I'm awake. I'm bright-eyed..... not quite bushy-tailed and I still have feelings.
shan wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 11:59 am
I don't think the phandom necessarily is the target audience though. Obviously both Dan and the publishers are relying on us supporting any project he takes on to sell a good number of the books but from the way Dan has been interacting with us in the last couple of years (excluding the Stereo content blitz), this was always meant to be a personal passion project that was intended to reach wider audiences than just us.
What we have so far is just the introduction (personal intro to him and his story set out for non-phans mostly with a bit of new info mixed in) and the 'How To Use This Book' chapter which sets out the basics of mental health and background knowledge you need for the rest of the book. Yes, it's very technical but it kind of needs to be. He could hardly jump straight in assuming that everyone is on the same level knowledge-wise with this kind of thing, especially when he's made a point when talking about the book so far of hoping to reach people who don't necessarily think about their mental health in much depth like the Phil's of the world.
I'm fairly sure the actual chapters of the book will be in the middle of these two chapters tone-wise. Practical info interspersed with personal stories more in line with the intro than the short one-liners used in the HTUTB chapter which were clearly only there to try and maintain interest in the parts people might find dry as they didn't add anything. Tbh as someone who has done a lot of therapy and did a bunch of psych subjects in uni, he's already mentioned one psychotherapy I've not heard of so I don't know that I'd go so far as to say it's going to be all that simple. He's definitely going to be introducing me to some new concepts along the way.
Call me pretentious too but this boy has clearly done his research and I'm so down to read his passion project on mental health he wrote in close collaboration with a non-Youtuber clinical psychologist. But again, this is totally my jam. He clearly didn't write this for a quick buck and there will definitely be a lot of people who won't enjoy this type of book but for those who are into it, this is a really promising preview imo.
I couldn't agree with this whole post more. I was gonna highlight some bits to respond to, but I love the whole thing!!
Frankly, with the topics this book intends to cover - peppered with Dan's light humor - I almost wish the book had a more... eye-catching title? Like. I fully agree this isn't intended exclusively for the Phandom. Dan clearly wants to reach out to people like himself who've felt lost. I mean, just look at his dedication:
Dedication
I’ve written this book for myself, the younger Dan
that I wish could have read these pages. I hope this
book can do the same for anyone who needs it.
Thank you to the friends and followers in my life
that have given me patience and kindness.
I am here because of you.
As a result, I sort of wish the book had slightly less of a fanciful title? I'm not sure what that could be, but my brain always wanders back to like "10% Happier" or "Everything is Figure Outable" or "Maybe You Should Talk to Someone": all of these suggest the topic a bit better to me than "You Will Get Through This Night", but perhaps that's just a personal perspective from someone who
really wants this book to succeed in the way Dan wants it to succeed.
Levitating wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:48 am
glitterintheair wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 8:07 am
It’s just the introduction so I wanna wait before giving a full opinion on the whole book, but for now the only thing I can say is that I found it very boring to the point I skimmed through it very fast because I just.. didn’t care. Sorry but I am not a fan of self help books in general and that introduction felt too technical. Again, I wanna wait before saying anything definitive, but atm it’s definitely not my cup of tea.
Personally, same!
If we the phandom are the target of this book, then I feel most of us know the basics of mental health he's touching on (having all grown up in Internet era), so reading it sounds a bit boring and, coming from dan, it also gives me vibe of someone who's taking himself too seriously while trying to pretend he doesn't with the joke here and there (he mentions his career in a detailed manner while it could have been left to the little bio in the book
).
I would argue this point a bit. You can't really generalize the phandom and assume everyone here knows the basics of mental health. In fact, a lot of the audience Dan cultivated for many years was one that, intentionally or not, was going through very similar struggles as Dan. It's why we related and felt connected to him. And those same people might not have the resources to pay for a few different therapists and doctors and to get medicine and/or the help they personally need. So, in fact, even for Phandom, this could be a fantastic read.
I said it in my initial post, but it's worth repeating that while this is just the intro, I'm incredibly impressed. He put in the work and he put the research and he put in the collaboration and I'm excited to read the book!
I think someone also pointed out that the book feels a bit dry? But... idk I think that's important for the topic. He did his best to lighten it, but... it's a mental health guide at the end of the day. And honestly, when has Dan not taken things like this intensely seriously? Like, he certainly cracks his own jokes every once in a while, but this is a man who has a
quality threshold. Any light-hearted long-form content from him has often been balanced out by Phil's comic relief. Point is... I never really expected Dan to publish a comedic, happy-go-lucky romp through mental health, ya know?
I should also say that I'm a huge fan of non-fiction books - they make up a good half of what I read in any given year - and self-help is a big part of that. Dan's book leans more fact-based than story-telling (it seems so far) and tbh I really value that.
Anyway. I have more thoughts but they're all meshing together and end up with me blurting out an excited squeak. So I'll stop here.