Customer Reviews

Think For Yourself: The Importance of Maintaining Individuality and Freedom of Thought

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Sometimes, the simplest things in life are not so simple for some of us. When I say simple I mean the ability for us to question what we are taught and to speak up for ourselves. In Think for Yourself, David Charles discusses these fundamental issues and help us to understand their importance in our lives.

The theme of the book is to help foster the idea that people should never conform to society's way of doing things. It encourages the reader to become an informed individual by questioning everything. I thought that the message that the book offered was very fitting especially since we live in an era where we are all heavily influenced by the media. It tells us how to look, dress and speak and it also helps to enforce what is accepted in society and what's not. However in Think For Yourself, the author forces us to avoid manipulation, think outside of the box and to be bold.

The book is approximately 96 pages, is very straight forward and is broken down into several sections such as Work, Family, Money, Self- Esteem and Common Sense so that the reader can pinpoint areas that they would like to work on in their own lives. For people who are taught to think for themselves and question everything, this book will simply reinforce what you already know. However for those of us who wish to acquire these skills then Think For Yourself will make a good, informative and light read.

The media has a huge influence over people and what they think is right or wrong. We unintentionally let ourselves become victims to TV and movies. We think that if we don't have a body like Fergie, we're outcasts. We buy the same stuff celebs buy (when we have the money) and we try rationalize this because we think that if we are similar to a star that we will find self worth.

This is what Think For Yourself is all about. It points out that somewhere along the way we have lost bits of our individuality and by doing that, we are setting ourselves up for a miserable existence. This book is very well written and it speaks like a friend, not a textbook.

Think for Yourself offers practical and easy to understand advice on specific topics of everyday life. The book is divided into short, concise chapters that cover things that everyone can relate to like family, finance, and the environment. In each chapter, the author generally states his position and how he arrived at it by "thinking for himself". It is a quick, yet thoughtful presentation on a wide range of familiar subjects. In a given area, the author makes it pretty clear what his position is but always encourages the reader to make an individual assessment. The book has some clever humor - enjoyed the vague Fleetwood Mac reference. It also has some touching stories involving the intricate web of family relationships that most of us have in place and have wondered how to navigate. In the end, the reader is left with the feeling of knowing where the author stands on a given topic and more importantly, knowing that he used more than just a little bit of reasoning to arrive at his conclusion. Think for Yourself peaks the interest of the reader enough to want to read what the author thinks about more specific issues in the world today - any other books in the works?

The author breaks his own rules by repeating things we hear from main stream media every day. All points he includes in his book are either cliche or common senses.

The majority of the examples he uses to back up his points, , which are little, are his own life experience.

The writing style is bland, flat.

It's a student's exercise in a non-fiction writing class.

I bought it based on the fact that it's received a 4 + star rating. But I later found out I didn't take the number of reviews into consideration: there are only 6 reviews.

It makes me wonder if the book is self-published by the author. (I'm not saying self-published books are inferior in quality.)

So, all in all, I didn't mean to be so harsh on it, but it's just not worth you money or time.

BTW, if you live in Dallas area, you can have my copy for free.

Author: David Charles
ISBN: 9781448690107

Irish poet and novelist Oscar Wilde wrote: "A man who does not think for himself does not think at all." Unfortunately, many of us have not heeded this sage advice and are stuck in a herd mentality. Individuality is cast aside in favor of popular mass opinions and behaviors. Recognizing this human short coming, David Charles has crafted a neat little book presenting his readers with a snapshot of the plurality of problems encountered when we don't think for ourselves.

Weighing in at less than ninety pages, Think For Yourself: The Importance of Maintaining Individuality and Freedom of Thought covers sixteen different topics from our everyday life experiences that illustrate where blindly following the masses can lead to unfortunate repercussions. It should be noted, as mentioned in the Preface, that it is not the intent of the author to provide answers to any given question, but rather to provoke thought, raise questions, and from these questions generate appropriate action. Succinctly, the book "encourages an individualized approach to the uniqueness of each and every life."

Subjects explored where individuality plays an important role in making crucial decisions run the gamut from medicine, food, education, work, children, family, individuality, green living, decisions, attitude, flexibility, information, intuition, money, self-esteem, and common sense.

Readers are encouraged to avoid manipulation by accepting everything they are told without question. For example, Charles mentions in the chapter pertaining to medicine, it is your right and responsibility to question, "This is especially true when it comes to diagnoses and prescriptions." It is imperative that you become pro-active with your health care and do qualitative research when a medicine or medical procedure is prescribed for you or your family.

Another fundamental theme running through the book is that you must endeavor to think out of the box and be prepared to be bold.. To exemplify, Charles refers to your child's education, where it is vital that you become thoroughly involved in the process. If there should be a problem at school, don't blindly accept what the teacher and principal have to say about your child. Question intelligently and insist on clear explanations, even though you may encounter some backlash because of your refusal to accept the educator's statements at face value. Remember, as mentioned in the chapter, "you are the front line of defense for your child."

As Charles points out, an indispensable ingredient of individualism is your own self-esteem, which is important for your success in life. Very often people are afraid to disagree with others and rather resort to being a people pleaser. Perhaps, it is due to a fear of being intimidated. Freethinkers base their self-worth on something other than what people think of them or "what will they" think of me." (By the way, I never could figure out who are the "they?")

Although most of the principles and lessons enunciated in Think For Yourself have been recycled in thousands of self-help books, they still merit consideration and should not be taken lightly. We all at one time or another have to make important life decisions and when we do, we should pay close attention to the information and options available to make the best decision for ourselves and our family. Charles with his down-to-earth practical insights does a great job in demonstrating how vital it is to practice individual thinking when we are required to make these pivotal decisions.

One comment I do have is that the book is in need of a good proof reader, as I did find several punctuation errors, particularly where commas and periods were not placed inside the quotation marks.

David Charles has been a professional construction manager involved with public construction in the Southern California region. His past writings include web based reporting, project progress documentation and class business correspondence on all aspects of the public school construction progress for the projects under his jurisdiction.

No one ever had a thoughtful conversation with sheep. "Think for Yourself: The Importance of Maintaining Individuality and Freedom of Thought" is a book from David Charles encouraging readers to remember to always think for themselves and never simply be caught in the general consensus of life's issues. Providing much thought on many subjects, "Think for Yourself" is worth considering.

Sorry David Charles, this book was poorly written, extremely subjective and did not back up any of the points you tried to make. In addition you should fire your editor as there were several errors in grammar, syntax, and even a few typos just for fun. It is not not that I have a problem reading a book that I could have written, but I really can not enjoy a book so poorly written. When you make blanket statements about thinking for oneself it would be nice if you included some facts and not just little stories from your own experience. Sorry again, I am sure you are a good guy with good intentions, but this book was just awful.