Tripping the Prom Queen: The Truth About Women and Rivalry

by Susan Shapiro Barash

Tripping the Prom Queen is a groundbreaking investigation into the dark secret of female rivalry.
Susan Shapiro Barash has exploded the myth that women help one another, are supportive of one another, and want each other to succeed. Based on interviews with women across a broad social spectrum, she has discovered that the competition between women is more vicious precisely because it is covert. She tells
* Why women can't and won't admit to rivalry.* How women are trained from an early age to compete with one another.* In which areas women most heatedly compete.* How rivalry is different among women than among men.* The differences between competition, envy, and jealousy.* When competition is healthy and when it isn't.
* Why women find it irresistible to "trip the prom queen."* Useful strategies to stop the competition and forge a new kind of relationship with other women.Whether you've tripped the prom queen or been tripped yourself, you will discover an engrossing exploration of this female phenomenon, as well as a beacon of hope for better, more fulfilling relationships.

Genres: Nonfiction, Womens, Feminism, Self Help, Sociology, Personal Development, Psychology

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2000

About the author

Susan Shapiro Barash is an established writer of thirteen nonfiction women’s issue books including, TRIPPING THE PROM QUEEN, TOXIC FRIENDS and YOU’RE GROUNDED FOREVER BUT FIRST LET’S GO SHOPPING and fiction under her pen name Susannah Marren. Her novels, BETWEEN THE TIDES, A PALM BEACH WIFE, and A PALM BEACH SCANDAL are available now.

Her books focus on the gender divide, how women are positioned in our society and their innermost feelings about themselves as daughters, mothers, sisters, friends, wives, mothers-in-law, daughters-in-law, rivals, colleagues and lovers.

Susan has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, The Chicago Tribune, Elle, ‘O’, and Marie Claire. She has appeared on national television including The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC. She has been a guest on NPR and Sirius Radio and speaking appearances include Credit Suisse, Bayer Diagnostics, UBS, United Way and the Society of the Four Arts. Several of her titles have been optioned by Lifetime and HBO.

For over two decades she has taught in the Writing Department at Marymount Manhattan College and has guest taught in the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. She has served as a literary panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts, as a judge for the International Emmys and as Vice Chair of the Mentoring Committee of the Women’s Leadership Board at the JFK School of Government, Harvard.



Follow her on Facebook and Twitter
and Instagram @susanshapirobarash
for updates and additional writings.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of those books I bought because I felt like I NEEDED it. I had gone through nothing but awful things with friendships with women I genuinely cared about only to have them stab me in the back. I turned to this book for comfort. I just wanted to be told that I wasn't the crazy one...that women do have some internal, biological NEED to be catty and half out of their minds for no particular reason at all.

I already knew this...because I've felt myself get jealous - insanely jealous over other women before. The difference is that I have learned to acknowledge that feeling and even admit it to myself, to those I'm jealous of and actually have learned to be genuinely happy for them. It's not something we're naturally inclined to do. We are biologically wired to be jealous. It all has to do instinctual survival mechanisms. Procreate with the healthiest, strongest male or die. If you dissect jealousy - all it is: A survival mechanism. Simple as that. It's one of our few survival mechanisms that still remains on high alert. If we don't keep our mate, retain the best job, have the most perfect children, the best looks, etc. we are afraid of being relegated to the lowest tiers of social structure. In caveman days, those women would have received less food, less worthy mates, and less respect than those at the top of the hierarchy.

Not only that, but add in the mothering instinct - the desire to protect what is OURS...and yes, we ladies can be downright overzealously protective, baring our fangs at any beautiful woman that walks by in our man's line of sight.

Kind of silly isn't it? But easy enough to understand at its roots. However, you will not find any biology, chemistry, or history in this book. You won't find any SOLUTIONS to the problem. You will find a lot of "That b!tch!" stories...but they aren't even all that fascinating. You could hear better stories at the local hair salon. There are also quite a few interviews with proclaimed catty women who aren't very remorseful and don't really add anything to the book.

