The next best thing to watching videos of his work! Glasser explains his techniques and concurrent thinking in a clear and concise manner. Great read and highly recommended.

I am a believer in many of Glasser's ideas and use his theory within my work. I was so excited to find a new discussion of cases because I had grown so much from <>. I received this book and upon reading the first page realized I was reading something I had read before. This book is the paperback edition of <>. I recommend the book to anyone who desires to be empowered and wants to see where you have more choices than you think. However, if you've read (or like me own) <>, check out something else by Glasser.

This is in my opinion one of the best works by William Glasser, one that clearly illuminates both Dr. Glasser's thought processes as well as the ethical grid from which he makes his peoplehelping decisions. His focus on choice as the central feature of all human difficulties as well as helping efforts clearly puts him inside of a most noble tradition that includes Thomas Szasz, Harold Greenwald and John Narciso. Regardless of whether you come to this book as a professional or as a layperson, I would recommend that you closely read, study and apply what you can from the sterling case studies Dr. Glasser lays out before you in this book.

William Glasser, a world-renowned psychiatrist currently about 75 years old, originally came strongly into the limelight because of his seminal work in the 1960s, Schools without Failure. This book, and the progressive educational movement which arose from it, has been studied in teacher-training programs around the country for the last 30 years. In the early 1980s, Dr. Glasser developed an additional theory of human relationship for which he is also famous. It was originally called "control theory" and later renamed "choice theory" in the book by that same name from the 1990s. This book, Getting Together and Staying Together (GTST) is in the tradition of Dr. Glasser's choice theory ideas.

Of Dr. Glasser's published works, besides GTST, I have so far read the following: Schools without Failure, Control Theory, Choice Theory, The Language of Choice Theory, Reality Therapy in Action, What Is This Thing Called Love?, and Fibromyalgia: Hope from a Completely New Perspective. Based on reading all these books, my opinion is that if you are just discovering Dr. Glasser, GTST is probably the very best of his many works for your initial introduction to choice theory for the following reasons: (1) the book is relatively short; (2) it is easy to read; (3) it goes very concisely and clearly into every aspect of choice theory; (4) the information in it applies to every kind of relationship, not just marriage.

I am very impressed with Dr. Glasser's chosen writing style. I have not been privileged to hear Dr. Glasser speak in person, but my guess is that the reason his prose is so extremely accessible is that he writes in the same sensitive, direct, caring voice he uses to train therapists and to counsel his clients. As he so profoundly states in this and many of his other books on choice theory, the foundation of all progress in therapy is the client's trust in the therapist. And trust is based in several important qualities of the therapist, including: simplicity, honesty, directness, empathy and compassion.

Another cornerstone of Dr. Glasser's remarkable ideas is the highly unusual belief that the purpose of therapy is to get done with it as quickly and effectively as possible. I have spent many frustrating years observing fellow mental health professionals who believe (because they were trained to, and because it is so very profitable a practice) that it is "simply not possible to begin any meaningful therapy until adequate time has been spent discussing the scope of the client's problem." Unfortunately for therapy clients, "adequate" is usually defined as a minimum of five, and usually ten, 50-minute sessions of rehashing the client's entire life history billed out at $100-250/hour. In delightful contrast, Dr. Glasser states that from the very first second that he meets a new client, he wants to get the therapy moving toward teaching the client self-reliance based in self-responsibility. In pursuit of this goal, he refuses to waste time mulling over the client's painful past. He believes a therapist's proper focus is what is making the client miserable, right now, and that this is invariably trouble with an important relationship.

In short, the overall goal of Dr. Glasser's unique therapy (called "reality therapy") is to lead his clients to see that they are =not= helpless, hopeless victims of fate. Instead, he assists them in discovering that they have the wherewithal, at all times and places, to examine the current choices they are making, figure out if those choices are causing more pain than they are eliminating, and make new and better choices as needed.

I would highly recommend this wonderful book to you if you feel you are having trouble achieving close, intimate, emotional connections with others (either through not having a close relationship at all, or not feeling intimacy with someone who is supposed to be very close to you, such as a spouse). Also, if you read this book or any other written by Dr. Glasser and are impressed with his ideas, you can get a referral for a therapist in your area trained at the William Glasser Institute by contacting the institute directly via the internet. (I am not permitted to provide the web site here, but I located it easily for myself by using a search engine.)

