picking up this book was in part return to self-help (you gotta help yourself), in part an investigation of how therapeutic tools are communicated to the masses. while i agree that this isn’t a literary masterpiece, and at times it’s repetitive, and, yes people-who-already-know-it-all-(including-me), indeed, someone has told you some/most of this stuff before (your mom), this book is nonetheless a great guide for establishing healthy self-care habits and dipping your toes into the tools of cognitive-behavioural therapy. 

so, i launched my fiction-healing of 2025 with What You are Looking for is in the Library and the Midnight Library (libraries are just curative, heh?). but things got real non-fictionary now. [glances over her shoulder to check at her baby-monster anxiety that’s peacefully napping with a dummy in its mouth]. [sighs]. and i must say, why have i not read this book when it came out? 

you see, 2022, the year this book was published, was a tough year. covid was still a big deal. my undergraduate self was just figuring out how to read an academic paper, how to ensure the chicken is cooked, why is it so much harder to make friends, why do i have to be in the country for my online exam instead of chilling at home, and yada-yada. certainly, the biggest punch was the outbreak of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by r*ssia; and that’s just not something that you know how to deal with (nor does anyone else, who is supposed to help, really). now, i remember seeing WHNTMTB and dismissing it as “probably some typical self-help fluff”. things got easier to manage over time, because of people and my own experimentation with things that “should help” (and some helped big time indeed). however, i wish that this book was a part of that journey because it would have given me an coherent overview of the things that i can try, plus the compassionate voice to keep me going.

the book is written in Dr Julie Smith’s incredibly reassuring voice (which you get to hear if you listen to the audiobook). it explains the tricks of the mind and paints a realistic picture of how to cope with negative emotions, mood, anxiety, panic, grief, and stress. and sure, some of this stuff i’ve heard from my mom, or youtube, or kind of just figured it out myself, or had a very philosophical conversation with a long-distance friend. however, this doesn’t diminish the value that this book can add to one’s efforts to take good care of own mental health. some chapters contain a “toolkit” section that lists specific strategies to help with managing emotions and thoughts. some are taken directly from CBT and it’s great to see these techniques being made more accessible to some readers in a form of this guide-book. 
***

bottomline: if you would like some practical, reassuring, comforting, and an easy-to-read book on mental health, this is a good start, both as a written copy and as an audiobook. but, if you’re looking for impeccable writing style with philosophical undertones, you might be better off checking out something written by Alain de Botton (his most recent book, The Therapeutic Journey is a good start and is the most chronological in its guidance), or Solitude by Anthony Storr.