Over the last week and a half I read the Myth of Normal. It was the first book I ever read by Gabor Maté and some people call it his magnum opus. I am not sure if I agree. A tiny book review to shed some tiny light on the matter.
* Also Read: The Nix – Nathan Hill
– Tiny Book Review *
Some parts really resonated with me
Some parts of “The Myth of Normal“ by author, addiction and trauma expert Gabor Maté were really good and resonated with me. Many parts didn’t. The further I got into the book, the more I skipped and sometimes scanned as a result.
Too many topics, too many stories…
The book contains too many anecdotes of famous and unknown people, that get tiresome after a while. This work is trying to be too broad too and too all over the place. Too often Gabor Maté is seamingly confusing correlation and causation, leaves questions about direction of causation and unmentioned, questions about variables that are likely intervening and in desperate need of expliciting.
* Also Read: Time seems to speed up as we age. But why? *
The Myth of Normal is trying to be too much to too many people
The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté just tries to be too much to too many people and loses the plot in the process. Some serious editing choices would and less anecdotes would have made for a far better book.
Gabor Maté is at his best in his own field of expertise
Maté is at his best, when he sticks to his own field, it is more condensed, more precise and correlation and causation seem better researched, explicited and explained.
* Also Read: The Deficit Myth – Stephanie Kelton – Tiny Book Review *
The book is worthwhile for the good chapters
Still happy I got to read the better chapters and also happy I allowed myself to simply skip what wasn’t of enough interest to me personally. Time I would never get back, as I, for one, will only live once. Amen.
