What do You think about The Seven Levels Of Intimacy: The Art Of Loving And The Joy Of Being Loved (2007)?
Full of good things and crazy things. Fascinating and infuriating. Poorly written but not entirely useless. If you talk to me about it I will refer to it as "the seven-layer cake of intimacy." Claims that the purpose [not a purpose, but *the* purpose] of life is to become the best version of you you can be, which is obviously right, but stated over and over again in a way that doesn't carry as much water as Kelly wants. Yes, if you can always figure out what choice will help you become the best version of you, you're all set. I often can't. According to Kelly, relationships need to serve this purpose. I think it's great when they do, but there are other reasons you have relationships, unless you define "be the best version of you" sufficiently broadly, in which case enjoy your delicious bowl of tautological soup. Also, I think Kelly is overly enamored with ideas about leading a disciplined life, and doesn't give enough love to play and exploration.Still, I read it all the way through.
—Rif Saurous
This book is killing me. I have to force myself to read it. I've actually started reading it twice because it just bores me to death. I feel like the idea's are probably good, but each paragraph is so redundant that it could be whittled down to half the length just by taking out all the repetition. I just want to scream, "I get it! We're supposed to be the-best-version-of-ourselves! Now what?!" If I have to see that hyphenated phrase one more time I may throw the book across the room and never finish it. The thing is I really hate not finishing a book, but I only picked this one up because a wise friend said it was a life changer. I'm thinking it's just a bad delivery and not worth my time. I prefer therapy.
—Chelsea
My first books about self help and relationship. This is an area I'm increasingly interested in yet no little about. I like that the author began with a story. He also ask the question: "What is your story?" Reading about intimacy, I ask myself and recall some scene in a movie or a work of fiction, have I seen this before? Often it's not spelled out but I can see many examples of people relating to each other in intimate and non-intimate ways. The thesis seems to be happiness is related to intimacy. The author has set out to bust a few myths about relations. One is that sex does not equal intimacy. There seems to be some insight.
—Duc
