Rating: 
Summary: This Book Packs a Whallop
Review: At first I was skeptical about this book given it's cover, but after reading the first chapter, boy am I glad I did!Tremendously helpful in dealing with your self - esteem issues, this book will help anyone whether they have low self esteem or not. My favourite parts are: The role of the pathological critic - the book explains in detail the nature of your own critic and how best to manage and handle it's criticsim. Cognitive Distortions - we all know we see things differently, but here the book also explains how we process things differently. No two people will process and interpret the same event the same. Asking for what you want - this is one of my favourites. While reading this book, I was dealing with two issues at work that really bothered me. This chapter helped me explain the "whole message" to the other person, and eventually, ask for what I wanted. I've read many self-help books, and many of them end up serving up a set of principles to follow. This one is more directly medical/psychological based, and therefore is more practical in application. It even features a series of exercises for the reader to practice. All in all, a very complete book on the subject of self - esteem, and I would even go further, and core book in any self help library.
Rating:
Summary: The 11 dollar psychiatrist
Review: For only 11 dollars, your life will be a better place. This author will solve the low self-esteem disorder RADICALLY, i wish i had this book before. You will be able to acquire very high self esteem within weeks, if not days.
Good Luck
Rating:
Summary: This book can change your life!
Review: I have only read through chapter 3, and I can already see tremendous value in this book. I am naturally skeptical of self help books, but this one is philosophically valid. If you have self-esteem issues, this book is a must read. It offers a lot of useful information and practicle exercises. Don't put off buying this if you want to increase you self-esteem.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Packs a Whallop
Review: I was somewhat anxious to receive this book, as the other reviews were so positive and encouraging. After reading the first three chapters, I was disappointed as to the repetitiveness of the writing style. I found myself speed-reading past all the unnecessary words to get to the point, to find out the techniques for positive change. Consequently I was not able to finish reading it. There are some helpful tips in chapter 3 about disarming the critic, but other than that, I couldn't tell you, as I didn't finish the book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Books I've Ever Read on Personal Development
Review: Self Esteem is a practical book. It's about taking control of your thoughts to take control of your feelings. That's all there is to it. With inspiring simplicity and logic, McKay and Fanning educate the reader about the causes and effects of strong self-esteem. It also introduces the Critic - the voice in your head that brings you down no matter what you do. Most importantly, it helps you to expose what psychological needs the Critic meets. Once this is figured, one can resolve to meet needs in a healthier manner. Next, with the reader aware of the needs his or her critic meets, a chart is offered, guiding the reader towards the specific resources mentioned in the book. Some of the written exercises are designed to enhance your awareness. Others are day-to-day activities in which you keep track of your exact thoughts in order to replace them with more realistic ones. In addition, visualization is offered as well, a powerful and simple tool for creating a healthier self-image. Yet, the authors wisely understand that rebutting old beliefs sometimes isn't enough. As a solution, they offer the technique of hypnosis. The logic behind this is that often the memories that rob us of our worth are not remembered consciously. As a result, many of the exercises in the book will not work, since no memory is there for one to work with. Hypnosis allows one to directly access the subconscious, allowing one to implant healthier ideas of who we are. Self-Esteem's ultimate goal seems to be to get the reader to measure up against a new standard of worth. An inspiring passage sums it up: "The truth is that your value is your consciousness, your ability to perceive and experience. The value of a human life is that it exists. You are a complex miracle of creation. You are a person who is trying to live, and that makes you as worthwhile as every other person who is doing the same thing. Achievement has nothing to do with it. Whatever you do, whatever you contribute should come not from the need to prove your value, but from the natural flow of your aliveness. What you do should come from the drive to fully live, rather than the fight to justify yourself." Reading Self-Esteem, and implementing the solutions, will allow you to feel better about yourself no matter what life throws at you.
