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Rating: 
Summary: Insight into perfectionism
Review: At first, I was disappointed to discover that this book is not just about perfectionism but more generally about "obsessive personalities" (not to be confused with "obsessive-compulsive disorder"). But as it turns out, I do indeed have many "obsessive" traits in addition to perfectionism. I found the chapter on "demand-resistance" especially illuminating. Other chapters discuss difficulty making decisions and commitments, guardedness, worrying, rigidity, drivenness, and of course perfectionism.(I also recommend Richard Rohr's "Discovering the Enneagram," about a personality-typing scheme in which one of the nine types centers on "the need to be perfect." And if you're a perfectionist and a procrastinator about writing, I recommend Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.")
Rating: 
Summary: Helpful for Gifted Perfectionists
Review: I read this in a single sitting. It's not that I was really captivated, but I was hoping for answers. There are many interesting ideas brought out in the book, and many of them can help people just by exposing their perfectionist and obsessive tendencies. I do think it may have helped, but it won't really be a "cure" for perfectionism. I plan to read more about it because I realize that knowledge can and will help me. I suggest if you have any reason to think you are a perfectionist, then go ahead and read it. Just don't expect a panacea. (Note: This may even be more helpful to those who live with a perfectionist because it could help them understand where they are coming from (although most of the examples in the book are much more irrational perfectionists than I, and perhaps others who have read the book.)
Rating:
Summary: Understanding is good.
Review: I read this in a single sitting. It's not that I was really captivated, but I was hoping for answers. There are many interesting ideas brought out in the book, and many of them can help people just by exposing their perfectionist and obsessive tendencies. I do think it may have helped, but it won't really be a "cure" for perfectionism. I plan to read more about it because I realize that knowledge can and will help me. I suggest if you have any reason to think you are a perfectionist, then go ahead and read it. Just don't expect a panacea. (Note: This may even be more helpful to those who live with a perfectionist because it could help them understand where they are coming from (although most of the examples in the book are much more irrational perfectionists than I, and perhaps others who have read the book.)
Rating:
Summary: Best book yet
Review: I think I have now read all of the book on perfectionism and OCPD. This was the best yet as it was the first time that they were not just focusing on perfectionism but being obsessive. It was the only one that mentioned Obsessive Compulsive Personallity Disorder instead of perfectionism. Perfectionism is one form of OCPD and this book covers it all with great recommendations on how to get over each form of it. This should be the only lay persons book you will need from a secular stand point.
Rating:
Summary: Best book yet
Review: I think I have now read all of the book on perfectionism and OCPD. This was the best yet as it was the first time that they were not just focusing on perfectionism but being obsessive. It was the only one that mentioned Obsessive Compulsive Personallity Disorder instead of perfectionism. Perfectionism is one form of OCPD and this book covers it all with great recommendations on how to get over each form of it. This should be the only lay persons book you will need from a secular stand point.
Rating:
Summary: Stop Procrastinating, Start Living
Review: This is a terrific book on how to get over (or at least reduce)pickiness, procrastination, and commitment-phobia in your own life, and better understand and deal with your obsessive friends, clients, and lovers. (No small feat in NYC, the world capital of Perfectionism!) When I first read it nine years ago, I found the exercises/techniques useful for thinking and doing something about everything from why I didn't want to pay my bills on time to why I got bogged down in work projects. When I re-read it the other day, I found a whole new host of insights I had missed the first time around--Now I'm on-line, to buy a couple of copies for some of my more perfectionist friends and clients, since there's no way I'm lending them mine--the last person who borrowed it took five years to return it (admitting that she too had read it twice in the interim)!
Rating:
Summary: Stop Procrastinating, Start Living
Review: This is the first book I've read on perfectionism and it really has a good balance of being easy-to-read; having illustrative, helpful examples; containing useful checklists; asking the penetrating questions; and providing suggestions for you and your loved ones to better deal (heal) with that obsessive, orderly, rigid, driven work/thinkaholic. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it and use it all the time
Review: You may think that the perfectionist is the rigid and serious guy everyone has once met. But after you read this book, you may seem him right in your mirror. It will scare you, it will shock you. And it will literally free you.
A great work. Do not miss it. Even if you are not too perfect.
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