Jennifer

Ah narcissists. We all have one in our lives. Namely, Donald J. Trump (a malignant narcissist), who is by far the most extreme, notable narcissist that is constantly in the news and in our faces whether we like it or not. But what about all the other people in our lives?

This book is life changing. It validated my feelings in so many ways. It taught me that a lot of the toxic behaviors and relationships I've experienced in my life are due to narcissism and narcissistic tendencies. Of course we all have self-serving, narcissistic tendencies at times, but what about the people who constantly take over our lives with their drama and antics?

This book goes beyond the DSM definition and the stereotypical “narcissist”. This pathological disorder is much more complex than just one type of person. For example, there are malignant narcissists that are usually portrayed on TV and in the media. These are the stereotypical types of people you may think of when you hear the word “narcissist”. Then, there are people who are exhibitionist narcissists and those who are closet narcissists. It turns out the closet narcissist is exactly the type of person I was searching for without knowing what I was searching for. This book answered so many questions for me.

I thought the vignettes and communication examples were particularly helpful in understanding real life stories of narcissism.

I recommend this book to anyone who thinks that someone might be a narcissist. I also recommend this book to anyone who has definitely had a narcissist in their life and needs help coping with it. Even if you think you don't need this book (denial), chances are it could help you too.

This book is absolute garbage. I can't believe this was on a recommended pregnancy reading list.

First, I have a problem with the fact that this doctor is male. He doesn't actually know what it's like to do this process. You can see something a million times and still not know what it feels like. Not only is he a male, but he follows the traditional patriarchal doctor-patient model. This is a problem when speaking to the childbearing woman's experience.

Second, Yoshimura says a lot in this book that “nobody knows” something. For example, he says the cervix is cartilaginous and then softens and says “no one knows why this is”. Really? No one has investigated this? It seems very Trump-ian to just assume no one knows something. There is also an instance where he says that after two hours, labor becomes “abnormal” and says “no one knows who made this rule”. Really? No one has done a study on this? I haven't done my own research on PubMed yet, but I find it hard to believe that there's not science behind this.

Third, he makes broad generalizations such as that babies born in his facility are relaxed and babies who were pulled out by force look scared. Has he been to all pregnancies? What a ridiculous thing to say. What arrogance. He is very anti-C section. It is fine to have this OPINION but I think it's important to look at all the pros and cons of having a c-section. He never does this and thinks it's terrible. As a physician I think it is irresponsible to not share all the data and facts with a woman to help her make the best decision for himself. Not up to some dude's opinion because he thinks the mother won't bond with her baby as well. Somebody come tell this guy to STFU. This guy needs to cite his sources from scientific medical journals or stop talking.

At one point he says “I will never believe in ‘evidence-based medicine.' I only believe in what I see with my eyes and feel in my heart.” Nope. Not how this works. Please stop practicing medicine. You should no longer have your license.

He says that textbooks lie. This is not totally false but it is too broad of a statement to make any coherent points. Of course one should use critical thinking when presented with information and not blatantly believe something because it is printed in a book. That being said, this guy clearly only believes what he sees and that is dangerous. He is not the end-all, be-all of natural childbirth.

Fourth, he says that women since caveman times have been delivering naturally. I hate when people say this because the rate of dying during childbirth is also historically higher than rates with modern medicine. Who does this guy think he is? Yes, human bodies are amazing but there are reasons why modern medicine was invented. In this case to help women survive childbirth. Why should a woman have to risk her life to “fully appreciate” the experience? What a misogynist.

Fifth, he says sh*t like “an indecisive woman who gets frightened in the middle of birth and begs for the operation will never experience true childbirth.” Bish whettttt F off

He also says “no vegging out, no pigging out, and no freaking out”. Has this dude met any westerners ever????? Especially Americans? Dude, take a vacation outside the woodlands of Japan. Wtf.

