Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Reinventing Yourself

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this book years ago when I was still in college. It made it's way into the back of a book shelf in my closet. At age 28, while at a particulary challenging time in my life, I stumbled on it once again. Although the book was now 8 years old, and I assumed it to be "outdated" I decided to look through it one night, and within the first chapter I instantly relaxed. I have a degree in Psychology, and have spent all of my teen and adult years reading self help books, and none of them ever did me any good. I would start out with full honest intentions only to get bored halfway through. Most self help books these days are written by an author who feels that he or she has "the system," "the theory," and "the philosophy" that will change your life forever. These books usually include chapters worth of "exercises" which only work if you follow them precisely. Some of these so called "systems" even require you to purchase supplemental workbooks, and six different journals to even follow them. And they all make outrageous claims. Some are so full of psychobabble that even a psychology buff like myself quickly tires of it. Some of them seem are so bland that they seem to be written by an author who looked at the project as a chore. Others are so incredibly ridicolous that the suggestions are almost laughable. Are you REALLY going to put index cards all over your house, car, and office, to remind yourself how wonderful you are? And are you SERIOUSLY going to believe that stopping your car along the side of the road in order to analyze the beauty in the flowers is going to change your life? Some self help books feel like one huge commercial, and are usually written by popular pop psychologists that are on the daytime talk show circut. Not only should you buy the book, but if you REALLY want to change your life, you will need to invest in the daily affirmation cards, calendar, motivational posters, and lunchbox.

And then...there is this simply put together book by an author I never heard of, and haven't in the 8 years since this book was first published. He isn't trying to sell me anything. He was just reminding me of things that I already knew, but maybe my head was just a little too cloudy at the time to remember. And that is that if I want to....I CAN change my life. Just because I am not happy at this current chapter in my life, does not mean that I am crazy, and need to get on medication. Or that I need to waste a ton of time writing myself essays and posting index cards all over my house. I don't need to run to the nearest bookstore and purchase the entire "kit." Heck, I don't even need to read the book from front to back. But if I want some motivation, and the reminder that I CAN change my life, and maybe some encouragement and ideas...in PLAIN ENGLISH, I can refer to this silly little orange book...and maybe...just maybe...START to get the wheels turning to reinvent myself...on my terms.

Rarely have I encountered a book that is so methodically, comprehensively and yet amicable covers the topic of reinventing yourself. Like the author says, most of us are going to live a whole lot longer than we think, and are going to be findng ourselves in different occupations, maybe in different regions of the country or even different countries, living different kinds of life styles. This book gives great insights as to what kinds of chalenges might be on the horizon for you. I think that this would also be a good book to give to friends who are currently trying to find their way.

The idea of reinventing yourself, is appealing to me for many reasons. Since the terrorist attack, I have been reading how so many people are reevaluating their priorities and what is really important in life, but I was already thinking about these things before then. This book covers considerable ground, but is not difficult to get through. The author is kind of witty, and he has certainly done a lot of homework in terms of providing resources to help readers follow up on particular topics. I would recommend this book for lots of different reasons and in fact I am thinking giving some for Christmas.

This book was wonderful!! Jeff Davidson suggests endless strategies for reinvention that are very practical. This book covers everything from reinventing your career to relationships to reinventing appearance. I highly recomend this book to anyone wanting to make a small change or a huge change.

My husband gave me this book for my birthday. I was a little surprised, I certainly wasn't expecting it and the title kind of grabbed me. I hadn't really considered the prospect of "reinventing my life" before but after awhile the concept kind of grows on you. I liked the author's encouraging style, and the fact that you can pretty much skip around the book at random and launch into any chapter that strikes your fancy. The middle section on improving your mind, your fitness level and your nutritional hits, I think are the best.

"I've been considering changing jobs for a while now. When I stumbled across this book in the book store, I though to myself, "Why not?" When I got into it, I realized that this was just what I was looking for. There are lots of good ideas here on reinventing many different aspects of your life. The author takes the approach that their is no one set formula for anybody . For some people a reinvention could happen with a snap of the fingers. With others it might take place years. For most of us it is probably something between several weeks and several months. At any rate there is enough here to keep me reading for long stretches There are also lots of ideas for reinventing myself in new areas like improving my vocabulary, making new kinds of friends, maybe taking an evening course or two.

I'm happy with this book, but two chapters in particular stand out including four, Feed Your Head, and five, Overcoming the Tendency to Stay Put. These two got me in motion. I found myself making calls, visiting some new Internet sites, and going down a path I didn't go down before. If you think about the phrase "today is the first day of the rest of your life" that would be a reasonable description of the kind of theme and incentive that this book gives you. I am only half way through right now but I already feel like I got my money's worth.

I recommend The Complete Idiot's Guide to Reinventing Yourself. It is well worth the money. If you are considering making any kind of change in your life, this is a valuable resource for you. You will get lots of tips in a hurry, and even maybe reflect on things that you hadn't thought before you picked up the book.

Reinvention ... what a concept! This book maintains that reinvention is a chance to renew yourself and that the longer you live, the more opportunities you have for reinventing your life. How true. There are several great sections in this book including Getting Your Mind in Gear, Reinventing Your Body, Reinventing Your Career, Reinventing Your Relationships and Reinventing Other Aspects of Your Life. The cover says, you begin reinventing yourself when you purchase the book, and in this case, it is not a false claim. If you are ready to make a change, this book will
help.

I was looking to make major changes in my life and my friend let me borrow his book. It helped me enormously. It goes into great detail as to the philosophy, the mind-set, the action, and the potential results you'll experience when you decide to make life-changing decisions. The book is kind of long, but that's good, because you get to pick those portions that apply directly to your current situation. I would definitely recommend this book if you are undertaking any type of career or personal change and want some guidance, some good ideas, and a ready reference source. But make sure you can keep yours after you read it!