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Rating: 
Summary: A readable, useful, helpful book about self-acceptance.
Review: Dr. Basco descibes clearly the unhappiness caused by perfectionism, either to oneself or to others. Self-assessment exercises enable the reader to guage one's own level of perfectionist tendancies. The author suggests that these traits can be most useful in fulfilling certain tasks, but affirms that we do not need to have our lives controlled by either inwardly or outwardly focused standards of perfection. "Never Good Enough" seems more like a genuine conversation with a good friend that an inpersonal academoc treatise. Examples of real-life people and their dealings with perfectionism enhance the reader's understanding. "Never Good Enough" turns out to be good enough indeed.
Rating:
Summary: I never thought I was a perfectionist
Review: I have struggled to get a handle on my perfectionism all my life. Dr. Ramirez's explanation of the idea that there are different types of perfectionism, and that people can be perfectionists in some areas but not others, really made sense to me. I have a much better understanding of myself and my relationships. The book has made a huge difference in my life.
Rating: 
Summary: WOW! This book is very informative and helpful . . .
Review: I was practically in tears when I read the first part of this book! Many people don't understand the real definition (and CONSEQUENCES!) of perfectionism, but this book was GREAT! Not only did it do an exceptional job describing the signs and characteristics, in went in depth into related disorders. This is a must read for almost everyone! The two things I was disapointed about was that it didn't mention any relation or overlap of ADD with perfectionism and it hardly ever (if ever!) talked about teenagers. I think the author underestimated the vast amount of teenagers who have to deal with this in combination with depression and eating disorders, not to mention obsessesive complusive disorders. Over all it was an incredible resource though!
Rating:
Summary: Good Enough For Me
Review: People tend to look at "perfectionists" with admiration. After all, perfectionists try with all their might to do everything correctly in the most efficient way. Are we wrong to admire them? Shouldn't we try to emulate them? If you are a perfectionist, you know that the desire to be perfect becomes an exercise in futility; you're never good enough no matter what you do. You can work harder, longer, smarter - it's just not enough. Dr. Basco's book first helps you determine if you actually are a perfectionist. After taking the self-assessment, I discovered I was a full-fledged perfectionist. And in my case, it was impacting my life in a negative way. Part of the problem with perfectionists goes back to their early beliefs and expectations. Basco shows how these early thoughts influence us to become perfectionists. She also shows how uncontrolled perfectionism can destroy relationships at every level. Uncontrolled, it can ruin lives. That's why this book is so valuable. The author shows perfectionists how to begin the road to recovery, and how to stay on it. If perfectionism is influencing your life and those around you in a negative or hurtful way, you must read this book. I'm thankful I found it. It has made a huge difference. 263 pages
Rating:
Summary: Good Enough For Me
Review: People tend to look at "perfectionists" with admiration. After all, perfectionists try with all their might to do everything correctly in the most efficient way. Are we wrong to admire them? Shouldn't we try to emulate them? If you are a perfectionist, you know that the desire to be perfect becomes an exercise in futility; you're never good enough no matter what you do. You can work harder, longer, smarter - it's just not enough. Dr. Basco's book first helps you determine if you actually are a perfectionist. After taking the self-assessment, I discovered I was a full-fledged perfectionist. And in my case, it was impacting my life in a negative way. Part of the problem with perfectionists goes back to their early beliefs and expectations. Basco shows how these early thoughts influence us to become perfectionists. She also shows how uncontrolled perfectionism can destroy relationships at every level. Uncontrolled, it can ruin lives. That's why this book is so valuable. The author shows perfectionists how to begin the road to recovery, and how to stay on it. If perfectionism is influencing your life and those around you in a negative or hurtful way, you must read this book. I'm thankful I found it. It has made a huge difference. 263 pages
Rating: 
Summary: It Takes One to Know One--and That's Not Necessarily Bad!
