Rating: 
Summary: Excellent. Has helped me a lot
Review: I have been reading a lot of self-help literature lately and have passed thru most of the classics, from Dale Carnegie to Maxwell Maltz and others. I tried stuff like "Feeling Good", "Learned Optimist" and many others. This little book with the tacky cover stands out when it comes to the social anxiety aspects. I've always felt too shy and sometimes too pessimistic. That sparked my urge to search for motivational titles and anything that could help. Some are interesting, others plain useless. This book however felt different. For a start, it is not full of padding. I actually managed to get some content out of every page. Plus, it's not full of self-promotion, does not mention seminars, previous books, etc. It feels as if the author is primarily interested in passing the content, something that isn't always felt. But the biggest advantage is perhaps the "Wow, this is me" feeling I got while reading it. Anyone who has been feeling "shy" for most of their life should consider taking a look at this. The book covers a lot of aspects in life, including work ,dating, job interviews, etc, but in general, the biggest advantage to me was getting to understand myself better. It will explain you very well why you behave the way you do. The flaws? Well, it covers many possible ways to approach your thoughts and improve, but unfortunately, it is more effective at explaining you what's going on than at helping you solve it. There are no clear methods, no programs, no suggestions. The author tells you about several possible ways to deal with issues and lets you try things for yourself. Once you understand how you think, you can define your own tactic. I find this a drawback in a way, but not totally. After all, books preaching one-size-fits-all solutions have mostly proved useless to me. As a complement to this book I recomment perhaps "The Magic of Thinking Big", by David Schwartz You can also try "Feeling Good", which is useful, but definitely a lot longer than it should have been.
Rating: 
Summary: Good!
Review: This is probably the most complete book on social anxiety I have encountered. Contrary to what some have indicated, only 87 pages out of a total of 408 pages are devoted to talking about what social anxiety is. Why bother if we social phobics already know? Because, as I found out, too many of us do not really know that much about the disorder, its components, origins or what keeps it going. Chapter 5 begins the discussion of recovery and the next 10 chapters discuss everything we need to know to recover including medications, therapy and social skills training. Personally I like how it is written. It is humorous, empathic, guiding and motivating. It is obvious the author really cares. It is also well-researched, well-written and easy to read. I like how the various issues are put in context so the reader can better understand them within their own life. If you want a small, simple book which tells you only the superficial things you already know about social anxiety, this is not the book for you. But if you want something which helps you really understand the disorder, how it affects every aspect of your life, how you are not alone and how to overcome it, get this book right now! The author knows what she is talking about.
Rating:
Summary: You can change your brain chemistry without drugs!
Review: I was amazed to learn that EVERYTHING you do changes your brain chemistry. When you feel happy or do something nice for someone, you increase serotonin and dopamine which makes you feel less anxious and depressed. When you feel sad, anxious or like a failure, the amount of serotonin and dopamine drops and you feel bad. When you think positive or negative thoughts, you change your chemistry too. How you think, feel and behave is important to how anxious you feel. This really got me thinking. After I read this book, I checked out some of the references in the back of the book to find out more about this. There have been lots of studies to show that changing your thoughts in a programmatic way to more positive can make a big difference in the amounts of anxiety reducing brain chemicals that are present. So if changing how you respond to life reduces social anxiety, popping pills is NOT the only answer. I want to permanently change the thoughts that make me anxious but I know now that some people may prefer taking pills for years. The book says specifically that "one size does not fit all". That is why the author gives you so many different things to try and different ways to look at things because each of us is different. I liked being able to customize the treatment suggestions to me. This author really knows about social anxiety and gives you all the things you need to start getting better. It is a great book for use with or without a therapist and with or without drugs. Its primary concern is what works best for you as an individual to reduce your social anxiety.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Reference Book
Review: This is a good book for people who suffer from social anxiety/phobia. The book, however, reads more like a reference book then a self-help book. There is not much depth or breadth to the exercises nor is there a truly structured self-help program. I was dissapointed to find that there was very little self-help information offered on exposure therapy-the most effective therapy for social anxiety sufferers. On the other hand, the author provides many interesting anecdotes from anxiety sufferers and gives much information on the various treatment methods and resources available. The author does a great job of teaching and illuminating the value of social skills like dating, communication and interviewing. Since I haven't found ANY "one" social anxiety self-help book to be perfect, I would suggest this book be used in conjunction with other books. I recommend "The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook", by Edmund J. Bourne, Ph.d. (or possibly the "Shyness & Social Anxiety Workbook", by Martin Antony, Ph.d./Richard P. Swinson, M.D.) and "Self-Esteem" by Matthew McKay, Ph.D., and Patrick Fanning (there is also a companion book called "The Self-Esteem Workbook", by Glenn Schiraldi, Ph.D.) Overall this book should be very helpful to social anxiety sufferers. Hopefully, we shall see a comprehensive social anxiety self-help workbook from Dayhoff in the future.
Rating:
Summary: All I can say is WOW!
