they first came from. It is fair to say that this book has given me a huge insight into why I think the way I do and the possible reasons why I am the way I am. Although it does not go into practical solutions to deeply, it does give you insights into your own emotional thinking and that alone I believe can be of enormous benefit. I now feel I have a fresh desire and impetus to push through these ways of thinking. If you have problems in your life like me then this book could help to give you the same insights.

Worth the money, 24 Feb 2008
Great book, I use it more than the main one we have been set for my course at uni. Used it at A level too, it's not too complex, not too basic, but rather heavy to carry!

Excellent , 24 Jan 2008
I found this book really helpful, I am currently in my second year of an access course on health and welfare. This book was really intresting and so easy to follow so many topics. I have flew through my assignments-a great help....

Brilliant book!, 01 Dec 2007
I am a year 2 social work student and bought this book for my psychology module. It is an absolutely fantastic book and I would recommend it to anyone who would like to know anything at all about psychology. The book is understandable and addictive and the cd that accompanies it is just an added bonus. This is a great book and would be an amazing read for anyone. Thoroughly recommended.

Great book, 09 Dec 2006
This book is easy to read and very imformative. If you are going to buy a book for studying psychology, I would strongly recommend this book.

The Foremost Psychology Overview Textbook, 01 Nov 2006
With bulky introductions to all the main areas of psychology - social, cognitive, clinical, etc, this book presents both lots of detail and lots of scope. It made me interested in areas of psychology I hadn't previously thought much of. R. Gross excels at presenting psychology theories, studies and information in a clear way, even when explaining conflicting opinions.

This is an awesome book for anyone interested in not only psychology (as a textbook/bible), but also in humanity in general.

A disappointment, 05 Jan 2009
I suppose that it falls to me to provide a negative review of this book. I've not given the book a low rating because while it didn't meet my expectations, it's certainly well written and interesting.

Having read Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" in which ( I think) this book is referenced, I chose this book hoping that Sacks would provide some insight into how or why a man might mistake his wife for a hat. Unfortunately the book turned out to be a rather less ambitious series of case histories of his patients. True, they're interesting and tragic histories and certainly Sacks does empathise with his patients, treating them as more than just medical subjects. However the book was, for me, profoundly unsatisfying as it didn't go into the mechanics of their problems or shed any insight (at least for a neurological layman like myself) on the inner workings of even undamaged brains. Return to Dennett for that, perhaps?

I was also a little perturbed by the occasional foray into less than scientific discussions about whether the more deeply damaged patients could be thought of as having "souls". I think that I would be deeply concerned if, had I been brain damaged, my neurologist spent any time worrying about the state of my soul!

I didn't find the book hard to get into although I agree that there's plenty of jargon that could/should have been explained (a glossary at least?) and I certainly didn't find it over-academic - quite the reverse in places. However, I neither did I manage to get more than half-way through before dropping it so maybe aI missed something in the later chapters.

Interesting read, 27 Mar 2008
Fairly well written, and as someone who has no prior background in this field, it was easy to understand and descriptive enough to be interesting. it was not too technical that i got bogged down with terms, unlike some other neurology books i've read.

A little disappointing, 19 Mar 2008
An interesting book though I have to admit I didn't enjoy the writing style. I find Sacks to be overly academic (I'm in the medical field myself) and his use of technical jargon can be somewhat off putting. Unlike the popular work Phantoms of the Brains Sacks seems uninterested in explaining the ideas in scientific terms in any great detail, he instead takes a more anthropological approach and merely details the cases. Whilst the cases themselves are off considerable interest I found his analysis to be lacking. His writing style didn't sit well with me, though this may be more my fault than his, and ultimately I didn't find myself much wiser after having read the book.

The book is still worth reading, however for a non-medical reader I'd recommend the far superior Phantoms of the Brain before approaching this work as it'll help you understand a lot of what Sacks talks about. There were, within the book, one or two cases that viewers of House M.D. would recognise.


A Fascinating Read, 15 Feb 2008
A neurologist, Oliver Sacks, discussed and brought to light the neurological disorders in case by case in this book with an interesting choice of the title: "Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat." This is the first book by Sacks that I have read, and I found his writing style to be quite enjoyable.

Not only that, this book contains an extraordinary collection of cases of individuals with neurological disorders that brings one to understand a bit on how human brain works. While this book was first published in the early 1970s and the understanding of the human brain mechanism has changed and increased since then, I found this book to be very insightful.

Out of all the cases I have read from this book, I found the following cases (or stories) to be of great interest to me: "Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," "The Man Who Fell Out of Bed," "Witty Ticcy Ray," "Cupid's disease," and "The Autist Artist."

This book is a fascinating read and deeply recommended.

A lovely book, 03 Feb 2008
I first came across Oliver Sacks in a doctor's waiting room. There, lying on the table, was a copy of his first book, "Migraine". Since I suffer from bad headaches, I picked it up and started reading. Thoroughly intrigued by the elegantly written case studies it contained, I asked the doctor if I could borrow it, took it home, and finished it that evening. I then began to notice that Mr. Sacks periodically wrote articles for the New Yorker on strange neurological cases, and every time one came out I read it with delectation. So when I saw Mr. Sack's book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" at my local bookstore I bought it immediately.

I was not let down. The book is a fascinating compendium of neurological case studies, classified into four parts: Losses, Excesses, Transports, The World of the Simple. Mr. Sacks takes us on a journey through a series of neurological disturbances with extreme effects. Initially, one reads them with appalled fascination, with a feeling of being at the Circus staring at the Bearded Lady or the Elephant Man; I was forcefully reminded of Sylvia Plath's lines in "Lady Lazarus":
The Peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand in foot --
The big strip tease.

But Oliver Sacks writes soberly and with great compassion about his cases, and drags us away from mere peanut-crunching voyeurism to finally contemplate what the cases tell us about what it means to be us.


Lifechanging, 08 Dec 2008
This is a wonderful book that will open your mind to a new way of thinking. Enjoy the lovely stories and think about what is truely important in your life!

A Bit Too Contemporary, 23 Nov 2007
This book gets off to a good start, but then falls into the Maslow trap of when you've got a hammer, you see every problem as a nail. By the end of the book I thought 'emotional intelligence' was a pretty weedy phenomemon and there was far too much doom and gloom in the book.

One of my favourite books of all time is The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton. Most of the stuff in Burton (written over 400 years ago) is covered by Goleman. Only Goleman dresses it up as the latest scientific research.

