Mark Bramhill

If you truly knew nothing about writing or cinema terminology, this may be a good resource. If not, this book will feel condescending, needlessly lengthy, and meandering. The book deals too much with writing practice in general — I don't need a film writing book to know I should proofread my writing.

A fun, easy read. Sloan has a lot of wacky, entertaining ideas and a enjoyable plot that kept me going with this. But the writing is really nothing special — so much ‘meh' description, and so much of it feels like a repeat (I swear, everyone “raises an eyebrow” or “narrows their eyes” as their primary form of emoting, one character always “totters” around, etc). The characters are fine, but not deep — some are quite fun despite this, but are total caricatures. And then the fun ideas I mentioned — about technology, typography, coding, and museum archives — they are so outlandish and absurd that I question if Sloan knew that they had no resemblance to reality or not. Even knowing a good deal about these subjects (why the book was recommended to me), I can get past them to enjoy them for what they are: pure, fantastical fun.

Dear Sugar offers us ‘Radical Empathy' at a time when we need it most. This collection of letters and advice will make you laugh and weep and feel more connected to the letter writers and to Strayed and to all of humanity. Perhaps none of the letters will resonate with you, make you stop in your tracks (though I bet at least one of them will). But I guarantee this book will make you more connected to the vast world of messed up humans which we live in. And that's beautiful.

Like most self-help book, there's a certain hokeyness you need to get past to read it. Unlike most self-help books, this actually has useful ideas and information. I can say as someone who's perpetually disorganized, this book won't magically transform you into a productivity guru. The writing often acts like a magic bullet, which no productivity method is. But GTD does give good strategies for how to spend less time fretting about everything you have to do and more time doing them. And, for me, that's pretty valuable.