Reason number 183739 I hate this book:
He speaks of a woman who has been depressed for most of her life and encourages her to stop taking her medications so she can become pregnant. She stops taking the meds and sticks to a healthy diet with exercise. This is incredibly dangerous for someone with severe depression. Somebody take this guy's license away.

In the next section, he speaks of a man who was violent toward his wife and after the came to his clinic, they were all happy. Again, this is DANGEROUS and statistically unrealistic. This is not an okay message to send out to women or any person for that matter. Shame on this man.

He keeps bringing up childbirth during the Edo period. The Edo period in Japan was from 1603 to 1868. How in the world does this guy know the Japanese pregnant women's plight from this time period? Is he a wizard? Is he 400 years old? What is this guy smoking?

Yoshimura also goes on weird tangents about thoroughbred horses and how children can't be confined like horses? I think this guy had dementia or something when he wrote this. He goes on to rant about our capitalistic society, which I don't think is completely wrong, but not what I'm looking for when I'm reading about natural childbirth. I'm not looking for your life philosophy on economics and education dude. That's a whole other book. Stick to the topic.

Don't even get me started on leaving fertility and pregnancy “up to God”. Leave religion out of this! He also tiptoes around “killing babies” in his old abortion days. This guy is off his rocker and yelling at people on his lawn in book form.

I looked him up and the internet says he died in 2017. Good riddance and I hope the women who were under his care are actually happy and healthy now despite his psuedoscience and delusions.

Thanks to BookBrowse for letting me read this book as an ARC.

I didn't get anything out of this book. I'm not sure what I expected, but this wasn't it. I thought it was going to include more about immigration, coyotes, managing adversity, but it didn't. We learn a lot of detail about Antonia and her sisters and her dead husband. We also learn about some other secondary characters that never get fully explained. Then, halfway through, Antonia finds a pregnant teenage girl and takes her under her wing. Then? Some adversity happens with a sister. Then? We learn about her feelings and the dynamics amongst the sisters. Okay? And?

As I said, I'm not sure what the point of this book was and I'm mad I wasted time trying to finish it. I only finished it because I received it as an ARC and wanted to fulfill my duty as a reviewer. Otherwise, I would have never finished this.

It wasn't poorly written per se, it just didn't have much of an engaging plot or character resolution.

I get that people are thrown off by this book's nonchalant attitude but I liked it. I think the purpose of this book is changing one's mindset and being open to new possibilities. Just having the idea to be able to borrow $85,000 or start your own business is revolutionary for people who never thought they could do such things. You do have to be open to hearing this kind of advice but if you are open minded then I think it would help change your perspective around money, or at least make you think about how you perceive money in your life.

If you are thinking about becoming a medical writer, this is definitely the book you should start with!

The silver lining of this book is that it makes me want to read more Mexican authors' works and learn their stories.

Overall, this is torture porn. That's not an exaggeration. I don't know enough/haven't read enough about Mexican culture to know exactly how or why it is racist. All I know is the story was exhausting and I just wanted it to be over.

Disappointing. Too long. I will give the author props for creating one of the most despicable characters maybe ever though. Jack is pure evil. Kind of a nice ending but I was hoping Millie would've killed him. Sleeping pills and a passive friend? Come on. Based off of how popular this book is, I expected more.

Great children's book to introduce them to MLK.

This book was the only book that caught my attention after starting 10-15 books. I wanted to know how it would end. This book is ridiculous. I was thoroughly entertained but it is sooo ridiculous. I don't know how parents can think this is realistic. I guess I'm not a parent so I probably don't “get it” but I don't know how this could happen in real life? I also didn't really like the breast cancer plot or the heroin plot. I get that those things added depth to the characters, but it seemed too linear and without nuance. Which leads me to why I think things turn south in Chapter 42, which is about halfway through. I still wanted to find out how it ended though so I kept reading. If you like thrillers, this is worth a shot. Not the best but definitely not the worst.

Short, quick overview about PTSD and the military. I wish it was more imaginative and in depth but it's a great first start when learning about PTSD.

