The topic is covered thoroughly, addressing all the issues that I had encountered with the problem and alerting me to several more than I hadn't even recognised in myself but once pointed out were clearly present. It then provides an understanding and intelligent account of how and why the issues come about and most importantly, ways to deal with them.

It isn't a book that you can read and the problem is solved. It involves putting the ideas into practice and that takes effort and time. However, even after the first read I felt supported and more confident, just by understanding the problem. It made sense of issues that I had previously spent a long time piecing together and had still not understood and it is clear that the author has a deep understanding of the problem and significant experience in dealing with it.

I have sent copies to most of my close friends as it is so comprehensive as to be useful even to people who are, on the face of it, quite assertive and confident.

I also recommend it equally, despite the title, for men as well as women.

Having read it, I have to say that of all the Self Help/assertiveness books I've seen it's probably the best. However that's not saying much. Like many such books it's very focused on the idea that all that's needed for you to become happier and more assertive is that you change yourself. Such a view may work in many situations but it's not the universal panacea it's made out to be, sometimes the root cause of the problem is outside yourself. For example I have yet to see such a book competantly deal with a situation where there is an unequal power relationship, where no matter how asseritve you try to be if the other person is set in their ideas then you're stuck with what they say. Sometimes it's not a failure to just walk out.

If you're going to buy a Self Help book then by this one, but realize that it's not a guarenteed solution.