I borrowed this book from the library in an attempt to better deal with my son's father, who has huge anger issues. Instead of really teaching me anything, the book just went into the different types of personalities. Being someone with my own emotional issues, I already feel I know quite a bit about different personality types- especially negative ones! (I used to BE the negative one!) It's concrete for learning about the different difficult personality types, but that's about it. It's a bit of a false promise on the book's part to teach you to DEAL with them however, since it never really goes into that. Perhaps someone forgot to publish that part!

I wish I could say this was a good book. I really, really do. But sadly, this was not the case at all. I read this book hopefully expecting how to learn how to deal with people are just out there. The only thing I got from reading this book was where is the Anger management book? The description of different personalities they try to explain to you is in more than one way just flat out bad. Depending on your personality, you will often find yourself thinking, "Really? REALLY? C'mon on now...". I didn't finsih reading the book with a sense of how I can handle difficult people on a consistant basis. In fact, the book served a good purpose of describing to me certain traits and how well they mesh with others.

My mom brought this book to me when she realized I was about to go nuts because of my mother-in-law. I was literally leaving my house just so I wouldn't have to see her. After reading this book I was able to set my boundaries with her, I am able to tell this woman that this is my house and my rules. Although, she doesn't like my new positive ways, according to me it doesn't matter because the truth of the matter is. This is my house, my husband, my kids, and above all my rules. I would really recommend this book to anyone having problems with dealing with hard (bullies) people.

I read this book as a result of curiosity. Huge mistake! This book teaches you steps and gives you tips on how to deal with "difficult people." While this book may be helpful to some people, as an outgoing person I feel the best way to deal with difficult people is to just tell them they are out of line or that their behavior is creating frustration. Usually being truthful and just plain outright is more effective than beating around the bush like this book recommends. When people do not respond positively to that kind of action then choosing to avoid these people is the best alternative. I can try to see form the perspective of others how this book may help conflicting situations but I really think just dealing with it proactively and with a neutral attitude better results will be met. This book provided information that can only be regarded as common sense or searched on google for shorter more condensed tips instead of dredging on through this unhelpful book.

I bought this book when attempting to adjust to a new, difficult supervisor at my employment. The book promised that it would help me confront verbal bullies and cope with criticism. After reading the book, however, I was just as clueless as to how to handle the personality clashes as I was before reading the book. The book discussed in depth different types of people that could be difficult to tolerate, but never really offered any concrete ideas for stepping up and taking control of these awkward situation. It basically informed me that people with certain personality traits can be difficult, and left it at that. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t really interested in ferreting out the personality traits of my nemesis, I was merely interested in coping without losing my mind. Although the book offers little advice on dealing with certain types of people, it does offer many suggestions on how to say no to people, and how to avoid becoming overwhelmed by favors you don’t wish to perform. For people with problems in this area, this is an okay book, but it didn’t help me with the issue I was facing.

A friend gave this book to me because I have a hard time taking criticism. Actually, I would feel like everything that went wrong was my fault, and feel like no matter what I did, I was being criticized. This book is excellent because it helps you understand the difference between someone just stating an opinion, or offering you criticism. It has been really helpful in overcoming what I thought were my shortcomings. It also offers excellent ideas for addressing people who really are offering unwanted or unwavering constant criticism (a bully, so to speak), as well as learning how and when to say no, which as a mom I sometimes have trouble with. This book is an excellent tool, and has helped with the relationships in my life. Highly recommended.