Survivor Personality
by Al Siebert
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Book Summary Information
Author: Al SiebertEdition: Paperback
Published: 1996-09-01
ISBN: 0399522301
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Perigee Trade
Book Reviews of Survivor Personality
Book Review: Better, faster, stronger--but at what price?
Summary: 3 Stars
Dr. Siegel is trying to drive home his point that a person, if prepared, can survive just about anything.
He likes Dr. Maslow very much, and, like Dr. Maslow, he would rather focus on mental health than mental illness. He dislikes schizophrenia in particular for reasons that are only explained in the very last chapter.
The most helpful parts are the lists of tactics regarding dealing with difficulties in the workplace. There are a couple of useless graphs. A large part of the rest is comprised of survivors' stories.
Things that nagged at me:
Dr. Siegel glosses over the costs of being a "survivor": Be the last man standing, when everyone else has been laid off! Keep your (and maybe even your family's) health just by willing illness away! Survive the Nazis by telling jokes!
Never mind that in these instances, you are now working at a company with no job security, you have thoroughly alienated those who hold you dear, and you're still stuck in a Nazi prison camp.
But don't worry, alienating your compatriots isn't a problem, because you're more advanced than they are. Right.
Our good author doesn't stop to think of instances where perhaps a person might prefer death to life. While I prefer self-help that doesn't wax philosophical, Dr. Siegel's entire book only works on the presumption that life is always the best choice, and I wish he had addressed that.
Dr. Siegel's greatest strength lies in his insistence that people are capable of being multidimensional. It's an idea that's easy to comprehend on an intellectual level and tough as nails to accept on an emotional one.
We tend to forget our many facets in the throes of taking multiple-choice tests to pin down our personalities (What kind of lounge chair are you?), our compatibility (Measure your love life by the length of your name!), and just about everything else (Are you a text message virgin, y/n?).
According to Dr. Siegel, you're allowed to be a complete turd on Tuesday and a saint come Sunday. If nothing else, the good doctor is doing the world a favor by tossing the labels and saying it's all right to be both happy and angry, generous and selfish, without causing some sort of cosmic disturbance. In fact, it might do you and the world a little good.
So... four stars minus one for frivolous graphs and beating the readers over the head with anecdotes.
Summary of Survivor Personality
When faced with adversity, tragedy, or just bad karma, what makes one person crumble, another survive, and another thrive? Al Siebert first became interested in this question when he discovered that World War II combat survivors were less like Sylvester Stallone in Rambo and more like Alan Alda playing Hawkeye, the irreverent M.A.S.H. surgeon. Years of subsequent research taught Seibert that those who survive (and thrive) often respond to challenge with humor, wisdom, and mental and emotional flexibility. No, life isn't fair, but Siebert shows us the tricks to regaining our stability in a world that seems hell-bent on knocking us off track.Mental Health Books
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