The big message you take away from the book is that you're not alone...but the book completely ignores what to do about it. Overcoming jealousy and learning to be a good friend is hard and I would have loved to hear more about how others negated their feelings. For instance, I think on terms of karma - if I'm kind to other women, they can't justifiably be nasty to me...and if they are, karma will deal with them in the end. I also learned how GOOD it feels to be happy for someone, even if she is 5'10, drop dead gorgeous and has the perfect life. No one is perfect, some just hide it better than others.

The second part of the problem is the one most of us turn to this book hoping to solve - What do you do when it happens to you? It hurts. We all know that, but I was hoping for some sisterly, loving approach and not the cold, term paper feel of what I read. I needed a hug...and what I got was someone saying, "Oh hey, this one time this girl I knew stole this other girl's husband..." I don't care about all that. I just want to learn how to effectively deal with the hurt from this happening to me IN MY OWN LIFE rather than being one of those scarred women who walk around saying things like, "I just don't get along well with women..." or "Women are b!tches..." Nothing says, "I am part of the problem" more than those two sentences and I run, not walk, away from potential gal pals who utter things like that. I don't believe women are evil. I believe we are just hardwired to look out for number one...but if we bond together, we can learn to retract the nails and have wonderful, healthy female friendships.

I wanted to LOVE this book...but instead, I walked away only wishing I did. The subject matter is fantastic, I love the title, but the execution made it hard for me to make it through the book. I think I would have preferred reading more about WHY we do the things we do, how to stop, and what to do when you encounter a female who hasn't gotten the memo on treating other women with kindness and respect.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read into the evolutionary reasons why women are so awful to each other. Ladies....we have enough stacked up against us to move forward in this world. For the love of Goddess stop being a huge part of what is holding us back. Love yourself, check your baggage and help us rise as a whole.

[Ashley Piekarski · Rating 1 out of 5]

Extremely disappointing. This book made me paranoid that every female friend or family member I've ever known is hellbent on stealing my partner for sport.

The concept wasn't totally flawed. I understand that the feminist movement and emphasis on female friendships has been a powerful portion of modern culture for a while now, and too much of a good thing always becomes problematic. Here, I understand that she's reacting to the fact that many women, including myself, have a hard time being truthful about conflicts with their female friends and family members for fear of being labeled a traitor to our sex. It's well known that there's a "special place in hell for women who don't help other women." However, I feel we as women shouldn't be forced into the caretaker role. I shouldn't be required to help other women, because women are independent powerful adults that can make their own choices and deal with their own consequences.

I feel it is important for all women to work toward the advancement of women in general. I think it's important that we as women don't turn on each other just because men has given us limited resources. However, NO I am not required to help this random drunk woman, a stranger who decided to get wasted of her own free will at this bar, simply because I am another woman. A strange man cannot order me to go into the women's bathroom, pick her vomit-soaked body up, call her a cab and pay for it myself since she lost her wallet.

Wow I really have a chip on my shoulder, don't I? It was pretty exhausting reading my complaints, wasn't it? Well that's the entire book.

Susan Shapiro Barash seems to argue that at their core, women are one-dimensional power hungry sexual fiends who have no other goals in life other than to steal your man for sport.

I was excited to hear an academic analyze the realistic pros and cons of female friendships, but was deeply disappointed.

[Joanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fatally flawed research lays the foundation for a book chock full of whiny women who lack self-esteem and the emotional intelligence needed to first be happy with themselves and then to have meaningful relationships with other women. This book is so full of examples of female behavior that is drawn from reality TV shows like The Apprentice and The Bachelor, stereotypical movie roles and other forms of non-reality that it becomes almost comical that the author's resume touts that she is an authority on gender studies and brings 'critical thinking' to the subject. That it not to say that an occasional thought might apply but just that women are not ALL about competition, envy and jealousy as the author tries to prove. Without going on to highlight the details of what is off, wrong and bad about this book, I simply warn you that if you identify as a smart, open-minded, perpetual learning feminist, this book is the complete counter-point to any and all of that. It might even get you to wonder about anyone that has written a positive review or aligns with the author as an authority on anything involving research or gender issues.

