They don't have many books about Ellis Wilson. He is a wonderful black artist. He did not get his credit due.

I really enjoyed this book. It is the best and only book I ever seen about Ellis Wilson and his art. If you are a big fan of his work like I am don't delay get this book right away!!!

The book says that you try to fight with your anger rationally. When you are angry, try to convince yourself that it's not "logical" to be angry over this issue. When something goes wrong, you should feel disappointment, not anger. The technique worked for me. But the book is written in a very boring manner. The same ideas are repeated 3-4 times throughout the book. So if you've read 2 chapters, there is no need to read more.

Although this book can get a little ponderous, it flipped a switch in me. I was one of those guys who got pissed at everything. By page 60 I was able to recognize the things that were making me angry, and not let them set me off. If you find that you are frequently irrationally angry, get this book. I can't begin to tell you the difference it made for me.

Dr. Ellis, as in all of his books, provides a method to handle life's disturbances, in this case the problem of anger. He believes and demonstrates that through the power of precise thinking we can nuetralize the worst consequences of anger on ourselves and loved ones. Try using his techniques and you will find that life can be changed for the better.

Its stoicism for the 21st century folks. If only Socrates could see us today, still having everyone kidding themselves about what happiness is and then complaining when someone actually makes them ask the question what is happiness.

Of course, they killed Socrates, and they equally hate Ellis.

We don't want too many people to follow this stuff, we need most people to be mindless drones.

Ahh, psychology. Religion for the next millenium. All we have to do is dupe the poor slobs and they will do whatever we want.

The author has written the most lucid and powerful treatise dealing with the field of cognitive-behavior therapy in his work, "Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy". He continues to display his uncanny knack for communicating profound theories in plain, simple English that anyone can understand. This is a "must" read for professionals and laypeople alike who have an interest in knowing the most recent ideas and practices of the grandfather of cognitive-behavior therapy, Albert Ellis.

This is the seminal book about the development and application of rational emotive therapy. At some point, it was ranked one the the ten most influential books. Ellis' assesses the deficencies in traditional psychotherapy he was trained to practice and his drive to create rational emotive therapy in an insightful and honest evaulation. I do not know if many would be as honest or as creative as he. Each chapter adds significant value towards building the principles of RET. This is a book that changed the way I think about emotion and cognition. Many similar books are watered down, popular versions. It's insightful and revealing to go to the source.

I read this book primarily for two reasons. I am a nursing student and I have to do a review on this book, as well examine this book for myself. I thought this book had realistic ideals on how people handle their anger as well as what we feel. When it came to discussing the ABC's of anger it left me in a stump. When you write a book you should in lamins terms explain everything as if the audience has no clue in what you are talking about. I believe that in this book they wrote it as if we knew exactly what he was pointing out when in reality it was confusing. It helps there again point out views but it doesn't really lay it out in fine print on what to do with your emotions, and feelings of anger.

The authors present both an overall framework for controlling anger and a multitude of specific techniques you can use. This very practical book is written in a much more modern style than most of Ellis' previous books. If you want results and are willing to work for them, order this book--and start working. These methods work!

Maybe it's me but I prefer to read Dr. Ellis' books to the tapes. The tapes just don't seem to have the impact,at least for me.This one went on and on about some guy's sex life and learning how to come correctly. I'm not a prude but I would hesitate to loan this to my mother or someone not as comfortable with blunt sexual language.Still I have a great deal of respect for REBT and like the books.

At the time I bought this book, I was unaware of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, had never heard of Dr. Albert Ellis, and wasn't really looking to solve any particular anxiety problem of my own. Always a fan of Dale Carnegie's "How to ..." instructional writings, I figured this would be a new perspective on a popular and important subject. What I learned was that Dr. Ellis has extensive experience (since 1943) in psychotherapy and actually devised REBT in 1955. Like Carnegie, he is quite good at putting his research and wisdom into books (more than sixty), and turning this knowledge into useful information for those who might be trying to solve a problem related to emotion and personality.

To me, the most important part of REBT is "Rational," the exercise of thinking through what is causing anxiety, why your beliefs about it are unfounded (i.e., irrational) and unnecessary, and what you can do to convince yourself that anxiety can be lessened, if not eliminated, through a formulaic rational process. Throughout most of this book, Dr. Ellis clearly describes nearly twenty very specific methods for controlling anxiety. This was all new to me, but I found the methods to make total sense, and imagined that almost all of us could find any number of these helpful in addressing specific anxiety scenarios.

