Don’t Worry. Be Happy. Here’s How.

“Worry: Controlling It and Using It Wisely”

By Dr. Edward M. Hallowell

Random House Audiobooks

Abridged nonfiction

Two cassettes

Length: Three hours

$18

Read by the author

Available in bookstores

A senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and the founder of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health, Hallowell certainly knows his stuff. He should have let someone else read it for him, however.

His manner and delivery border on bland. Though the material is accessible, it is of an academic nature that needed a more dynamic narrator. Hallowell sounds professional and clear, but he so carefully modulated his voice and emotions that he comes across as a generic Anyman.

The material is easy to follow, if occasionally dry. He explains various types of worry, from everyday anxieties to more toxic forms, such as panic and obsession. Much of his advice centers around therapy and medication, though his 50 ways to leave your worries require only concentration and discipline.