Whoever wrote the words "for better or worse" into the marriage vows obviously had some experience of what the Glassers call "the mystery of marriage". How is it that people who get together into this most public of declarations of love find it so hard to stay together or even to stay as friends? The book "Getting Together and Staying Together" examines this issue in detail referring to marriage as "a practice in desperate need of improvement".

The book has an interesting history. It is written by a well-known and very experienced psychiatrist and his wife is co-author. It is a rewrite of a book that Dr. Glasser himself published in 1995 practically on the eve of his marriage to Carleen. The new version collates the wisdom of both their professional lives and especially of their married life together. As such it is a wonderful mixture of the therapist's eye and a couple's down-to-earth daily experience. Where the original "Staying Together" started from a Choice Theory perspective and applied it to marriage, this new book takes different marriage experiences as the starting point and processes the experiences in terms of Choice Theory. The mixture of e-mail messages, discussions, therapy examples and courageous self-disclosure by both authors bring this book to life and give it a very practical value. It even has a chapter on the surprisingly neglected topic of "sex after marriage".

Drawing interesting comparisons between marriage and friendship the authors show how the dangers of external control psychology creep so easily into married life. They speak of the "seven deadly habits" (criticism, blaming, complaining, nagging, threatening, punishing and bribing) that hasten this death of marriage. They also point to how certain differences in a couple's needs intensities can make it more difficult to have a good relationship.

This book has a lot to offer any relationship but it would be fair to say that it deals most specifically with the more formal structures that encircle and threaten the marriage bond. The Glassers offer both the theoretical base and practical suggestions for improving, even resuscitating, a relationship. Most important of all, the book offers the reader a total shift in perspective. It elaborates a truly possible but not necessarily easy answer to the "joyless tedium" of an endangered relationship. It invites each person to take control of what the person really can control. One area it does not deal with explicitly is the changing nature of the relationship when children are born but it is a relatively easy matter for the reader to apply the Choice Theory principles to these and other situations.

I would very much recommend this book to anyone, married or not. Indeed it would provide excellent discussion material for pre-marriage courses and even for social and personal classes for young people. This is one of those rare books where the authors are preaching what they already practise ... and it's very definitely "for better".

This book still provides many useful insights into education and social problems, even though it is originally published 30 years.

This book should be read by every School Board Member, Superintendent, Administrator and teacher. Gives excellent suggestions for providing our children with the quality education they need. Encourages educators to more action and less lip service.

At last there is freedom from the confusion of Transactional Analysis, Gestault and other Psychotropic drug therapies. The book is very refreshing. You must read this book to know how it works in practice. Glasser's approach enables a therapist to keep their cool so to speak, Yes, common sense is back!

This book is a must have for any school counselor or teacher!

I bought this book a few years ago right after I decided to leave my husband. This book helped me to stop wondering about my decision by getting me to understand different types of relationships and how or if they were salvagable. Another important aspect of this book is that it gave me hope for future relationships. This is a book I think everyone should read. It is clear and concise. There are assignments that get you thinking about the kind of mate you are. My favorite exercise was to write a description of the kind of mate I'd like to have.

The word "love" is so bandied about so much that even to use it in the title of a book can leave the reader feeling a little uneasy. Would a book called, "What is this thing called Love?" treat the most sought-after of all human experiences as an academic commodity? Would love, whatever it is, become a series of clinical concepts? Worse still, would the pages unfold as a litany of trite platitudes? Much as I admire the writings of Dr. Glasser, I began to read with certain trepidation. How would he approach a topic that in my opinion reaches beyond the realms of psychology? As if these doubts were not enough I found it somewhat daunting to note that the subtitle proclaimed it as a book for the "Single Woman". I was neither single nor female!

The book opens with a dialogue between Ann and Mark as they try to understand one another and the relationship between them. Dr. Glasser then explains how he got to know Ann and how they agreed to have conversations about the nature of love. And that is what this book is all about, those conversations. It is not therapy although the author and Ann soon reach a level of communication that is common to all good therapy. Glasser does use his extensive experience as a psychotherapist to help this young lady teacher clarify what is going on in her life. Most important of all he listens, he listens very carefully. In a sense this is action research where we are able to witness real people twist and turn as they tease out a living definition of the way they share their lives. There are no smart answers, no smart fixes, no attempt to say this is the way it should be for everyone in the universe.

