Rating: 
Summary: The best book I have ever read - honestly!
Review: Forget "self-help" - try Radical Honesty! Having read it, I finally understand why none of the (hundreds of!) "self-help" books I've read ever made any lasting difference - they work on and try to improve the self, but the self is the whole problem! I am utterly, utterly convinced that 'radical honesty' is the key to living a life of *real* joy, and to being your true 'Being'. Since reading it, and putting Brad Blanton's ideas into practice, I have felt more alive than anytime I can remember since childhood. I wish the whole world would read it!
Rating: 
Summary: Great way to get rid of intimidation and other excuses
Review: Forget utilizing self-help/manipulatory/n.l.p. methods to "get ahead" in your life. (By the way, what is a "life," anyways?) The greatest stumbling block ahead of you is....well, YOURSELF. That's right. Either you're the person who has learned to mimic others to slither your way in and out of trouble......in and out of "close calls" with conflict...or in and out of facing your darkest fears OR you're the bigass intimidator, who makes others "have to" act like the faker, so they don't upset YOU. Well, in either case("wussy" or the "bully"), you're not living a true existence. Read this book and learn what you "already know." You will face embarassment and setbacks if you follow through with the techniques. You may even feel like a "fool".....totally exposed in front of all those intimidators & elitists who WILL laugh at you and attempt to take advantage of your insecurities. But, guess what, they're not important. At least, not now. Once you've made this grand step, believe it or not, they'll either move on to gobble up somebody else's self esteem, or they'll actually be hobbling up to suck your hairy behind once you've begun LIVING CONSISTENTLY ACCORDING TO YOUR OWN TRUTH. I have to admit, i have not full EXPOSED MYSELF, and I still play the INTIMIDATEE in most personal interactions, but I have chipped away at it and continue to show "it" in more and more instances. I have only 3 "scenes" in my daily life where I need to break free of it, but(here comes the excuse, the REASON) I don't want to take that risk due to my debt buildup from years ago of faking my life. See, there is a price to it. But the resentment I leak out will expose myself anyways. I also recommend you read books by ROY MASTERS, even though he's a conservative.
Rating:
Summary: Great way to get rid of intimidation and other excuses
Review: Forget utilizing self-help/manipulatory/n.l.p. methods to "get ahead" in your life. (By the way, what is a "life," anyways?) The greatest stumbling block ahead of you is....well, YOURSELF. That's right. Either you're the person who has learned to mimic others to slither your way in and out of trouble......in and out of "close calls" with conflict...or in and out of facing your darkest fears OR you're the bigass intimidator, who makes others "have to" act like the faker, so they don't upset YOU. Well, in either case("wussy" or the "bully"), you're not living a true existence. Read this book and learn what you "already know." You will face embarassment and setbacks if you follow through with the techniques. You may even feel like a "fool".....totally exposed in front of all those intimidators & elitists who WILL laugh at you and attempt to take advantage of your insecurities. But, guess what, they're not important. At least, not now. Once you've made this grand step, believe it or not, they'll either move on to gobble up somebody else's self esteem, or they'll actually be hobbling up to suck your hairy behind once you've begun LIVING CONSISTENTLY ACCORDING TO YOUR OWN TRUTH. I have to admit, i have not full EXPOSED MYSELF, and I still play the INTIMIDATEE in most personal interactions, but I have chipped away at it and continue to show "it" in more and more instances. I have only 3 "scenes" in my daily life where I need to break free of it, but(here comes the excuse, the REASON) I don't want to take that risk due to my debt buildup from years ago of faking my life. See, there is a price to it. But the resentment I leak out will expose myself anyways. I also recommend you read books by ROY MASTERS, even though he's a conservative.
Rating: 
Summary: New Age mumbo-jumbo...
Review: I bought the book on the basis of the title and in hopes that it could tell me how to be more open and honest with other people and they with me. Instead, I found it to consist mainly of his New Age philosophy rather than the meat of the subject. His first 3 chapters or so consist of his broad but shallow view of what people are and how they are formed. Nothing in his premises consider how a personality is formed, for example. He doesn't discuss the consequences of telling the truth in such scenarios as filling out job applications accurately, completely, and honestly or what if your significant other doesn't want to know about all your previous lovers. In short, how do you deal with the consequences of telling all the truth all the time? Are there ever any situations where it is acceptable to lie such as in WW-II when Nazis demand to know where other jews are hiding so they can be deported to the concentration camps? He undercuts the very premises of his book by stating the view that truth changes from moment to moment. This would also have to mean that the truth of the book's premises today will be a pile of crap tomorrow. There are better authors out there who discuss truth and integrity in more practical terms without having to water it down with shallow and unintelligeable monologues.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome - changed my life!
Review: I used to think I was honest, until I read this book and realized that I had been nothing but a moralizing self-righteous bull*%$# artist and I was the cause of my anger, loneliness and seperation from others. It was not so much that I lied to those I loved, but that I had been lying to myself, I was hating everyone for not being who I thought they 'should' be... Well, what an experience it has been starting to listen to my body, share my anger, resentments and appreciations, to notice my victimization neurosis, and learning to share my feelings in the moment... Since I read the book and started practicing Radical Honesty, I have learnt how to live a life of laughter, loving, and joy... Pain, jeolousy, anger, etc. are no longer to be avoided, but to be 'experienced' as opportunities for growth, to work through them, to 'experience' them and move on.... Not only have I come to love myself, I love those around me for 'who' they are, and not for 'whom I want them to be'! Do yourself a favor and buy this book now, and then practice it! You'll never be the same.. ;-) I have not only bought it for my friends, but also my old enemies, some of whom have now become people I admire and appreciate.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T MISS THIS BOOK!
