What I Learned from Lighting Fires at the Dinner Table
Reviews with the most likes.
This is a 3.5 rounded up
The writing style is that of a young writer and it would distract and annoy me from time to time. However, that is fully outweighed by his authentic voice. Some sections are more helpful than others. I think that kids and young adults would benefit from and enjoy the book. Blake does well being personable, honest, interesting, and likeable.
I was irritated at two instances where he talked about medication: the first when he said “Religiously take your medicine.” sigh I think that this would have been much better to talk about ‘medical adherence' Take your medication in the way that works best for you, ideally around the same time each day (I assume), build it into a routine so one is less likely to forget, if possible/if it works for you have a back up such as a parent having a dose handy in the car or in a purse/briefcase, etc.
The other time is when he talks about tics: “In some young people, the frequency of tics can also be intensified by higher dosages of medications you take for ADHD (Pliszka, Carlson, and Swanson 1999). So you may want to look at your dosage, altering your medication or combining your medication with clonidine, which treats mild tic disorders.” I love that Blake cites his sources, what I don't like is that the second sentence is missing the word doctor or ‘medical professional'. I'm all for medical changes, but they need to be made in the right way and I view this a self help book intended for minors, it cannot be said enough that anything involving medication should be done by consulting a medical professional. I assume that it's implied, but I don't think that's good enough.
The first solution in the chapter about tics is “force yourself to stop the tic”... he goes into it a little bit more, but I think that this could have been reworked and improved.
He did a great job with the chapter on being rigid.
Another note, Blake had a very privileged childhood so some of his advice – at least the way it is given – is not feasible for everyone, but it is still good advice. Some of the the things he mentioned that I thought might be a little difficult: get the best teacher, etiquette class, having a job as a sales associate at Banana Republic, and doing all these expensive activities such as sailing classes, swim team, classical piano etc.
There are probably other avenues to achieve similar results as if one can't afford something in terms of money or time or if it is otherwise unavailable.
Some of the things on the list of attributes at the end felt a little cheesy to me, but someone might need to hear it :)