The Book of Knowing and The Book of Overthinking is a bind up of two short self-help guides by clinical psychologist Dr. Gwendoline Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Book of Knowing and The Book of Overthinking: Dr. Know’s Guide to Untangling Your Brain is a bind up of two short self-help guides by clinical psychologist Dr. Gwendoline Smith. Smith is known for her Dr. Know blog and previously published each book separately in 2019 and 2020, respectively. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at around four hours and is narrated by Liza Seneca.

The Book of Knowing section is an educational guide that uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) concepts to help the reader understand and manage their feelings. It is the first 40% of this bind up. The Book of Overthinking is its sequel, and covers ruminating and worrying, which are common symptoms of anxiety. Both books provide clear advice and tangible examples that are easy to understand, though some concepts feel a bit repetitive.

I do want to note that a lot of the examples include fat shaming. It’s possible that those are included because they’re common anxious thoughts, but I think those concepts could have been described without the shaming. Apparently the print version has illustrations, so maybe something was lost in the translation to audio narration. Either way, I docked an entire star off of my rating

CW: fat-shaming

Special thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing, Andrews McMeel Audio, and NetGalley for providing an audiogalley of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own. The Book of Knowing and The Book of Overthinking: Dr. Know’s Guide to Untangling Your Brain releases on May 10th.

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