Rating: 
Summary: A book 2000 years overdue!
Review: Daniel Goleman's book "Emotional Intelligence" shows how the undervaluation of emotion has wreaked pathological havoc on America. Divorce, depression, aggression, chronic anger, violence, ruined careers, and poor health are the evidence. When you think about it, in a "postmodern world" where "reason" seems to be in perpetual danger of drifting into chaos, it seems inevitable that the value of emotion would become a meaningful topic. The truth is, of course, that emotions have always been far more significant and consequential than the high-reasoning side of our culture has been willing to acknowledge. It is a great paradox that generations of suppressed emotions would lead to a backlash of overvaluation of the notion that emotions are something one is not responsible for--that when we're overcome by emotion, nothing can be done about it. Emotional outrage often becomes the basis of successful criminal defense strategies. On the other hand, millions of people do not realize that feelings are to life experience as a wet finger is to wind direction, and that emotion is also a veritable societal barometer. The key to emotional intelligence is equilibrium. In a postmodern world, emotional intelligence is equilibrium. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Emotional Intelligence: Gender differences are useful
Review: Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman, was a disappointment. Mr. Goleman's reporting on the physiology of emotion as well as some of the most recent research on the nature of emotional intelligence, was, simply put, outstanding. He clearly makes his case that Emotional Intelligence is a valid extension of Dr. Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory and therefor worthy of investigation.However, what I found disturbing was the way in which Mr. Goleman utilized different emotional strategies employed by females and males as an opportunities to demean and negatively stereotype men. Beginning with his description of the gender differences for high-IQ pure types on page 44, Mr. Goleman lapses into a subtle but never ending stream of derogatory descriptions of male emotional strategies. I found it both humorous and sad that Dian Tice, upon finding that "A large proportion of men translate (cooling down) as going for a drive", she has been "inspired" to drive more defensively. It's ironic that Psychologists and Sociologists bemoan the difficulty in securing male participants in their studies when they go to such great pains to belittle them afterward. Is it possible, Mr. Goleman, that there are emotional gender differences, both valid and useful, that are key to the rich tapestry of humanity? Or, is Emotional Intelligence a "monolithic" intelligence in which men are doomed to languish? One wonders.
Rating: 
Summary: This self-help book actually does!
Review: The measure of a self-help book is: Does it actually help you in some tangible way. I can only answer for myself. Yes. Emotional Intelligence has helped me step back away from myself and see what areas of my emotional life needed work. It's message is one of realistic hope. Unlike IQ emotional intelligence is not fixed. You can learn ways to become emotionally healthier. The book begins with helping you understand the workings of your mind, and continues on to show you how you can actually change. This may sound corney, but this book had a real positive effect on my life. It made me realize if I'm willing to do a little homework, I can be a happier person. I would have given it 5 stars but there are some chapters I found slow going and not that helpfull. They were more than made up for by the rest of this excellent, truly helpfull work.
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Summary: Sociological Waffle!
Review: Several uninteresting chapters contribute to what only can be described as self indulgent,wordy trash. Put in a nutshell - money for old rope!
Rating: 
Summary: No facts, just a mass market money maker.
Review: The problem with Emotional Intelligence is that it offers no sound facts. Whenever the author refers to a study, he offers no solid numbers or facts. He blinds the reader into accepting his conclusions. What about study size and statistical information? Anyone can find a study to fit their particular theory, and he has. This is a sorry attempt to mass market a book for only one reason, to make money. People interested in psychology would do better to read the classics: Freud, Skinner, Beck, Bandura and the like.
Rating:
Summary: I think it's "stimulatingly" incredible reading!
Review: And I've just covered only the first 30-odd pages of this amazing thought-provoking book! So I'll come back with a more thorough review once I'm through with this great stuff ..... soon!!
Rating:
Summary: pretty weak
Review: There are about ten pages of interesting information in thisbook dealing with the biological basis of emotions and about 300 pagesof crap. It's amazing that as awful as our schools have become after twenty years of teaching kids self esteem instead of how to read, this jerk wants to waste even more time on such feel good programs. He thinks they need to spend more time getting in touch with their feelings! A few chapters of his lame arguments on this point, based on the flabby foundation of a few pages of biology, will be enough to make you want to vomit.
Rating:
Summary: An Intelligent Look at Intelligence
Review: Daniel Goleman's "Emotional Intelligence" is a refreshingly intelligent book on the issue of intelligence. Shackled by "intelligence" tests and by curricula that define such topics as the arts and music as peripheral, we have come to assume a far too narrow definition of intelligence - and of ourselves. Goleman blasts through those constraints and thoughtfully reminds us that we are far more than our SAT scores. This is a very important book historically. Another important book you should read is The 2,000 Percent Solution by Mitchell, Coles and Metz, that presents effectiveness in a way both enlightened and practical - like Goleman, seeing us as who we really are and guiding us in using our full emotional potential to do our best in this life. May there be many more books like these!
Rating:
Summary: totally useless book...read hill's PMA book
Review: It's funny reading all these books by professors/academics that are now catching up to what has been written in many self-help books for the last fourty or fifty year. Goleman and Seligman seem to make Emotional Intelligence and Learned optimism as some kind of great discovery...when all it is just plain common sense and rehashed works of Napoleon Hill and other self-help guru's. I would dare anyone to read this book and read Napoleon Hill's Success with a positive mental attitude and see which they find more useful.
Rating:
Summary: Grounbreaking!
Review: I consider "Emotional Intelligence" to be a groundbreaking book because it, for the first time, equivocates intelligence to everyday situations. It brings intelligence out of the "mysterious" and down to an everyday level. It discusses the formulation of intelligence from the workings of the brain to the latest scientific studies, and does so in a way that, although technical in nature, the layman can understand and follow. I recommend "Emotional Intelligence" to everybody that wants to get a fresh, in-depth but down-to-earth analysis of the subject.
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