I found this book interesting and unexpected. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community I want to know what others in it are going through and seeing what their experiences is as no two are the same. I appreciate this book and will be recommending it!

I have a lot to say about The Souls of Queer Folk, but from a researcher standpoint rather than a reviewer. I have researched issues related to gender identity, sexual orientation, and more specifically, queerness for years now, so I'm not new to what the author proposes in their book. This was not a problem to me because I thought that if anything, The Souls of Queer Folk would serve as a point of reference in terms of the concepts presented and maybe even the sources cited. Here's where I had my issues. When writing research papers, it is important not only to establish key words but also to provide a definition, at least in terms of how the author is going to address a topic, and this didn't happen in what I read from this book. For example, Queer culture is mentioned throughout the first chapters (and I'd assume throughout the book) but we didn't get a clear definition of what Queer culture meant within the book and in relation to the research made and presented by the author. So even though I didn't find any information that was new to me, I was left confused at times with how the information was being presented. In other words, it didn't give me a new perspective or deepen my understanding of Queer culture. It didn't even provide a definition based on the author's own experiences, which are very different to mine, even though we both fit into the category of Queer.

The other issue I had was related to the sources. As a researcher I am very picky, especially when it comes to topics such as those related to Queerness, gender identity, and sexual orientation because they are still emerging topics, and the discourse around them is constantly changing. That means that I will look and consider publications no older than ten or fifteen years to integrate into my own research work. That is a personal preference, I know, but it affected my experience reading The Souls of Queer Folk because I found that most of the sources were, at least according to my standards, outdated. That meant that for me this couldn't be considered as a reference point or a starting point because it led to publications that, again, according to my personal view, are obsolete.

Lastly, circling back to the concept of Queer culture, I think it was not approached in the most responsible way. I say this considering that I didn't read any clear definition of what the author meant by Queer culture, so I was left to assume that the author would group basically anyone who was not cisgender and/or heterosexual into one category. And okay, I know that wasn't their intention, but again, when writing a research paper, you have to be explicit and you have to be careful with what you name and how you name it, but also what you don't name. Honestly, having the first chapter be a definition of Queer culture that actually was based in intersectionality would have saved this book for me.

An interesting concept but I felt not all of the book was new information. Like many non-fiction books it was too long.

A book about leadership and including LGBTQ+ more. I thought some of the points here were interesting, but the author's way of writing wasn't my favorite.