I was ambivalent for most of this book, but to be fair, I wasn't in the best mindset when I started this a few days after the election. Still, I was ambivalent. I'm just not amused by or interested in adults looking back on some random moment of their childhood that they magically remember in perfect detail and putting their 30 year old words in a 5 year old's mouth. It's like those commercials with babies swearing. Am I supposed to find that funny? 
 However, there was one really short section titled "On Being Nice" that I loved and should be required reading for girls. 
 In a professional sense, "nice" is harder to earn. Harder for me anyway. Because "nice" often means she did what we told her to, no questions asked. I've seen nice defined as: In working with XXXXX, I encountered no conflict which might have forced me to acknowledge this person as a fellow human capable of discomfort or creative input. Not all people in my industry feel this way--certainly none of the people I've talked about in this book--but many do. This is highlighted by the fact that, in the professional realm, the opposite of nice is not "mean"; the opposite of nice is "difficult." 
 Ninety percent of the people I've worked with who are disruptive or lazy or unskilled or addicts or likely to throw a tantrum are men. Ninety percent of the ones who get called "difficult" are women. Lest we be besmirched with that most damning label, it feels imperative that we strive for "nice." 
 I gave up on being Nice. I started putting more value on other qualities instead: passion, bravery, intelligence, practicality, humor, patience, fairness, sensitivity. Those last three might seem like they are covered by "nice," but make no mistake, they are not. A person who smiles a lot and remembers everyone's birthday can turn out to be undercover crazy, a compulsive thief, and boring to boot. I don't put a lot of stock in nice. I'd prefer to be around people who have any of the above qualities over "niceness," and I'd prefer it if that applied to me, too. I'm also okay if the most accurate description of me is nervous, and a little salty. But at least I know what I want to strive for.