Review: The implied main purpose of "Never Good Enough," by Monica Basco-Ramirez, is about developing learning strategies through self-evaluation to "free yourself from the chains of perfectionism." Actually, this book is more a treatment of obsessive-compulsive behavior. The tone is sincere, as are the general instructions, but who but a perfectionist could write a book about perfectionism? Right away the implication is that being a perfectionist is "bad." So it may be, up to a point. But it shouldn't take 273 pages for the reader to get it. The salient points are made in the first 28 pages (preface and introduction). While I respect Dr. Ramirez's message that some people can expect too much from themselves and others, I must disagree with the "Perfectionist Self-Assessment" on pages 30-31. There are 30 statements the reader is to rate on a scale of 0 to 4 on such life aspects as "having an eye for details that others miss," high self-expectations, grooming, making mistakes, personal organization and others. The higher the score, the more of a perfectionist we are labeled--and thus the more "wrong" we are. And I disagree with the back cover, where one doctor who reviewed the book said perfectionism is a "deadly behavior." That's going overboard, don't you think? Personally, all of the aspects on the self-assessment are important to me. I apologize if it's not helpful. But I care about how I look. I care about how others perceive me. I need to be organized and detail-oriented. In today's competitive marketplace, it is usually the "perfectionist" who gets the job, not the one who with a half-hearted approach. The message here from Dr. Ramirez is that the "3's" and "4's" on the importance scale are meant to count against us, that we need "help"(!) For these reasons, this book is only suited for someone extremely obsessed to a point ad ridiculum. And in that case, they would think the whole book is mistake as a perceived threat to their way of life. Only a small minority of citizens could possibly benefit, therefore, but I think the author was expecting a broader readership, and therefore more money. I don't see the book taking off. The central message is that it is wrong to expect rewards, to expect recognition, to receive praise from others. It is not a matter of flattering one's vanity. It's about effort in an extremely competitive world, where mistakes are not tolerated. I sense the author's reproach at trying to be the absolute best at anything in life, and her indirectly labeling effort as a character defect. Sometimes we NEED to be a perfectionist. Sure, the author is a also a doctor. She doesn't have to try as hard, because financially she's already set. But most things in life come down to income level, and when you're hovering at the poverty level the only way up is to go out of your way to ensure details are attended to. If that makes me a perfectionist, so be it. Perhaps one day it will pay off. The caption boxes scattered throughout the pages contain exact repetitions of passages found in the main text that serve only as filler. As a result, between that and the duplicate self-assessment pages, this book could have easily been reduced to half the total number of pages. The heart of the author's message is: "Don't overdo it." Okay, okay, I got it. But I knew that already. You made your point.
Rating:
Summary: It Takes One to Know One--and That's Not Necessarily Bad!
Review: The implied main purpose of "Never Good Enough," by Monica Basco-Ramirez, is about developing learning strategies through self-evaluation to "free yourself from the chains of perfectionism." Actually, this book is more a treatment of obsessive-compulsive behavior. The tone is sincere, as are the general instructions, but who but a perfectionist could write a book about perfectionism? Right away the implication is that being a perfectionist is "bad." So it may be, up to a point. But it shouldn't take 273 pages for the reader to get it. The salient points are made in the first 28 pages (preface and introduction). While I respect Dr. Ramirez's message that some people can expect too much from themselves and others, I must disagree with the "Perfectionist Self-Assessment" on pages 30-31. There are 30 statements the reader is to rate on a scale of 0 to 4 on such life aspects as "having an eye for details that others miss," high self-expectations, grooming, making mistakes, personal organization and others. The higher the score, the more of a perfectionist we are labeled--and thus the more "wrong" we are. And I disagree with the back cover, where one doctor who reviewed the book said perfectionism is a "deadly behavior." That's going overboard, don't you think? Personally, all of the aspects on the self-assessment are important to me. I apologize if it's not helpful. But I care about how I look. I care about how others perceive me. I need to be organized and detail-oriented. In today's competitive marketplace, it is usually the "perfectionist" who gets the job, not the one who with a half-hearted approach. The message here from Dr. Ramirez is that the "3's" and "4's" on the importance scale are meant to count against us, that we need "help"(!) For these reasons, this book is only suited for someone extremely obsessed to a point ad ridiculum. And in that case, they would think the whole book is mistake as a perceived threat to their way of life. Only a small minority of citizens could possibly benefit, therefore, but I think the author was expecting a broader readership, and therefore more money. I don't see the book taking off. The central message is that it is wrong to expect rewards, to expect recognition, to receive praise from others. It is not a matter of flattering one's vanity. It's about effort in an extremely competitive world, where mistakes are not tolerated. I sense the author's reproach at trying to be the absolute best at anything in life, and her indirectly labeling effort as a character defect. Sometimes we NEED to be a perfectionist. Sure, the author is a also a doctor. She doesn't have to try as hard, because financially she's already set. But most things in life come down to income level, and when you're hovering at the poverty level the only way up is to go out of your way to ensure details are attended to. If that makes me a perfectionist, so be it. Perhaps one day it will pay off. The caption boxes scattered throughout the pages contain exact repetitions of passages found in the main text that serve only as filler. As a result, between that and the duplicate self-assessment pages, this book could have easily been reduced to half the total number of pages. The heart of the author's message is: "Don't overdo it." Okay, okay, I got it. But I knew that already. You made your point.
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