Grow Up America!

Rating:
Summary: Grow Up America! Every one of us!
Review: Grow Up America! belongs in every home in America. It's candid, direct, concise and to the point. Be responsible for your actions, your feelings and your thoughts! For others? Absolutely not. For you? Absolutely. Dr. Hurd gives a whole different meaning to "selfish" and how putting yourself first dramatically improves the quality of your life. His book is clear, easy to understand, and practical. It's refreshing how he speaks out about issues (that I've only been willing to complain about) with fortitude, backbone, and honesty. His chapter on "Personal Responsibility" really surprised me! I consider myself a very responsible adult (who can't stand when people portray themselves as "victims," helpless, etc.), and he brought to my attention how I was playing a victim by feeling resentful (blaming others). Ouch! So much for the joy of enlightenment. I now realize that if I take care of myself first and choose to be happy in whatever I'm doing, there's no reason for resentment. I've also learned that when feelings of resentment surface (or any negative feelings), and I take responsibility for them, they're neutralized. When I "own" my feelings, the feelings can't own me. Bottom line: Grow Up America! hits the nail on the head: being responsible = being happy. Check it out for yourself! You'll be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: Grow Up America! Every one of us!
Review: Grow Up America! belongs in every home in America. It's candid, direct, concise and to the point. Be responsible for your actions, your feelings and your thoughts! For others? Absolutely not. For you? Absolutely. Dr. Hurd gives a whole different meaning to "selfish" and how putting yourself first dramatically improves the quality of your life. His book is clear, easy to understand, and practical. It's refreshing how he speaks out about issues (that I've only been willing to complain about) with fortitude, backbone, and honesty. His chapter on "Personal Responsibility" really surprised me! I consider myself a very responsible adult (who can't stand when people portray themselves as "victims," helpless, etc.), and he brought to my attention how I was playing a victim by feeling resentful (blaming others). Ouch! So much for the joy of enlightenment. I now realize that if I take care of myself first and choose to be happy in whatever I'm doing, there's no reason for resentment. I've also learned that when feelings of resentment surface (or any negative feelings), and I take responsibility for them, they're neutralized. When I "own" my feelings, the feelings can't own me. Bottom line: Grow Up America! hits the nail on the head: being responsible = being happy. Check it out for yourself! You'll be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: A rational, solution oriented approach to self improvement
Review: I ordered this book pre-publication directly off of the authors web sight. The book is divided into 24 concise chapters that deal with subjects such as "getting a grip on reality", "emotions", "self confidence,"How to grow up romantically" and many others. The subject matter should be of universal interest to any human being who is seeking to increase their effectiveness as an individual and consequently lead a happier life.

I found that four aspects of this book made it an outstanding read. First, the authors approach emphasizes the power of reason not only in overcoming life's difficulties, but also in living a happy, fulfilling life. Second, the author does an excellent job of explaining how emotions can be an excellent tool from which to gain self understanding IF you analyze them (and act on them) rationally rather than to follow them blindly. Third, I liked the fact that the author is action oriented. He does not believe that a person only needs to sit on a couch and "vent" their feelings in order to achieve personal growth. It takes not only understanding, but actually acting on that understanding. the author makes this very clear. Lastly, I liked the fact that the book is not just a random hodge-podge of invalidated ideas and approaches to self help. It does not present the Ideas in a myopic vacuum. The book presents an integrated approach to the subject matter which brings together many areas of life that (for many) would be seemingly unrelated, and connects them with fundamental principles. I found this to be of great value. In summary, I found this book to be an excellent mental tune up.

Rating:
Summary: A rational, solution oriented approach to self improvement
Review: I ordered this book pre-publication directly off of the authors web sight. The book is divided into 24 concise chapters that deal with subjects such as "getting a grip on reality", "emotions", "self confidence,"How to grow up romantically" and many others. The subject matter should be of universal interest to any human being who is seeking to increase their effectiveness as an individual and consequently lead a happier life.

I found that four aspects of this book made it an outstanding read. First, the authors approach emphasizes the power of reason not only in overcoming life's difficulties, but also in living a happy, fulfilling life. Second, the author does an excellent job of explaining how emotions can be an excellent tool from which to gain self understanding IF you analyze them (and act on them) rationally rather than to follow them blindly. Third, I liked the fact that the author is action oriented. He does not believe that a person only needs to sit on a couch and "vent" their feelings in order to achieve personal growth. It takes not only understanding, but actually acting on that understanding. the author makes this very clear. Lastly, I liked the fact that the book is not just a random hodge-podge of invalidated ideas and approaches to self help. It does not present the Ideas in a myopic vacuum. The book presents an integrated approach to the subject matter which brings together many areas of life that (for many) would be seemingly unrelated, and connects them with fundamental principles. I found this to be of great value. In summary, I found this book to be an excellent mental tune up.

Rating:
Summary: Finally - The Rational Alternative
Review: It was absolutely wonderful to read a 'self-help' book that was based on rational principles. I've made the mistake of buying some of the most popular self-help books on the shelf and was totally disappointed to find them, at best, full of mundane and obvious advice. At their worst, they offer up suggestions that the universe will provide for you if you believe it will, that you can do anything, regardless of the facts of reality and that just telling yourself how great you are will cause self-esteem.

We all know deep down that none of this is the right advice - it's just the easy advice. Dr Hurd gives the right advice. He teaches us things like what really causes self-esteem, how to examine emotions and put them in their proper perspective, how to love, how to be moral and much, much more. This is a book for the rational thinkers who want to deal with the world in a realistic manner, be responsible for their own lives and achieve their own happiness.

There is also some excellent information on how to help your child grow up, for the parents out there.

This is a book that will challenge you to think rationally and come up with your own solutions, not just hope for a solution from the cosmic universe.