The way in which Dr. Ellis sets forth the varying aspects of REBT is impressive. He's easy to read, and almost grandfatherly in his tone. Each method is portrayed first by explanation, then by documenting a real example using one of his psychotherapy patients. The last three chapters contain 231 "Rational Maxims" which sum up the main points of the methods discussed in detail earlier, and are written in the first person for us to recite when REBT enforcement is needed. Good idea! Some might find this book to be a little repetitive (therapy is like that), and thus may be better off with the abridged version. For someone new to REBT, I'm glad Dr. Ellis presented these methods in a comprehensive manner, and I'll always have the Rational Maxims for review on short order.

Ellis makes no effort to hide his political and social liberalism. He's quite open about his Atheism, advocacy of sexual freedom and skepticism about the values of capitalism. (For the last, refer to his 1968 book, _Is Objectivism a Religion?_, unfortunately now out of print.)

But unlike the whining victimization now embraced by liberal and leftist intellectuals, Ellis takes a refreshingly old-fashioned, but nonetheless effective, approach towards helping people with their problems. He emphasizes over and over again that people upset themselves with their irrational and unscientific thoughts about their situations in life. Emotional disturbance is a self-inflicted philosophical and ideological disorder.

Sure, people can be hurt or exploited by circumstances beyond their control, but how they respond to these circumstances determines whether they meet adversity effectively or not. Not that long ago, facing adversity with head held high was called "strength of character." Because so many people in our wealthy society grow up sheltered from real threats to their health and safety (as compared with children in those impoverished or war-torn places we see on the evening news), psychological "threats" assume an importance all out of proportion to their actual danger. The suffering is real, nonetheless, and Ellis has spent his life well in developing techniques for helping the emotionally dysfunctional to straighten out their emotions by identifying and disputing irrational beliefs.

This book contains a wonderful survey of Ellis's writings, showing all aspects of his thought and career. If you want to learn how to improve your emotional health, this book is a good place to begin.

When you're trying to change self-defeating attitudes, touchy-feely affirmations or so-called quick fixes aren't likely to add up to lasting change. Ellis is refreshingly up-front about identifying crippling thought patterns for what they are -- nutty ideas -- and cutting straight to the practical steps you can take to begin changing the way you respond to personal adversities. Using an A-B-C structure that's meant to stick readily in your mind, he demonstrates how you can make a situation better or worse depending on how you think, feel, and behave toward it. Point 'A' is a negative event. Point 'B' is your belief system or philosophy of what happens at 'A' (can be rational or irrational). Point 'C' is the consequences you create as a result of 'A' and 'B.' Shifting your perspective to produce an assertive, healthy, disturbance-busting result requires a conscious effort. Ellis's method is a cognitive *process* -- which means you need to incorporate it into your daily life, like a healthy diet and exercise, for long-term benefits. Yes, it takes some time to work at refusing to stress yourself out needlessly over upsets and challenges, but the steps outlined are easy to understand and based on common sense.

The book is as reader-friendly as it gets. Ellis pioneered this mode of therapy decades ago, but doesn't rest on the confidence he's earned with its proven track record. I thoroughly enjoyed the way he keeps it fresh and relevant with timely examples and updated insights, maintaining a gung-ho attitude about it that's entertaining and contagious. I couldn't help wanting to give his sensible suggestions a try. The collection of FAQs from his "Ask Dr. Ellis" Web Site covers a lot of ground, from broad, existential queries about attaining happiness to questions about coping with specific kinds of emotional suffering: anger, anxiety, depression, and relationship issues. His responses are warm and down-to-earth, blending clear explanations with no-nonsense motivation. This is a handy resource for general readers and professional therapists looking for reliable, pro-active ways to counteract irrational beliefs and dysfunctional behavior.

Although no photographs by Ellis are provided, this book is helpful for therapists who are familiar with RET or at least cognitive therapy. It touches on many therapeutic topics, basically providing the handful of irrational beliefs that are likely to be encountered in each problem area. Of course, these are always variants on basic irrational beliefs or faulty thinking, but the book is helpful guidance for eliciting and working to change these irrational beliefs. The range of topics is the real value in this book: super-romantic love/obsessive love/jealousy, divorce, healthy lifestyle, substance abuse, excessive religiously-based concern with sin and guilt, and death.

