What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

September 1, 2002
In the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center, libraries are looking to update their collections on dealing with grief. As good as such classics as Harold Kushner's When Bad Things Happen to Good People may be, they suddenly seem outdated. This is the chief premise of Jampolsky's Healing Together. Jampolsky takes a spiritual approach to healing, including as many faith systems as possible and hence providing a global perspective consistent with his premise that the September 11 attacks call for a worldview. A psychologist and motivational speaker, Jampolsky divides his book into three parts, starting with a foundation for dealing with tragedy, then moving on to eight steps to "Personal Growth and Global Healing," and finishing with how to build a positive future, including how to help children and communities cope. The mother of a daughter crippled in a car crash, Schnall writes from the perspective of someone who has experienced grief directly, and she deals with people as individuals. Her book feels both more emotional and less spiritual than Jampolsky's, and it is also less structured despite its proposing four stages of dealing with tragedy. Schnall, the founder of Wives Self Help Foundation, shares story after story of people dealing with tragedy, including the World Trade Center collapse. Both books are well written and easy to read, and both give useful advice and are illustrated with inspiring stories. Readers will find more practical suggestions in Jampolsky's book and more inspiration and emotional support in Schnall's, but both are good choices for general collections.-David Leonhardt, Toronto

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.