Don't Sweat the Small Stuff for Men

July 9, 2001
Carlson (Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, etc.) is back, with 100 brief chapters of advice, many of which acknowledge the male psyche. For example, men have told him that doing service feeds the soul, so he reminds readers to have a special cause. He also advises men to avoid letting their competitive natures rule their lives and to maintain their male friendships after they get serious with a woman. The chapter "Take Your Wife's Advice" makes clear that Carlson is targeting readers who are part of a nuclear family. Then again, a good number of chapters offer more gender-neutral advice: cast your choices in a positive light ("be in favor of simplicity" rather than "against clutter and chaos"); keep a spare set of keys and a wallet with a credit card and some cash, so that losing these items won't be catastrophic. There's inevitable repetition if read from cover to cover—Carlson advises readers to do something nice for others and to be more generous, and to practice mindfulness and be present—but this book is meant to be read in inspirational snippets. The author's "half full" outlook will indeed inspire and soothe: readers should "calculate the number of things that went right today" and observe that there's no bad weather, "only different kinds of good weather." Life, he reminds us, is "too precious to take for granted." (Sept.)Forecast:Publication in time for Father's Day might have worked better, but a $200,000 marketing campaign (including major TV advertising), Carlson's scheduled appearance on
Good Morning America and his bona-fide franchise bode very well.