View from the Cliff: A Course in Achieving Daily Focus

Rating:
Summary: Life Changing - Improving
Review: As a recently diagnosed adult with add, I have read quite a few books on the subject. With out question this is best book on the subject I have read. The author categorized arpox 50 separate challenges we have, and then clearly explains Why we have the problem, what we can do about it and why it's hard. On my first read I took careful notes of apox 10 sections of the book. (When issues arise considering the other challenges I can go back) These notes are helping me understand my past, who I am now and how to best move forward. Creativity is one of my great strengths in five pages she helped me to improve this skill. Lyn has inspired me to change the name ADDHD. My clarified vision now is that the way my brain works truly makes me special and uniquely valuable to the world.

Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: I have to admit I was somewhat turned off by the cover and title of this book. I thought it was going to be hard to read. I was very mistaken though. The book is set up so that somebody who has ADD can easily follow along. There are some great suggestions for just about every ADD related problem there is. I highly reccomend reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: This book has changed my life!
Review: I read this book after being diagnosed with ADD at the age of 52, and I feel like I have been given wings and set free. With the understanding of what ADD is and is not that this book provides, I can look at myself and my life with more compassion. I can understand and sympathize with the little girl who day-dreamed her way through grade school and the teen who felt totally ostracized from others. Even though I knew I was a smart kid, I know now why I had to work three times as hard as others to get through college, and I understand the bosses who fired or refused to promote a ditzy person who managed to screwed up even the simplest of repetetive tasks. I can even understand the failed and inappropriate relationships that have plagued me my entire adult life.
With the knowledge of what ADD is and the understanding of its impacts, I have been able to successfully modify my job to be one which can capitalize on my strengths instead of floundering on my ineptnesses. For the first time ever I actually LIKE my job instead of being bored to tears by it, and I am able to do it well enough to have received a promotion.

My continuous struggles and frequent failures at things I knew I was smart enough to do I can now see in a different light and can forgive myself. This book has changed my life.

Rating:
Summary: Practical, helpful, maybe not just for ADD
Review: I was put off by the title, because I thought "achieving focus" would be a book about meditation or some vague New Age platitudes. Instead, the book has specific, helpful, practical advice for specific problematic situations. I was interested in the book because I thought it would help my ADD husband. However, I also found some of my own problems described on some pages.

Two minor criticisms, both related to grammar: I wish the author had used more commas to break up long sentences into logical clauses. Also, I wish the author would not use the word "they" when the author means "he/she". For example, in one section that gave advice about communicating with one's spouse, there was a sentence that said something like "if they say..." rather than "if he/she says" or "if your spouse says". I was confused. I was wondering who "they" were who suddenly appeared in a paragraph about a one-to-one conversation with one's spouse. "They" only makes sense if you have several spouses. I sometimes had to read a paragraph twice, even though I am normally a fast reader and a quick study. These grammar flaws are minor annoyances; the book is still very helpful.

Rating:
Summary: I keep this book close at hand
Review: I, too, was offput by the cover, but once I opened it and read the Table of Contents, I spent the next two hours locked in my room highlighting text and tabbing pages for quick reference.
I absolutely love the way the chapters are formatted. As Weiss points out, ADD people - or so we're labelled by society - are big-picture, bottom-line people. She wastes no time getting to the point. Each chapter is bulleted as: Here's the problem; here's why; here's what TO do; what NOT to do; challenges you might face while attempting this. Perfect.
She also notes in the introduction that each reader is designed differently, and in putting the book together she realizes that no one is going to identify with ALL of the troubles she seeks to address. She recommends that each person use the book as s/he needs and not get hung up on anything there that might seem another label or that might not fit the individual. Actually, the introduction is one of the best parts of the book - it deals the most inclusively with the psychology of ADD; the rest deals with tools to handle it day-to-day.