As I read these pages, and I would have to admit that it was not always an easy read since it dealt with live human experience, I found myself doing a lot of thinking, not about ideas or guidelines but about the living out of love in my own life. That is probably the strongest point of this book. It is certainly not a piece of light reading nor an agony aunt's quick fix. This book was a journey for those who appear on its pages. I believe it becomes a journey for those who read it ... even men!

In some ways indebeted to R.M. Pirsig's Amarican classic *Zen and the Art of Motercycle Mantinance*, Glasser argues that the ONLY way to improve our schools is to help students to see the quality in what they are learning and the way they are learning it. When people see that something has quality for them, then (and only then) they begin to care about it. Glasser emphasizes the need to shift from traditional boss-management, to lead-managment which is non-coercive, and so the students see the teacher as a team captain and not as an adversary whose power is resented.

Following on Dr. Demming's principle that "Quality is Job #1," Glasser lays out a practical approach to revitalizing education in the same way that Demming revitalize the Japanese auto industry in post-WWII. By eliminating coersion, and stimulating pride in one's workmanship by emphasizing quality at every level, from student upto superintendent, it is possible improve the quality of education for all students. It is a humane approach to dealing with problems that plague our schools today: apathy, rebelliousness, low skill and so forth. Glasser boldly demands of us to abandon failing boss tactics that riddle our school for something that will bring the best in everyone.

A copy of this book should be smuggled onto the desks of EVERY principal and superintendant. Suggests ways in which to manage schools so that students are excited about their work and want to go to school! Readers will realize that responsibility should be spread throughout the school system and not placed directly on the shoulders of the teachers! Wonderful reading!

Glasser's Reality Therapy is one of the recognized modern approaches to psychotherapy. This was his seminal work on the subject with practical cases from his experience in an institution with troubled teenage girls. The development of his thinking in this book is a good introduction to his later books on the subject. Easy to read, very practical in outlook and a relief from the obscure Freudian approaches. not to take anything away from the breakthrough that Freud brought to the entire subject of mental state.

I read this book at a time when I was dealing with some very difficult people in my life. It helped me to see ways that I could change my own way of dealing with difficult people in constructive ways.

In particular, the thing that stuck most with me was the importance of taking responsibility for my own actions, and holding others accountable in appropriate ways.

And yes, his book helped A LOT in dealing with difficult people.

I have since read another one of Glasser's books and plan to read as many as I can. HIS BOOK IS A CLASSIC.

You won't be disappointed.

People no longer have an excuse when they start to find out they have the power to choose. Understanding is fine, but it doesn't propel you forward. Please if you are sick of spinning your tires in the mud of the past and want to get unstuck, take a reality check. If you don't want to grow up, don't read this book. Don't waste your time reading this book if you don't want to take action.

In the first paragraph of this book, Dr. William Glasser, captures the attention of everyone concerned with the state of education in our country today by immediately identifying our number one problem. At least half of the students in any given classroom are unmotivated to learn. In a world where all teachers are steeped in the behaviorist theories of psychology, through which we are taught to manipulate student behaviors with reward and punishment, it is refreshing to read an author who acknowledges the neglected role of individual freedom and self motivation in the classroom. The students who leave our elementary schools, high schools and universities with the best education possible are those who have chosen to actively participate in the learning process. In this book, Dr. Glasser lays out a strategy for teachers who want to get more of their students involved in that process and a strong rationale for doing so. While, I believe that he sometimes needlessly overstates the potential power of choice theory, in his discussion of migraine headaches and dyslexia, for instance, he rightly presents his solution to the problem of motivating students as one of many possible solutions. He argues for the benefits of the use of a cooperative learning strategy that effectively addresses the problem of motivation by fulfilling student needs he identifies as the desire for belonging, freedom, power and fun. Through this strategy, he argues, teachers can increase student involvement and depth of learning because the students are given the opportunity to become self motivated rather than teacher motivated. His theory should be part of every teacher's base of professional knowledge, as an alternative to behaviorism, and the techniques he shares should be part of every teacher's arsenal of strategies for teaching in today's schools.

This book is the updated of "Control Theory in the Classroom". If you have that book, you don't need this one. If you don't, this is a great book for educators.