Families and How to Survive Them: Amazon.co.uk: Robin Skynner, John Cleese: 9780749302542: Books

More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.

First Sentence
John Let's start with an easy one . . . Why do people decide to marry each other? Read the first page

Explore More
Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

(What's this?)

Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)

raising babies(11)

attachment theory(8)

psychiatry(6)

developmental(7)

child care(7)

parents(6)

psychology(4)

psychotherapy(4)

therapy(4)

parenting(5)

Customer Reviews

29 Reviews

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading to graduate from the university of life, 2 Nov 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Families And How To Survive Them (Cedar Books) (Paperback)

John Cleese got together with the skilled family therapist Robin Skynner to try and explain what is meant by therapy and psychotherapy, and why so many of us need it - but equally deny it in ourselves.

Written as a conversational chat between the two, it's an fascinating description of how and why we fall in love, and how we develop from babies to adolescents to adults, and how during this development we so often become "stuck" in child-like behaviour.

I must admit I found myself and more importantly my relationships here in this book again and again, and almost everyone I've known who's bought the book has gone out and bought a dozen other copies for friends.

As a parent, it's a well written roadmap of your childs development, and as an adult, udoubtedly, required reading in order to graduate from "The University of Life".

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Food for thought, 15 Feb 2001

By

Mrs. K. A. Wheatley "katywheatley" (Leicester, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)

I really enjoyed this book. I thought that the mixture of using a lay person who has experienced family problems and a practitioner of family therapy to write a book together was a really novel concept. It worked for me because it added that personal touch that elevated it above being a dreary text book about hypothetical families and their problems. It was quite humourous in places and I enjoyed that too. I wasn't sure what to expect with John Cleese, but I thought they got the balance just right.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading & An Expectant Father's Best Friend, 30 Nov 2004

By

Ms Anne Lester (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Families And How To Survive Them (Cedar Books) (Paperback)

This book should be given out in senior schools to pupils, PRE marital relationships and child rearing. It is a complete eye opener and it explains relationships and how these are effected by past generations. It discusses dependency and defines boundaries, their purpose and how essential these are. This book provides one with essential clarity that assists via ownership and self development, towards the realisation of choices, individuality, change, health and empowerment. I would say that before reading this book, I had no clear understanding of just how important Fathers are, to the entire health of the family and that every Father MUST read this book! You are certainly NOT redundant!!! Written in easy to read, simple conversation format between John Cleese and his family therapist of (I believe) some 10 years. My thanks to both.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 29 customer reviews on Amazon.co.uk

Would you like to see more reviews about this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 14 reviews 3.9 out of 5 stars

Were these reviews helpful? Let us know

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish I had read it earlier!
I really like the way this book is written (in a dialog form). There are many questions answered which I always wanted to make to a professional. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Katja