Published By: Clink Street Publishing
Publication Date: 7th November 2017
I.S.B.N.: 9781912262236
Format: Paperback
Price: £8.99
Blurb
Live Like You Give A F**K!
The No Nonsense Philosophy for Smart Girls who Want to Smash It!
Boss a bitch? Diet a hot mess? Broke after payday? Ghosted on tinder?
If life feels like a constant hangover why not take five f**king minutes for yourself to decide what you really want. Slam on the brakes, kick off your heels and unplug from the social media circus.
Stop Surviving – Start Thriving
Live Like You Give A F**K will show you how to create the future you want, not the one that’s been shoved down your throat. It will shake and wake you from the hypnosis of modern living. The triple shot of empowerment, confidence and motivation will unleash the badass in you.
Nicola Findlay is the straight-talking, bold, coaching diva who isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. If you ask her advice about your lame partner she’ll give you a bitch slap, tell you to raise your standards and get rid of that loser.
She’s your best friend, your enemy, your punchbag and your cheerleader. Some people call her a diva, some people call her a badass bitch but whichever you decide you will get results.
WARNING: If you’re afraid of a few swear words on a page put this book down and go cry to your Mama. I’m not here to offend anyone. I’m here to tell you how to rock your world, and because I’m so passionate about it I’ll be shouting and swearing from the rooftops.
Purchase from Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-Like-Give-Nicola-Findlay/dp/1912262231/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508170816&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=live+like+you+give+a+fuck
Purchase from Barnes & Noble – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/live-like-you-give-a-f-k-nicola-findlay/1127151814?ean=9781912262236
About the author:
Nicola Findlay, a former British Airways air stewardess, is a qualified neurolinguistic practitioner and accredited international coach with over a decade of experience. She runs personal group workshops, 1-2-1 coaching and corporate training working with companies such as Specsavers and Stella & Dot. Previously she managed the Brighton branch of Life Clubs where she ran weekly personal development workshops with different themes each week before starting her own company The Coaching Diva in 2015. In 2018 she is planning a series of live events in London and New York including; Attracting Mr Right and Live Like You Give A F**K! Nicola lives with her 7 year old daughter and husband in Surrey, England
Website – https://www.nicolafindlay.co.uk/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/nicolafindlaytcd/
I received this book in return for an honest review
My Review
I promised to be honest, I never promised to be nice. I’m going through a bout of SAD so the effort may be a bit much. I have never been a fan of self-help books and I only agreed to review this one because I thought it might be interesting and refreshing. I’m going to break this review into two lists – things I liked and thing I didn’t like.
Things I liked:
- The middle chapters actually contained some sense, although in an over-blown and foul-mouthed form. Those chapters could be boiled down to love yourself, have confidence in yourself and set goals in life. These are reasonable things to suggest to people in need of advice.
- There were plenty of exercises to help people work out what makes them happy, and goals to set, breaking things down into small bites. I think this could be beneficial for some people to give themself some impetus to change.
On to the bits that I didn’t like:
- The foul-language laden prose didn’t appeal, it wasn’t as refreshing as I thought it would be. Instead it came off as trite and overdone.
- The introduction and first chapter were full of rubbish, including a piss-poor understanding of psychology or any other science. Findlay even brought up debunked work by ‘Dr’ Masaru Emoto about water having memory and reacting to being shouted at. I’d link to a google.books page or Emoto’s website, but the idiot doesn’t deserve extra clicks. (His doctorate comes from the Open University of Mumbai, and is in Alternative Medicine). Attempting to apply these debunked ideas to the human body was almost the last straw. I was going to put the book down. I’d managed to ignore the ‘positive thinking fixes everything’ narrative but that just about pushed me over the edge.
But, I’d agreed and the poster had been published so *shrugs* I carried on.
- The final chapter was equally questionable with some definite ableism going on. Telling people that they can control what they think and are entirely responsible for their mental and physical health – bearing in mind that mental illnesses are a chemical imbalance and that they, and physical disabilities, can’t be cured with positive thinking. Intrusive thoughts are not necessarily controllable and telling people who may or may not be getting medical help for their conditions that they are entirely responsible when your brain has a whole life of its own is not helpful, to put it mildly. The problem with most self-help books, this one included, is the stigmatisation of disabilities and the rampant fatphobia. They don’t have to say it outright but it’s implied, if you’re in any way ‘defective’, not ‘perfect’ then they aren’t marketing to you. Fat and disabled = beyond help. Just because Findlay doesn’t mean to do it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
- I wasn’t inspired by the writing or content. The author may be good at speaking to crowds but it doesn’t translate well to text, even with the help of editors. There was also the uncomfortable juxtaposition of Americanisms and colloquial English.
That’s it. Take what you will from my lists.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 