Don't Get Scrooged: How to Thrive in a World Full of Obnoxious, Incompetent, Arrogant, and Downright Mean-Spirited People [Hardcover]

Richard Carlson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2006

Inside find helpful advice, such as:

• Take a Vacation, Not a Guilt-Trip
  Don't Get "Should Upon"
• Hades or Homecoming?
  Opt In- or Out-of Family Events
• Quit Being Your Mother
  Ban Worry from Your Holidays
• It's Not Daytona—You're Not Jeff Gordon
  Don't Try to Cook Tailgating Turkeys

Don't Get Scrooged is a jewel of a handbook on how to avoid, appease, and even win over the Scrooges who haunt your holidays. Whether it's the salesclerk who ignores you in favor of her cell phone, the customer who knowingly jumps ahead of you in line at Starbucks, the unnaturally irritable boss down the hall, or the in-laws who invite themselves (every year) for a two-week stay at your house, you will always need to deal with Scrooges, grumps, uninvited guests, sticks-in-the-mud, and supreme party poopers. Learning to handle them whenever and wherever they appear is not just optional—it's essential.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Psychologist Richard Carlson offers lots of suggestions in his just-in-time book, Don’t Get Scrooged….” (Detroit Free Press )

“This is a smart little book full of advice based on sound psychology…” (Richmond Times-Dispatch )

“This well-written book is easy to browse and contains sound advice.” (Library Journal )

“Carlson offers us ways to deal with our extra-pressured existences… There’s good advice to be had inside.” (Boston Globe )

“Carlson is back this holiday season with advice – just in time to handle the relatives, rudeness and retail nightmares.” (USA Today )

About the Author

Richard Carlson (1961-2006) is a bestselling author whose books include Don't Sweat the Small Stuff . . . and It's All Small Stuff; Don't Worry, Make Money; You Can Feel Good Again; and You Can Be Happy No Matter What. His books have been published in 35 languages in over 130 countries.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 edition (October 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060758929
• ISBN-13: 978-0060758929
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #709,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

During his life, Richard Carlson, Ph.D, was considered one of the foremost experts in happiness and stress reduction in the United States and around the world and was a frequent featured guest on such shows as Oprah, The Today Show, The View, NNC, CNN, Fox, PBS and over 2000 other shows.Don't Sweat the Small Stuff continued to be a publishing phenomenon with over 20 titles in the brand franchise, two of which were co-authored and authored with his beloved wife, Kris. He died of a pulmonary embolism in December 2006, at the age of forty-five.

The words "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" have become a part of American Culture thanks to Richard Carlson's book that became a runaway best-seller and made publishing history as the #1 best-selling book in the United States for two consecutive years.
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff spent over 100 weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller list and is still considered one of the fastest selling books of all time and has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written and appropriate for the holidays, December 4, 2006

By 

Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Don't Get Scrooged: How to Thrive in a World Full of Obnoxious, Incompetent, Arrogant, and Downright Mean-Spirited People (Hardcover)

Every year holidays get more and more demanding and less and less fun. Richard Carlson has welcome advice for getting through it all a lot happier than we have in the past and a little closer to those warm and fuzzy feelings we expect from this time of year than we usually get. Although there is little in the book that is surprising or new, it is presented in convenient little segments in a wonderfully readable form. The author presents the material using his own experiences and those of others to illustrate his points in each chapter and does so succinctly and with great sense of humor. I found the book a delight and read it from cover to cover in about two hours. I expect to monitor my own behavior and that of others around me and to re-read the appropriate chapters until I manage to succeed in getting through my holidays with a happy disposition. A good resource for everyone any day of the year when we find ourselves rehearsing unpleasant events from our days activities without generating either solutions to problems or a new way of thinking about things.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Valuable Advice--Even for an Advice Giver, December 1, 2006

By 

Carol Weston "bookclubmom" (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Don't Get Scrooged: How to Thrive in a World Full of Obnoxious, Incompetent, Arrogant, and Downright Mean-Spirited People (Hardcover)

The title and cover caught my eye in a megabookstore and although I usually read fat novels, not slim self-help books, I figured I'd sit down and dip in. I admit it: I'd been stewing about a confrontation over the holidays. Well, guess what? The advice is friendly and readable and so good that I ended up buying the book and pressing it on family members. There are a few semi-lame chapters, but basically, Carlson helps us let go of crazy nonsense and not let scrooges hijack our brain waves (especially at holiday time). If something is bothering you, he encourages you to think: Okay, I see why this is making me mad. But why is it making me so so so mad? If someone is playing victim, he helps you stop playing rescuer. If someone is acting like a turkey (his word), he helps you get him/her to act like an adult and to disengage. The funny thing is, I *am* an advice columnist myself--since 1994--for Girls' Life Magazine, but even we authors can use peptalks once in a while!
Carol Weston, author of GIRLTALK and FOR GIRLS ONLY and THE DIARY OF MELANIE MARTIN; [...]

18 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars decent but pricey, November 10, 2006

By 

mikemac9 "mikemac9" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Don't Get Scrooged: How to Thrive in a World Full of Obnoxious, Incompetent, Arrogant, and Downright Mean-Spirited People (Hardcover)

its a *small* collection of inspirational stories. Look at the size of the pages; roughly post-card size. And lots of white space. I enjoyed the stories, I'm not criticizing that at all. But even the discount price of $11.53 is too much for this book. So rated on what you pay for what you get, I can only give it 3 stars.