Lizards Eat Butterflies: An Antidote to the Self-Help Addiction

by David E. Martin

Lizards Eat an antidote to the “Self-help” Addiction unveils how we’re living on this planet and how we could do so much more to improve our experience with a shift in perspective. In a triumph of cutting-edge science, social commentary, and deeply personal life experience, David Martin shows us that, with an alteration in perspective, that which stands in the way of our humanity is an illusion that can be eradicated.

194 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 6, 2020

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very weird ambivalent 3 stars from me. Definitely one of the stranger works I’ve read - part biography, part symposium, part rant, part sheepish yet self congratulatory attempts at humour, part political, part anti-political, all without a particularly coherent structure.

I agreed with the main main points - we live in a culture that feeds us harmful ideas that we are building ourselves to reach a peak “self” and that peak is just ahead, just ahead, just ahead, and that rather than believing every moment that you are working towards becoming an ultimate self it is better to embrace each second with gratitude and awe at the strangeness of existence and how lucky you are to have arrived here.

That said.

The style with which this author goes about what could be a relatively simple message is extremely fucking hectic. He has the energy of a zealot in everything he says, feeling strongly about every possible point, even if what he’s feeling is as neutral as the idea that nothing matters. To me, “nothing matters” and “dust to dust” are true and neutral concepts. This man did not bring a chill energy to these concepts. The way he speaks, weaving in an over-worded and over-complicated way through opinions, statistics, ruminations, and conflicting ideas that he tries to express as similar have the energy that was part cult leader, part spiritualist, and part every middle aged man who just thinks he knows everything about everything. This was made more difficult to follow by the fact that he moves through his points in ways that are disconnected from each other and do not lead to a concluding thought of any kind. This is baffling, as these are key elements in both philosophical and legal writing, the latter which he seems to have done throughout his life and the former he is claiming to do here. Especially this kind of work (self help/anti self help), it’s key to the product to be able to look at a section and pull out the main points and ideas being discussed. With this book this this is not simple, or even doable at times.

In terms of the overworded nature of the text, that seemed to me a poor choice and had the vibes of entering an academic dick measuring contest more than a way to actually get points across well. Given the purpose of the book, you can only infer that the writing style is the way it is as a form of posturing rather than an attempt to be useful to the reader. Yes, talking in a theological or philosophical manner does often require more complex language. But not like this, Dave. You can make the same points in language that is far more accessible. And don’t you want that? To reach the widest audience? And to ramble the tiniest bit less, goddammit?

While there were ideas I found interesting, and small stories I enjoyed, there were also some points I found harmful and bizarre and ridiculous.
- he barnies on about how people should try harder to stop being too thin or too fat. Particularly he takes personal offence at the idea that anyone is fat, stating that they are failing to take control of their destiny and are living empty minded lives of gluttony. It’s such a weird, angry, entitled, simplistic idea to bring to a self help book - negating people’s personhood based on ideas he has about their lives that are completely based on assumption. This is called ~stereotyping~ and ~being a fucking idiot~ Dave.
- there is a bit at the end where he implies that the reason that suicide statistics are so much higher for men than women are because women are causing men to kill themselves by trapping them in loveless marriages and spending too much time with the kids and none fucking their husband (this is literally the sentiment). He says this is women’s fault, and that women are creating a culture where men are deliberately trapped in no-sex-zones and see the only way out as suicide. This is so blatantly and obviously stupid and wrong that I don’t even know what to say. Male suicide statistics have everything to do with toxic masculine ideals about how real men don’t cry and real men stick it out even when they’re fucking miserable and shit like that. If men were taught that it’s okay to cry, it’s okay to want connection and love, how to go about having conversations about emotional needs, and how to fucking know when to phone it in in a life situation, be pragmatic, and get out of it - that would do a hell of a lot more in preventing male suicides than “if only the damn wife would just blow me like she used to”. Like, are you kidding me.

