REVIEW: This is How by Augusten Burroughs @stmartinspress

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2012From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Running With Scissors comes a groundbreaking book that explores how to survive the "un-survivable" and will challenge your notion of self-help books
To say that Augusten Burroughs has lived an unusual life is an understatement. From having no formal education past third grade and being raised by his mother’s psychiatrist in the seventies to enjoying one of the most successful advertising careers of the eighties to experiencing a spectacular downfall and rehab stint in the nineties to having a number one bestselling writing career in the new millennium, Burroughs has faced humiliation, transformation and everything in between. This Is How is his no-holds-barred book of advice on topics as varied as:
· How to feel like crap
· How to ride an elevator
· How to be thin
· How to be fat
· How to find love
· How to feel sorry for yourself
· How to get the job
· How to end your life
· How to remain unhealed
· How to finish your drink
· How to regret as little as possible
· And much more
Told with Burroughs's unique voice, black humor, and in-your-face advice, This is How is Running With Scissors—with recipes.

About the Author
AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS is the number one New York Times bestselling author of A Wolf At The Table, Possible Side Effects, Magical Thinking, Dry, Running with Scissors, and Sellevision. He lives in Manhattan.


SOURCE:  Amazon Vine


MY THOUGHTS
LOVED IT


I wasn't quite expecting a self help book but that is what I got.  I thought this might be another addition to Burroughs famously skewered memoirs and essays, but this turns out to be his take on what works and what doesn't in life.  While there are some of those wonderful insights about life in general, there are some truly useful bits of information surrounded by his famously black humor.  Given his unconventional upbringing, this little book is right in his comfort zone of providing a different take on familiar issues.  


The blurb says it is like "Running with Scissors--with recipes!" and in a way it is.  You get all of the pathos but with ways how to cope in certain situations.  What do you do when your significant other has a terminal disease?  The short essays can actually help you deal with this situation.  The are also eye opening insights to Burroughs life.  Something I just wasn't expecting. The bottom line is that you should always be honest with yourself and others, a little anger is good for you and storing that same anger away can be detrimental.  

Details Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: St. Martin's Press (May 8, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 0312563558 ISBN-13: 978-0312563554