This is marketed as a humorous self-help book for helping anyone, with any problem. Burroughs has chapters ranging from "How to Find Love," and "How to be Thin," to "How to End Your Life." What initially sounds like dark humor harboring grains of truth, actually felt, to me, like a mockery of people who find comfort in self-help books. Burroughs' chapters on dealing with alcoholism, suicide, or a dying loved one feel authentic because he has lived through those experiences. However, chapters on topics as diverse as anorexia, rape, and telling a child that they're dying, came across as smug, and "Well, let me tell you what I would do in this hypothetical situation that I will never have to encounter- it's so easy." Real people, with real lives and real problems, would probably not appreciate having Mr. Burroughs give them instruction on how to deal.
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