Book Review: For Women Only

Quick Stats
Genre - Non-fic, relationships
Length - ~180 pages
Author - Shaunti Feldhahn

Overview
For Women Only is for women only for a reason - because everything it contains, guys already know inside and out. This is a book on the psychology of men, born from the research Shaunti set out to conduct for one of her fiction novels. Backed up by professional surveys and statistical data, this books presents How Guys Think 101 written especially for women.

First Impressions
Wow. When I walked into the bookstore, I had absolutely zero intention of walking out with yet-another-book-on-relationships. But something about the cover of this one grabbed me, so I grabbed it - and flicking through the pages, I was immediately intrigued both by the author's clear, chatty voice, and the sheer wow-factor of the information she presents.

High Points
Er, everything? The book is broken down into six sections, touching on what Shaunti felt were the six most important attitudes and beliefs men have that women don't usually understand. It's a light, quick read in a chatty and informal style, but backed by rigourous statistical data at the same time. Shaunti provides contrasts and comparisons between male and female ways of thinking and approaching things that make it dead easy to comprehend.

Low Points
This is not a personal low point for me, but this is a Christian book. If you're not an easily-offended non-Christian, it should be fine: there's no theology, or prescriptive directives, or anything like that. Just the occasional mention, and an awareness that the writer herself is coming from a Christian point of view.

Rating
What sort of book is this one? I'd say a pocket-book :) because that's pretty much where it lived until I'd finished reading it.

Usefulness
High. Sure, I adore this book because of the impact it's already having on my personal relationships (and I only finished it this morning), but it is also the best resource I have so far come across to help women writers who struggle to get into the head of a male character. As an utter perfectionist, I would love to be able to write my characters so that readers couldn't tell whether I was male or female because both male and female characters were so real, so true, so convincing... And I believe this book is going to make a serious dent in the Things I Need To Learn in order to be able to write like that.