Ruth K. Westheimer (1928–2024)

This is a great book. It's not as comprehensive as a book like The 36-Hour Day, but it is a great supplement. Dr. Ruth approaches the topic with her own, down-to-earth, realistic slant. She is caring, but not sentimental and she pulls no punches. I read the book while in the midst of caring for my mother. In many ways the book was an affirmation that I was doing okay, but I also got some useful tips and gentle reminders that I don't need to try and do everything myself all the time. show more Definitely worth reading. show less

Overall, the autobiography of "Dr. Ruth" Westheimer never really rises to any particular heights.

Readers who are interested in the lives of German Jewish children sent out of the country during the Second World War will get a superficial look at how the children were cared for, but won't really get an overview of the programs, or how it affected the children and shaped their subsequent lives.

Readers who want the inside story about the diminutive sex educator and media darling of the 80s show more won't get much more than an "and then I did this radio program and got famous." There's not much about how external events shaped the sexual mores of Americans and made them receptive to this particular celebrity at that particular time.

If you're looking for anything deeper, you won't find it here. What you'll find is a mildly interesting story about a young woman who persevered through setbacks and disappointments, but there's not much heart in it. show less

I saw Dr. Ruth speak at Brown University. She spoke with such poise and confidence that I fell quickly in love with her. Her autobiography doesn't dwell on self-glorification or self-pity, but instead she presents her story exactly like she presents everything; bluntly and with a huge amount of humor.

I grew up in New York listening to Dr. Ruth on the radio. She was so warm and inviting and gave such sound advice. I have always admired her courage, her zest for life and her strong presence. I was surprised therefore by her book The Doctor Is In in which she gives advice on how to live life with Joie de Vivre and get the most pleasure and joy that we can. In this book, Dr Ruth seems different; her voice is shallow, distant and repetitive. Basically the book is a guide on how to handle the show more vicissitude of life: the hurt, the grief, the losses that come our way. She encourages us to feel all of our feelings associated with our pain and then get moving and find the Joie de Vivre that we are missing. She gives us examples from her own life. What is surprising is how simplistic and formulaic her advice is, how she repeats it over and over and how the more she says it the more removed it feels. Given that Dr Ruth encourages us to feel a full range of feeling it is disappointing that she mostly only expresses "happy" and "nice" feelings and doesn't give many clues on how to express the full range of emotions we might be feeling and use this to lighten our burdens and better ourselves. She also doesn't seem aware that people have so many different ways of coping and that being active and busy might work for her but not for others. Overall, a miss for me though I always look forward to hearing from Dr Ruth at different stages of her, and my own, life. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this book for an honest opinion show less