Alfred Korzybski was one of the great unacknowledged geniuses of the twentieth century. He influenced a host of other thinkers and writers, among them Buckminster Fuller, Robert Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard. This is an excellent introduction and explanation of his work, and I recommend it. Korzybski's great work, "Science and Sanity" (1933), can be a difficult book at over 760 pages. I thus I tried to get this book, "Drive Yourself Sane," (about 200 pages) but the first edition was out of print. I was forced to tackle "Science and Sanity" alone. I had to read it three times through over a period of several years. I wish I'd had this book, "Drive Yourself Sane" (second edition) to help me through some of the rough spots. It is well organized, nicely laid out, and has a valuable glossary in the back. It also includes valuable personal accounts from the authors. Even an expert in general semantics can gain knowledge from this book. I found that it filled in gaps in my knowledge of the subject (general semantics), gave me some new insights, and told me what others had been doing in the field since 1933. Regardless of whether you are interested in Korzybski or not, you won't finish this book without at least a little IQ rise.

Dr. Albert Ellis is a recognized expert in the field of rational emotive behavior therapy, which concentrates of changing behavior by replacing irrational beliefs with rational ones. A psychologist with a clinical practice, Dr. Ellis has written sixty-five books and published numerous articles on human behavior. How To Make Yourself Happy and Remarkably Less Disturbable, his newest book, offers readers practical guidance for achieving happy and satisfying lives.
Dr. Ellis is convinced that people have the ability to change their lives through the choices they make. He says you can "learn to change your thoughts, feelings, and actions and thereby reduce your emotional distress."
All of us have goals. Often someone or something keeps us from achieving those goals. Some people then have "negative feelings like sadness, disappointment, regret, and frustration," that can stimulate them to find ways of overcoming whatever is keeping them from their goals. Others have unreasonable feelings that result in emotions that produce self-defeating behaviors like depression, panic, or self-hatred. Ellis teaches readers how to recognize those unreasonable feelings and convert them to healthy emotions.
The basis of his process involves determining what beliefs you have that trigger your emotional responses. Irrational beliefs include "I-can't-stand-itis," absolutes like must and should, awfulizing, and worthlessness. You then dispute those beliefs with questions like: Is my belief logical? What evidence supports it? Is it really this bad or awful? Disputing irrational beliefs opens the way to replace them with more rational beliefs, like "I don't like this, but I can stand it." Rational beliefs allow you to handle adversities with less distress.
Ellis includes case histories of people who have overcome severe unhappiness with his techniques.
Readers wishing to ease their emotional distress will find How To Make Yourself Happy a useful resource.

At first I didn't know what to think of this book. Ellis, an internationally renowned psychologist and founder of the Albert Ellis Institute for Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, writes like a psychologist--a little too deep for the layperson. He also uses initials in his writing. Whenever you read "REBT," you are to remember it stands for Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. "IB" stands for (Irrational Beliefs), "USA" (unconditional self-acceptance), and "UAO" Unconditional Acceptance of Others. I found it distracting to be reading a chapter and having to go back and find for which "IB," REBT," "UAO," and all the other initials stood. About haf-way through the book, things fell into place, made sense and became interesting. I started to understand what Ellis was saying, and the book became helpful and informative. His theory is, we are the captain of our ships--our minds. No matter what storms we must weather, we have what it takes to overcome these disturbances and continue our journey with smooth sailing, under our own power. On page 49 Ellis says, ". . .you have little control over many unfortunate Activating Events or Adversities (A's) that plague you, but you largely can control your Beliefs (B's) about these Adversities." He continues, "You can control and exhange your own disturbance-creating demands!" This is the heart of his therapy. Ellis relates patient's stories, how they were treated and how the overcame their problems. When reading these anecdotes, it gives the reader a feeling of, I'm not alone with my problems and they can be overcome. This is always helpful. Included in the book is an REBT Self-Help Form. This is a worksheet that allows us to put our problems on paper, examine them, research them, put them under a microscope and find an answer to them. Although a little intimidating at first, this book really does offer helpful suggestions if you are willing to stick with it and do some work. On the back cover of his book Ellis is described as controversial, charismatic and innovative. The answers to life's problems aren't easy and having someone shake us up a little just might be the push we need to get ourselves going in the right direction.

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I have ruthlessly criticized Albert Ellis in other reviews and I apologize. I now have many of his books and tapes. This book really stands out and will show you new "flavors" of how to make yourself less miserable. And Thank God, in this book, Ellis is taking the whip in his hand and stating PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. This book is simply a Godsend. I have already benefitted from it greatly. Ellis pounds home the fact that humans can be happy. They have a choice. I am now dropping "wanting the approval of others". So the anxiety pitches down. This is becoming more and more ingrained in my brain. In this book, Ellis has come up with a beautiful new acronym. USA. Unconditional Self Acceptance. I can now relax. Do yourself a favor and buy this book. I didn't practice hard before so I blasted Ellis. But this book is a Godsend for anybody who has problems with depression or anxiety. Yes, you can make yourself happy. Thank you, Dr. Ellis.