Rating: 
Summary: Lock Midge Up!
Review: A friend gave me this book. I know my friend well enough to now realize that it was a twisted joke (this friend works in publishing and probably got a free copy ... I wouldn't even want a FREE copy). This friend didn't receive a Christmas gift this year, by the way ...Thank goodness Mr. Gooch has his little Midge of a boyfriend within - any advice anyone takes from this book would probably make a potential boyfriend run quickly in the opposite direction. Let me be straight (no pun intended): I don't like self-help books in general. I pay professionals for these services! But for people who do enjoy a little advice now and again, please take mine and DO NOT TOUCH THIS BOOK - you risk turning into a self-absorbed socipath. It should carry warning labels: Toxic Waste, Agony Aunt Drivel, etc. Caveat emptor!
Rating:
Summary: Goodbye, Boyfriend Within!
Review: Awareness Exercise #1: You are about to meet the man you don't want in your life. Mr. Gooch is the perfect model of the man you DON'T want to meet. Just as in real life, the cover was attractive and the pages were shallow. What a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Do I have to give it even one?
Review: Brad Gooch writes with stunning clarity about how beautiful he thinks he is, how fabulous his apartment is, and how easy it was for him to find inner peace being that he is actually just so terrific. This is self-indulgence, not self-help. His arrogance pours off the page as if he was drawing a cartoonish characterization of the overly self-involved gay men for the new milennium. Was interesting to see a mainstream publisher make an investment in "gay self-help" -- sadly, they have really, really missed the mark. ...
Rating:
Summary: My Boyfriend Within doesn't care for this book
Review: Brad Gooch's "Finding the Boyfriend Within" is a huge disappointment.The text is badly organized and the style is rambling and beyond narcissistic. After reading it and performing all the little exercises, you're likely to find all you've got is a legal pad filled with various colored lists itemizing good and bad points about yourself.High school guidance counselor stuff really. The whole premise of the book is a canard...after applying the "FBW" technique to himself, all Gooch seems to have achieved is the ability to pamper himself a bit more than he already has. The book is overloaded with self-serving references to his fabulous good taste in brand-name merchandise. My favorite nugget of Gooch wisdom is on page 108.It's his advice on how to combat loneliness (while walking about town): "...take out my cellphone and line up a date...make dates until sated." Gooch assures us that modesty is not on his list of qualities, good or bad. After this book, I hope he adds hubris.
Rating: 
Summary: Just a starting point -- nothing more, nothing less!!!
Review: FBW is a book that learns gay men to clean up their personal life before starting to look for mister Right. It teaches you to honestly look at yourself, see who you really are, how you act in your personal and social life. Doing the self-analysis demands a lot of courage without wearing any masks. The book is just a starting point -- nothing more, nothing less. After your honest self-analysis you need to go out and start dating the men of this world who are waiting to meet a honest true to himself person.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Just For Gay Men
Review: Finding the title provocative, I picked it up at my free public library. I've found it interesting, and not just for gay men. I'm a woman. It's sort of another version of that old standard, "How To Be Your Own Best Friend."
Rating: 
Summary: SELF-HELP WITH A TWIST FOR THE TWISTED.
Review: GOOCH SEEMS TO HAVE DEALT HEAD ON WITH ISSUES OTHER GURUS HAVE TURNED AWAY FROM. HIS USE OF EXERCISES BRINGS IT ALL TOGETHER, LEAVING THE READER WITHOUT ANY DOUBTS OF WHY WE BOUGHT THE BOOK, WE NEED HELP.
Rating:
Summary: What if I break up with my boyfriend from within?
Review: Having a well being and loving myself has been the single most important issue of my self-growth. However, being in love sexually with myself; and labeling a part of me as someone else is, in my view, the first sign of forming a split personality. Communication and allowing myself to be venerable has made my life full and enriched. After reading Brad's book, I felt sorry for him - for he is missing out on a whole world of men who love other men, who love each other as much as they love themselves. After reading about Brad's boyfriend from within, I got the feeling he is not capable of truly opening up to another man. Why he may be happy playing with himself, he is missing out on whole world of caring, loving, and communicative men. I think Brad's book is sad - and I hope he will learn to find happiness outside of his home - and stop looking in the mirror. Narcissist was not a happy character. His plight was easier than loving others - or so he thought, but it definitely was not the happier road to travel or the most enriched.
Rating:
Summary: "Geek Love"
Review: I always knew Gooch had this book in him... that's why I've always hated him.
Rating:
Summary: Do I have to give it even one?
Review: I am Sorry to say that I was extremely disappointed in this book. I thought perhaps (in part, based on some of the opinions here) that this might be a book that is down to earth, practical and light-hearted. Wrong!!! This is a shameless exercise in ego and self-promotion. Before you buy this book, I advise that you skim through it and check out the number of times the author uses the pronoun "I" . Then check to see what his values are, what he thinks is important in life. Whew! What's truly unbelievable is that the author is in his 40s and still is concerned about going to the movies alone. Hmmm....
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