Customer Reviews

Attention Deficit Disorder : A Different Perception

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The most insightful book on ADD I have read to date. While not the perfect diagnostic starter's manual for ADD newcomers, this book is an imperative read for all ADDer who have a negative view of their condition.

Hartmann has crafted a scientifically supported theory that empowers ADDers. Hartmann asserts that ADDer are "hunters" living in a society that has literally evolved into a culture of "farmers." While the common ADD traits of distractibility and quick thinking were essential in hunting an antelope, they are less desirable when planting rows of crops or balancing a checkbook.

Unlike many ADD books, this is not a substance-less, feel-good read. Hartmann acknowledges the working realities/difficulties of being an ADD "hunter" in a non-ADD "farmer" world. Only Harman's model, based on the evolution of the human brain, frames the ADD debate in a manner that brings ADDers on equal intellectual footing with their non-ADD counterparts. In the hunter/farmer model, ADD is not a disorder or defect of the brain, rather a set of traits that are not perfectly suited to getting through the many mundane tasks of a farmers world.

Drawing upon ADDers like Einstein, Franklin and Edison, Hartmann illustrates how many ADDers have utilized their quick-react "hunter" brains to achieve incredible success in a "farmer" world. Not only is this book empowering for people who view their ADD as a "disadvantage," this book is must read for the parents and teacher who shape the perceptions of ADD children.

If you only read one book on ADD, read th is one, or Thom Hartmann's Complete Book on ADHD, which covers the same turf as this one. This book shouold be required reading by any health care provider, educator, counselor, etc. who works with ADD/ADHD. It offers a positive, hopeful view of ADHD. The truth is, many, if not most of the leaders, visionaries, explorers, pioneers and people who make the big differences in this world have been or are people who would meet the characteristics of an ADD person. Hartmann's book explains it. if you are ADD or love someone who is, it wold be tragic for you to not know the ideas in this book.
If you listen to many of the "experts" on ADD/HD, people with this diagnosis are not only disordered, they are pathologically defective. Thom Hartmann went through this destructive labeling with his child, and came out of the dark tunnel with a new light-- people with ADD are Different-- Hunters in a Farmers world. And in many cases, they function better than the farmers... if the setting is right. This book should be required reading for parents of children with ADD and adults with ADD. It is a wonderful breath of fresh air for people who are feeling bad about the diagnosis and their future.

I'm a relatively successful person who is clearly ADD. Thom's way of thinking about it enables me, and my ADD daughter to be proud of our attentional differences. The human race evolved for millions of years as hunters, and for the last 10,000 years as farmers. What do you think evolution prepared us better for? This book will bolster your attitude for dealing with teachers and others who push Ritalin or other stimulants as a quick fix to your or your child's differences.

Hartmann is a successful multitasker: not only does he write popular books on ADD/ADHD, he has published numerous books of poetry, has opened four hospitals in Third World countries, and so on. His point is that ADD/ADHD is a curse if it is not channeled properly, but can be a great blessing, and an enormous goad (and even key) to success if the "sufferer" learns to handle it, learns to cope with it.

As someone who was bored in school not just because it was repetitive, not just because teachers spent way too much time on task for the attention spans of children, but because it was all too EASY, I recognized myself in Hartmann's case studies immediately. But I was never diagnosed with ADD or ADHD because I learned to cope early. I taught myself to stay on task long enough to finish projects. And as Hartmann stresses, that's the key: finishing projects. When you're ADD, or a "hunter," it requires an extra effort of focus to do it, at first--not just a burst of focus, but a willingness to keep your nose to the grindstone for long periods of time (HOURS! DAYS!) no matter how much it hurts--but soon enough the effort is internalized and success on the world's terms becomes much easier.

Not that the "farmers" will necessarily understand that success. My colleagues say I publish "too much." I'll be working on a scholarly book and a play and a translation at once, and they'll all get done, pretty quickly, within months, because I know I have to push hard to finish or I'll lose interest. As a result I've published something like 15 books, and have a hard drive full of unpublished and unproduced manuscripts as well. I can't understand people who spend fifteen years writing a single magnum opus. Don't they get BORED?

I do want to take issue with one unnamed reviewer, though:

"While I can agree with the point in this book that ADHD to some extent is situational (a hunter temperament within a farmer society) I have to raise obvious concerns about the outcome of any book not giving full credit to the metabolic issue and medications. ... It is an extremely painful experience for many parents of ADHD students to NOT provide medication or alternatives to medication while students continue to be hyperactive, unfocused, extremely distractible, while exercising little impulse control."

This sort of review is irresponsible. The reviewer clearly did not pay attention while reading Hartmann's book (easily distracted? ADD?). Hartmann stresses specifically that ADD/ADHD is painful, stressful, traumatic for many children, and that Ritalin or some other chemical intervention may in many cases be not only necessary but life-saving. But he also stresses that long-term Ritalin use is not the solution--that what children need is instruction in coping with ADD, in channeling their impulses in productive ways. In effect, what he is calling for is help for children with ADD/ADHD who need to learn to produce Ritalin analogs in their own brain chemistry, without external intervention.

Your reviewers experience: a few short years ago my youngest son was in real trouble. Skipping school and failing I had him tested at his therapist's request. Near genius IQ. In eight grade his math aptitude (which he failed through most of school) was above 12th grade. He was miserable and so was our family. In search of answers he was diagnosed as ADD. It was a dark dark time for me to the point I believed I might lose this child.

The book is a well written argument that the child is not defective, but rather these ADD "hunters" are forced into a "farmer" environment we have grown to demand of public school system children. It also offers helpful advice on how to deal with this issue.

