Practically Perfect in Every Way

A wry, perceptive, and witty examination of our relentless need for self-improvement by the admittedly imperfect founding coeditor of the award-winning quarterly Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers.

Jennifer Niesslein-writer, editor, mother, and flawed human being-spent two years taking self-help advice in an effort to become a better, happier person. Fulfilling her goal of enlightened self-improvement begins with the relatively mundane (her house), moves on toward progressively larger themes (money, marriage, motherhood), and ends up with karmic insights into the burning issues of life (spirituality and meaning). As she allows an array of self-help experts-from Dr. Phil to the Fly Lady, pediatrician William Sears to holistic health guru Dr. Andrew Weil-to copilot her life, Niesslein sometimes finds herself in terra incognita. She runs through her house throwing items away. She communicates with her husband in three-minute speeches. She encourages her first-grader to dream up revenge fantasies. She searches for holy water. At one point, she is even possessed-briefly-by the spirit of a conservative talk-radio host. Although the road to self-help Nirvana is fraught with peril, she discovers that there is such a thing as the good life. It's just a question of how perfect you have to be to get it.

With her irreverent sensibility and uncanny insight into the Zeitgeist, Jennifer Niesslein takes on our uniquely American preoccupation with the perfectibility of man and turns it squarely on its ear.

"Impelled by Oprah to wonder if people can really control their own destinies, Brain, Child magazine cofounder Niesslein binges on the advice of bestselling self-help books. She delves into feng shui expert Karen Kingston's decluttering tips and techniques to spiritually cleanse the home using bells and holy water. She explores the genius of relationships maven Dr. Laura Schlessinger at pushing the right emotional buttons (is Niesslein guilty of making her husband feel he's not a priority in her life?). The self-improvement experts can't help Niesslein expel her stubborn six-year-old from the bed he's been happily sharing with his parents; Dale Carnegie's and Dear Abby's advice on cultivating friends and becoming popular make her feel both superficial and exhausted; and Jorge Cruise's eight-minute exercise workout is 'like throwing a few lima beans in a hot fudge sundae.' Although she touches on hot spots that concern most readers — family, home, health and finances — the self-help book angle feels contrived and stale, the jokey self-deprecation forced and some of Niesslein's analyses are tedious, such as a chapter on financial freedom that devolves into a primer on Roth IRAs and mutual funds." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Niesslein--writer, mother, and flawed human being--has written a wry, perceptive, and witty examination of the relentless need for self-improvement.

Jennifer Niesslein co-founded Brain, Child, which premiered in March 2000.