Reviews

YA Jeffers discusses the crippling effects of fear in her personal life and explains how she formulated a course of action for conquering it. Her answers are simple, her course of action difficult only because it requires courage. She explains how fear is based on the uncertainty of change and the lack of positive self image. She avoids psychological lingo, and includes many case studies about careers and changes in personal lifeboth of which are beginning to cause anxiety in many teens. Her message is reassuring: choices are not opportunities to make mistakes, but valid paths to growth, whichever path we take. She addresses the fundamental cause of fearthe belief that ``I can't handle it!'' Feel the Fear is an important book, for while some young people are more crippled by insecurity that others, many do believe that the path to adulthood is fraught with dangers. Fear is doubtlessly a handicap with which they must learn to cope. Jennifer John Reavis, Episcopal High School, Bellaire

Based on a course taught at the New School for Social Research, this book offers readers a clear-cut plan for action that, when followed, should help them unlearn their misconceptions about of fear and replace them with attitudes of strength and conviction. By mixing positive thinking with situational exercises that examine basic fear responses, psychologist Jeffers shows that fear is what you make of it and that in most cases it is unfounded. She also illustrates key points through examining case studies, which show that when we are fearful, faulty thinking is most often the real culprit; when such thinking is corrected, the fear is gone. This book by no means offers a quick, fix-it course, as the author encourages return visits to the text when situations call for it. Recommended for general self-help collections. Robert L Jaquay, William K. Sanford Town Lib., Loudonville, N.Y.