Rating:
Summary: The best insight in building Self-Esteem
Review: This book contains the most wealth of information to change and improve one's Self-Esteem. Which leads to better awareness and more enjoyment of life through understanding ourselves and others. Has both great psychology and philosophy behind great tools to try. I want to thank both Matthew McKay and Patrick Fanning on putting this book out. Great book also to read to help on anger problems. ....
Rating:
Summary: I'm good enough, I'm smart enough...
Review: This is a really good book. At least that's what my friend told me. Actually I don't even have any real friends. I've only met my friend "Wookie27" online in a sci-fi chat room. Anyway he suggested this book to me and since he is a lot smarter than I am (hey, who isn't), I gave it a try.
I can tell this is a very helpful book but I guess I'm just too dumb, stupid or lazy for it to help me much. Don't let that discourage you though because I'm sure that you are a better person than I am and you will find some great advice in this book.
Good luck and reach for the stars. I'm going to go lie down now.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book!
Review: This is a very comprehensive self-help book about the nature, cause und treatment of low self-esteem. It is ideal for everyone with low self-esteem and contains many exercises. The authors deal with the following aspects:
- The nature of self-esteem: here the basic concept of the whole book is being introduced: your thoughts determine your self-esteem
- The pathological critic: you explore your inner critic, explore the origin of this critic and get information how to catch your critic
- Disarming the critic: in order to combat your inner critic, you first have to understand its function, then talk back so to make him useless
- Accurate self-assessment: this is one of the highlights of this book. You'll learn the art of accurate self-assessment without using pejorative terms like useless, bad, or inferior
- Cognitive distortions: this chapter deals with the important concept of wrongly perceiving reality and how to combat this tendency
- Compassion: this is one of the most powerful techniques for dealing with low self-esteem. You'll learn ways to better understand, accept, and forgive yourself and others
- Handling mistakes and responding to criticisms: I greatly like the attitude of the authors towards mistakes. There are no mistakes in the world, because all the decisions you chose to make were based on your needs and assessment of the situation. A decision can only be labeled as a mistake with hindsight
- Asking for what you want: this chapter shows how to assert your right without being aggressive
- Visualization and hypnosis
- Building self-esteem in children: the last chapter shows ways how to raise children with high self-esteem by listening to them and validating their feelings. At the same time, it is important to set clear limits and be consistent. Altogether, this book is full of useful information and exercises. It can be used both as a self-help book and a supplement to therapy.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Approach to Empower your Self-Esteem
Review: To say that this book is an excellent reference for understanding the nature of one's self-esteem would be an understatement. The authors take pluasible, objective step-by-step approaches for assessing, and maintaining one's self-esteem. If you're challenged by your self-esteem as I am, this book is the one to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Not perfect, but decent
Review: You may look at the title and think, "Oh, my God. ANOTHER self-esteem book. When will the madness end?" This book was first published in the late '80s and was primarily based off a hit back from that time, "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy," by David Burns. Burns, along with Aaron Beck, was one of the first proponents of CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy), the theory that negative thoughts and self-defeating habits can affect mood. Anyway, "Feeling Good" is an excellent book to help alleviate depression, but the problem with it is that it's just too long, too extensive, and too demanding of the reader in the amount of writing exercises it requires. "Feeling Good" can be useful, but it requires a lot of work. In addition, the information on medications is woefully out of date. In "Self-Esteem," McKay and Fanning take many of the same ideas and condense them, making them easier to understand. McKay and Fanning also simplify the exercises so that they make more sense and are easier to do. The ideas and exercises can take a while to sink in before they can become helpful. There is no quick fix to depression or anxiety. As one of the first popular books in the field of CBT, "Self-Esteem" has held up pretty well over the years. The whole self-esteem movement may be a recent trend, but some of the movement's ideas have some truth to them. Is this a perfect book? No. As others have complained, it is repetitive. Still, the ideas in it have helped me and others, and I think they can still be helpful to someone looking for useful self-help books today.
| 
