Author: Guest
Wheelis might argue that my writing this review is a conundrum: mandatory necessity versus arbitrary necessity. I cannot or will not answer that question. Suffice it to say that you the reader ought to make the time to read this slim book.His writing is embarrassingly succinct and refreshingly frank. Thus, the book invites several readings; I have read it several times. Keep in mind that the subject of this book is self-directed change. "So long as one lives, change is possible; but the longer such behavior is continued the more force and authority it acquires." How then do we change? "Insight is instrumental to change, often an essential part of the process, but does not directly achieve it." The author, to his credit, includes himself as a portrait of one who struggles with change. Read the chapter entitled "Grass." A friend, reading it, refused to borrow the book. She condemned the story as an example of child abuse. Superficially, it certainly seems so. One cannot avoid, however, the poignancy of the father's heartfelt remarks, "I wish you could understand, though, that I wouldn't be trying to teach you so fast if I knew I would live long enough to teach you more slowly." The father lay sick with tuberculosis, dying but months later. Wheelis puts the story in context that will resonate with all who read it: "Thus I was made a psychological slave." But, "A slave is one who accepts the identity ascribed to him by a master." So, can one change? How? I cannot answer that question. I can give you one last quote from Wheelis, "The new mode will be experienced as difficult, unpleasant, forced, unnatural, anxiety-provoking. It may be undertaken lightly but can be sustained only by considerable effort of will. Change will occur only if such action is maintained over a long period of time." Or, was B.F. Skinner more correct? "A person does not act upon the world, the world acts upon him."
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Author: Guest
This book was written in the early '70s and, as such, touches tangentially on issues of the day such as homosexuality. With hindsight, we can easily condemn Wheelis' statements on that topic; but I firmly believe that the author himself would think differently today. Criticism of this book on that basis is specious at best and dishonest at worst. Wheelis draws on his own insight to discuss in a wonderfully accessible way what can happen when we make profound change. It is a very small book -- Wheelis does not mince words. He gets to the heart of the matter and stays with it. Most of us shrink from change, we are afraid of the dark. Wheelis shines a light of hope that inspires courage without minimizing the difficulties of change. To a great extent, he demystifies it while keeping its wonder.
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Author: Guest
I loved this book when it dealt with very deep issues of personal choice in the therapeutic process, and I hated it when the author dated himself by insisting on treating homosexuality as if it were a mental disease. This was obviously written several decades ago, before the American Psychiatric Association finally removed homosexuality from its list of disorders. And Wheelis seems to bring up the issue a lot, even if he seems well-intentioned. I really would love to recommend this book to people, and have even given it out with apologies and explanations, but it really should be re-written with all homophobic comments removed.
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