Customer Reviews

Taking Charge of Adult ADHD

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a researcher and expert on ADHD, and an ADHDer myself, I've read many books on the topic and written many book reviews. When I was asked to review Dr. Russell Barkley's latest book, Taking Charge of Adult ADHD, for Psych Central, I wasn't sure I'd learn anything new. I was delighted and astonished in every section of the book. Barkley's level of insight, wisdom, and sheer depth of understanding about the mind of an ADHDer is nothing short of brilliant.

The only downside I see is that the book is so packed with profound insights, practical advice, and useful information, that it could have been six books rather than one. For an ADHDer, this is difficult to digest. I'd suggest taking it slowly, ruminating over each section (or page), practicing and applying its insights in your own life and situation, and then moving on...slowly. While the book is dense, it's well worth the effort it might take to suck the juice out of its succulent pages. If necessary, enlist a friend to read it to you, discuss it with you, and otherwise help you glean all you can from its incredible wisdom. If you put the effort into it, you won't be sorry.

Zoë Kessler, B.A., B.Ed. (Adult Education), Author and Blogger, ADHD: from A to Zoë, [...]

This book offers a lot of realistic help for the adult with ADHD. The book goes into detail of evaluation processes for adults as well as medication options. There are wonderful surveys that you can fill out to help you when you talk to your doctor. Very easy read and well written! Another great book from Dr. Barkley!!

This is truly a great book! As someone who has been newly diagnosed with inattentive ADHD, this book did a wonderful job of educating me on ADHD and how it affects my daily life. What a relief to find out that my problems are not inherent character flaws, but symptoms of a neurological deficit. Now I can stop waiting around to grow out of certain behaviors (I'm 26 and in grad school) and realize that the is me for life. He offers advice on how to function with these brain deficits and how productivity tips geared toward normal adults wont work on ADHD people. He offers many solutions that are specific for ADHD.

There are multiple parts in the book:
Getting Evaluated for ADHD
Knowing your own ADHD and which symptoms are worse for you
Medication information
Everyday rules for success
Mastering ADHD in different areas of your life (education, work, money, etc...)

My only complaint is that the chapter on executive functions seemed a little too long for me...and I'm sure is the case for most people with ADHD. I would've preferred it broken down into multiple, smaller chapters. But this doesn't take away from the amazingness of the book!

I am happy with my purchuse. I've always wanted a good discriptive and easy to understand book of my disability. Russell A. Barkley writes so that people who have ADHD learn how to understand and live with it. I recomend this book to both people who have ADHD and want to know what ADHD is.

to me, Dr. Barkley is a superb academic writer and a so so general public writer. Few, if any possess his depth of knowledge on ADHD. In this book, he writes much more (and better) about the effects of ADHD, and much less about strategies to deal with it.

Summing up his strategies for adults are 1) get a diagnosis and 2) get medications. I don't disagree with either of these steps, but there are other that are available. He has a passing mention of exercise, curiously without research citation. I found NO mention of meditation, neuro-feedback, or CogMed or other similar interventions. There was nothing about the dynamics in ADHD marriages (see Melissa Orlov's "ADHD effect on marriage," in sharp contrast).

My comments are in stark contrast to Ari Tuckman's "More attention. Less deficit" book. Tuckman DOES provide attention to alternative treatments, as well as many more concrete strategies to deal with ADHD.

Look for Taking Charge to be very well received. Unfortunately, most will not find the much better books of Tuckman and Orlov.

I work in a clinical practice that specializes in ADHD in children and adults. This is the book I use for my adult patients who wonder if they have ADHD. The book is easy to read and has a wealth of research presented in bullet point lists. There are practical suggestions on what to look for in a thorough evaluation. The tools to work with your ADHD are useful and explained in a patient friendly way. I highly recommend it.

An excellent, well written, scientifically sound source of information about a common, very disabling, under diagnosed and often inadeqately treated disorder. I routinely recommend it to all my newly diagnosed patients with Adult AD/HD and ask them to start it as soon as their treatment enables them to concentrate and focus well enough to read productively. I also recommend it to family members and friends of my patients who desire to help in their loved ones' recoveries. I always try to keep a few copies of this book on hand in my office to distribute to the patients who truly want one but can't seem to remember to pick up a copy on their own.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Boyd, M.D.

This book might be helpful for someone who has no background knowledge and wants an extremely basic introduction to ADHD. Otherwise I would skip it; there are a lot of better, more substantive books out there. The author seems to have a good understanding of what ADHD is, but the strategies he recommends are very vague and I didn't find them helpful at all. I also felt as if I was being talked down to much of the time. This may be a case of someone who is good as a researcher but not so good at communicating his knowledge to others.

This is a good resource book, pretty comprehensive information and gives a valid understanding of the problems encountered with ADHD.

This is a wonderful book for adult ADHDers! It gives you the latest scientific facts on ADHD, as author of Poems, Pathways and Peace...I found this to be a great resource and also helps me out with my daily living. I am including this as a resource in my second book. The author provides clear and honest answers to questions you may have about ADHD. A must read!