The societies we live in are increasingly making our minds ill, making it feel as though the way we live is engineered to make us unhappy. When Matt Haig developed panic disorder, anxiety, and depression as an adult, it took him a long time to work out the ways the external world could impact his mental health in both positive and negative ways. Notes on a Nervous Planet collects his observations, taking a look at how the various social, commercial and technological “advancements” that have created the world we now live in can actually hinder our happiness. Haig examines everything from broader phenomena like inequality, social media, and the news; to things closer to our daily lives, like how we sleep, how we exercise, and even the distinction we draw between our minds and our bodies.

This book has to be easily the best self help book I’ve read so far. This book literally consumed me while I was reading it and I found it very hard trying to pull myself away from this book, because it was so interesting. 

This book was the first book ive read from Matt Haig and I need to say that I will read the rest of his books soon, because I absolutely loved this book and how it was written as well as how easy and understandable the author makes this book. If his books are as good as this one he will become my favorite author very easily.

This book makes a lot of good points about mental health and how to navigate our mental health in the era of instagram, Facebook, twitter, consumerism and internet in general. Which becomes a more and more relevant topic as more of our lives take place on the internet.

As someone who is dealing with panic attacks and depression I need to say that this book is very helpful and really motivates you to get your life back together even if it may seem very very hard or impossible at times.

As I’ve said above this book is very easy and simple to understand, which is a big reason why I love this book so much because even if this book uses a big words, the author takes the time to explain the term in a smooth and easy way. And the big words in this book are very rare because the author uses a very understandable language and not a lot of complex terms.

In this book, the author shares with us his personal experience dealing with mental health and what helped him and what he still struggles with decades later dealing with his mental health problems. Which really makes it relatable if you are struggling with your mental health and makes you realize that you aren’t the only one struggling even if it may seem like you are the only one. 

This book shows you how you can take small steps when it comes with dealing with mental health problems, which may seem too small to matter what they will matter in the long run. 

This book also inspired me to take a break from social media and try to quite the process of mindlessly scrolling through instagram, twitter or Tik Tok for hours each day and rather pick up a book. 

The writings style here was amazing, it was like the author knew what words to use to fully grab my attention and to not let it go until the very end of this book. Which I complete love when it happens in books, but more so in non-fiction books.

When it comes to the ending of this book I thin it was a little bit weaker than the rest of this book, it wasn’t super bad or horrible but you could feel like this book gets a little bit worse during the last chapter of this book.

I Give This Book 5 / 5