Customer Reviews

Liberating Everyday Genius: A Revolutionary Guide for Identifying and Mastering Your Exceptional Gifts

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

 

 

I found this book to be personally liberating, explaining many of the "quirks" in my method of working. I own a very successful business with a focus on human performance and am very familiar with recent work on IQ, emotional intelligence, Gardner's MI theories, etc. Yet, this book had me weeping, smiling, and clapping my hands in recognition. It is theoretically solid, filled with practical wisdom, and rich with emotional support for the "rara avis" who is more often unkindly called the "odd duck." A super self-help book.

I got this book right after reading Gifted Grownups (also a great book), and I was actually a bit dubious about whether it could possibly live up to the statement on the cover (A Revolutionary Guide for Identifying and Mastering Your Exceptional Gifts). It does! It has far exceeded any and all expectations. This book is wonderful in terms of addressing the psychological and personality issues related to giftedness. Plus there's an extremely enlightening profile that really helped me see my personality, strengths (and weaknesses), and giftedness clearly. To find out that so many of the things that have been termed "wrong" about me are actually what's right (giftedness) has been so freeing - and such a relief! It is a guidebook and resource that is absolutely invaluable for every gifted adult. If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would!

This is an excellent and useful book based on the kind of radical premise that seems obvious once it's articulated.

The author asserts that "giftedness" exists, (even by conventional, inadequate measures such as IQ), in 5-10% of the population. She believes that the set of traits that leads to exceptional talent is not mere "intelligence": it is a collection of cognitive, emotional, physical, and other traits that causes the gifted person to process infomation differently than other people. The way this works, she says, is most comparable to the way a learning disability works; in fact, the divergence from "normal ways of thinking" often causes gifted people to meet with great difficulties.

Using anecdotes and quizzes, as well as exposition and a little bit of cheerleading, Jacobsen illustrates how and why gifted people will have trouble conforming and may seem (to themselves and to others) too "intense," "complex," and "driven." She includes tips for self-management in the workplace, in relationships, and in the arduous process of "liberating" the self and the talents.

"The pot of gold" is for all of us, gifted and "non-gifted." Jacobsen insists that "everyday geniuses," with their outside-of-the-box thinking, are the people who catalyze society's progress and change.

The book title might better have been "Liberating Everyday Genuises" as it really is only dealing with a specific sort of person she refers to as an Everyday Genius. (The title probably arises from the publishers attempt to attain a borader market.) And this might be a key issue, because although she clearly defines what an Everyday Genuis is and allows you to score yourself using the Evolutionary Intelligence Profile (EvIQ), it could be that anyone who read the book could be left convinced that they are one. Scoring myself highly on the EvIQ, I then went on to find things that sounded like me and other things that didn't. Or rather, were not necessarily the most obvious characteristics of being an Everyday Genius for me. It also seemed to be speaking more clearly to female readers than male ones, possibly from the author's own experiences and self-understanding.

Having in part I defined what an Everyday Genius is and how many people grow up unaware of it, and also how standard intelligence measures may not measure it, she then presents in part II the EvIQ and then in part III details the sorts of issues that gifted adults face and how you can help to be true to yourself, removing the False Selves. The only time I began to feel she lurched into common self-help drivel was in part IV and also the section that seemed to have changed focus from the topic into more general information. Part V is rather like a summary and final motivation.

All in all, I know too much about the subject to think that approaching this from simply a self-help point of view is sufficient, for even though I ranked as being a balanced everyday genius, it does not prevent all sorts of difficulties because others have only so many slots to fit you in, and not knowing what you are force you into one you're not. And society wants all your good qualities but aren't willing to tolerate the emotions and needs and love that go along with it, especially in the workplace. It is rather like having them say to you that they want you to dance, but only if your legs are tied, because lack of understanding makes them mistrust. There are so few people who are there when you need them to say, we accept you and release you. This often leads to frustration and having a book about it at least gives one some inner security, but it is not nearly enough.

After I finished reading this book and started in on Thucydides, I came across a speech where a politician said "ordinary men usually manage public affairs better than their more gifted fellows. The latter are always wanting to appear wiser than the laws". Perhaps this is true, or maybe its because gifted people see where others do not see.

If you want to go one step further, in this book an Everyday Genuis is someone who often feels out of place in society because they are not ordinary, but there are also those who may feel accepted but still reject soceity to seek something transcendent. There is a very interesting book on this called "The Outsider" by Colin Wilson. It is much more profound.

Just wanted to say "ditto" to the previous reviews. It was both frightening and wonderful to finally hear someone say that I wasn't strange, or weird, or just plain silly for being me. The strong desire to truly experience life, the insatiable curiosity, the passion for excellence, and the constant emphasis on spiritual and emotional growth, are all apart of what makes me, me. AND THAT'S OK! There is a reason why I am the way I am, and I no longer have to shut down and conform to some arbitrary standard of normality. This book is practical, informative, and truly "liberating."

I found this book to be most liberating. Often, I would say to myself as I read the paragraphs written by Dr. Jacobsen's clients, "That's me! " For too long I went through life wondering "what's wrong with me?" Wondering why people had such profound difficulty in understanding my profundity. Now, I realize that there isn't anything that is "wrong" with me...it's that I simply developed in a way that allows me to utilize most efficiently the gifts that the good Lord gave me. Moreover, as a Marriage and Family therapist, I will use the knowledge gained from this book to look out for other geniuses who grace me with their genius. I will let clients know that they are not crazy because they are "scattered brained" or that because they think "too deeply" on subjects. They are simply the frontierpersons leading the rest of us into the next phase of human development. Let's face it, someone has to start the journey. Someone has to begin the evolutionary movement that eventually takes us to a higher, more complex state of existance--I'm so glad that there are 20 million of them!