Review: The author, Brad Blanton, is self-righteous and angry. Aren't we all? At least he
admits it! This is the most up-front, "out there" book I've ever read. You might expect a book from a gestalt psychotherapist to be lofty and inaccessible.
Nope. Blanton's ideas are elegantly simple yet profound; his language is poetic and
gritty. I'm a Mensan and a voracious reader. I seldom reread books because I
constantly seek new concepts. However, this book instantly went to my "favored author"
shelf, and I've read it three times so far. Each time I absorbed different
meanings and improved my life through actions he recommends. There are nuggets here
for everyone. What's in it for you? Have a read and find out. The subtitle is, "How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth."
Get mad and get over it. Stop being a victim. Learn to create your life.
DON'T MISS THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Terrific eye-opening book!
Review: This book has freed me in so many different ways. It is absolutely amazing. Not just because the book teaches about honesty, but more importantly because it teaches how to achieve true happiness in life. This book has also opened my eyes to the fact that most people are unhappy, and try to cover up their unhappiness with lies and "fronts" about themselves. This book strips you down to your core, and rebuilds you from an honest center. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to add more enlightenment, creativity, and love in their life. (The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is because I felt the author gets a little verbose at times.)
Rating: 
Summary: interesting, extreme philosophy
Review: This book is brash, confident, strong, results-oriented, opinionated, simple, and straightforward to the point of over-simplifying. It also has New Age-y sub-themes that will put off some, but that's another matter.
The book's basic point is sound -- honesty is the best policy. However, the implementation of that policy, as described in "Radical Honesty", is not very nuanced. It is a shock program most properly applied to people who are consciously or unconsciously living out self-destructive scripts that they internalized from somewhere or another, for people who are being deeply, fundamentally dishonest with themselves and with others. It is for people who could use a real shaking up, to break free from the false security and real stress of a false persona.
That's fine as far as it goes. However, if you were to apply the principles of radical honesty indiscriminately in your daily life, you would be a jerk, basically, and you wouldn't be able to get anything done in society. It's best considered for bringing health to broken intimate relationships among adults.
On this point, a quote from Khalil Gibran comes to mind:
"If indeed you must be candid, be candid beautifully."
The stark candidness prescribed in "Radical Honesty" is not beautiful, it is raw and ultimately self-centered. It's for emergency use, like approaching the task of redecorating by burning your house down and starting over.
That said, personally I found the author's brash style to be refreshing and likeable. As always, the reader should just extract the personally valuable stuff out of his collection of techniques and his overall message, and simply ignore the rest.
For a much less strident romp around the topic of how to have healthy adult relationships, check out "Life and How to Survive It" by John Cleese and Robin Skynner. It's a very thoughtful and engaging read. Don't be thrown off by afterimages of Cleese's Monty Python silliness -- he has a wonderfully incisive mind and does a fine job as co-author of this work on the practical psychology of healthy living.
Rating:
Summary: Hack of all Hacks
Review: This is another of those kinds of books that seeks to blame all the worlds ills on a single problem/idea and trys to make the solution very simple. While it is true we all need to work on being more honest with others and ourselves, I think the recommendations in this book are downright dangerous. I mean really physically dangerous. There are times when telling your spouse about how you enjoyed having sex with her/his friend and really trying to get across how much you enjoyed it will get you killed. In fact, with some couples and cultures, the mere suspicion of infidelity can get a spouse killed. Yes, many people can't handle the truth. The truth can get you fired (which has been rumored to make it difficult to get food). It can get you slapped and your butt kicked up and down the block. It can destroy relationships. There are times when the truth is mixed up and there is no clear cut truth. One may blame or accept complete resposibilty themself as part of a truth when in reality it is not them to be blamed. There are possibly other factors at work on the being other than the mind and how truthful one is. The author states that it is natural for humans to behave in a way different then what he is suggesting. Isn't natural the real truth? Seems like a huge contradiction there. The story of the couple where the woman is all upset with her boyfriend leaving her ending with her doing the therapy, seeing her boyfriend again and having sex with him after he left her and expressing her feelings - I don't see how this is really helpful. You have him having sex with an ex who was very upset that he left her and he is now with a new person - it seems like there is no thought being given to consequences in any of this. Just mindless "truth" bearing. And then the guy kills himself. Doesn't seem like any of her truth particularly benefitted him. This is a tough world with limited resources. The mind forms out of necessity, out of a realistic need for it. Or else it wouldnt form. I think getting closer to the "being" and less in obsessional mind states is a good idea. And working on honesty is a good part of the way towards that. But this book with its panicky references to the impending end of the world and its vulgar language and his own admitted dubious motivations for writing the book seems like one big manipulation. Like the woman who he is attracted to in the session, it seems things are presented totally to sell you on his point. The book is also extremely repetetive. He is basically repeating the same thing over and over on almost every page. I think he could have made this a 10 page book and been just a little repetitive. His style is very gestalt - to hit you over the head with a hammer and to tell you that your head is all wrong. I guess some people like the whole power play dynamics. I remember asking a very well known therapist about gestalt therapy and she said that Fritz basically was surrounded by groupies all the time. She thought of it as a sophisticated form of mind control through suppression of individuality guised as getting to the truth of things. Being honest with others and yourself is extremely important. But turing that into an end in and of itself seems a little grandiose and ultimately, boring. I didn't like this book at all.
Rating:
Summary: goes beyond honesty
Review: This is one of the most important books written in the past 100 years. Our lack of self-honesty and honesty with others has caused resentments and conflict. This book gives the only way to clear up resentments that really works. The sad part is that most people will not follow Blanton's advice because it goes against all their conditioning.
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