Things like reliving trauma as a way of purging it were intriguing. By the end I was skipping pages so I could take it to the charity shop.

interesting - but mostly about children, 20 Oct 2007
Very interesting for someone new to the concept of emotional intelligence, especially parents or teachers. Almost all examples and studies are drawn from children (kindergarten or primary school age, mostly), and how their EQ can be observed and stimulated. However, the book of limited use to adults who want to understand the strengths and limitations of their own emotional intelligence, or how to improve it.
I gather when this book first came out it was a groundbreaking work. Much research and writing has been done since then, so there are probably better choices for someone who wants to learn about emotional intelligence in adults.

Poor mans Dianetics, 31 Dec 2006
I was first introduced to this book at a work seminar. After several hours of team work activities, communication coaching and munching on the finger food- the seminar leader (hired by my employer) gave all the staff an insight into how the mind works by doing diagrams and giving examples using data she had garnered from the book 'Emotional Intelligence'. I was struck by how many of the concepts and ideas seem to by synonymous with L.Ron Hubbards 'Dianetics- The Modern Science of Mental Health', but presented in a more loose fashion and with a less long term technique for solving the problems to the primitive area of mans behaviour.

Whilst I do agree that some of the authors statements are true- I would recommend reading the real thing first.

Life Intelligence, 31 Oct 2006
This book is not just about getting on better in the work place, but getting on better in life in general. I came to read this book through a desire to try and better myself and from reading `self help' books from authors like Susan Jeffers and Paul McKenna. Having only just finished reading it, it is to early to say whether what I have learned will be of long term benefit in terms of my career and other problems like occasional social anxiety and comfort eating. The book challenges you to confront unhelpful and self-defeating thoughts when they arise and to locate where and when they first came from. It is fair to say that this book has given me a huge insight into why I think the way I do and the possible reasons why I am the way I am. Although it does not go into practical solutions to deeply, it does give you insights into your own emotional thinking and that alone I believe can be of enormous benefit. I now feel I have a fresh desire and impetus to push through these ways of thinking. If you have problems in your life like me then this book could help to give you the same insights.

Worth the money, 24 Feb 2008
Great book, I use it more than the main one we have been set for my course at uni. Used it at A level too, it's not too complex, not too basic, but rather heavy to carry!

Excellent , 24 Jan 2008
I found this book really helpful, I am currently in my second year of an access course on health and welfare. This book was really intresting and so easy to follow so many topics. I have flew through my assignments-a great help....

Brilliant book!, 01 Dec 2007
I am a year 2 social work student and bought this book for my psychology module. It is an absolutely fantastic book and I would recommend it to anyone who would like to know anything at all about psychology. The book is understandable and addictive and the cd that accompanies it is just an added bonus. This is a great book and would be an amazing read for anyone. Thoroughly recommended.

Great book, 09 Dec 2006
This book is easy to read and very imformative. If you are going to buy a book for studying psychology, I would strongly recommend this book.

The Foremost Psychology Overview Textbook, 01 Nov 2006
With bulky introductions to all the main areas of psychology - social, cognitive, clinical, etc, this book presents both lots of detail and lots of scope. It made me interested in areas of psychology I hadn't previously thought much of. R. Gross excels at presenting psychology theories, studies and information in a clear way, even when explaining conflicting opinions.

This is an awesome book for anyone interested in not only psychology (as a textbook/bible), but also in humanity in general.

Does what it says on the tin, 29 May 2008
I found this an excellent source of information on anger and how to deal with it. As a trainee counsellor who is already working with clients I have used it as a framework for discussing anger problems and found the advice on how to re-appraise our habitual reactions to anger "triggers" was especially useful. I also liked the "leaky bucket" analogy, i.e. that if we don't keep topping up the bucket, the anger drains away. I would recommend the book to counsellors and self-helpers as it is very easy to read and follow. I do think the CBT approach is valuable for learning to manage what I would call "everyday" anger, but I think that there are people with "deep-seated" anger relating to wounds from their past who would need a different approach.

Excellent Series, 30 Oct 2002
This book is part of a series of books and in it's handy sized format is a good reference tool. Doesn't have all the answers in it and personally soon got bored of using it as things were hard to find.Although I will refer to it again in future.

Practical Exercises for Self Improvement, 20 Mar 2002
The author's tone and practical examples give you confidence that the suggested practical exercises will enable you to overcome your problem(s)successfully.
Recommended, it could change your life for the better!

A self-help book which really brings results., 03 Jul 2001
This book has certainly helped me to get less angry less often. With the help of real-life case studies, the author describes what happens when you get angry, why you may be angered by something that doesn't anger somebody else, and the difference between anger and irritability. In the second part you get a chance to put the theories into practice by keeping an anger diary and then analysing the incidents according to the trigger that makes you angry, the appraisal you make of the situation, and the beliefs behind the appraisal. After working through the case-study examples as if advising the people in them how to look at the situation differently, you get to do the same on your own incidents, which I found an enlightening, and sometimes painful, experience. I now find I get less angry if a similar incident occurs. I would thoroughly recommend this book.

A disappointment, 05 Jan 2009
I suppose that it falls to me to provide a negative review of this book. I've not given the book a low rating because while it didn't meet my expectations, it's certainly well written and interesting.

Having read Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" in which ( I think) this book is referenced, I chose this book hoping that Sacks would provide some insight into how or why a man might mistake his wife for a hat. Unfortunately the book turned out to be a rather less ambitious series of case histories of his patients. True, they're interesting and tragic histories and certainly Sacks does empathise with his patients, treating them as more than just medical subjects. However the book was, for me, profoundly unsatisfying as it didn't go into the mechanics of their problems or shed any insight (at least for a neurological layman like myself) on the inner workings of even undamaged brains. Return to Dennett for that, perhaps?

I was also a little perturbed by the occasional foray into less than scientific discussions about whether the more deeply damaged patients could be thought of as having "souls". I think that I would be deeply concerned if, had I been brain damaged, my neurologist spent any time worrying about the state of my soul!

I didn't find the book hard to get into although I agree that there's plenty of jargon that could/should have been explained (a glossary at least?) and I certainly didn't find it over-academic - quite the reverse in places. However, I neither did I manage to get more than half-way through before dropping it so maybe aI missed something in the later chapters.

Interesting read, 27 Mar 2008
Fairly well written, and as someone who has no prior background in this field, it was easy to understand and descriptive enough to be interesting. it was not too technical that i got bogged down with terms, unlike some other neurology books i've read.

A little disappointing, 19 Mar 2008
An interesting book though I have to admit I didn't enjoy the writing style. I find Sacks to be overly academic (I'm in the medical field myself) and his use of technical jargon can be somewhat off putting. Unlike the popular work Phantoms of the Brains Sacks seems uninterested in explaining the ideas in scientific terms in any great detail, he instead takes a more anthropological approach and merely details the cases. Whilst the cases themselves are off considerable interest I found his analysis to be lacking. His writing style didn't sit well with me, though this may be more my fault than his, and ultimately I didn't find myself much wiser after having read the book.

