Subtitle Better Fit Than Title

I think that the subtitle actually makes a better title than the real title of this book! When an author uses a trendy term like “life hacking,” I feel it more obscures what a book is about than illuminate. Something just rubs me wrong, too, about the idea of “hacking” anything spiritual. But I won’t keep going on about semantics. This book is meant for Christians who feel like the crazy modern world keeps them from truly living their Christian beliefs and hampers their closeness to God. The author has a clear and easy writing style as well as very workable suggestions and tips for how to become more focused on the religious aspect of your life and God. I wish, too, that the author had been more explicit in the blurb that this is a Christian book. The term “spiritual” can be used to define and describe a much broader realm than Christianity, so it is not accurate to use a more general term. Name it and claim it! This way, it makes it clear to people who just look at the blurb, and not the categories, what exactly this book is about. That said, this is a scripturally sound book written in in an engaging way that may help Christians find their way back to God, even with the pressures of modern life, and to help them live their lives in a way that more embodies Christ’s message.

More about Background Info Than Changing Your Life

The title of this book makes you think it is going to be all about how to change your life after you get out of a relationship with someone who is clinically narcissistic. That is not wholly true; only the end portion of the book directly addresses this. (Even that section really isn’t about changing your life; it is more about issues you might have as you move on.) Earlier sections actually have useful information, but they aren’t about what the title says the book is. The book starts off defining clinical narcissism and some of its different types. The author then goes on to say how a person in a relationship with a narcissist can unwittingly feed the other person’s disorder and follows this with information about the typical tricks the narcissist uses to get his or her way. The author has quite a long section about how to not be a victim if you are in a relationship with a narcissist, finally suggesting that the best thing a person can do is leave the narcissist. Then, she guides the reader through the difficulties of trying to get away, including tactics that the narcissist will use to try to get the person back. Finally, the last section addresses what the title says the book is about (mostly). I think this book either needed to be more on point or have a different title.

This book reminded me about another one that was just released not long ago that looked at narcissism, Narcissist by Keith Coleman; the books are actually structured very similarly. This one has more information about what to do when you get out of the toxic relationship. There is one thing that annoyed me in this book; this has happened with several nonfiction books lately. In the middle of the book, there is a request for a review. I don’t mind one of these at the end of the book (and there is one there as well), but it is quite annoying to turn a Kindle page and see this; this even includes a graphic. Very irritating.

Fuzzy Focus, Not Much of a “Plan”

This book is all over the map. I like it when my nonfiction books are precisely about what they say. If you call a book a “plan,” it should have a plan. If a book is about productivity, every chapter should focus on that theme. I found the book did not fulfill either word’s promise. I didn’t see any big overall “plan” mentioned in this book. There are a variety of strategies and tips offered but no comprehensive plan. The book does have some discussion of productivity, including what hampers it, like perfectionism and thinking that working long equals working well. But I didn’t really feel like he got to the heart of the issues about what can make one more productive while still maintaining mental, physical, and spiritual health. The book should have been more tightly focused on productivity itself instead of peripheral subjects, and he needed to delve more deeply into productivity as well. Many sections in the Table of Contents (which is far too long and detailed) are just a paragraph in the book itself; there’s little depth here. The book in places felt like a grab bag of pop-psych ideas about productivity and peripherally related concepts like sleep and meditation. If you are genuinely looking for a productivity plan, you would do better to look elsewhere.