It’s astonishing how quickly I turned on this one. I was able to get through the corny name-dropping, that doesn’t bother me as a hook. The first section seems like a basic introduction to some CBT concepts, although it never goes in depth on any of the proposed solutions. Essentially, my main problem is with the structure of this book, which reads like a long list of “dragons”, the term Amen uses to describe the bad thoughts/influence that “breathe fire” on your attempts to live a satisfying, healthy life. I was taking a few tidbits here and there, but mainly bored. Had I stopped in the first few hours of the audiobook it would been a three, average self-help territory. However, the further I got, the more flags started going up. 

My first flag was when he talked about how anger and generational dragons impacted the amount of protests after George Floyd’s death. He does mention that not all protestors were destructive, but I found this whole assumption dismissive. Amen offers no space for societal impact on action, it just seemed to lack the nuance that the topic required. I moved past this, because I figured, maybe this is an older man, who is not Black, trying to explain how anger can have an impact. And, to an extent, he’s right, people protest because they are angry. But seeing anger as a negative attribute is simplistic. I, in general prefer a DBT approach, we can see the anger and ask ourselves what the most effective way to deal with it is. And guess what, protesting can be an effective outlet. 

Nevertheless, I moved on, hoping for more brain facts. For those of you who DNF’d in the first half, you didn’t get to where we really got cooking. Which was the infuriating approach to food. Essentially, Amen seems to be writing a guide to orthorexia. He dismisses almost all enjoyable food. And explicitly says that “everything in moderation” is a lie that will lead to you getting diseases. He dismisses the genetic components to weight, diabetes and other diseases. He goes on about the toxins in everyday items and how they negatively affect the brain. He even mentioned chemotherapy in this section as being toxic…it was at this point where I started to wonder if this man is just some sort of anti-vax psychopath. Because he provides no room for nuance AT ALL. There is no statement about balancing toxins with good choices. It’s just fearmongering about how your lipstick could kill you. 

Science without nuance and context feels meaningless. And much of this book feels like it refuses to admit that some joy in life comes from allowing us to give into some temptations. I feel this level of rigidity would be very hard for a client to keep up. I would be very interested at the type of person who has endured trauma and is able to live a lifestyle Amen prescribes. While the introduction to some concepts could be helpful, I just know that there are better, warmer books to introduce newcomers to taming their difficult emotions and thoughts. 

Library return was up