Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception Second Edition

by Thom Hartmann

Book Overview

A study of attention deficit disorder which argues that the condition isooted in human evolution includes supporting evidence and reflects newdvances in non-drug treatments. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1887424148
• ISBN13: 9781887424141
• Release Date: August 1997
• Publisher: Underwood Books
• Length: 189 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Hartmann and Drugs

Hartmann is a successful multitasker: not only does he write popular books on ADD/ADHD, he has published numerous books of poetry, has opened four hospitals in Third World countries, and so on. His point is that ADD/ADHD is a curse if it is not channeled properly, but can be a great blessing, and an enormous goad (and even key) to success if the "sufferer" learns to handle it, learns to cope with it. As someone who was bored in school not just because it was repetitive, not just because teachers spent way too much time on task for the attention spans of children, but because it was all too EASY, I recognized myself in Hartmann's case studies immediately. But I was never diagnosed with ADD or ADHD because I learned to cope early. I taught myself to stay on task long enough to finish projects. And as Hartmann stresses, that's the key: finishing projects. When you're ADD, or a "hunter," it requires an extra effort of focus to do it, at first--not just a burst of focus, but a willingness to keep your nose to the grindstone for long periods of time (HOURS! DAYS!) no matter how much it hurts--but soon enough the effort is internalized and success on the world's terms becomes much easier. Not that the "farmers" will necessarily understand that success. My colleagues say I publish "too much." I'll be working on a scholarly book and a play and a translation at once, and they'll all get done, pretty quickly, within months, because I know I have to push hard to finish or I'll lose interest. As a result I've published something like 15 books, and have a hard drive full of unpublished and unproduced manuscripts as well. I can't understand people who spend fifteen years writing a single magnum opus. Don't they get BORED? I do want to take issue with one unnamed reviewer, though: "While I can agree with the point in this book that ADHD to some extent is situational (a hunter temperament within a farmer society) I have to raise obvious concerns about the outcome of any book not giving full credit to the metabolic issue and medications. ... It is an extremely painful experience for many parents of ADHD students to NOT provide medication or alternatives to medication while students continue to be hyperactive, unfocused, extremely distractible, while exercising little impulse control." This sort of review is irresponsible. The reviewer clearly did not pay attention while reading Hartmann's book (easily distracted? ADD?). Hartmann stresses specifically that ADD/ADHD is painful, stressful, traumatic for many children, and that Ritalin or some other chemical intervention may in many cases be not only necessary but life-saving. But he also stresses that long-term Ritalin use is not the solution--that what children need is instruction in coping with ADD, in channeling their impulses in productive ways. In effect, what he is calling for is help for children with ADD/ADHD who need to learn to produce Ritalin analogs in their own brain chemistry, without external int

I Owe This to the Author

Your reviewers experience: a few short years ago my youngest son was in real trouble. Skipping school and failing I had him tested at his therapist's request. Near genius IQ. In eight grade his math aptitude (which he failed through most of school) was above 12th grade. He was miserable and so was our family. In search of answers he was diagnosed as ADD. It was a dark dark time for me to the point I believed I might lose this child. The book is a well written argument that the child is not defective, but rather these ADD "hunters" are forced into a "farmer" environment we have grown to demand of public school system children. It also offers helpful advice on how to deal with this issue. The book allowed me to see that my son wasn't "broken" and if he had a disability it was because he was ill suited to the public school environment which demanded dull witted compliant students and wasn't interested at all in offering any alternative. Reading this book allowed me decide the world wasn't on my son's side, but I had to be, and have confidence that when I could help get him into a different environment it would be better. I can now report he dropped out of high school, a thing I came to look forward to. He immediately went to take the GED and passed most scores with 99th percentile (nothing below 93rd percentile), finished his Eagle scout badge, and is starting his own craft business doing glass work. I believe the result could have been much different without the perspective of the author and thank him for it.

Feel good about your ADD

Hartmann's "Hunter in a Farmer's World" theory is incredibly enticing to people who have ADD. I was just recently diagnosed (as an adult) and though my initial feelings upon finding that there was a chemical/biological reason for my spaciness were those of relief, I still felt somewhat... broken.But after reading this book (and buying into Hartmann's theory...whether it is scientifically sound or not I am not qualified to say, but it has the ring of common sense about it) I started to see the positive aspects of this "disease." In fairness, Dr's Hallowell and Ratey addressed the positive aspects of ADD in Driven to Distraction (also a must-read) but Hartmann drives the idea home in a very approachable way. The book is a joy to read and is very inspiring.Now whenever I'm feeling a bit down about ADD, I scan a few pages of the book at random and leave the house confident that my hunter instincts can carry me through anything. I still use my medication for when I have to deal with the farmer world, but the rest of the time, I hunt!! Thom Hartmann teaches us how to maximize the potential of our gift: ADD.

Revolutionary thinking, turns the ADD debate on its head!

The most insightful book on ADD I have read to date. While not the perfect diagnostic starter's manual for ADD newcomers, this book is an imperative read for all ADDer who have a negative view of their condition.Hartmann has crafted a scientifically supported theory that empowers ADDers. Hartmann asserts that ADDer are "hunters" living in a society that has literally evolved into a culture of "farmers." While the common ADD traits of distractibility and quick thinking were essential in hunting an antelope, they are less desirable when planting rows of crops or balancing a checkbook. Unlike many ADD books, this is not a substance-less, feel-good read. Hartmann acknowledges the working realities/difficulties of being an ADD "hunter" in a non-ADD "farmer" world. Only Harman's model, based on the evolution of the human brain, frames the ADD debate in a manner that brings ADDers on equal intellectual footing with their non-ADD counterparts. In the hunter/farmer model, ADD is not a disorder or defect of the brain, rather a set of traits that are not perfectly suited to getting through the many mundane tasks of a farmers world. Drawing upon ADDers like Einstein, Franklin and Edison, Hartmann illustrates how many ADDers have utilized their quick-react "hunter" brains to achieve incredible success in a "farmer" world. Not only is this book empowering for people who view their ADD as a "disadvantage," this book is must read for the parents and teacher who shape the perceptions of ADD children.