The book is still worth reading, however for a non-medical reader I'd recommend the far superior Phantoms of the Brain before approaching this work as it'll help you understand a lot of what Sacks talks about. There were, within the book, one or two cases that viewers of House M.D. would recognise.


A Fascinating Read, 15 Feb 2008
A neurologist, Oliver Sacks, discussed and brought to light the neurological disorders in case by case in this book with an interesting choice of the title: "Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat." This is the first book by Sacks that I have read, and I found his writing style to be quite enjoyable.

Not only that, this book contains an extraordinary collection of cases of individuals with neurological disorders that brings one to understand a bit on how human brain works. While this book was first published in the early 1970s and the understanding of the human brain mechanism has changed and increased since then, I found this book to be very insightful.

Out of all the cases I have read from this book, I found the following cases (or stories) to be of great interest to me: "Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," "The Man Who Fell Out of Bed," "Witty Ticcy Ray," "Cupid's disease," and "The Autist Artist."

This book is a fascinating read and deeply recommended.

A lovely book, 03 Feb 2008
I first came across Oliver Sacks in a doctor's waiting room. There, lying on the table, was a copy of his first book, "Migraine". Since I suffer from bad headaches, I picked it up and started reading. Thoroughly intrigued by the elegantly written case studies it contained, I asked the doctor if I could borrow it, took it home, and finished it that evening. I then began to notice that Mr. Sacks periodically wrote articles for the New Yorker on strange neurological cases, and every time one came out I read it with delectation. So when I saw Mr. Sack's book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" at my local bookstore I bought it immediately.

I was not let down. The book is a fascinating compendium of neurological case studies, classified into four parts: Losses, Excesses, Transports, The World of the Simple. Mr. Sacks takes us on a journey through a series of neurological disturbances with extreme effects. Initially, one reads them with appalled fascination, with a feeling of being at the Circus staring at the Bearded Lady or the Elephant Man; I was forcefully reminded of Sylvia Plath's lines in "Lady Lazarus":
The Peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand in foot --
The big strip tease.

But Oliver Sacks writes soberly and with great compassion about his cases, and drags us away from mere peanut-crunching voyeurism to finally contemplate what the cases tell us about what it means to be us.


Lifechanging, 08 Dec 2008
This is a wonderful book that will open your mind to a new way of thinking. Enjoy the lovely stories and think about what is truely important in your life!

A Bit Too Contemporary, 23 Nov 2007
This book gets off to a good start, but then falls into the Maslow trap of when you've got a hammer, you see every problem as a nail. By the end of the book I thought 'emotional intelligence' was a pretty weedy phenomemon and there was far too much doom and gloom in the book.

One of my favourite books of all time is The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton. Most of the stuff in Burton (written over 400 years ago) is covered by Goleman. Only Goleman dresses it up as the latest scientific research.

Things like reliving trauma as a way of purging it were intriguing. By the end I was skipping pages so I could take it to the charity shop.

interesting - but mostly about children, 20 Oct 2007
Very interesting for someone new to the concept of emotional intelligence, especially parents or teachers. Almost all examples and studies are drawn from children (kindergarten or primary school age, mostly), and how their EQ can be observed and stimulated. However, the book of limited use to adults who want to understand the strengths and limitations of their own emotional intelligence, or how to improve it.
I gather when this book first came out it was a groundbreaking work. Much research and writing has been done since then, so there are probably better choices for someone who wants to learn about emotional intelligence in adults.

Poor mans Dianetics, 31 Dec 2006
I was first introduced to this book at a work seminar. After several hours of team work activities, communication coaching and munching on the finger food- the seminar leader (hired by my employer) gave all the staff an insight into how the mind works by doing diagrams and giving examples using data she had garnered from the book 'Emotional Intelligence'. I was struck by how many of the concepts and ideas seem to by synonymous with L.Ron Hubbards 'Dianetics- The Modern Science of Mental Health', but presented in a more loose fashion and with a less long term technique for solving the problems to the primitive area of mans behaviour.

Whilst I do agree that some of the authors statements are true- I would recommend reading the real thing first.

Life Intelligence, 31 Oct 2006
This book is not just about getting on better in the work place, but getting on better in life in general. I came to read this book through a desire to try and better myself and from reading `self help' books from authors like Susan Jeffers and Paul McKenna. Having only just finished reading it, it is to early to say whether what I have learned will be of long term benefit in terms of my career and other problems like occasional social anxiety and comfort eating. The book challenges you to confront unhelpful and self-defeating thoughts when they arise and to locate where and when they first came from. It is fair to say that this book has given me a huge insight into why I think the way I do and the possible reasons why I am the way I am. Although it does not go into practical solutions to deeply, it does give you insights into your own emotional thinking and that alone I believe can be of enormous benefit. I now feel I have a fresh desire and impetus to push through these ways of thinking. If you have problems in your life like me then this book could help to give you the same insights.

Worth the money, 24 Feb 2008
Great book, I use it more than the main one we have been set for my course at uni. Used it at A level too, it's not too complex, not too basic, but rather heavy to carry!

Excellent , 24 Jan 2008
I found this book really helpful, I am currently in my second year of an access course on health and welfare. This book was really intresting and so easy to follow so many topics. I have flew through my assignments-a great help....

Brilliant book!, 01 Dec 2007
I am a year 2 social work student and bought this book for my psychology module. It is an absolutely fantastic book and I would recommend it to anyone who would like to know anything at all about psychology. The book is understandable and addictive and the cd that accompanies it is just an added bonus. This is a great book and would be an amazing read for anyone. Thoroughly recommended.

Great book, 09 Dec 2006
This book is easy to read and very imformative. If you are going to buy a book for studying psychology, I would strongly recommend this book.

The Foremost Psychology Overview Textbook, 01 Nov 2006
With bulky introductions to all the main areas of psychology - social, cognitive, clinical, etc, this book presents both lots of detail and lots of scope. It made me interested in areas of psychology I hadn't previously thought much of. R. Gross excels at presenting psychology theories, studies and information in a clear way, even when explaining conflicting opinions.

This is an awesome book for anyone interested in not only psychology (as a textbook/bible), but also in humanity in general.