[Y Sh A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great sociological analysis of the unspoken issue of women's rivalry and it's necessary covert expression

The most complete book on the matter of female rivalry. It takes a sociological / psychological view and I wish more Feminist readings were given, considering the author is a professor of Gender Studies, still amazing research and contextualised in a very understandable way, from the books and studies done on teenagers and cliques (Odd Girl Out by Rachel Simmons is outstanding on the matter) to the touches upon expectations of socialisation and the issue with society's rejection for women's anger and competitiveness in favour of the role of nurturer, which leads women to manifest covertly these feelings through intragebder rivalry. It is a saddening but necessary view to take awareness of as women if we can hope to affect and change things for the future. The last part of the book is dedicated to examples of how competition and even envy can be turned around for good of we can focus them on what we'd like to change in our lives rather than growing resentment towards people we "envy" and therefore feel in competition with.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for book club. It was an interesting take on the rivalry and jealousy that occurs between woman in dating, marriages, work, raising children, looks, and beyond. I like that it explored different phases of life and while it was mostly stories of competition and how that destroyed friendships it also gave examples of how many women made it work. I enjoyed this book. It is true that often women and girls destroy from the outside in. My favorite quote was found in Chapter 5, page 125 when a interviewee said: "I just wonder why women can’t be kinder going up and kinder going down."

[Dannielle Lindsay-Rohr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any woman who has daughters, sisters, female co-workers or best girl friends should give this book a read. It covers all the reasons women are insecure and competitive with each other. Gives great insight into the nature of how women poison each other from a very young age!

As a mom of young women I found some of this book funny and some of it so incredibly sad. The way women treat each other can sometimes be so brutal and damaging. This book explains some of the reasons why.

[MJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

First, this was poorly written and organized. The book concentrated on the negative relationships and rivalries of women. This would be fine if it were balanced with a look at positive healthy relationships. While chapter eight does make an attempt to educate the reader on strategies to form healthier relationships, it falls short. Skip the book, embrace your female comrades and treat others how you want to be treated.

[Meghi Dedja · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF - too many anecdotes about bad situations that can arise between women. Given that the book was written by an academic i was expecting useful research and statistics. Would be more beneficial to head towards academic journals on the topic

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. I found it to be profoundly enlightening and I gained a great deal of insight into my relationships with other women

[Robert Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good overview of these problems, but the solutions require a more radical transformation of the culture in my opinion.

[Amy Preske Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

How many ways can the author tell the same story via different interviews? This book could have been done in 2 chapters vs 9. Or maybe it was more than 9. After a while they all ran together.

[Mark Elworthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

After being in two districts that internal candidate (female) were not elevated for a new position, I needed perspective.

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

unlike a lot of other people who read this book i wasn't expecting a self-help book telling me how to repair my relationships with women. my friend myn recommended this book to me based on many of the experiences she and i have both had with women throughout our lives, a sort of "look, it's not just us" sort of thing.

i didn't really like the book however. for one, barash focuses entirely too much on those that feel the envy and the jealousy and glosses over the maybe 5? subjects in the book that she cites as being secure, having healthy egos, and still not being able to sustain relationships with women as they are the ones being dumped, mistreated, envied, etc.

another major problem i had with it is that she likes preach feminist ideals a lot while simultaneously confusing "equal rights" with "better" or "more". and every time she mentioned that there were "not enough good men" i wanted to punch her in the face. she states the reason why women fight over men is that it's really their fault - there aren't enough of them, good ones, to go around. WOW. many times does she state this. wow. just... wow. no wonder she's so young and already been divorced and remarried.

how about focusing on loving your man and not dealing with the bitches in your life? maybe that's why he's moving on from you. it's just... women are not blameless in this. they never are. she likes to point out how women are the cause of their own rivalries in every aspect of their lives except for two areas: men and jobs. those rivalries are initiated because of her "not enough pie" quote, and that's the fault of men. it disgusted me.

