CompleteMartialArts.com - Conquering Your Quarterlife Crisis: Advice from Twentysomethings Who Have Been There and Survived (Perigee Book)
|
List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $10.17
Your Save: $ 4.78 ( 32% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Perigee Trade
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.235
EAN: 9780399530388
ISBN: 039953038X
Label: Perigee Trade
Manufacturer: Perigee Trade
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: 2004-10-05
Publisher: Perigee Trade
Release Date: 2004-10-05
Studio: Perigee Trade
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
The practical followup to the acclaimed bestseller
In 2001, the groundbreaking book Quarterlife Crisis(r) addressed the unique and unsettling trials of entering modern adulthood. For the first time, it identified how twentysomethings were lost and confused, and lamented the absence of a guide-a roadmap with solutions for how to emerge from the crisis successful, happy, and sane.
Now, the author of Quarterlife Crisis(r) delivers that roadmap. Alexandra Robbins goes beyond defining the problem of the quarterlife crisis and puts readers on the path to conquering it. She asks-and answers-the tough, soul-searching questions that keep young adults awake at night:
- How do I weigh doing what I love versus making money?
- Will I ever find my "soul mate"?
- Why is it so hard to make friends?
- Why are my twenties so different from what I expected?
With new voices as well as follow-up interviews with some of the original Quarterlife Crisis(r) twentysomethings, Conquering Your Quarterlife Crisis(r) is the new go-to guide for people who want it all...but just aren't sure what that is yet.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Quaterlife Crisis help
Comment: Awesome book. Self-reflection, good ideas, good for even starting some journal entries about the topics.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An A for effort and fuzzy feelings, a C- for actual usefulness
Comment: The ambition of the book is great. I think the questions posed in the book are pertinent and worth answering for a generation that is facing an entirely new landscape without pre-built tools for dealing with it. She starts out strong with her statement of purpose, but with each new chapter you feel a little bit more disappointed as they continually fall short of being useful.
The book has a lot of feelings in it. There are stories from many "mentors" who have endured tragic or hectic circumstances and much of what they have to say revolves around how they *felt* at the time and how they *feel* now. Some of it is, of course, practical, like "I went to see a therapist" which could actually be practical advice for many people in similar situations, but most of it is really very abstract and touchy-feely.
The attempt by the author and the mentors to deliver difficult solutions for difficult problems is surely a Herculean task and I am appreciative for that much, but I don't feel that I would derive any real value from the book were I having a quarterlife crisis. I suppose that's a large bias that I should flag: I don't feel plagued by any of the questions posed in the book, so it may simply be a case of not falling in the target audience.
I don't think that's exactly it though, but rather more due to my ruthlessly logical nature. I appreciate the emotion involved with traumatic events, but, first, most of the events described in the book don't strike me as traumatic per se, but rather just frustrating. Second, I am loath to accept advice such as "just believe in yourself and eventually your dreams will come true". That advice was dispensed more than once in the book and seemed to be compatible with the book's overarching theme. I like concrete advice.
The truth is that there is absolutely no guarantee that you'll accomplish any of your dreams. The phrase "get rich or die trying" has more truth in it than this entire book when it comes to accomplishing real success.
That said, anyone who feels emotionally overwhelmed by something like a quarterlife crisis might find solace (comforting though possibly useless) in this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Straight-forward & On-Target
Comment: Alexandra hits the nail on the head regarding many of the challenges that twenty-somethings (myself included) face on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. Her straight forward approach to shedding light on the tough issues is refreshing and easily consumed. As a researcher and published author of a career advice book (The Career-Savvy College Student) I noticed several crucial parallels discussed in this book as well as the conversational approach that will undoubtedly help those just entering this phase of life avoid repeating what have become "the same old mistakes". A good read on all counts.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent overview of the challenges of becoming independent
Comment: The most important thing about "Conquering your Quarterlife Crisis" is that it is, amazingly, trying to prepare you in all the ways your education didn't, for the road ahead. Like a mid-life crisis, a quarterlife crisis occurs when you don't know what you want to do with your life, and amazingly, our generation seems to be experiencing this angst pretty early in life.
My own conclusions from this book are very simple: we have failed again and again to give the best and brightest individuals in this country incentives to pursue what they really care about, and to take audacious risks. The result is a period of paralyzing uncertainty following the undergraduate years, which for some leads to the decision to attend graduate school, which can often just plunge them into even more immobilizing student loan debt (without ever really solving the core problem of self-realization).
Ms. Robbins presents amazing stories of twentysomethings struggling with this existential anxiety, and relays the sensible advice that every school should be teaching its students: take risks, and don't be afraid to fail, because failure on one endeavor is perhaps the very best education for the next. (And don't be afraid to be happy!)
Customer Rating:
Summary: The angst of your personal silver anniversary year
Comment: Turning 25 was no fun at all! I was still living with roomates in a rented furnished room and working in a job versus a career. Everyone else seemed to be on the up and up except me and it threw me into a myriad of emotional distress that if the first 25 years could do this fast, what's going to happen to me in the next and the next. Thank God it wasn't just me! At 25 most people are less than 5 years out of post-secondary and less than 10 from High School graduation. For me, it was the fear that I would be the only one who wasn't "successful" at my tenth anniversary reunion. The pressure to get a foothold in life is tremendous and 25 is a measurement point becuase 30 lurks much closer than ever. So, do know you are NOT alone. In fact, many people share the same concerns and only hit stride in their 30's. Glisten some tips and tactics for making it through and don't try for too many quick fixes. If this book offers any uplifting options it is ... that you need not figure this out alone. If I can personally offer you any advice after passing through 2 mid-life crisis points at 21 and 25 ... it is this .... find out what you love, discover what calls to you, and build your inner strength to go after it. A great place to start is "Finding Your North Star" by Dr. Martha Beck ...and see where it navigates from there. Above all else, create and sustain a nourishing love for yourself and seek communities of people who do the same for themselves and to you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|