Does what it says on the tin, 29 May 2008
I found this an excellent source of information on anger and how to deal with it. As a trainee counsellor who is already working with clients I have used it as a framework for discussing anger problems and found the advice on how to re-appraise our habitual reactions to anger "triggers" was especially useful. I also liked the "leaky bucket" analogy, i.e. that if we don't keep topping up the bucket, the anger drains away. I would recommend the book to counsellors and self-helpers as it is very easy to read and follow. I do think the CBT approach is valuable for learning to manage what I would call "everyday" anger, but I think that there are people with "deep-seated" anger relating to wounds from their past who would need a different approach.

Excellent Series, 30 Oct 2002
This book is part of a series of books and in it's handy sized format is a good reference tool. Doesn't have all the answers in it and personally soon got bored of using it as things were hard to find.Although I will refer to it again in future.

Practical Exercises for Self Improvement, 20 Mar 2002
The author's tone and practical examples give you confidence that the suggested practical exercises will enable you to overcome your problem(s)successfully.
Recommended, it could change your life for the better!

A self-help book which really brings results., 03 Jul 2001
This book has certainly helped me to get less angry less often. With the help of real-life case studies, the author describes what happens when you get angry, why you may be angered by something that doesn't anger somebody else, and the difference between anger and irritability. In the second part you get a chance to put the theories into practice by keeping an anger diary and then analysing the incidents according to the trigger that makes you angry, the appraisal you make of the situation, and the beliefs behind the appraisal. After working through the case-study examples as if advising the people in them how to look at the situation differently, you get to do the same on your own incidents, which I found an enlightening, and sometimes painful, experience. I now find I get less angry if a similar incident occurs. I would thoroughly recommend this book.

Very Useful Resource, 20 Jul 2006
I found O'Connor & Lages's style to be useful and straightforward, with a continuous emphasis on practice. Very helpful for someone familiar with NLP and keen to use it in coaching. Regular reminders to avoid psychoanalysing clients and just helping them get on with their agenda proved very useful to me. Very useful book.

Yes, excellent, 01 Apr 2006
This is the second book by Johseph O'Conner, I have. Very good read, very good righter. If you are an NLP practitioner this book will help you to put your practice in to practice, if you get what I mean.

Excellent, 07 Apr 2004
This is a great read for serious coaches, fully explained models and techniques that can be applied straight away. Well worth RRP.

A disappointment, 05 Jan 2009
I suppose that it falls to me to provide a negative review of this book. I've not given the book a low rating because while it didn't meet my expectations, it's certainly well written and interesting.

Having read Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" in which ( I think) this book is referenced, I chose this book hoping that Sacks would provide some insight into how or why a man might mistake his wife for a hat. Unfortunately the book turned out to be a rather less ambitious series of case histories of his patients. True, they're interesting and tragic histories and certainly Sacks does empathise with his patients, treating them as more than just medical subjects. However the book was, for me, profoundly unsatisfying as it didn't go into the mechanics of their problems or shed any insight (at least for a neurological layman like myself) on the inner workings of even undamaged brains. Return to Dennett for that, perhaps?

I was also a little perturbed by the occasional foray into less than scientific discussions about whether the more deeply damaged patients could be thought of as having "souls". I think that I would be deeply concerned if, had I been brain damaged, my neurologist spent any time worrying about the state of my soul!

I didn't find the book hard to get into although I agree that there's plenty of jargon that could/should have been explained (a glossary at least?) and I certainly didn't find it over-academic - quite the reverse in places. However, I neither did I manage to get more than half-way through before dropping it so maybe aI missed something in the later chapters.

Interesting read, 27 Mar 2008
Fairly well written, and as someone who has no prior background in this field, it was easy to understand and descriptive enough to be interesting. it was not too technical that i got bogged down with terms, unlike some other neurology books i've read.

A little disappointing, 19 Mar 2008
An interesting book though I have to admit I didn't enjoy the writing style. I find Sacks to be overly academic (I'm in the medical field myself) and his use of technical jargon can be somewhat off putting. Unlike the popular work Phantoms of the Brains Sacks seems uninterested in explaining the ideas in scientific terms in any great detail, he instead takes a more anthropological approach and merely details the cases. Whilst the cases themselves are off considerable interest I found his analysis to be lacking. His writing style didn't sit well with me, though this may be more my fault than his, and ultimately I didn't find myself much wiser after having read the book.

The book is still worth reading, however for a non-medical reader I'd recommend the far superior Phantoms of the Brain before approaching this work as it'll help you understand a lot of what Sacks talks about. There were, within the book, one or two cases that viewers of House M.D. would recognise.


A Fascinating Read, 15 Feb 2008
A neurologist, Oliver Sacks, discussed and brought to light the neurological disorders in case by case in this book with an interesting choice of the title: "Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat." This is the first book by Sacks that I have read, and I found his writing style to be quite enjoyable.

Not only that, this book contains an extraordinary collection of cases of individuals with neurological disorders that brings one to understand a bit on how human brain works. While this book was first published in the early 1970s and the understanding of the human brain mechanism has changed and increased since then, I found this book to be very insightful.

Out of all the cases I have read from this book, I found the following cases (or stories) to be of great interest to me: "Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," "The Man Who Fell Out of Bed," "Witty Ticcy Ray," "Cupid's disease," and "The Autist Artist."

This book is a fascinating read and deeply recommended.

A lovely book, 03 Feb 2008
I first came across Oliver Sacks in a doctor's waiting room. There, lying on the table, was a copy of his first book, "Migraine". Since I suffer from bad headaches, I picked it up and started reading. Thoroughly intrigued by the elegantly written case studies it contained, I asked the doctor if I could borrow it, took it home, and finished it that evening. I then began to notice that Mr. Sacks periodically wrote articles for the New Yorker on strange neurological cases, and every time one came out I read it with delectation. So when I saw Mr. Sack's book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" at my local bookstore I bought it immediately.

I was not let down. The book is a fascinating compendium of neurological case studies, classified into four parts: Losses, Excesses, Transports, The World of the Simple. Mr. Sacks takes us on a journey through a series of neurological disturbances with extreme effects. Initially, one reads them with appalled fascination, with a feeling of being at the Circus staring at the Bearded Lady or the Elephant Man; I was forcefully reminded of Sylvia Plath's lines in "Lady Lazarus":
The Peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand in foot --
The big strip tease.

But Oliver Sacks writes soberly and with great compassion about his cases, and drags us away from mere peanut-crunching voyeurism to finally contemplate what the cases tell us about what it means to be us.


Lifechanging, 08 Dec 2008
This is a wonderful book that will open your mind to a new way of thinking. Enjoy the lovely stories and think about what is truely important in your life!

A Bit Too Contemporary, 23 Nov 2007
This book gets off to a good start, but then falls into the Maslow trap of when you've got a hammer, you see every problem as a nail. By the end of the book I thought 'emotional intelligence' was a pretty weedy phenomemon and there was far too much doom and gloom in the book.