The book allowed me to see that my son wasn't "broken" and if he had a disability it was because he was ill suited to the public school environment which demanded dull witted compliant students and wasn't interested at all in offering any alternative. Reading this book allowed me decide the world wasn't on my son's side, but I had to be, and have confidence that when I could help get him into a different environment it would be better.

I can now report he dropped out of high school, a thing I came to look forward to. He immediately went to take the GED and passed most scores with 99th percentile (nothing below 93rd percentile), finished his Eagle scout badge, and is starting his own craft business doing glass work. I believe the result could have been much different without the perspective of the author and thank him for it.

Hartmann's "Hunter in a Farmer's World" theory is incredibly enticing to people who have ADD. I was just recently diagnosed (as an adult) and though my initial feelings upon finding that there was a chemical/biological reason for my spaciness were those of relief, I still felt somewhat... broken.

But after reading this book (and buying into Hartmann's theory...whether it is scientifically sound or not I am not qualified to say, but it has the ring of common sense about it) I started to see the positive aspects of this "disease." In fairness, Dr's Hallowell and Ratey addressed the positive aspects of ADD in Driven to Distraction (also a must-read) but Hartmann drives the idea home in a very approachable way. The book is a joy to read and is very inspiring.

Now whenever I'm feeling a bit down about ADD, I scan a few pages of the book at random and leave the house confident that my hunter instincts can carry me through anything. I still use my medication for when I have to deal with the farmer world, but the rest of the time, I hunt!!

Thom Hartmann teaches us how to maximize the potential of our gift: ADD.

I loved everything about this book! For the first time in my life I was free from bad feelings about myself! I never knew I was ADD, and I really, really did not want to believe it after a therapist suggested it. After all, I've had a fairly successful life and with all the bad things that have been said and written about ADD, I said, "Nah-not me-couldn't be me!" but when I came to Amazon.com to purchase the book "You mean I'm not lazy, crazy, or stupid" and this book was suggested, I liked what I read about it and ordered it. Boy, what a revelation! Read this book-now, if you are a hunter(ADD) and soon, if you are a farmer(not ADD).

I read this book many years ago and have been recommending it at every opportunity. I remember as I finished this book, my son was sitting at the table just struggling to finish his homework. He was bumping his head against the table in utter frustration! I had to laugh! What was I thinking? He was so creative and smart, he read to me at age three. I discussed the book with my husband and we called his dean and arranged to have all of his teachers in a room at the same time. I carried every book I had on ADD and plopped them down on the table. When they arrived, I asked how many believed there was such a thing as ADD, all but two raised their hands. I asked what courses the two taught and asked the dean to move my son to a different teacher. They were replaced. Not one of the teachers had read any of the books on the table. I said "I have one son, he is all I care about. I am his only cheerleader. I see $360,000 tax dollars worth of teachers with Masters degrees in this room and as far as I was concerned, they had to teach one son. My expectation is that you can teach him. Is there anyone in the room who didn't think it was possible?" No one raised their hand. For the first time I felt I was in control. I was empowered because this book empowered me. I did what I had to do to get my hunter out of that school as fast as I could. My son got a day off of school for every A he brought home. He was astonished at that. He got straight A's for the remainder of high school, graduated 6 months early, and will graduate with honors from Columbia this June. He felt I was on his side, me and him against the system. I could not have helped him if it weren't for the words in this book, so thank-you Thom, you have no idea how this helped us.

When I first read ADD:ADP a few years ago, I was fascinated by Hartmann's hypothesis that the ADD/ADHD characteristics of distractability, impulsivity, and a need for high levels of stimulation may have been adaptive, useful characteristics for people in hunting/gathering societies, but became less useful in agricultural/industrialized societies. I also found practical application of his idea that "Hunters" should find "Hunter jobs" - areas of work with high levels of stimulation, lots of change, and highly self-directed (ER doc, sales, fighter pilot, detective, entrepreneur, etc.). It made sense and made me feel better and actually helped my life - but there were still those guys out there saying, "Get over it - you have a disordered brain and are deficient." They seemed so very, very scientific.

Then earlier this year I read the report published in the National Academy of Sciences journal, by a team of geneticists from Yale and UCI Med School, that actually did the hard research on the DRD4 gene - the one that 8 previous studies have linked to ADHD. The 7R allele variant - the ADHD variant - was, they said, "under positive selection" and "adaptive": science-speak for, "This gene has been doing something useful for humans for at least 40,000 years." They even ended the study paper by suggesting that our schools are broken instead of our children!

Now that Hartmann's original 1993 hypothesis has been scientifically proven, this book takes on even more value and meaning. It's important both psychologically and scientifically. Highly recommended.

This book is skillfully written and is not stuffy or clinical. It's an easy, very informative book to read and understand. It's nice to know that someone (the author) offers the diagnosis as a character enhancement, rather than a negative deficit. I'm an adult "hunter," and proud of it, although I didn't know it until now, and am glad no one stuck the stigma of "ADD" on me when I was young. This should help other Hunters and parents of Hunters better understand ADD without all the negativity associated with ADD. And I agree that "Farmers are boring!" A must read for newly-diagnosed Hunters.

Is your child disabled by ADD? Damaged goods, limited potential? Absolutely not! Thom Hartmann explains that what some view as a disability, is a strength.

Example - Is your child distractible, or in the alternative, able to quickly shift attention and multi-task? Hyper, or able to outwork and perseverve over others? Our ADD/HD children have exceptional strengths that surpass our 'normal' children. Thom Hartmann will help the parent and ADD adult recognize the hidden benefits of ADD and how to capitalize on them and view them, not as a disability to feared and overwhelmed by, but instead as a strength and positive trait.

This is the first book I grab for my parents/clients.

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This book will change your view of ADD, as it should!