Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?: The Sunday Times bestseller, with over 1 million copies sold

I enjoyed this book. It’s well laid out and easy to read. The writer covers enough topics to get you started and going on a mental heath journey. What I found most useful was her look at values. It did get me started on thinking about my own values and from what she explored I started to understand I did value the values of fairness and bravery. There’s also a great section regarding anxiety. I only went through anxiety mildly but going through and writing as encouraged questions asked in that section did help me explore some of my issues. I’m glad I got it and would recommend to have or gift. It’s lovely, useful and safe.

Good book

The first thing we read about the author in this book (in the dust jacket literally after the book's title), is that Dr Julie Smith is "a social media superstar ... ". First things first; these are the signs of these times. Truth to be told, then the entry carries on introducing Dr Smith as a "trained psychologist" - there's still hope. A large online presence has brought Dr Smith remarkable fame. In her social media "bites" (as she likes to call them), short pieces of advice to cope better with everyday life uploaded to online platforms, Julie always looks relaxed, happy, often enthusiastic. She likes retorting to basic examples, using often pieces of fruit and biscuits to explain her theories; cups of grains of rice become large populations. Sometimes she jumps up and down on a chair to explain why is OK to be happy, or turns the screen into black and white to denote pessimism. These snippets have given Dr Smith followers by the millions. Too much? No, because she's good at what she does, which is explaining an intricate science (psychology) to the layperson. Even better, her advice is always practical, not abstract so the viewer will know how to put the advice to work. She reaches a large audience because she's thorough in what she does, but also simple - in the best sense of the word, she knows what's good for the spectator and how to reach him, she's indeed, and thankfully, no “celebrity” blabbing platitudes. She's an actual scientist, and it shows. At the beginning of her book (her first, surely not her last) Dr Smith explains that said book contains the further "details" of her mini-clips. She thought that there was something missing in those short clips, due to the format constraints, so here it is. Quite a fair point; this book is the elaboration beyond the "bites": what she's left behind for clarity and brevity. And, yet again, she's nailed it, because the book is a worthy piece of counsel and which can be enjoyed with or without the mini videoclips. Dr Smith gathers the right skills necessary to succeed in "popular science": she's knowledgeable, passionate and writes well; and also, she expresses herself very clearly - there's no jargon or unnecessary long words for show or to impress her audience. Furthermore, she's very warm, so much that the pages read like long letters writen by our favorite cousin. And so, with these foundations, the book starts and goes well, and then never drags, never fails; it never loses the reader's attention. Dr Smith goes for width rather than depth and this helps: the book feels well balanced. And at the same time, the author's honesty and cautiousness are ever-present: she explains (repeatedly) that the text is no magic formula for happiness, only a set of tools that, consistently applied, will help the reader. There're some examples along the pages, but Dr Smith never falls for the mistake (tediously common in popular science books) of retorting constantly to examples to fill whole chapters. She does not need that: she knows quite well her trade and is merely willing to share her knowledge and experiences with the reader. And yet again, in the clearest of ways, perhaps at some points treading dangerously (but never falling) for a too simplistic ground. Yet Dr Smith never crosses this line and she never addresses her readers from above, lecturing, much less patronizing her audience. There are many icons and arrows in the book, but the reader never feels treated lightly. On the contrary, the surface is plain, but the core of the book (the “tools”) is quite worthy. And what's wrong with the book? Not much, nothing important. Perhaps the reader could do with less graphics, drawings and charts. These take a good percentage of the total space, a bit too much. For instance, a simple box with three blank columns "Values - goals - day-to-day", a template for the reader to make his / her own charts, takes a whole page. Is that necessary? And related to the previous, this is one against the publisher. The book falls for a common failure: it has 352 pages in the first hardback edition and should have been 152. Not that the text should be shorter, but the spaces, the whole pages containing a title, the chapter divisions and the pages with one or two paragraphs in massive font are all unnecessary and mere distractions (and a sad waste of paper), and all just to make a longer book, perhaps thinking that this will make it more interesting or worthier. As if a volume would be better for merely being thicker. A big mistake, unfortunately quite common these days. But yet again, the book is very good and it could (and should) be only the first of a long and illustrious career. Dr Julie Smith has a lot to tell and she's happy to share it; that's very good news.

I haven’t quite finished this book yet but I felt a review was needed. I’ve found it to be so helpful and informative. The writer keeps things simple, so it’s really easy to understand and to pair the information with your own personal experiences/thoughts/feelings - which I think is important for the topic. It’s one of those books I’ll keep after I’ve finished it, and come back to in the future when I need a little reminder that everything will be just fine :)

Very useful self help, found the advice helpful, a must for people with anxiety depression, exercises are useful reminder what informed

This was the easiest 5 star review I could write! Over the last few years we have had our challenges but Dr Julie has been by the proverbial side through different forums and the book is the cherry on the top. While reading this book you can feel a sense of warmth around you making you feel that you are not alone or not to be ashamed of our vulnerabilities. It is out emotions that define us and we should embrace them. The book guides you in a concise and empathetic manner sitting proudly beside me wherever I am / should I need to refer to it. You can target each topic as and when you need. It is more than a book for me, it is a symbol of hope that we all have our place in the world and there are good people out there caring and supporting us raising mental health awareness. My only wish was that Dr Julie and the book were there when I was younger in my darkest times but I am glad she, and the book is by my side now when my thoughts started to wonder in a negative zone or feeling low. I would go as far to the book is inspiring and life-saving, I genuinely mean that. Even writing this I am tearful but have a sense of joy knowing that I am not alone and that mental health is no laughing matter or makes me a lesser person. I am grateful for everything Dr Julie does and will continue to spread her good work to friends and family. Dr Julie comes across as someone an absolute expert in her field with a genuine care, the world could really learn a lot from her. My final comment is "WHY HASN'T NOBODY TOLD ME THIS BEFORE!"

I have mixed feelings about this book. There's some very strong sections written reliably and that are helpful, reminding me of therapy undertaken taken in the past. Some parts however feel very opinionated and possibly influenced by wanting to create social media friendly soindbites. They can even be dangerous. Take for example the subheader "You don't need to work on your self esteem" This section quickly, actually, turns into a section on aiming to be "successful". These are not the same thing. It feels as though this was misleading and an attempt to hit certain notes and create an ahhh moment rather than being accurate. Self-esteem IS important. And if you don't attach it to being "successful" then it can be absolutely fine to work on it. This headline in the book is misleading and can make you think you shouldn't work on self esteem. I just think that's really unhelpful to convolute phrases like that, especially to people that can be feeling vulnerable and needing help. The notion of not chasing success is fine, and certainly relevant to a world of social media. But that's just it - this feels reverse engineered to meet that customer base, and that just annoys and disappoints me. I expected better or somebody so qualified. I think the author is commenting on certain toxic positivity in regards self esteem and I think she should just be clearer about that rather than saying "don't work on your self-esteem" like.. what the hell, what kind of statement is that?! We shoild cherish and protect our self-esteem, that's the truth. Is the author confused, or just willing to be misleading for a catchy subheading? It's clearly aimed at the social media market that has tried to capitalise on this word, but it's just as bad. So yeah, you need to be careful with this author. She doesn't use words accurately and perhaps more for effect, or at least convolutes meaning in an unhelpful way. Shame because it's got some really strong points and I love the feel of it.

Haven't read the whole book so far only the first couple of chapters. I will say its a very good read so far and certainly put things into perspective. It explains things very well and gives good information on how to deal with negative thoughts and other things. Certainly helped with a few things i was dealing with.