One of my favourite books of all time is The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton. Most of the stuff in Burton (written over 400 years ago) is covered by Goleman. Only Goleman dresses it up as the latest scientific research.

Things like reliving trauma as a way of purging it were intriguing. By the end I was skipping pages so I could take it to the charity shop.

interesting - but mostly about children, 20 Oct 2007
Very interesting for someone new to the concept of emotional intelligence, especially parents or teachers. Almost all examples and studies are drawn from children (kindergarten or primary school age, mostly), and how their EQ can be observed and stimulated. However, the book of limited use to adults who want to understand the strengths and limitations of their own emotional intelligence, or how to improve it.
I gather when this book first came out it was a groundbreaking work. Much research and writing has been done since then, so there are probably better choices for someone who wants to learn about emotional intelligence in adults.

Poor mans Dianetics, 31 Dec 2006
I was first introduced to this book at a work seminar. After several hours of team work activities, communication coaching and munching on the finger food- the seminar leader (hired by my employer) gave all the staff an insight into how the mind works by doing diagrams and giving examples using data she had garnered from the book 'Emotional Intelligence'. I was struck by how many of the concepts and ideas seem to by synonymous with L.Ron Hubbards 'Dianetics- The Modern Science of Mental Health', but presented in a more loose fashion and with a less long term technique for solving the problems to the primitive area of mans behaviour.

Whilst I do agree that some of the authors statements are true- I would recommend reading the real thing first.

Life Intelligence, 31 Oct 2006
This book is not just about getting on better in the work place, but getting on better in life in general. I came to read this book through a desire to try and better myself and from reading `self help' books from authors like Susan Jeffers and Paul McKenna. Having only just finished reading it, it is to early to say whether what I have learned will be of long term benefit in terms of my career and other problems like occasional social anxiety and comfort eating. The book challenges you to confront unhelpful and self-defeating thoughts when they arise and to locate where and when they first came from. It is fair to say that this book has given me a huge insight into why I think the way I do and the possible reasons why I am the way I am. Although it does not go into practical solutions to deeply, it does give you insights into your own emotional thinking and that alone I believe can be of enormous benefit. I now feel I have a fresh desire and impetus to push through these ways of thinking. If you have problems in your life like me then this book could help to give you the same insights.

Worth the money, 24 Feb 2008
Great book, I use it more than the main one we have been set for my course at uni. Used it at A level too, it's not too complex, not too basic, but rather heavy to carry!

Excellent , 24 Jan 2008
I found this book really helpful, I am currently in my second year of an access course on health and welfare. This book was really intresting and so easy to follow so many topics. I have flew through my assignments-a great help....

Brilliant book!, 01 Dec 2007
I am a year 2 social work student and bought this book for my psychology module. It is an absolutely fantastic book and I would recommend it to anyone who would like to know anything at all about psychology. The book is understandable and addictive and the cd that accompanies it is just an added bonus. This is a great book and would be an amazing read for anyone. Thoroughly recommended.

Great book, 09 Dec 2006
This book is easy to read and very imformative. If you are going to buy a book for studying psychology, I would strongly recommend this book.

The Foremost Psychology Overview Textbook, 01 Nov 2006
With bulky introductions to all the main areas of psychology - social, cognitive, clinical, etc, this book presents both lots of detail and lots of scope. It made me interested in areas of psychology I hadn't previously thought much of. R. Gross excels at presenting psychology theories, studies and information in a clear way, even when explaining conflicting opinions.

This is an awesome book for anyone interested in not only psychology (as a textbook/bible), but also in humanity in general.

Does what it says on the tin, 29 May 2008
I found this an excellent source of information on anger and how to deal with it. As a trainee counsellor who is already working with clients I have used it as a framework for discussing anger problems and found the advice on how to re-appraise our habitual reactions to anger "triggers" was especially useful. I also liked the "leaky bucket" analogy, i.e. that if we don't keep topping up the bucket, the anger drains away. I would recommend the book to counsellors and self-helpers as it is very easy to read and follow. I do think the CBT approach is valuable for learning to manage what I would call "everyday" anger, but I think that there are people with "deep-seated" anger relating to wounds from their past who would need a different approach.

Excellent Series, 30 Oct 2002
This book is part of a series of books and in it's handy sized format is a good reference tool. Doesn't have all the answers in it and personally soon got bored of using it as things were hard to find.Although I will refer to it again in future.

Practical Exercises for Self Improvement, 20 Mar 2002
The author's tone and practical examples give you confidence that the suggested practical exercises will enable you to overcome your problem(s)successfully.
Recommended, it could change your life for the better!

A self-help book which really brings results., 03 Jul 2001
This book has certainly helped me to get less angry less often. With the help of real-life case studies, the author describes what happens when you get angry, why you may be angered by something that doesn't anger somebody else, and the difference between anger and irritability. In the second part you get a chance to put the theories into practice by keeping an anger diary and then analysing the incidents according to the trigger that makes you angry, the appraisal you make of the situation, and the beliefs behind the appraisal. After working through the case-study examples as if advising the people in them how to look at the situation differently, you get to do the same on your own incidents, which I found an enlightening, and sometimes painful, experience. I now find I get less angry if a similar incident occurs. I would thoroughly recommend this book.

Very Useful Resource, 20 Jul 2006
I found O'Connor & Lages's style to be useful and straightforward, with a continuous emphasis on practice. Very helpful for someone familiar with NLP and keen to use it in coaching. Regular reminders to avoid psychoanalysing clients and just helping them get on with their agenda proved very useful to me. Very useful book.

Yes, excellent, 01 Apr 2006
This is the second book by Johseph O'Conner, I have. Very good read, very good righter. If you are an NLP practitioner this book will help you to put your practice in to practice, if you get what I mean.

Excellent, 07 Apr 2004
This is a great read for serious coaches, fully explained models and techniques that can be applied straight away. Well worth RRP.

must buy, 04 Jan 2009
I'm not the type of person that reads a lot but i struggle to put this book down. This is the second day i've had this book and i'm only on page 56 at the moment.

When i started reading this book i thought it would have a lot of irrelevant information and that i would have to skim read to get the main details however i was wrong. This book gives more than is needed and is well worth the money.

This book brings up myths about memory and discusses scientific evidence on them. This book not only unravels myths about learning it also provides an abundance on information to help you remember.

