ADHD: A Hunter in a Farmer's World

Product Information

Review – ADHD: A Hunter in a Farmer’s World by Thom Hartmann, Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 2019.

The need for constant stimulation, impulsivity and ability to act in high risk situations would have made the hunter quite successful. I am 100% behind the author's motivations for writing this and other books on the topic, and he provides compelling evidence for his arguments, backed up by studies.As someone who has been confirmed to have a lot of ADHD traits, I found this book fascinating, inspiring and easy to read. They love the hunt, but are easily bored by mundane tasks, such as having to clean the fish, dress the meat, or fill out the paperwork.

These questions and some possible answers are woven through this book, providing basic factual information about ADHD with a twist that helps readers recognize the value - sometimes quite special - of people who have it. With our structured public schools, office workplaces, and factories those who inherit a surplus of “hunter skills” are often left frustrated in a world that doesn’t understand or support them. There are also various practical strategies and historical anecdotes that are at once inspiring and hope instilled. Many years ago a psychologist friend explained ADHD to me in this way: “A child comes into my office and touches something. A genetic variant associated with ADHD has been found at higher frequency in more nomadic populations and those with more of a history of migration.Across the chapters, Hartmann backs his assertions up with evidence, offers non-drug methods and practices to help hunters (as well as those who live alongside them) to welcome their differences, hone their skills, cultivate their creativity, and find success in their lives. In other words, an individual with the ADHD collection of characteristics would make an extraordinarily good hunter.

Providing a supportive "survival" guide to help fine tune your natural skill set, rather than suppress it, Hartmann shows that each mind--whether hunter, farmer, or somewhere in between--has value and great potential waiting to be tapped. Thom Hartmann is the host of the internationally syndicated talkshow The Thom Hartmann Program and the TV show The Big Picture on the Free Speech TV network. Unfortunately for ADHD children, traditional schools teach for the patient "farmers", and not the alert and quick reacting "hunters. Many individuals with ADHD have learned how to cope with being a Hunter in a Farmer’s world and in this world they can find average success and score average on tests but they may also feel or know that they have a much greater potential.A number of medicinal herbs that may also alleviate ADHD including skullcap, valerian, hops, blue and black cohosh, chamomile and lady’s slipper. Creativity requires risk taking with motivation from within the person and the belief in one’s own goals. I identified strongly with certain characteristics from both archetypes, which I don’t think is surprising or unusual. Some believe that learning is fastest and best when there is a constant shift between focused and an open state of consciousness. I felt by the end, what I got was a book with advertisements, and more than a few sections where the author got to say "I told you so!

I found it much more coherent this time around and although Hartmann's description of the underlying traits of ADHD are accomplished I am simply unconvinced by his main thesis.Then it occurred to me: What if the cavewomen with inattentive ADHD married the cavemen with hyperactive ADHD?