Improving Your Self-Esteem - Unit 7

C1 Advanced · Cross Text Multiple Matching · Ready for C1 Advanced 4th Edition, Macmillan Education

You are going to read four reviews of a book about self-help. For questions 1–4, choose from reviews A-D. The reviews may be chosen more than once.

The latest publication in the self-help genre is Journeys and Horizons, a guide to improving self-esteem and achieving personal goals. In it, we are presented with a series of case studies based on the interviews writer Oliver McPherson has carried out with his subjects. While there is a story that will reflect most people’s experience, there are occasions when extreme claims are left unsubstantiated, as are unlikely statistics for areas such as ‘the vital link between self-worth and longevity’. Then one wonders how much McPherson has relied on the work of others in the field in order to lend his book more substance. He can also be harsh when it comes to the reasons why people end up ‘demotivated and drifting’, placing the blame solely on an inadequate upbringing and absolving the individual from any personal responsibility, although the rationale for this line of thought is hard to pin down. Nonetheless, this is an accessible read, offering practical steps for confidence-building along the way.

Each chapter of Journeys and Horizons begins with an extract from an interview with ‘a traveller’, which is how writer Oliver McPherson refers to the people whose lives, decisions and accurate/erroneous evaluation of self form the basis of this self-help work. According to McPherson, the choices they have made, or neglected to make, place them somewhere along the spectrum of ‘highly effective’ to ‘extremely dysfunctional’, with the latter condition apparently the fault of poor parenting skills. (Why this should be the case – when the opposite is not – is a point that McPherson does not back up with hard evidence.) Chapters conclude with an analysis of the behaviours that reinforce each person’s positive self-image, or impair it, and a set of sensible key strategies for ‘appreciating your own worth’ that can readily be put into practice. Unlike certain previous authors in the field, McPherson offers some genuinely refreshing insights into what creates a balanced ‘whole’ person, taking the reader with him on a journey of honest self-reflection.

In Journeys and Horizons, Oliver McPherson draws on earlier research into the area of self-esteem and how it influences our responses to opportunities that present themselves in life: do we seize or dismiss them? While not a particularly pioneering work, it is still mostly an engaging one. The case studies of people ‘on the road to personal success or the path to personal defeat’ are well-constructed and the interviews are poignant. Less convincing are some of the strategies McPherson puts forward for dealing with self-confidence issues within the family hierarchy. Is it really worth challenging older siblings or confronting ageing parents with a list of their behaviours you find detrimental to your well-being? McPherson has also rather limited his readership by focusing on the middle-class and employed; a misjudgement, to my mind. Surely in times of recession it’s the underprivileged and long-term out-of-work that need a boost?

With the wealth of new titles jostling for position on the self-help shelf, it can be a challenge to pick out something really worth your attention. Oliver McPherson’s Journeys and Horizons may well be that candidate. An evaluation of the requirements for positive self-image and personal achievement, the book offers little that is new in terms of theory and concept, but readers will appreciate McPherson’s unique blend of frank assessment and consistent optimism. Life skills will be enhanced by following his simple recommendations – strategies we already suspect may be effective but have never quite managed to put in place. For my part, if the case studies presented had reflected a wider section of society, McPherson’s work might indeed merit a public service award. All the same, an intelligent and inspiring read.

Which reviewer expresses the same opinion as reviewer C regarding the scope of McPherson's book?

Which reviewer has a different view from the others on the originality of McPherson's ideas?

Which reviewer shares reviewer A's opinion about the support McPherson offers for his beliefs?

Which reviewer expresses a different view from the others concerning the extent to which McPherson's ideas are workable?

Improving Your Self-Esteem

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