REVIEW for Single Men are Like Waffles and Single Women are like Spaghetti

I was asked to review this book for:

http://www.rebeccasreads.com/
TITLE: Single Men are Like Waffles and Single Women
are Like Spaghetti
AUTHORS: Bill and Pam Farrel
GENRRE: Self-Help Relationship
RATING: 4 stars




According to the book Single Men are Like Waffles and Single Women are Like Spaghetti, I am a Pasta Princess, which basically means that as a single woman, I share many similarities with spaghetti. Frankly, I had never really compared myself to pasta before, but as I read further, I began to agree with this somewhat unusual assessment.
I was intrigued and slightly enamored with the title of this relationship-based book. I highly enjoy these types of books as I am always on the lookout for that little gem of wisdom that I can use to help me improve my relationships.

I can happily say that I found quite a few gems while reading Single Men are Like Waffles and Single Women are Like Spaghetti, written by Bill and Pam Farrel. This book is a combination of the she said/he said approach, but is also a self-help, inspirational and religious look at the very basic differences between men and women. Somehow, I always feel better when someone tells me it is normal that the guy I am with does not act the way I want him to. In this book, the authors compare men to Waffles because, they argue, men tend to put all of their thoughts into little boxes or grooves which can be more easily seen in a waffle. When they communicate, they only access one box at a time and deal with that one box. Women, on the other hand, are like spaghetti, their thought patterns are similar to strings, intertwined with other strings – which means that women can basically start with one thought and connect to many other thoughts from this one starting point. In other words, men and women think in very different ways and some may argue in completely different ways.

The authors take a very detailed and more scientific approach to the gender differences in the earlier parts of the book and move on to some ‘homework’ for the readers to do on how to improve their relationships – particularly when it comes to listening (which is a learned behavior) and communicating. Towards the middle to end of the book, the mention of God is brought up quite a few times. Although I could see some valid associations between our relationship with god and our relationships with our friends, families and co-workers, at times, I felt as tough the God connection was a little bit overdone. Although, I must admit that I was happy to find this more spiritual side to the book.

However, I must admit that what I most enjoyed about this book was its humor. Some of the lists such as Men’s Rules For Women “Yes and no are absolutely acceptable answers to every question” and Things Women Want from Men: “If you ask us what’s wrong and we say nothing, ask us again and this time look sincere” were priceless and I am happy to say that this type of humor is peppered throughout the narrative. I found myself laughing out loud on many occasions and this, to me, is always a sign of a good self-help book. It’s important to be able to laugh in these matters and the authors obviously understood this.

I really enjoyed this book. It gave me some insight and reinforced my belief that indeed men and women really have to work very hard at ‘getting’ each other – but it is possible.
Although this book is aimed, in many ways, at romantic relationships, there is actually quite a lot of information and techniques that can be used by everyone trying to better their relationships.
This was an informative and very humorous read.