If you do a web search for books on personal resilience, this one comes up as well rated. It is a clear, common-sense self-help guide to the basics of the topic.

The book is easy to use, with a mix of checklists, exercises, anecdotes, and resources guides at the back. It handles such issues as dealing with strong emotions in a sensible style which avoids New Age jargon.

Resilience has useful brief sections on the valuable deeper approaches, such as Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence, and the Kubler Ross Grief Cycle model.

I agree with Liggy that handling conflicts well is a key part of personal resilience, and she has a good chapter on this, including understanding your own ‘conflict style’, core skills for handling conflict, and the Cool Down Model.

There are also chapters on such topics as looking after yourself, improving relationships with others, and creating and achieving a positive vision. I liked the appendix with top 20 Survival Songs – an intriguing mix, ranging from Monty Python through Sugababes to Vera Lynn. There are also some useful website listings.

For me, the main limitation of this book is that it does not go deep enough in its guidance or self-help processes on some key issues, such as facing, clearing and reframing negative emotions. However, I would happily recommend it as a sound basic starter to the subject.