I haven’t trained as a ‘coach’, although I may well do some coaching in the room with clients – ie psychological work that is more explicitly goal driven and digs less into the emotional underworld. The differences between counselling and coaching can be subtle and maybe even meaningless at times (I explored some of this in an article here). So, by coaching standards I can’t judge Neenan and Dryden’s Life Coaching.
But I can still say this makes a good and useful read for anyone looking for some self-help with negative thinking, procrastination, time management, assertiveness, risk-taking and dealing with criticism. An extra chapter in the revised edition deals with developing resilience. The authors integrate various theoretical ideas and lend support to them with research. I recommend it.