Customer Reviews

iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I did not know who Jane Velez-Mitchell was, however, I love reading books on addiction and recovery and I Want sounded like a story that I needed to hear.

I have read quite a few books of this type and I have to say that I Want was probably one of the most honest, down to the nitty gritty books in the genre. Mitchell obviously pulls no punches as she details her progression to her addiction and makes no apologies about believing that the 12 step program saved her life.

I loved reading this book because sprinkled throughout are little nuggets of wisdom - all the while 12 step "speak" and beliefs can be found.

I also must applaud Mitchell's willingness to open herself up so much - this book is quite raw at times and it is obvious that the author firmly believes in program - and she has no qualms in putting herself out there for all to read.

I loved reading this memoir and I congratulate Mitchell and wish her only the best in her continued sobriety - one day at a time.

I was quite surprised when I started reading this book....its really great....its good writing and put into parts so if you dont want to read it from start to finish you dont have to or you can refer back to certain parts easly...Its a very good read...I had a dad with this addition.and she puts some very good information together to make me see how he as her dad could never get sober.or live the sober lifestyle.I guess as they say it takes someone who nos where youve been to understand and she made me see things in a different light after all these years..my dad died of Cirrosis of the liver....hers of lung cancer....I have to say I was enveyious of her childhood......and her parents.....but as we all no who have had addicts in our lives or are addicts.....it always looks better on the outside than living in it with the elephant in the room no one talks about.This isnt a hurtful book full of blame and anger and what ifs....I like and respect that....its as if she were at the dining room table or kitchen table talking to you over a cup of coffee .....just one on one....ive not read many books like that about peoples Bios..so id say she takes the simpler and honest life to heart in the way this is written.....its not about someone on tv we see nightly....its about someone like you and me who have addicts in our lifes or are one and gratefully recovering......Im so glad I took a chance and got this book..even if you read it at the library....just set back and have a good read....theres something in it for anyone who has an addiction...or lives with someone who is...or was..and the other things she struggled with to get to no her true self ....and she is Grateful and has worked very very hard as all of us do on our daily struggles of addictions and acceptance of ourselves ,One Day at a Time..Thank you for being so honest with us Jane.....B.W.

I didn't grow up around alcohol, and wasn't impacted by it unitil recently. I only knew Jane Velez-Mitchell from her TV show unitl I saw her book. This was an honest and hard look at her addictions and her recovery. I was skeptical that this would be a glossy fluff filled story with lots of name dropping. It wasn't. It was a frank and in your face story of her journey from the bottom to the top. I found this book very helpful in learning about recovery from the other point of view. I now feel I have a better understanding of why my family member acts the way they do with out the alcohol, the obsessive craving of sweets and just how very hard each day can be. There are AA books out there that have the same story, but this one seemed edger and more open. If you like her, you'll love the book. If you don't, it probably won't change your mind but you will come away respecting her spirit and her determination. This was probably not an easy book to write, but it's an easy and engaging read.

I read Jane Velez-Mitchell's book and loved it! I couldn't put it down, it was a real page turner. Jane's stories about her own experiences in life and at work are fabulous. She has a great sense of humor, and I found them touching and very personal. I applaud her candor and strength. I learned a lot about Jane and the television news business which is a highly stressful career. I also liked reading how she got where she is. A fascinating life! She not only exposed her personal struggles, but brings to light the issues many are facing with addiction and over-consumption. I think everyone will love this book because we all know people who are dealing with this; and if you love Jane on TV, you'll really get to know her. She gives expert advice and practical ways to change one's negative and self-destructive thinking and behavior. Obviously, it's worked for her, she's a star! Jane has been through a lot and has come out strong and successful - I watch her "Issues" show every night, and think she is the very best out there. Jane's not only a brilliant journalist, but a great writer. I also read "Secrets," and loved that, too. I hope to meet her and get my copy signed when she speaks at the 92nd Street Y in NYC in October. I am also sending copies of the book to my friends and family for the holidays. Brava, Jane!

Jane has given us the valuable gift of insight into what makes our lives meaningful and it's a gift I hope many take advantage of! From the challenges in her life, she learned to open her mind and heart to the what really matters and she shares those lessons in a touching and meaningful way. Jane's book will help you get 'addicted' to a kind and happy life!

I really like Valez-Mitchell, especially her devotion to women's right and animal rights, and have followed her career since she was a local news anchor in Los Angeles.

There are very powerful insights in this book, but it suffers from superficiality and a bundle of the dullest cliches imaginable. A few other reviewers here have brought attention to the book's "preachiness" or pomposities, and I tend to agree that they do weigh down what could have been a more meaningful memoir.

There are very valuable things here--when her father was dying she was unable to bring herself to really connect with him on a deep level, and this is valuable advice that I take to heart--but too much of this book falls into the category of "self-help by the numbers." We have heard this before. And as far as the addiction goes, this is another advert for Alcoholics Anonymous, and it is not subtle but tinges the book so it ceases to be a personal communication to the audience and turns into a pamphlet for AA.

But she is enormously talented at what she does on CNN.

For the original posting of this, check out: http://farmsanctuary.typepad.com/making_hay/2009/09/i-.html
(Please note, hyperlinks have been removed in this review, but you can see them in that URL.)

I Want iWant

I consider myself a minimalist, mostly. I live in a teeny-tiny apartment in New York City, I don't have a car, I almost exclusively shop second-hand, I'm vegan (duh), and I try my best - well, almost my best - not to contribute to frivolous consumerism.

Which is why I borrowed (and didn't buy) the book iWant from a friend of mine. After reading it in record-time, iWant more. (And I kind of want to own the book, too.)