Rating:
Summary: Guilt-free Help with Adult ADD
Review: Many adult ADD self-help books claim the "you're not damaged, you're just different" philosophy -- and then proceed to prescribe ways to "fix your problem" with conventional time management and organizing methods. Fortunately, Weiss's approach is more creative, constructive, and strengthening. The author's tone reflects an acceptance of what's generally pathologized and "handled" as a limiting or disabling condition. Noting both strengths and challenges, Weiss succinctly covers many different areas affected by adult ADD, also acknowledging some of the underlying personality issues and emotional aspects. These plusses more than outweigh the inevitable and relatively innocuous happy-talk/pop-psych quotient. I was diagnosed last year, and have taken a great deal of useful support from the book.

Rating:
Summary: Guilt-free Help with Adult ADD
Review: Many adult ADD self-help books claim the "you're not damaged, you're just different" philosophy -- and then proceed to prescribe ways to "fix your problem" with conventional time management and organizing methods. Fortunately, Weiss's approach is more creative, constructive, and strengthening. The author's tone reflects an acceptance of what's generally pathologized and "handled" as a limiting or disabling condition. Noting both strengths and challenges, Weiss succinctly covers many different areas affected by adult ADD, also acknowledging some of the underlying personality issues and emotional aspects. These plusses more than outweigh the inevitable and relatively innocuous happy-talk/pop-psych quotient. I was diagnosed last year, and have taken a great deal of useful support from the book.

Rating:
Summary: It's not your ADD, it's the book
Review: There may be some useful information in this book, but the writing style and design are so off-putting that I don't have the patience to dig it out.

First off, the subtitle "course in achieving daily focus" implies that one chapter will build on another. This is not the case.

In stories used to illustrate a point, the author uses "you" rather than a third person. I felt as if the author was presuming too much about me, and it put me on the defensive. Lay out an example, and let me decide whether it pertains to me.

The book is peppered with long, convoluted phrases such as, "difficult for those people with a large number of analog processing attributes." What the heck is that supposed to mean?

In the "what to do" sections, instructions are given only in paragraphs. There are no one-line summaries in bold type, no sidebars. The text just all runs together, making it hard to pick out the main points.

Instructions are labeled numerically, as if they are separate ideas to consider and not a hierarchy. In fact, #1 is always a very general statement that is fleshed out under the other numbers. Before I realized this, I found myself getting very frustrated with statements like "Learn how to express your friendliness while taking another person's preference into account." I kept thinking, yes, but how? I finally realized that the following numbered paragraphs will suggest the how.

Another problem is that there are no references to books, websites or organizations that might help in carrying out some of the suggestions. At one point the author suggests learning pain management techniques, with absolutely no clue about where to learn about them.

Finally, there is no index.

If you primarily need help with time management and organization, I would highly recommend ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life (by Kolberg and Nadeau) or Organizing for the Creative Person (by Lehmkuhl and Lamping).

Rating:
Summary: The first book on ADD that I found useful
Review: This is an excellent book; the structure basically consists of three part scenarios. A scenario is presented wherein an ADD person performs an act "outside the socially/cognitively/emotionally acceptable box; this is followed by a "mock" internal appraisal (usually a self-denigrating put-down by the individual); then an explanation of why the ADD mind responds to his/her unique response negatively; and finally a step-by-step cognitive/behavioral approach to thinking about the event in a more affirming context. Issues include disordered lifestyles, environments, impulsive acts, overidentification with suffering and injustice, etc. This stuff works! And it's written in a style that is neither too pedestrian that a discerning reader would be turned off nor in the often fulsomely upbeat manner along the lines of "Wow, I'm so lucky I have ADD!" ONE bit of ADVICE, however. This book should NOT be read as an introduction to ADD behavior. It should be read after you've read some of the basic popular books like Hallowell and others. Lynn Weiss, a psychologist who has ADD, is assuming you come to the book with a fairly broad understanding of the issues confronting people with ADD-behavior. That is reasonable, although it would have been nice if she had mentioned it.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This was as very insightful book. It helped me to understand just how my brain works. It was as if it were written about me. It was enlightening. This book does not make a person with ADD feel deficient in anyway. It points out the strengths and weaknesses and how to harness them. The suggestions were very helpful and easy to follow. I intend to read it again just to help keep me on track.