Toxic People: 10 Ways Of Dealing With People Who Make Your Life Miserable (Paperback)

by Dr. Lillian Glass Ph.D. (Author) "To start you thinking about toxic people, I have composed the Toxic People Quiz..." (more)
Key Phrases: toxic person, toxic comments, toxic traits, Direct-Confront Technique, Calm Questioning Technique, Give-Them-Love-and-Kindness Technique (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Certain people seem to exist to make us miserable. Glass, a California "communications expert," terms these terrors Toxic People and identifies 30 types, some with humorous labels such as the Smiling Two-Faced Sneaky Back-Stabber and the Eddie Haskell. She provides a Toxic People Quiz to help readers identify which category a suspect toxic terror falls into and suggests 10 techniques to handle these folk: Humor, Direct Confront, Calm Questioning, Give-Them-Hell-and-Yell, Love and Kindness, Vicarious Fantasy, etc. And since we're all toxic, to some degree, a section on Toxic Comments and a Toxic Image Inventory are offered to help readers identify their own destructive behaviors. While the book doesn't rise above pop psychology, it is entertaining. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
"Forget Dale Carnegie: Glass is riding to your rescue." --West Coast Review of Books
-- Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (February 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312152329
• ISBN-13: 978-0312152321
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #203,584 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Is an Excellent Read!, August 8, 2000

By	Cindy (Texas) - See all my reviews

Lillian Glass writes a highly intelligent book on how to deal with the negative people in this world who live to create tensions for others - and let's face it, they're everywhere! I originally bought the book because I worked for a very difficult woman(she was what the author referred to as "The Competitor"). I needed some advice desperately, and this book came to my rescue all the way. It offers ways in which to recognize toxic people, and many strategies on coping with their behavior. It helped me learn how to deal with negative behavior tactfully and maturely. There aren't many books on the market today that offer that. I followed the tips and suggestions, and my interpersonal skills have improved dramatically. I am in total agreement with the author about how the cause of most toxic behavior is rooted in jealousy. As for some of the negative reviews on this book----quite frankly, I'm baffled. I felt the author was extremely astute. I myself, found the book to be very helpful and insightful.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to Read, helps you categorize toxic ones in your life, March 24, 1999

By A Customer

I found this book helpful. I never realized how many different kinds of toxic people there are and how even I can be toxic in several categories. This book has helped me learn how to confront difficult people in my life, and when the situation calls for it, unplug completely as no one is worth losing my self image over.

Dr. Glass uses real life stories from patients to encourage readers that there is hope to recover from the effects toxic people have on us. It's easy to read and see people you know in each of her descriptions of the toxic individuals. Now I am seeing how I too can be toxic and am working towards eliminating patterns that keep me around negative people.

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Far too simplistic, August 3, 2002

By	Ms Diva "cycworker" (Nanaimo, B.C. Canada) - See all my reviews

I liked some things in the book. She is very clear that one can never resort to violence in dealing with a toxic person. Her earnestness around creating a more peaceful world is admirable. Even though I'd have liked a bit more depth of analysis, I agree with her argument that people who behave in a toxic manner are generally insecure. I liked how she took the ten techniques and showed the best people to use them with, depending on either the type of person they are, or their role in the reader's life. I particularly liked her work on dealing with the anger and hurt of a toxic relationship and the chapter or revitalizing a toxic relationship. The parts of the book I did like, however, suffered from the same simplicity as the rest of the book.

That said, overall I thought the book was a waste of my money. I could easily have taken it out of the library, read it in a day and returned it. Nothing in the book really stuck with me. The techniques she suggested have been described in better detail by other authors. I will concede that some of these strategies do work. I thought she advocated just cutting people out of one's life far too easily and frequently. Alot of the book seemed very judgemental, and Glass came across as condescending in parts.

The is full of broad generalizations. Her descriptions of the 30 different types are far too short. As a result, I could make anyone fit into the category of a toxic person based on the way she's described them. The fact that a person is annoying doesn't make them toxic.

In general, there are other books on the market that are far better at helping readers cope with difficult people. I wouldn't put this one first on my list.