I wish I read this when I was in anatomy class during the brain section. It is a nice, simple overview of how the brain works with some history. A good intro to the brain.

Every Millennial should read this! I wish this book existed in my teens so I could read it then and again during my 20s. But I'm 30 now and I'm so glad I read it. It was helpful, encouraging, and puts life in perspective. It was a quick read because I felt like she was talking to me the whole time.

Thanks Meg Jay!

An Alaskan woman's mother and brother are schizophrenic. This is her journey of how she copes.

It was kind of hard to read because it is written in fragments. It really is “sketches of schizophrenia”. Because of the fragments, I found it easy to put down. But also easy to pick back up again.

Schizophrenia is sad. Her metaphors are helpful in explaining how it feels to love someone with schizophrenia. If you'd like to know what it's like to have a loved one with schizophrenia, read this.

This book hits close to home. Male is depressed and thinks he is forever stuck as a sad-sack. Then a beautiful woman kisses him and he spreads the love to all his friends. The end.

Five stars for realism and accuracy

If you are concerned about a loved one's mental health and don't know what to do, read this book!

A great resource for people who don't have a background in medicine, psychology, or social work. It spells out what mental illness is, how you should talk to loved ones, what you can do, and acknowledges that our current system is messed up. Basically if you have any questions about how to navigate the mental health system in America, read this book. It lays out the outline of what is available, what you can do, what you can say, and how it should work.

It also covers each mental illness with a great summary of symptoms and treatments available.

Chapter 9 is a great summary of insurance and how it works. I wish this chapter was explained to everyone in the healthcare field so succinctly and clearly.

Chapter 10 goes over mental health and the law, including informed consent, advance directives, HIPAA, competency, etc. I also wish this chapter was taught to everyone.

I skimmed this book and read the parts I wanted to learn more about. The rest was pretty basic.

Some of the links don't work in 2020, which makes sense if this was published in 2013. Just a heads up.

I read this because I saw a bunch of middle aged white women freaking out on Facebook about how graphic and obscene this book was. So obviously I had to read it.

It is indeed graphic and obscene but also entertaining. I really wanted to know how it was going to end.

It is disturbing and messed up, but it is not the most messed up book I've ever read. That would be anything by V.C. Andrews. This is not that but almost.

Quick read, intriguing, and I often asked myself WTF.

Not all heroes wear capes. Jon Kerstetter is an amazing man who has done amazing things and has been in amazing circumstances. How does a Native American child living on a reservation end up a Doctor-soldier in Iraq overseeing the forensics of Saddam Hussein's sons? How does he crossover from a doctor to a patient? And is this not the bravest action of all? This is a truly inspiring story about a man's perseverance and determination to achieve his goals in life to do something to help the greater good and become a better person.

This book touched upon the real life effects of war, including PTSD. Kerstetter does a great job of explaining the situations he was in and is able to describe what it's like as a patient with a physician background.

I love Fiona and have followed her story since she was born so I loved this!

Eloquently written, but not all of the stories were memorable. My favorite was probably the story titled “Annette's Love Story”.

Pornographic. Not in the fun way. Makes the women and their “desire” seem pathetic and powerless. No good ending and I'm mad I spent time on it. Pointless.

Funny and gross. Entertaining. Advice seems a little forced but worth checking out.

I'm not religious so the breakthroughs didn't amaze me like others. I thought they were interesting but not astonishing. I learned some cool biblical and historical stories. Disappointing and unfulfilling ending. The movie was terrible.

Horrific, unimaginable story of child abuse. This was an appropriate book to read on Halloween because the reality of this situation is scarier than anything else. This was rough to get through. I can't believe people are so terrible and other people are so resilient. I want to know why the mother was the way she was and how she got away with her behavior for so long.

Fascinating, eye opening, and shocking. I read this within a day. It was hard to put down.

I'm glad there's a book about this but I wish there were more and I wish there was one from a perspective from an adult that lived through the internment.