At the heart of this beautiful and insightful book about how to shape a life that is meaningful to you is "the perfection trap"--and how to avoid falling into it. Like A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Being Perfect provides wise, practical advice on living, with an important twist. In Being Perfect, Quindlen pinpoints, and invites us to laugh at, a lifestyle that has become all too familiar--one that emphasizes the pursuit of perfection in the eyes of others, the conquest of the world's good opinion, rather than focusing on the most important goal of all, "Giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself." Beautifully written and designed, with evocative photographs, this treasure of a book gives inspiring guidance on how to create a life that is uniquely yours, a life fulfilling despite its flaws, a life that comes from the center of you.