Written (or, arguably, sung) by Jane Velez-Mitchell - host of the Headline News show "Issues With Jane Velez-Mitchell" - this book details her journey "from addiction and overconsumption to a simpler, honest life." Throughout the story, Velez-Mitchell uses the Twelve Step Program as a model for improving and empowering her life in all its facets - from overcoming an alcohol addiction to finding her true self, which includes her animal-activist self. Chapter Five - "I Want to Make a Difference" - links the childhood disappearance of her dog, Mr. Monday (her parents gave him away without telling her), to the roots of her animal activism. "[T]hrough that tragedy," she says, "I also found my passion and my mission... to stop animal suffering."

It wasn't until years later - when longtime journalist Velez-Mitchell found herself covering stories about animal cruelty ("to me," she says, "they were all Mr. Monday") - that she went vegan and devoted her life to stopping these unfathomable abuses.

Velez-Mitchell went on to bring issues that most journalists wouldn't touch with a jar of barbeque sauce to the forefront of mainstream media (as of last January, "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell" reached an average of 531,000 viewers per month). Among the hefty subjects that Velez-Mitchell has brought to the masses include downed animals, the health implications of an animal-based diet, the historic Prop 2 campaign and other anti-confinement measures, and the connection between swine flu and filthy living conditions for pigs (check out her ground-breaking coverage of that).

Velez-Mitchell's holistic mindset also led her to significantly decrease her consumption habits - which further informed her identity as an environmentalist. In one of my favorite sections of the book, she describes how she created a "kindness inventory" for her shopping choices:

It's a very simple test. Has the product been tested on animals? If it has, I won't buy it. [...] This simple test has allowed me to eliminate the vast majority of harsh, toxic chemicals from my home, from my life, and at least in a small part, from the environment. Like everything in life, it's hard to be completely black-and-white. There are products such as plane engines that are animal-tested. Traditionally, bird carcasses are shot into the engines to determine if the machinery can still function; suitable density substitutions are used as well. Does that mean I'm never going to fly in a plane? No. Will people who have no ethical considerations whatsoever use this outlandish example to put people like me on the defensive? Probably. To those people I say, "I'd rather be a hypocrite one percent of the time than be a heartless individual 99 percent of the time."

After reading iWant, here is how I was personally inspired:

I always make sure to have reusable grocery bags with me. (When Jane Velez-Mitchell forgets to bring her reusable bags, she either returns home to get them or opts, as she explains, to "awkwardly carry the purchases out of the store in my arms without a bag. Do that a couple of times and you'll find yourself remembering to bring the reusable bag. It's that simple.")
I do my best to only get shade-grown, fair-trade coffee whenever possible. (Velez-Mitchell says: "Shade-grown is the time honored method of planting coffee shrubs in the shade of tall trees. That practice has long made coffee plantations excellent places for birds and small animals to live.")
I do my best to shop in bulk and at the fabulous NYC Greenmarkets.
My partner and I drop off our food scraps at the Greenmarket's compost bin.
I never ever buy water bottles anymore; instead, I carry around a metal one. You can even get a Farm Sanctuary metal water bottle. ("Americans throw out two and a half million plastic bottles every hour!" exclaimed a horrified Velez-Mitchell.)
So, here's your homework:

Get yourself a copy of iWant by Jane Velez-Mitchell.
Tune in daily to "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell."
If you see Velez-Mitchell cover an animal story on her show, contact CNN and tell them that you want to see more stories like that! (This works, folks! Also see Farm Animals in the Media: How to Respond Effectively.)
If you're in NYC, join us for the Oct. 4 Walk for Farm Animals, where Jane Velez-Mitchell will be our very special guest celebrity speaker! (And if you're not in NYC, sign up for a Walk near you and check out the uber-cool Walk blog, "Walk Talk.")
iWant is not only an inspirational read, but it also is medicine for any animal-loving human. Why? Simple: A strong message in this book is the importance of self-care, which is the key ingredient in avoiding activist burnout. (Something I don't shut up about.) So do yourself a favor and read iWant. Even if you don't yet know it, you might need it.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. I appreciate her concern for animal rights and she does a great job on television but as the chapters went on (and on) about her many problems, I just lost interest. Please do not think you are going to get anything you can use in your own life because you probably won't. According to Ms Velez-Mitchell she has suffered from every imaginable addiction out there. She gets hooked on everything from alcohol to baby carrots. It seems that this woman hasn't an ounce of discipline and none of it is her fault. I'm not sure about the take away message because I stopped reading two thirds of the way through the book and gave it to Goodwill.

I bought this book, because I liked a lot of the things Jane was saying on her show, "ISSUES with Jane Velez-Mitchell".
This book is fascinating--from beginning to end!!! Jane writes in a very readable style--you will not want to put the book down!
While everyone probably will not relate to EVERYTHING in this book, everyone will relate to SOMETHING in this book!
If you want to better your life, and have concern about the lives of others (including animals!) and the earth in general, this book is for you.
I enjoyed it so much, I purchased 12 more copies to give to family and friends.

I had high hopes for this book when I bought it. I guess I was expecting a memoir of the caliber of "Drinking - a Love Story". Instead I got a series of sermonettes by a woman who comes across as incredibly self-indulgent, judgmental, and insufferably smug. Getting preached to about ethics from someone who made a living from the worst kinds of tabloid journalism would be laughable if it weren't so sad. Did she really break into that farmer's house to use his phone? Did she actually embarrass her network by screaming at Russia's first lady? Was she proud of her work on the idiotic Michael Jackson trial? What in the world is it about her that anyone would want to emulate? I read as much of it as I could stand and then threw it in the trash. It actually made my stomach hurt. I have never heard of her before this and have never watched her show . . .and I sure won't watch it now. If you want to read something really good about recovering from alcohol abuse, check out Carolyn Knapp; don't waste your money on this.