BOOK REVIEW # 2016-084

Wow if there was ever a book that was supposed to serve as a guide for women for gain any sort of assertiveness in their lives – THIS BOOK IS IT !!!

The basic problem for women is that for too long women have allowed their past, specifically their lives as a child, to control who they are today.  Dr. Julie de Azevedo Hanks has done a marvelous job in creating a pyramid of information to help women is this predicament, beginning telling what the difference between assertive and not being it.

The author’s experience not only as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker [LCSW] but as a Psychotherapist lends itself perfectly to her readers what they need to gain the assertiveness they’re looking for.

Instead of merely telling her readers this is what they must do or not do, she asks them to reflective on their lives and to look at the past events they’ve experienced from different angles so they can try to: have more clarity in their lives, more compassion towards others and how to connect with them more effectively, increased calmness when the situations warrant it, and most important an increase in the confidence they have about themselves.  In order to attempt this, the book contains exercises which I feel are not to arduous to do.

Being a child of the 1950’s, if was a song which would epitomize what this book is trying to do for women, than it would have to be “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy.  If you’re not familiar with this song here are some of the lyrics:

I am woman, hear me roar

In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'Cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again

[Chorus:]

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

You can bend but never break me

'Cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'Cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

As you can probably see there’s no way I can’t give this book the 5 STARS it so richly deserves.

 

US:  https://www.amazon.com/review/R11918QYSK5UQ7