Simply put this is the best book i've ever read.

very good book..., 01 Dec 2008
This book is a very good book on memory as it goes into detail about the subject and uses research to back ups its theories. It will dispell any myths you thought about memory and what i like about it is it gives you a realistic look on what you can achieve with memory because other books out there claim they can give you photographic memory and never forget anything which is just not true. While this book has some powerful techniques which can astound you such as remembering long lists of numbers, long lists of items, dates remembering speeches and other subjects you wish there are limits. He goes on at how people have conversations with him and straight after ask him what they just said word for word, it does not work like that so dont expect miracles though you will be impressed. I read this because Derren Brown reccomended it in his book to read. I give this book 4 stars because in Derren Browns book he uses a much simpler system and easier to understand and use while the same one in here is not so easy to understand and has limitations. If you are interested in memory , not just techniques but abit of background then read this !

Your Memory, 31 Dec 2004
In the introduction to the book, one of the first things the reader realises is that the approach of the author is to present the fundamentals of memory from a scientific perspective and backing up assertions with evidence from studies. I was impressed with the frequent references to a huge number of psychological journals and also books published in the field of memory. This seems like the perfect introductory book in understanding one's memory and how to use it. The scientific objectivity of the book makes it all the more appropriate as a first book in the field, (if you would like to read several different opinions on the matter as I would), as it leads to not only knowing from evidence of the experiences of the author what is possible with memory, but also gives a sound framework of understanding how the brain is best worked with, giving data from studies to make this convincing.

On the practical side, reading this book has given me a lot of ideas on how to improve my memory, and the improvements have been taking effect since I was still reading the book. This is due partly to the results given throughout the book, taken from scientific studies, such as studying seperate subjects in seperate places can reduce interference between recall of memorized information from those subjects, or that if two subjects that are very similar are being studied, (such as Italian and Spanish), then interference is much more likely so studying the two in different places or at clearly distinct times is important to reduce potential interference. So many interesting facts observed from studies are here; I'll give another example: it has been observed that after studying for a test, sleeping in the intervening time before the test results in better recall of the learnt material than if you were to stay awake, or continue to learn the material and not sleep before the test.

Techical terms such as retention, recall, overlearning, interference, et al are here and I like the systematic way that the author uses these technical terms to clarify explanations of, for example, the use of specific mneumonics later in the book, (without the technical terms there would surely be more chance of ambiguity).

The first sections of the book explain what is known so far from studies about memory and how to improve your memory in general. Later in the book, a number of mneumonic systems are expounded; namely the link, story, loci, peg, and phonetic mneumonics. The most advanced of these by far seems to be the phonetic system.

All in all this is an excellent, well written, fascinating, and beneficial book. I wholly recommend it to anyone interesting in improving their memory, or anyone with a general interest in memory.

A down-to-earth, authoritative book on memory., 12 Dec 2004
In the introduction to the book, one of the first things the reader realises is that the approach of the author is to present the fundamentals of memory from a scientific perspective and backing up assertions with evidence from studies. I was impressed with the frequent references to a huge number of psychological journals and also books published in the field of memory. This seems like the perfect introductory book in understanding one's memory and how to use it. The scientific objectivity of the book makes it all the more appropriate as a first book in the field, (if you would like to read several different opinions on the matter as I would), as it leads to not only knowing from evidence of the experiences of the author what is possible with memory, but also gives a sound framework of understanding how the brain is best worked with, giving data from studies to make this convincing.

On the practical side, reading this book has given me a lot of ideas on how to improve my memory, and the improvements have been taking effect since I was still reading the book. This is due partly to the results given throughout the book, taken from scientific studies, such as that studying seperate subjects in seperate places can reduce interference between recall of memorized information from those subjects, or that if two subjects that are very similar are being studied, (such as Italian and Spanish), then interference is much more likely so studying the two in different places or at clearly distinct times is important to reduce potential interference. So many interesting facts observed from studies are here; I'll give another example: it has been observed that after studying for a test, sleeping in the intervening time before the test results in better recall of the learnt material than if you were to stay awake, or continue to learn the material and not sleep before the test. This made me recall an experience when I had to memorize a lot of facts and figures for an A-level geography exam the next morning and that I decided to try memorizing the facts overnight, but ended up falling asleep just as I had memorized them all, and when I did the exam in the morning it went very well, (I got 86 out of 90), so I knew from personal experience that this observation was correct.

Techical terms such as retention, recall, overlearning, interference, et al are here and I like the systematic way that the author uses these technical terms to clarify explanations of, for example, the use of specific mneumonics later in the book, (without the technical terms there would surely be more chance of ambiguity). The first sections of the book explain what is known so far from studies about memory and how to improve your memory in general. Later in the book, a number of mneumonic systems are expounded; namely the link, story, loci, peg, and phonetic mneumonics. The most advanced of these by far seems to be the phonetic system.

All in all this is an excellent, well written, fascinating, and beneficial book. I wholly recommend it to anyone interested in improving their memory, or anyone with a general interest in memory.

Very good, 23 Feb 2004
I chose this book above all the many other memory books because it doesn't make unbelievable claims. I wasn't disappointed. everything is explained well and I'm finding it very helpful.

A disappointment, 05 Jan 2009
I suppose that it falls to me to provide a negative review of this book. I've not given the book a low rating because while it didn't meet my expectations, it's certainly well written and interesting.

Having read Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" in which ( I think) this book is referenced, I chose this book hoping that Sacks would provide some insight into how or why a man might mistake his wife for a hat. Unfortunately the book turned out to be a rather less ambitious series of case histories of his patients. True, they're interesting and tragic histories and certainly Sacks does empathise with his patients, treating them as more than just medical subjects. However the book was, for me, profoundly unsatisfying as it didn't go into the mechanics of their problems or shed any insight (at least for a neurological layman like myself) on the inner workings of even undamaged brains. Return to Dennett for that, perhaps?

I was also a little perturbed by the occasional foray into less than scientific discussions about whether the more deeply damaged patients could be thought of as having "souls". I think that I would be deeply concerned if, had I been brain damaged, my neurologist spent any time worrying about the state of my soul!

I didn't find the book hard to get into although I agree that there's plenty of jargon that could/should have been explained (a glossary at least?) and I certainly didn't find it over-academic - quite the reverse in places. However, I neither did I manage to get more than half-way through before dropping it so maybe aI missed something in the later chapters.

Interesting read, 27 Mar 2008
Fairly well written, and as someone who has no prior background in this field, it was easy to understand and descriptive enough to be interesting. it was not too technical that i got bogged down with terms, unlike some other neurology books i've read.

