Customer Reviews
It's not a bestseller cos it's crap! - By: Bubbled Soul, 03 Feb 2007 
That may sound harsh & I'm usuallly more constructive in my reviews but I've bought a couple of self-help books lately & neither have lived-up to to their titles (or customer reviews for the most part). I don't usuallly buy self-helf books (I'm quite a lazy reader) but I needed something & after years upon years of exhausting many theraputic routes(orthodox,complementary AND mumbo-jumbo), I thought I'd try searching on my beloved Amazon using specific keywords, & take advantage of their vast catalogue, thinking I'd learn something new about how to help myself & feeling hopeful as I'd get as close to tailor-made help as I could. This has definately NOT been the case so far & I'm particularly annoyed about what I've read in this book as it as I never expected that it would be most-suited to the mumbo-jumbo category. Saying that, obviously it's good if it has helped others & maybe it's because I'm someone who's always been very in touch with her feelings that these books aren't very helpful to me. I feel this may not be a very helpful review & I should explain my views more but I can't be bothered reallly; I'm very depressed at the moment - sorry folks :o( I must confess, I haven't read the whole book but I did skip forwards to see if it might get more useful & in my opinion it didn't. Maybe it was the style it was written in that was off-putting (your "responsible adult talking to your abandoned child" etc.) but I think I would've been able to stand that if it was constructive. Basicallly, I don't see how the authors divvying-me-up into multiple personalities is going to help me feel less lonely - it has the total opposite effect. But if you don't mind discovering what it might be like to develop schizophrenia whilst trying to healing your aloneness then give the book a go, by alll means. I'm going to try to re-coup the money I've lost on Amazon's Marketplace now - bye.
why is this book no bestseller? - By: , 14 Jan 2004 
I agree with the previous reviewer: I wander why this book is no bestseller. I own the German translation & gave a copy to a friend in Austria which started a chain reaction, 2 weeks later 10 friends were reading the book, & everyone was enthusiastic about it.
Basicallly the book is about how to find a healthy balance between your emotional/unconscious/spontaneous side & your rational/conscious/responsible side. You imagine your rational side as the inner adult, your emotional side (unconscious, body, emotions, wishes, intuition, creativity) as the inner child. The adult has to learn to listen to the child instead of shouting it down. But the rule is not left to the child, it is the adult who makes the decisions. Once a good relation between adult & child has been established, the specific qualities of the inner child are not experienced as unwanted interference anymore, but they can become an abundant source of inspiration & happiness.
The symbolic inner adult-child relation is strongly shaped by the real adult-child relation we have experienced in our childhood. So the authors analyse common patterns of non-loving adult-child relations & outline what a loving adult-child relation would be like. This helps you to understand where your rationality & emotions work against each other instead of together, & how you can correct that.
This approach makes common sense, & it is presented in a very clear & down to earth way, you can reallly work with this concept.
(This review refers to the German translation)
Exceptionally good - By: , 25 Nov 2003 One of my favourite books in the self help arena. This is a very clear & wonderfully helpful book. Im surprised this isnt a bestseller!