Review: For years I've felt doomed and resigned to spend my life scared, frustrated and alone. I've watched from the sidelines while others did everyday and exciting things together and enjoyed themselves. Then Diagonally Parked came along. Since nothing had helped my social anxiety before, I figured this book wouldn't be any different. BUT, THANK GOD, IT IS. I don't know how it does it but it grabs me where I live, gives me hope, motivates me and points me in the right direction. It fills in the gaps of my knowledge about social anxiety and answers my questions. It encourages me and guides me. It cries with me, makes me laugh and holds my hand. I may not be a party animal yet but I can feel the real social, fun me under all this fear and pain getting closer to the surface. Because birthdays have always been so painful for me, I've gone out of my way for years to avoid them. But now I feel like maybe I'd really like to celebrate my next birthday. Believe it or not, I'm actually starting to look forward to it!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I bought a copy of this book on the basis of the five-star rating, the amusing title, the number of good reviews written about it, and on reading the excerpts. I was expecting a lot from it, but having spent the past week attempting to read it, I have been very disappointed. The book begins very promisingly with some great examples of individuals suffering from SA/SP whom I could relate to instantly. But it immediately goes down hill from there. The author gets bogged down in technical theories about why people get SA/SP, everything from neurobiology and genetics to evolution. But it is just too wordy, over-complicated, poorly written, and takes up too much space. Practical guidelines as to how one can actually hope to overcome SA/SP do not begin until a third of the way into the book, and even then what is provided is more of a list than a practical approach. Moreover in this section the author focuses on superficialities such as homing one's social skills and she completely fails to address the problem of root causes sufficiently. Smaller quibbles were the layout and general style of the author. The choice of fonts and layout inhibits easy memorization and understanding; no thought appears to have gone into it. The text is a dense mishmash of emboldened Arial and Times New Roman of varying size with, e.g., new sections beginning two lines from the bottom of the page and subtitles broken unattractively. The author uses overcomplicated technical language, but she marries it clumsily with colloquialisms and conversational turns of phrase. She pointlessly overuses 'sic' in square brackets and breaks up the text awkwardly with parenthetical examples from her own life struggle with SA/SP. I gave the book more than a fair chance, but having to re-read nearly every sentence five times, and having consulted my dictionary at every turn, I took away little more from it than boredom and frustration. If like me you are looking for practical guidelines to overcoming SA/SP written for the average layman, this is not the book for you. It reads like a college dissertation, it is poorly presented, and it leans far too heavily on theories and technicalities while passing over practical solutions. Having said that, there were of course useful and interesting points in places, so if you are not put off by skim reading and skipping entire chapters it may be useful to you.
Rating:
Summary: Not just for those with social anxiety
Review: This book serves a much broader population than just those who suffer from social anxiety/social phobia. My clients - who are creative, resourceful, and whole - seek support and structure to realize their promise and achieve fulfillment. They may want to improve their relationships, build their businesses and careers, become financially free, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and self-efficacy, navigate a life transition, or put more fun into their lives. The tools and guides in this book are immediately applicable. For example, as people try to change, their "Gremlin" gets in the way, reminding them just how dangerous change really is. This book's cognitive-behavioral tools work on "Gremlins" quite successfully. My thirty-plus years of business experience tell me that Dr. Dayhoff's coverage of self-marketing, networking and interviewing are right on target, and everyone could benefit from her chapter on "sharpening personal effectiveness." I'm glad to have this book in my coaching toolbag.
Rating:
Summary: On Target by someone who's been there
Review: This book is SO on the money! The author is a psychologist who recovered from SP after suffering with it for 22 years so she knows what she is talking about. Even Dr. Richard Heimberg a well-known SP clinician and researcher and author gives it high marks. The book is about SP from EVERY angle. This makes the condition and how it affects us SPs really understandable. I totally identified with the indepth examples and stories. The author shows what SP looks like from the inside and outside and details SPs struggle with every day they live under the SP cloud. She spends 11 chapters out of 15 (it's a big book - 400 pages) guiding you through working on the three components of SP - physical symptoms, thinking problems, and avoidant behavior. Only then does she talk about how to be more socially effective for those who feel they are not and want to be. I think this is so helpful because I had rusty social skills and had no self-confidence to use them but would never have attempted them until I had my fear under better control. After you learn the basics first, you are ready to work on advanced skills, like becoming more confident and effective in other areas of your life. This helped me begin to meet people and look for a better job. She offers readers a social effectiveness menu you can choose from based upon what you think you need. So you get to customize your work with different social skills to what you need. This is because the author believes "one size does not fit all". I worked with this book on my own which helped alot and then with my therapist who recommends it to her SP patients. I refer to it often and still enjoy the humor the author placed here and there. If you have ANY anxiety in ANY social situations, you can only HELP yourself by getting this book.
Rating:
Summary: Unhelpful
Review: I think this book misses the mark by equating social phobia(SP)with social skills and advising sufferers of SP of techniques to use in social situations. Social phobia has nothing to do with social skills; i suffer at times from social phobia and people generally describe me as being relaxed and natural in social situations. In fact, when I tell them of my problem they don't believe me. Inside however, I am a wreck and dread many situations, imagining I am going to act hysterically and go out of control. Books like this, in my opinion, misrepresent the condition for people who don't have SP but would like to understand it. For those with SP, it is not helpful either - I recommmend seeing a doctor or a psychotherapist who is well versed in cognitive techniques, not a book about what to say at a party. If you are simply nervous at parties and don't know how to act, that is NOT social phobia.
Rating:
Summary: Great book--really helped out
Review: This book really puts the emphasis on how socializing can be different for people (and very tough for others). It is not just a book for Social Anxiety. I believe it poses a lot of options for people to become successful and happy in life. Overall a very good read. I would reccomend this to anyone.
| 