A little disappointing, 19 Mar 2008
An interesting book though I have to admit I didn't enjoy the writing style. I find Sacks to be overly academic (I'm in the medical field myself) and his use of technical jargon can be somewhat off putting. Unlike the popular work Phantoms of the Brains Sacks seems uninterested in explaining the ideas in scientific terms in any great detail, he instead takes a more anthropological approach and merely details the cases. Whilst the cases themselves are off considerable interest I found his analysis to be lacking. His writing style didn't sit well with me, though this may be more my fault than his, and ultimately I didn't find myself much wiser after having read the book.

The book is still worth reading, however for a non-medical reader I'd recommend the far superior Phantoms of the Brain before approaching this work as it'll help you understand a lot of what Sacks talks about. There were, within the book, one or two cases that viewers of House M.D. would recognise.


A Fascinating Read, 15 Feb 2008
A neurologist, Oliver Sacks, discussed and brought to light the neurological disorders in case by case in this book with an interesting choice of the title: "Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat." This is the first book by Sacks that I have read, and I found his writing style to be quite enjoyable.

Not only that, this book contains an extraordinary collection of cases of individuals with neurological disorders that brings one to understand a bit on how human brain works. While this book was first published in the early 1970s and the understanding of the human brain mechanism has changed and increased since then, I found this book to be very insightful.

Out of all the cases I have read from this book, I found the following cases (or stories) to be of great interest to me: "Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," "The Man Who Fell Out of Bed," "Witty Ticcy Ray," "Cupid's disease," and "The Autist Artist."

This book is a fascinating read and deeply recommended.

A lovely book, 03 Feb 2008
I first came across Oliver Sacks in a doctor's waiting room. There, lying on the table, was a copy of his first book, "Migraine". Since I suffer from bad headaches, I picked it up and started reading. Thoroughly intrigued by the elegantly written case studies it contained, I asked the doctor if I could borrow it, took it home, and finished it that evening. I then began to notice that Mr. Sacks periodically wrote articles for the New Yorker on strange neurological cases, and every time one came out I read it with delectation. So when I saw Mr. Sack's book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" at my local bookstore I bought it immediately.

I was not let down. The book is a fascinating compendium of neurological case studies, classified into four parts: Losses, Excesses, Transports, The World of the Simple. Mr. Sacks takes us on a journey through a series of neurological disturbances with extreme effects. Initially, one reads them with appalled fascination, with a feeling of being at the Circus staring at the Bearded Lady or the Elephant Man; I was forcefully reminded of Sylvia Plath's lines in "Lady Lazarus":
The Peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand in foot --
The big strip tease.

But Oliver Sacks writes soberly and with great compassion about his cases, and drags us away from mere peanut-crunching voyeurism to finally contemplate what the cases tell us about what it means to be us.


Lifechanging, 08 Dec 2008
This is a wonderful book that will open your mind to a new way of thinking. Enjoy the lovely stories and think about what is truely important in your life!

A Bit Too Contemporary, 23 Nov 2007
This book gets off to a good start, but then falls into the Maslow trap of when you've got a hammer, you see every problem as a nail. By the end of the book I thought 'emotional intelligence' was a pretty weedy phenomemon and there was far too much doom and gloom in the book.

One of my favourite books of all time is The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton. Most of the stuff in Burton (written over 400 years ago) is covered by Goleman. Only Goleman dresses it up as the latest scientific research.

Things like reliving trauma as a way of purging it were intriguing. By the end I was skipping pages so I could take it to the charity shop.

interesting - but mostly about children, 20 Oct 2007
Very interesting for someone new to the concept of emotional intelligence, especially parents or teachers. Almost all examples and studies are drawn from children (kindergarten or primary school age, mostly), and how their EQ can be observed and stimulated. However, the book of limited use to adults who want to understand the strengths and limitations of their own emotional intelligence, or how to improve it.
I gather when this book first came out it was a groundbreaking work. Much research and writing has been done since then, so there are probably better choices for someone who wants to learn about emotional intelligence in adults.

Poor mans Dianetics, 31 Dec 2006
I was first introduced to this book at a work seminar. After several hours of team work activities, communication coaching and munching on the finger food- the seminar leader (hired by my employer) gave all the staff an insight into how the mind works by doing diagrams and giving examples using data she had garnered from the book 'Emotional Intelligence'. I was struck by how many of the concepts and ideas seem to by synonymous with L.Ron Hubbards 'Dianetics- The Modern Science of Mental Health', but presented in a more loose fashion and with a less long term technique for solving the problems to the primitive area of mans behaviour.

Whilst I do agree that some of the authors statements are true- I would recommend reading the real thing first.

Life Intelligence, 31 Oct 2006
This book is not just about getting on better in the work place, but getting on better in life in general. I came to read this book through a desire to try and better myself and from reading `self help' books from authors like Susan Jeffers and Paul McKenna. Having only just finished reading it, it is to early to say whether what I have learned will be of long term benefit in terms of my career and other problems like occasional social anxiety and comfort eating. The book challenges you to confront unhelpful and self-defeating thoughts when they arise and to locate where and when they first came from. It is fair to say that this book has given me a huge insight into why I think the way I do and the possible reasons why I am the way I am. Although it does not go into practical solutions to deeply, it does give you insights into your own emotional thinking and that alone I believe can be of enormous benefit. I now feel I have a fresh desire and impetus to push through these ways of thinking. If you have problems in your life like me then this book could help to give you the same insights.

Worth the money, 24 Feb 2008
Great book, I use it more than the main one we have been set for my course at uni. Used it at A level too, it's not too complex, not too basic, but rather heavy to carry!

Excellent , 24 Jan 2008
I found this book really helpful, I am currently in my second year of an access course on health and welfare. This book was really intresting and so easy to follow so many topics. I have flew through my assignments-a great help....

Brilliant book!, 01 Dec 2007
I am a year 2 social work student and bought this book for my psychology module. It is an absolutely fantastic book and I would recommend it to anyone who would like to know anything at all about psychology. The book is understandable and addictive and the cd that accompanies it is just an added bonus. This is a great book and would be an amazing read for anyone. Thoroughly recommended.

Great book, 09 Dec 2006
This book is easy to read and very imformative. If you are going to buy a book for studying psychology, I would strongly recommend this book.

The Foremost Psychology Overview Textbook, 01 Nov 2006
With bulky introductions to all the main areas of psychology - social, cognitive, clinical, etc, this book presents both lots of detail and lots of scope. It made me interested in areas of psychology I hadn't previously thought much of. R. Gross excels at presenting psychology theories, studies and information in a clear way, even when explaining conflicting opinions.

This is an awesome book for anyone interested in not only psychology (as a textbook/bible), but also in humanity in general.