the mother daughter rivalry chapter was interesting, though i think it was a bit sugar-coated. she probably had a hard time getting actual mothers to admit their rivalries with their natural-born daughters. going the other way you could see it, or mother-in-law to daughter-in-law she had it, but finding more examples of mothers envying and fighting with their daughters must have been hard. i know it's something my own mother was a pro at and yet would never in a million years admit to.

for people that WERE looking for a self-help book on this subject, i've got some advice. make friends with the opposite sex. it's easier. and maybe if you get lucky you can find some women who think like you do and don't want to deal with this bullshit either. but it's not going to stop. not unless you're willing to put up with drama in your life one way or another.

but i think the book could have been MUCH better. it just wasn't written very well. i'd like to read another book on the same subject but by a collaboration of psychologists and sociologists and not someone with a background in women's studies who cites legally blonde and sex and the city.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, an easy read with some interesting insights, but this author relied on so much anecdotal evidence and analysis of TV shows and movies that I think a better, more accurate title would have been something like "Tripping the Prom Queen: What Personal Stories and Media Representations Tell Us About Women and Rivalry." There was very little research related to women and rivalry ... so while I enjoyed the anecdotes and media analysis, I thought that the title and self-proclaimed summary of the book portrayed this book as more serious and research-oriented than it was. I *liked* this book, but I thought it would take a much different (hard facts) perspective, and I felt a little misled by it.

Some quotes that I found interesting:

1) "To this day, I trust them implicitly, with the kind of faith you reserve for people who have proved themselves under fire." (page 4)

2) "it seemed that few stories were as popular as two women competing over the same man" (page 16)

3) "We see ourselves through comparisons with our mother, our sisters, our friends, and our colleagues." (page 19)

4) "it can be threatening when a friend makes a radically different choice. Instead of remembering that we each have our own path in life, we worry about how our friend's decision reflects on us." (page 40)

5) "'Men punish the weakest member of the group; women punish the strongest.'" (page 41)

6) "As psychologist Jo League puts it, our mothers are our first mirrors, and their interpretation of us can last a lifetime." (page 47)

7) "Any athlete will tell you that you are much closer to your competitors than to anyone else - they are the ones against whom you measure yourself, and only they can truly understand you." (page 117)

8) "Historically, as numerous scholars have pointed out, the actual raising of children never occupied a woman's entire attention." (page 144)

9) "Dorraine has come to understand that she is envied precisely because people can see themselves in her. Having done well, she seems to stand as a living reproach to others who have not achieved the same things, and as a threat to women who have accomplished more." (page 151)

10) "being like me is supportive; being more successful than I am is betrayal" (page 152)

11) "'You're the one whose life I could have had, if only I hadn't had mine.'" (page 211)

12) "Existing within two different categories, competition becomes moot, and the women are free to learn from each other rather than resent each other." (page 212)

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

n her book, Tripping the Prom Queen, Susan Shapiro Barash "found hints of a dark secret, a problem that everyone seemed to sense but no one was willing to talk about; women's rivalry."

Few women are eager to share that they struggle with envy, jealousy and competition in general let alone with their close friends but Barash had five hundred heterosexual women willing to participate in her research. There were many who initially wanted to pretend that they were just fine, that no, they did not in fact struggle with any of those negative feelings, but a few more questions into the survey and they would let loose. In fact, 65% willingly admitted to being jealous of their best friend or sister.

Sadly, Barash noted that women become more liked when others are able to pity her; they are foul weather friends who enjoy the company of misery but become jealous and envious when this friend is happy, loses weight, falls in love. Hilary Clinton's popularity rose during the Monica Lewinsky scandal; Martha Stewart was more likeable when she had to do jail time. Competition, envy and jealousy can be relieved by human frailty and misery.

Oscar Wilde said, "Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend's success."

Barash remarks, "One thing became crystal clear... there is something irresistible in tripping the prom queen. No matter how good our own lives are, no matter how much we know better, no matter how we try to remember the importance of female solidarity, every single one of us has at least one moment of looking at a powerful female rival and savoring the fantasy of bringing her down."

Susan Shapiro Barash is a gender expert who writes from a feminist slant; she would like for the soccer moms and the career moms to get along but in the end she has no answers. Ultimately the book falls flat, ending with yet another example of envy, jealousy and competition.

