First things first: I have ADHD. Therefore, I'm always keen to learn more about my brain, even more so when it comes from a fellow fuzzybrain like mine. Besides, I'm usually rather skeptical about books that sound like they want to sell a mental health condition as a hyped feature of #hustlecultureglory.
Thankfully, this is not the case with this book. While the title might come on strong, the book is much more nuanced and the authors Penn and Kim Holderness discuss ADHD on multiple levels.
I loved this book and I highly recommend it, especially for those of us who do not take meds and rely on other strategies to live with ADHD. The author is NOT anti-medication and explains why he chose to opt out of medically treating his ADHD. In doing so, apart from living in an ADHD-friendly environment and being supported by his wife, co-author Kim, he shares various techniques and strategies one can implement to manage ADHD symptoms. Kim, as the non-ADHD partner, adds her perspective about living with (and managing) someone whose brain works differently.

Looking forward to getting a physical copy once the book is out :)

While I read this as an eBook, I imagine the audio book will be even better, as their narration is always amazing! This book is informative and entertaining while also useful for folks wanting to know more about living with ADHD. I am a personal fan of everything produced by the Holderness family, so I may be a bit biased, but this is certainly a five star book for me. ^_^

I've been following the Holderness family since Christmas Jammies and watched their amazing win on the Amazing Race. I've been really interested in Penn's open discussions of his ADHD on social media, and was excited to read this. Although I read this as a digital ARC (thanks to NetGalley and the publisher) I bought a physical copy to give to my ADHD son as well. This is a personal narrative sprinkled with expert opinions and advice- its strength is not just in explaining ADHD, but in giving practical examples of how it can be both a major challenge and a major opportunity. I'm so glad my son is growing up in a world where ADHD is seen as awesome in both lights. And frankly, a lot of the book spoke to me as well, as I realize that my entire family is somewhere on the ADHD spectrum. I particularly liked the notes from Kim (Penn's wife) and the discussion of ADHD communication challenges, since that is the area I feel myself most profoundly affected.

Thanks for this worthwhile and fun read!

I loved this book and I will definitely be buying a copy of it for my personal library. I can see this flying off the shelves at my public library as well.

This is probably one of the most interesting reviews that I’ve ever sat down to write. It’s very easy, you see, to write a review about a piece of fiction. It’s also easy, I think, to review non-fiction related to history, education, politics, or a memoir. And I guess I always feel a little weird when I’m reviewing something that could be classified as a self-help memoir Often, I’ve found myself measuring books like this based on the quality of the support provided and I generally don’t read them incredibly often. <i>ADHD is Awesome</i> is the sort of book I sit down with feeling as though I learned a lot and found quite a large amount of it useful—whether to myself or my partner—but am also cognizant of how very personalized the story is due to the numerous personal experiences highlighted on by the authors.

Suffice to say, I think that this entire book is very useful. I think there is a lot of information that can be gleaned from it and it was certainly far more of an entertaining read than your typical ADHD support book. That said, there are also sections that feel as though they contain more fluff than is really necessary. And ultimately, I think it’s important to take the authors at their word: this is not the end all be all of ADHD books. It’s a tips and tricks sort of book with a side of personal stories with the hope that readers may find pieces of the advice useful in their day to day. It’s a positive hype up to support those who have negative feelings about their diagnosis or life struggles.

And there’s a lot of merit in that.

But if you’re reading this because you’re hoping this will be the one and only book you have to read about ADHD, it’s probably not going to do what you want it to. As an educator who works daily with a large variety of students, many who have very similar struggles, a lot of the information in this book rang true for how we should treat children. In fact, much of what I do as an educator to encourage and support fell in line with a lot of what Holderness said about how we should be treating our ADHD adults. It’s such a wonderful thing to see and a truly interested topic of conversation to have.

Why is it we talk so much about encouragement and positive reinforcement with children and not adults? I think it has generally been proven over and over again that this approach is the best possible one you could have. It’s across the board with children, with adults, with dogs, with everyone. If nothing else, I think that is the most important takeaway to leave this book with.