More content/style nitpicks: Any of the good points I would’ve taken from this is shit I already know about and understand, which did make me be like ???? when every so often the author would pause and be like “hah! Bet I just blew your mind didn’t I sport! Bet ur noggin noodle is just absolutely in outerspace right now!” And it’s like…. not really, no. What you’re saying is interesting and I’m mostly having a good time, but you have to stop congratulating yourself for blowing everyone’s tiny minds every 15 lines or so when that’s not the case.

Altogether, definitely my weirdest read of the year. This guy could definitely lead a cult, makes sense he’s had a lot of success in the maze of business. But other than that. I don’t think I’d really recommend it as a learning experience to anyone when you can get mostly the same point across by just saying “yo man, life’s like a big wave and we’re all just surfin’ on it. So take control of how you’re surfin cos you only got one board and always remember you just gotta be grateful for every moment and how you’re getting to experience this totally gnarly wave of life brah”

On that note, peace out my bruhs, surfs up 🤙🌊☀️

[Silvanus Slaughter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended for out of the box thinkers.

[Calvin ewashkiw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio was good. Very good theories on mindsets

[G]

Very hard to rate. So much good info, so poorly organized and poorly read.

[Raf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't a bad book, but I felt it was a bit of overkill on the author's part to challenge every aspect of society. Yes, I agree; patriarchal, fundamentalist, super religious, and corrupt capitalist institutions have done awful things throughout history. However, it does not mean that every element and aspect of life requires scrutinization to the point of justifying becoming a total outcast. I agree and appreciate Martin's take on the failures of our antiquated education system and his emphasis on reflection and identifying what is truly important to an individual in the pursuit of meaning and purpose. I also appreciated the push for personal authenticity not based on material worth or possessions. I don't regret reading this book, but it's a mixed bag of agrees and disagrees, and it wasn't easy to digest in some areas.

[Connie Bonvechio]

The author is too full of himself, and even though very intelligent, lacks real understanding of the scriptures. The church has held to dogma for many years, but the truth is within the pages of scriptures if one searches. He constantly removes the true meaning of many revelations and I feel this work is nothing short of blasphemy. The icing on the matter was his explanation of what Christs resurrection could be attributed to.
Really disappointed in this author, as I respect him for his professional and realistic take on what has happened in history and why the world is struggling now. His very humanistic view of faith and belief is nothing short of heresy.

[jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful and informative book!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning a different perspective about life in general. I think the author is an interesting and beautiful person who makes a great deal of sense with his wealth of knowledge and experiences as well as his ability to be authentic. Again, an interesting book for anyone!

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Torturous ramble. It almost killed me to finish it, I was listening on audible and fell asleep approximately 500 times during it. Seriously, a 6 hour listen took me about 6 weeks to get through. It makes an excellent sleep aid as it is far from captivating.

I like think outside the box kind of reads, but this had no box or contents IMO.

[Jaco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very decent book with many good concepts and ideas. The more biographical stories sprinkled throughout was not distracting from the main points too much. An entertaining read with interesting points of view that are described really well.

[Bruce Kolinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It's quirky and refreshing; down to earth yet visionary; practical in a material sense and insightful in a spiritual sense.

[Duane Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deeply thought provoking

[EOC]

X2

[Joshua Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed grab bag of concepts that, if it weren't for the "educational" system indoctrinating us into cogs in a machine who look and think the same, would be self-evident to the human collective, combined with the author's witty humor and seemingly undealt with emotions surrounding a loved one's death being projected in a neat little "here's what I think you should think to better yourself" package that speaks against other books of the same nature.
But I'm only a quarter of the way through and things change. Only my perception changes, that is; not myself or anyone else, according to the author.

[Kayley Steele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Content - The content is written in a way to challenge the reader to think outside the box and challenge social views. The context itself had lots of ideas and opinions and I respected the opinions even if I do not agree with all of them. I feel there was a lot of information and ideas and sometimes it all jumbled together.

Audio Quality - Audio quality was good, voice was not too pleasant

Overall - Book is good for those wanting to explore ideas of social constructs and likes to think outside the box, I feel this book would be better to read than listen to on audible.

Recommendation - To those who want a read to challenge their views and beliefs.