Chimp Paradox – Prof. Steve Peters

Why I bought it

This has been on my reading list for a long long time. It is probably one of the first books I placed on my Amazon reading list and just hadn’t moved forward with it for no reason at all. I can only think I had too many books to read when I put it into the list, that being said there are probably around ten I read before I actually hit purchase and I still have books that I purchased prior to that which are sitting on my shelf. I’d heard so many good things and in truth, it was a podcast that kicked me into gear and made me hit buy and as soon as it turned up I started reading it.

My thoughts

This book I feel has the power to change peoples lives it clearly has done in the past and Professor Peters has clearly had an effect on some highly successful individuals. These include people such as Chris Hoy and unfortunately Liverpool football team.

I really enjoyed every part of the book in truth. I started with an open mind and a couple of individuals had said it was quite hard to get into which I would agree with. Once you get past the first couple of chapters you just become more and more engaged with the text the exercises and the tasks which he asks you to complete. You see yourself in the examples you see what you’ve done in the past which you could probably develop and it’s only through a medium such as this I feel individuals will be able to grow in the correct direction. The book simplifies how the brain works split it into three parts which is a chimp all frontal brain and logic and the computer which is where all our memories are stored. By looking into your own reactions and behaviour in the past you can understand when the chimp has taken control and you start to look at where potential anxiety’s come from, I know I did, and you start to realise what you could probably do to develop better reactions and strengthen your character in the correct manner.

This book is not going to fix people without them putting effort into fixing what needs to be changed. As mentioned the book is incredibly useful for anyone looking to develop and grow and it does it in a way that is quite fun at times using really simple text and pictures but not being too overzealous and just really enjoyable to read.

Who this is for?

For anybody who wants to look within themselves and find areas in which they can probably develop they spoke would be quite useful. There are loads out there that say that they do the same and probably do I just haven’t come across them just yet. I believe the exercise is incredibly useful and once I’ve gone through them maybe I’ll come back and do another review but just by thinking about them you change your mindset or tweak it ever so slightly. When you react to a specific trigger you start to think about that trigger a little bit more and why you’re reacting in the way that you are. For example for myself when driving I can lose my cool every now and again but have read the book I realise that there really wasn’t any need to and I started laughing at myself when I could feel the chimp taking over. I believe some of the exercises and tasks would actually be really useful for those suffering from anxiety depression and other mental health issues and hopefully, I can utilise some of the learnings to deal with my own anxieties. Therefore the book really is for anybody but I do really feel that it is for those who want to delve into their mind and understand it slightly better and work out why they react and act in the manner that they do.

Where to buy

Any good bookshop, or online store, will stock The Chimp Paradox. It’s published by Vermillion (Random House) with ISBN 978-0-09-193558-0

Links

For more books, check out the Elusive Book List on Amazon but it will shortly be on our new website. We will of course, review more of these in time, but any questions feel free to drop us an email at bookclub@elusivegroup.co.uk or ask it directly on our Book Group.

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