Cover Image: Change Your World

Change Your World

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Member Reviews

It took me a long time to read this book, reading just a bit at a time on my Kindle. That said, it was one of my favorite books in a while. Ungar does an excellent job of teaching us what really makes us succeed in life, and it is never "pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps" or the kinds of things we think it is. Through years of practice, research, studies and professional observation, he shows what helps individuals, communities and even ecosystems thrive. I found myself quoting it often to my older kids, because I found it so interesting and spot on. I loved how he pointed out early on in the book that without the helpful mice, birds and fairy godmother, Cinderella would have probably ended up a sex worker. Each section was really thought provoking, and he also talks about what really builds resilience in children and why our current system is failing this generation. Highly recommended.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

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I did really enjoy thIs and it was a good easy read but it lacked anything new or particularly inviting. Didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t know or much at all but it was a nice read and I liked the style

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The first time I heard the word resilience and looked it up in the dictionary, it had to do with physics and nothing with psychology. So I had to read different psychology articles to understand more about it. Therefore, I was intrigued by this book. And I am so happy to have read it! It explained resilience to me in the best possible way!
While reading this book, I identified with more than just my maternal role. I read it as a citizen, an employee, a child and a friend.
Although the author's take on mindfulness is not entirely agreeable to me, I understood his point of view. And the exercises at the end of the book were very useful.
Thank you to Net Galley and Sutherland House for providing me with an e-book copy in exchange for my honest review!

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Change your world is an inspirational book to settle internal tools to create and reinforce resilience with the perpective to persevere to archive our goals. Dr Ungar’s approach is refreshing and true.

#ChangeYourWorld #NetGalley

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Michael Ungar's book Change Your World says in 256 pages what can be said in half of those; change for the better is a result of perseverance and the support of others around you more than it is the determination of change. Part of his premise is to shoot down the notion that the desire for change and relying on self-help resources to get you there are the keys to success. Success, by his research, is only obtained when financial, emotional, and community support is provided.

Resilience is the central theme of his book and he brings up many instances were resilience is obtained, usually in hard situations where less services are provided, and better outcomes are obtained. His rationale is that the more resources provided, the less resilient we are to hardships. This seems to be a common sense argument, but one he fleshes out over a book.

For instance, if someone who grew up rich and had all the necessary resources available to them suddenly reached a hardship, they would not be resilient and would have a bad outcome. This is due to the fact that they theoretically haven't experienced hardship in the past and don't know how to handle it. A kid from a lower class that has experienced hardship and not had services available to them know how to get through life one hardship at a time.

He also brings it into the workplace, saying that workers are only as good as the resources available to them. If they are not given the resources they need to properly do their job or succeed, they will either become middle-of-the-road employees or leave for places that do. This is also fairly common sense and a big problem with the workforce today.

I did enjoy the reminder that the author provided in why people are shaped the way they are and how they are able to overcome hardships but that is what the book is, a reminder of things most already know and can do nothing about.

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I really loved this new perspective on self-help and resilience. It s a well documented book. It is helpful and insightful.

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This was an interesting and thought-provoking read which I would recommend to anyone with an interest in resilience however it is important to be aware that it is not a how-to book. Whilst interesting, it doesn't offer anything new so I would not recommend it as the first text to read on resilience.

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