Rating:  Summary: Basically good, but incredibly repetitious Review: Having read this book during a time of need, I was pleased with the first couple of chapters. However, after that, the same idea was just rehashed over and over and over again, as though we were all idiots... Also, I object to the way he tends to generalize... "All men..." and "All women".. Irritating to say the least. However, if one takes this at a superficial level, rather as one would take a horoscope, one could sort out the chaff from the corn, altho' then it's an awfully thin book... :-) Has its good points, but definitely needs the Cliff notes. I couldn't finish it... Too self-serving for me, I'm afraid.
Rating:  Summary: This is my other Bible. - Ursula Shepherd Review: I use this book as a reference especially when I'm feeling down in my relationship. It has taught me so many things and I use it as a constant reminder. I have not found a more beautifully written book about relationships, be it from outta space. Thanks Dr Gray. You're something special, and even if only for me, your purpose on earth has been found!
Rating:  Summary: Spend your money on another book Review: Yes Gray did make some points but about men and women in relationships, but these points are- 1- Already rehashed ten different ways 2- Can be applied to either sex 3- And finaly this guy is stuck on how smart he thinks he is.
Rating:  Summary: Stereotyping never did anyone any REAL good! Review: Blech! Sometimes men and women do communicate in different ways, but often women do what Gray says men do, and vice versa. It's just two different STYLES, not biologically programmed ways of speaking or thinking. A much more intelligent, yet highly engaging, book, is Deborah Tannen's formerly bestselling YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND. Don't give your money to Gray. He's pandering to society's ignorance and hunger for easy answers to complex relationship issues. Don't fall for his quick, short-term fixes. Intimacy can never result from seeing your partner as an alien creature.
Rating:  Summary: This book really did help me...finalize my marriage. Review: After realizing that this book was my husband's idea of *the* last-ditch effort to save our marriage, I decided to ditch them both.
Rating:  Summary: Mostly fluff. Spend an hour reading just the chapter titles Review: This book makes about two or three good points. Not enough volume for a bestseller, so he pads it with hundreds of pages of really annoying cutesie talk about "life on Mars" and "life on Venus". Could be mildly useful, and you can get through it in an hour by just reading the inset text and chapter/section headings and not have missed anything.
Rating:  Summary: Ready to have the obvious repeated to you for 300 pages? Review: Forced by my girlfriend to go though this agonizing text, I was struck with the beastly style, overweening self-congradulations (golly, aren't I clever for coming up with these insights in to human relations!) and general bad writing. Egads! What madness is this? The point, if I gather correctly, is that men and women communicate differently. Only the truly credulous fools who bought into the whole "gender-neutral" revolution are surprised -- the rest of us just look puzzled and say: "Well, DUH!" It is instructive to also note a dirty little secret: John Gray, PhD, the relationship expert/guru is a divorced man ... whose ex-wife, Barbara DeAngelis, PhD, is yet ANOTHER "relationship expert/guru". Dear reader, would you take legal advice from a convicted felon? Psychological advice from a schitzophenic?
Rating:  Summary: Raised some good points but gets awfully carried away ... Review: I thought that he truly did make some interesting and valid points which gave me, as a woman, fresh insights into many communications problems with men in both the personal and professional arenas. However, I also found myself thinking that a lot of the traits and behaviors he described as masculine applied to me more than to the men I've known, and vice versa. That in itself was okay. I understand that his theories are obviously and understandably generalized. It's when he starts elaborating and expounding and repeating that it begins to get a little ridiculous. The "men are like rubber bands" and "women are like waves" metaphors really began to get on my nerves, if not a little seasick. My goodness, how will any couple ever get their timing right so that they're there for each other when they need it?
Rating:  Summary: Very informative Review: Anyone that has anything bad to say about this book is also probably wondering why they aren't having any luck in there relationships.. John Gray is very desisive when telling about how to communicate better between the sexes. While I found that he did place a little too much pressure for the relationship on the womans side he still made it very clear that we all need to learn how to communicate with the opposite sex better. If you learn anything from this you find that we are the same in some ways but in many we are not and you learn how to communicate to others the way you are diffrent and your thoughts and feelings. It also gives you a look from your partners point of view, When they usually wouldn't tell you what they were thinking you can now learn to convay to each other.
Rating:  Summary: Keep it by your bedstand for practical techniques that work Review: While some believe the premise in John Gray's "Mars/Venus" is overly-simplistic, the best advice is advice that's easy to use, clear and makes sense. Relationships are already complex enough. I read "Mars/Venus" two years ago and it has revolutionized my relationships. One of the best things about this book is it's breezy style with a touch of humor which makes it easy for people to read with an open mind. If you've had difficulty getting your partner to read a "relationship book" they will read this book. My boyfriend of three months is reading it now and thoroughly enjoying it. We're able to laugh at how we fall into certain dialogue patterns similar to examples in the book. To those who contend Gray puts more of the responsibility for relationship success on the woman's shoulders, I would respond by saying 35 years of feminism does not change thousands of years of human conditioning. Many relationship books offer more detailed and complicated advice and techniques, but the genius of Gray's ideas are subtlely hidden in their simplicity.
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