Tripping the Prom Queen is a great title. The start of the book was captivating; women actually mostly hate each other and wish one another ill. There are lots of anecdotal accounts of women and their troubles with other women, trouble with their mom, their sisters, their best friend, their co-workers...

Unfortunately, the book continues with anecdotes and never gets to the point of telling us what to do about all this hate. It is a fascinating point that never arrives at a conclusion.

This book would have made a great article for a magazine or newspaper but as a book it ran thin.

[Bucket · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author uses quotations from the hundreds of interviews she conducted with a diverse group of women along with references to popular movies and television to describe the rivalry that seems to be inherent between women in all aspects of their lives. She first describes all the types of rivalry (over men, family, career, appearance) and frequently says that the difficult part is that women feel they have to compete in every arena at once and against all other women, even their mothers, sisters, mentors, and close friends. In addition, Barash describes this competition as just a female thing - even in the workplace women are competing against each other and not against the men. The end of the book offers a few pages on how to use jealousy and envy to our advantage and how to support each other instead of tearing each other down.

A lot of what I read hear did ring a bell, but most of the quotations from Barash's interviewees seemed to represent the extreme end of the spectrum. I've felt or experienced some of what was here, but not in a 'take over my life' kind of way. This 'extremeness' made a lot of Barash's points seem melodramatic to me. It also seemed a little strange that there were so many references to television and movie relationships - these examples also seemed to fit into the extreme category of competition that Barash favors in the book. I would have liked some more in-depth analysis or results based on more than just interviews in this book - it came off as a little fluffy.

Themes: women, rivalry, competition, success, beauty, perfection, family, relationships, popular culture

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really blew. BUT, I will hedge that statement by saying that I read it for an online book club populated by a group of very well-educated, feisty women (some of whom have radically different political viewpoints) who understand statistics. And we had a ton of fun ripping her methodology to shreds. So in that sense it was quite a satisfactory read. Almost everyone seemed to be in agreement, and yet, there was quite a bit of discussion going on. It seemed that all of us agreed that the points she brings up as to female competition and jealousy in personal relationships and the workplace might very well be valid, but that she doesn't make an empirical case for it based on the survey she presented. Not to mention how much she undercuts her own sense of objectivity by relating her life to Sex and the City and blithering on tearfully about how much she connected with the survey participants (a sample she collected by putting up flyers at the local Y).

All in all I give the book club props for voting to read this one because it gave me the chance to brush up on my old social stats skills and we all had a good discussion. Again, as I noted, many of the participants seem to have a pretty solid stats background so it was an extra lively discussion. But please, don't spend the $$$, just find it at your local library.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shapiro Barash has some interesting theses and makes some interesting points about competition, envy (wanting what someone else has), and jealousy (wishing ill on someone who has what you want) in women. She interviews a large, nonrandom but diverse (and hopefully semi-representative) sample of women.

Even though she provides some statistics for the percentage she interviews talking about such-and-such problem, I wish she provided statistics for the other side--what percent of interviewees feel they have a few healthy female relationships, what percent feel they have a lot of healthy relationships, etc. I'd love to see a demographic breakdown of her sample versus a population breakdown also. There seemed to be a remarkable number of professional women quoted from her studies.

For reading purposes, there is a nice balance of anecdotes and thesis. She does discuss male competition and relationships also, but since she didn't do any research on men, her statements lacked authority for me. (It's possible she cited studies in the notes that I didn't see.) This gave the book a slight air of speculation for me.

[kjgowers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Women can be mean to each other. I agree with this books message.On the other hand, this book is having an identity crisis. The jacket for the audio book shows a humerous image of a prom queen whose face looks as if you have just stepped on her toe. This image combined with the title could make you think that the book was a parody. It's not. Apparently it is a serious work based on a study. Well no it's not that either. With phrases like "According to my research..." you might think that it was. It is not. Maybe it is the scientist in me but I think that research should involve things like a hypothesis, argument and standardization. The book was good for what it was but I bristled whenever the author spoke of her findings when her support for them was part movies and TV shows and part interviews.
I see female rivalry all over, at work at my daughter's school. This is a serious issue. Attention needs to be brought to the subject. I just didn't like the references to scientific research when their was no indication of any.