Does what it says on the tin, 29 May 2008
I found this an excellent source of information on anger and how to deal with it. As a trainee counsellor who is already working with clients I have used it as a framework for discussing anger problems and found the advice on how to re-appraise our habitual reactions to anger "triggers" was especially useful. I also liked the "leaky bucket" analogy, i.e. that if we don't keep topping up the bucket, the anger drains away. I would recommend the book to counsellors and self-helpers as it is very easy to read and follow. I do think the CBT approach is valuable for learning to manage what I would call "everyday" anger, but I think that there are people with "deep-seated" anger relating to wounds from their past who would need a different approach.

Excellent Series, 30 Oct 2002
This book is part of a series of books and in it's handy sized format is a good reference tool. Doesn't have all the answers in it and personally soon got bored of using it as things were hard to find.Although I will refer to it again in future.

Practical Exercises for Self Improvement, 20 Mar 2002
The author's tone and practical examples give you confidence that the suggested practical exercises will enable you to overcome your problem(s)successfully.
Recommended, it could change your life for the better!

A self-help book which really brings results., 03 Jul 2001
This book has certainly helped me to get less angry less often. With the help of real-life case studies, the author describes what happens when you get angry, why you may be angered by something that doesn't anger somebody else, and the difference between anger and irritability. In the second part you get a chance to put the theories into practice by keeping an anger diary and then analysing the incidents according to the trigger that makes you angry, the appraisal you make of the situation, and the beliefs behind the appraisal. After working through the case-study examples as if advising the people in them how to look at the situation differently, you get to do the same on your own incidents, which I found an enlightening, and sometimes painful, experience. I now find I get less angry if a similar incident occurs. I would thoroughly recommend this book.

Very Useful Resource, 20 Jul 2006
I found O'Connor & Lages's style to be useful and straightforward, with a continuous emphasis on practice. Very helpful for someone familiar with NLP and keen to use it in coaching. Regular reminders to avoid psychoanalysing clients and just helping them get on with their agenda proved very useful to me. Very useful book.

Yes, excellent, 01 Apr 2006
This is the second book by Johseph O'Conner, I have. Very good read, very good righter. If you are an NLP practitioner this book will help you to put your practice in to practice, if you get what I mean.

Excellent, 07 Apr 2004
This is a great read for serious coaches, fully explained models and techniques that can be applied straight away. Well worth RRP.

must buy, 04 Jan 2009
I'm not the type of person that reads a lot but i struggle to put this book down. This is the second day i've had this book and i'm only on page 56 at the moment.

When i started reading this book i thought it would have a lot of irrelevant information and that i would have to skim read to get the main details however i was wrong. This book gives more than is needed and is well worth the money.

This book brings up myths about memory and discusses scientific evidence on them. This book not only unravels myths about learning it also provides an abundance on information to help you remember.

Simply put this is the best book i've ever read.

very good book..., 01 Dec 2008
This book is a very good book on memory as it goes into detail about the subject and uses research to back ups its theories. It will dispell any myths you thought about memory and what i like about it is it gives you a realistic look on what you can achieve with memory because other books out there claim they can give you photographic memory and never forget anything which is just not true. While this book has some powerful techniques which can astound you such as remembering long lists of numbers, long lists of items, dates remembering speeches and other subjects you wish there are limits. He goes on at how people have conversations with him and straight after ask him what they just said word for word, it does not work like that so dont expect miracles though you will be impressed. I read this because Derren Brown reccomended it in his book to read. I give this book 4 stars because in Derren Browns book he uses a much simpler system and easier to understand and use while the same one in here is not so easy to understand and has limitations. If you are interested in memory , not just techniques but abit of background then read this !

Your Memory, 31 Dec 2004
In the introduction to the book, one of the first things the reader realises is that the approach of the author is to present the fundamentals of memory from a scientific perspective and backing up assertions with evidence from studies. I was impressed with the frequent references to a huge number of psychological journals and also books published in the field of memory. This seems like the perfect introductory book in understanding one's memory and how to use it. The scientific objectivity of the book makes it all the more appropriate as a first book in the field, (if you would like to read several different opinions on the matter as I would), as it leads to not only knowing from evidence of the experiences of the author what is possible with memory, but also gives a sound framework of understanding how the brain is best worked with, giving data from studies to make this convincing.

On the practical side, reading this book has given me a lot of ideas on how to improve my memory, and the improvements have been taking effect since I was still reading the book. This is due partly to the results given throughout the book, taken from scientific studies, such as studying seperate subjects in seperate places can reduce interference between recall of memorized information from those subjects, or that if two subjects that are very similar are being studied, (such as Italian and Spanish), then interference is much more likely so studying the two in different places or at clearly distinct times is important to reduce potential interference. So many interesting facts observed from studies are here; I'll give another example: it has been observed that after studying for a test, sleeping in the intervening time before the test results in better recall of the learnt material than if you were to stay awake, or continue to learn the material and not sleep before the test.

Techical terms such as retention, recall, overlearning, interference, et al are here and I like the systematic way that the author uses these technical terms to clarify explanations of, for example, the use of specific mneumonics later in the book, (without the technical terms there would surely be more chance of ambiguity).

The first sections of the book explain what is known so far from studies about memory and how to improve your memory in general. Later in the book, a number of mneumonic systems are expounded; namely the link, story, loci, peg, and phonetic mneumonics. The most advanced of these by far seems to be the phonetic system.

All in all this is an excellent, well written, fascinating, and beneficial book. I wholly recommend it to anyone interesting in improving their memory, or anyone with a general interest in memory.

A down-to-earth, authoritative book on memory., 12 Dec 2004
In the introduction to the book, one of the first things the reader realises is that the approach of the author is to present the fundamentals of memory from a scientific perspective and backing up assertions with evidence from studies. I was impressed with the frequent references to a huge number of psychological journals and also books published in the field of memory. This seems like the perfect introductory book in understanding one's memory and how to use it. The scientific objectivity of the book makes it all the more appropriate as a first book in the field, (if you would like to read several different opinions on the matter as I would), as it leads to not only knowing from evidence of the experiences of the author what is possible with memory, but also gives a sound framework of understanding how the brain is best worked with, giving data from studies to make this convincing.

On the practical side, reading this book has given me a lot of ideas on how to improve my memory, and the improvements have been taking effect since I was still reading the book. This is due partly to the results given throughout the book, taken from scientific studies, such as that studying seperate subjects in seperate places can reduce interference between recall of memorized information from those subjects, or that if two subjects that are very similar are being studied, (such as Italian and Spanish), then interference is much more likely so studying the two in different places or at clearly distinct times is important to reduce potential interference. So many interesting facts observed from studies are here; I'll give another example: it has been observed that after studying for a test, sleeping in the intervening time before the test results in better recall of the learnt material than if you were to stay awake, or continue to