Matt McAvoy Book Review

It is, frankly, no more or less than an invitation to write your own content, with significantly more blank pages than written ones.  Blanche simply guides proceedings in what is in fact a time capsule, in which you write down the information she proposes, to dig up and dust off five years from now.  I guess the ultimate object is not salacious interest in the outcome, but rather motivational, to get you thinking now, in the present; by merely answering the questions she asks you are effectively setting yourself on the path to self-actualization, your predictions becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, as it were, for the mere fact of making them in the first place.  Personally, I fully support this theory.  I like the way Blanche has structured the questions, and the clever way in which she leans you on the right path without your even knowing it.  Some of the questions, it has to be said, are pretty inspired, and others quite smart.  I won’t share any of them, because I don’t feel it is right to pick up this book with preconceived expectations; participating will be a dynamic process for each reader.

I’m sure there will be some who consider the book something of a cop-out, and that the author is profiteering from the work of the reader, but I disagree strongly, for a number of reasons.  Firstly, the cost of this book on Amazon is not expensive, but nominal – were it so, I might be a little more cynical in reviewing it.  Secondly, I don’t know what Blanche La Mar’s professional credentials are, but she definitely asks some good, profound questions, and I think sets her reader on the right path.  I feel in this respect the book’s word count in its current form is irrelevant; therapists and counsellors, for the most part, listen more than they speak, simply guiding the orator when it is considered appropriate, and that is usually what makes them good at what they do.  Blanche is similar, just in a pre-packaged format.  I think there is genuine merit in this book and this project, and I do recommend that you give it a try, if you aren’t sure which questions you should be asking in life.  In a nutshell, honestly, if you are looking for a therapy course in which the author simply directs you into doing the thinking, and creating the content, this book is absolutely for you; if you are not, then I guess it isn’t.