[Lana. · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Don't get envious, get your own life." One of the best pieces of advice from the book, still rings clear in my head.

Once you get past Susan Shapiro Barash's interesting definitions of envy and jealousy (counter to what I originally thought they were), it was easy to see the situations she described, and the voices in interview were echoing some of my own past experiences.

It felt almost shameful to admit it at first. But having seen the positive notes that can come from such feelings (such as finding out what one really wants, and going out to get it [in a fair way:] and how to expect more reasonable relationships with our girlfriends), it was reading that was time well spent.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the stories are really scary. I think that this sort of competition really does go on between women, but I don't feel it had affected me to the degree presented in the book. I think that this problem affects an older generation to a more significant degree. In general, I still feel that the men I work with are a lot more competitive that the women. Although I agree that women, in general, are more competitive about other aspects of life, especially women that are more "traditional". However, I don't feel that my friends give a shit about who gets married or has kids first, and I definitely have never had a friend try to steal my boyfriend or anything.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating ride this was. Barash interviewed 500 women about their relationships with their friends, sisters, mothers, coworkers, bosses, and mothers-in-law. She shows that our relationships aren't just with mean girls or catty women; actually, there's an unrealized competitive urge that men and women have- they just express it in different ways.
From a feminist viewpoint, it brings us to the realization that women aren't the victims of the men or patriarchal institutions. Now, women are most at war with each other, or with themselves.
On a personal note, it really helped me understand why I'm not really friends with many girls! And also how to better relate.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could give the book 2.5 stars or 6/7 on a scale of 1-10 as opposed to 5. I still haven't finished the book, I found it to be slow in the beginning, then it picked up some pace and lost momentum a little less than 2/3 into the book.

While it has given me a little insight and ability to recognize some behaviors that some individuals might have I've been lucky not to experience anything like it in the book nor did it strike a cord with me personally on a significant level.

The topic is of interest but I didn't find the book to be that well executed.

[Abigail (Abbe) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor editing. This book should have been 1/3 the length and for that I give it 2 stars because I skimmed the majority of the book looking for the information I needed for my self-help stuff.

The self-help information was eye-opening and EXTREMELY valuable and for that I give it a personal 5 star stars. I am the woman getting tripped in my working life. Now I know what my struggles are because I never understood female rivalry prior to reading this book so I cannot thank the author enough for writing this book.

Hence the overall book rating of a 3.

[Alexis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two and a half stars.

Some interesting thoughts about female rivalry and envy. Some of the revelations of women interviewed were shocking, because they were down right petty. At times, it made me think about how envy/competition among women has become commonplace and normalized.

There were some things explored in the book that seemed very obvious, but this book still made me think about female competition, female friendship, and why rivalry happens.

Lots of food for thought.

There were a few things that bugged me about this book.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful. Similar in content to Queen Bees and Wannabes.

While the observations and diagnoses of the way women treat each other when they set up unfriendly competition was immediately recognizable, I didn't find sufficient solutions to the problem.

Still. Maybe knowing is half the battle.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, this book was depressing. And so outside my experience that I spent the entire book wondering if I was simply deluding myself by thinking I had never dealt with any of the kinds of women discussed in the book (well, okay, a few, but they're in the minority).

I have experienced envy, but it's never manifested in such nasty ways; maybe I have my parents to thank for that - and my girlfriends for being awesome, even when I do envy them.

[Lake · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book more than I did. The entire premise was great but it turned into a tell-all of women undercutting one another. We all know this happens, I wasn't expecting it to detail personal experiences of such events. In short, don't go looking to this book for solutions to resolve female-rivalry.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a very good commentary on our self absorbed, got to have it all society. Clearly there is some truth here, but I find it hard to believe that it's as bad as the author implies.

I didn't read to the end. I found the author's writing to be very repetitive and I got the point long before quitting it at 75%.