Customer Reviews

Lighten Up: Survival Skills for People Under Pressure

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

 

 

I am buying this book because I went to a CW lecture/performance. He was a truly amazing man who used humor to help pople recover from horrific experiences. His relating of the courage of the survivors he worked with showing the aburdity, beauty, sensitivity, fragility and toughness of life is magnificent. The humorous perspective gained by his clients is humbling when you consider the traumas they have coped with. I hope some of these experiences are included in this book. I'll always remember and be grateful for his humor and gift of communication.

I almost put this book in my "to be donated" pile when I began reading it. But, I am SO glad that I stayed with it. It is truly one of the BEST books I have ever read and I will CHERISH IT. (I've already read the entire book, cover to cover, twice!!!) Invest in this book, you will NOT be sorry!!!

Thank goodness I am a fast reader. The three hours spent reading this supposedly enlightening self-help book are three hours of my life I'd like to have back. I found CW Metcalf to be shallow, without substance and wholly unfulfilling. I had really expected to take away some useful ideas for stress reduction and self realization, but instead found myself wondering how much longer this author could go on, and on, and on with the same thing. Other than a few gems of wisdom borrowed from some pediatric cancer patients (any one of which could have written a better book on the topic), there was precious little one could take away as food for thought. Reading a few days worth of Dilbert comics would be more useful for "humor therapy".

It's a shame the only other reviewer as of early 2006 is quick to attack the book on religious grounds. Most societies have religion to thank for their lack of humor. Open up, live a little and prepare yourselves for the shock when u die and find that u didn't have the truth after all.

Humor is an instrument of healing if used properly, not a destructive weapon to be used to put down other people. Such is the philosophy of Metcalf, who along with his wife Roma Felible offer a set of skills built around that claim. The book has strengths and weaknesses. On the positive side, the argument that humor is a healing tonic has validity. They offer evidence of recent scientific studies that support this principle which goes back at least as far as the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. Some of the skills they offer are doable and can be applied by virtually anyone. The disappointment comes at the end of the book. The chapter about death is NOT from a Christian perspective, but from that of a Buddhdist Since Buddha's still in his grave no hope is offered, just a shallow "be positive" which is an awful substitue for the promise offered by Jesus who is NOT in His grave.