Personal Development Recent Picks

October 2009

The title-underlined links will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

Living your unlived life : coping with unrealized dreams and fulfilling your purpose in the second half of life, Robert A. Johnson and Jerry M. Ruhl (2009)
"In Living Your Unlived Life, the renowned therapist Robert A. Johnson, writing with longtime collaborator and fellow Jungian psychologist Jerry M. Ruhl, offers a simple but transformative premise: Our abandoned, unrealized, or underdeveloped talents, when they are not fully integrated into our lives, can become profoundly troublesome in midlife, leading us to depression, suddenly hating our spouses, our jobs, or even our lives. When our unlived lives are brought to consciousness, however, they can become the fuel that can propel us beyond our limitations - even if our outer circumstances cannot always be visibly altered." (Book jacket)

This book has issues : adventures in popular psychology,Jarrett and Joannah Ginsburg (2008)
"Scientists have long exploited breakdowns and failures to learn more about phenomena, and sometimes even to put them right. This Book Has Issues assembles a wide variety of intriguing psychological issues - instructive errors, interesting mistakes, and revealing vulnerabilities - in order to show just how much we can learn from our failings. Divided into eight fascinating chapters, This Book Has Issues covers everything from the real reasons we fall in love to the science behind a good night's sleep; from extreme disorders to the truth behind the ways we live our everyday lives, and includes some of history's greatest psychological mistakes.Packed with real-life examples, introductions to groundbreaking psychologists, and plenty of experiments and tests to unveil the way your own mind works, This Book Has Issues has the power not just to intrigue and entertain, but also to change the way you think." (Global Books in Print)

The compassionate mind : a new approach to life's challenges, Paul Gilbert (2009)
"Compassion and particularly compassion towards oneself can have a significant impact on our wellbeing and mental health. Developing our sense of compassion can affect many areas of our lives, in particular our relationships with other people. In this book, Professor Paul Gilbert explores how our minds have developed to survive in dangerous and threatening environments by becoming sensitive and quick to react to perceived threats. This can sometimes lead to problems in how we respond to life's challenges and scientific evidence has demonstrated that compassion towards oneself and others can lead to an increased sense of happiness and wellbeing - particularly valuable when we are feeling stressed. Based on evolutionary research and scientific studies of how the brain processes emotional information, this compassionate approach offers an appealing alternative to the traditional western view of compassion, which sometimes sees it as a sign of weakness and can encourage self-criticism and a hard-nosed drive to achieve." (Amazon)

The new rules of marriage : what you need to know to make love work,Terry Real (2008)
"Modern marriage has undergone a revolution. Never before have we wanted so much from our relationships – and yet we lack the skills to succeed. Today’s women want more emotional closeness than many men have been raised to deliver, leaving both sexes feeling frustrated and unheard. In this revolutionary books, distinguished therapist Terry Real shows women and men how to master the new rules of twenty-first-century marriage by offering them a set of effective tools with which they can create the truly intimate relationships they desire and deserve. He identifies five nonstarters to avoid and shares practical strategies for bringing honesty, passion and joy to even the most difficult relationship." (Book jacket)

The power of forgiveness : why it's good to forgive your friend, your boss, your family and everyone who hurts and betrays, by Janise Beaumont (2009)
"Finding the courage and willingness to forgive someone who has hurt or betrayed you can be the hardest thing in the world. Can you really forgive them when the betrayal has brought you to your knees? If so, what are the challenges and benefits of letting go of painful situations? And what is life like when you come out the other side? Practical, warm and down-to-earth, Janise Beaumont shares her own stories of hurt, and the experiences of others, and what they’ve done about those hurts. These stories are honest, realistic, sometimes funny, and often poignant." (Book jacket)

Cleo : how an uppity cat helped heal a family,Helen Brown (2009)
"Helen Brown Gentry wasn't a cat person, but her nine-year-old son Sam was. So when Sam heard a woman telling his mum that her cat had just had kittens, Sam pleaded to go and see them. Helen's heart melted as Sam held one of the kittens in his hands with a look of total adoration. In a trice the deal was done - the kitten would be delivered when she was big enough to leave her mother. A week later, Sam was dead. Not long after, a little black kitten was delivered to the grieving family. Totally traumatised by Sam's death, Helen had forgotten all about the new arrival. After all, that was back in another universe when Sam was alive. Helen was ready to send the kitten back, but Sam's younger brother wanted to keep her, identifying with the tiny black kitten who'd also lost her brothers. When Rob stroked her fur, it was the first time Helen had seen him smile since Sam's death. There was no choice: the kitten - dubbed Cleo - had to stay. Kitten or not, there seemed no hope of becoming a normal family. But Cleo's zest for life slowly taught the traumatised family to laugh. She went on to become the uppity high priestess of Helen's household, vetoing her new men, terrifying visiting dogs and building a special bond with Rob, his sister Lydia, Helen - and later a baby daughter." (Book jacket)

Be fertile with your infertility : creative ways to acknowledge the infertility journey using ceremony and ritual, Christine Bannan and Winnie Duggan (2008)

Happy children : secrets of how they think, Elizabeth Gould (2009)

Act like a lady, think like a man : what men really think about love, relationships, intimacy, and commitment, Steve Harvey with Denene Millner (2009)

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