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This is such a useful little book. You definitely need to accept it for what it is -- a bit of a cheat; something to use in a pinch -- but it's nonetheless a pretty invaluable tool for writers.

I'll admit that, when I first heard about The Emotion Thesaurus, I reacted against the idea of a reference book full of 'beats' of action (he bit his lip! he ripped at his hair!). But... but... your beats should come organically! you should know your characters so well that their actions come to you automatically! you should strive for originality in your writing, not all this lip-biting/hair-ripping!

Of course, that's the ideal and therefore not real life. In real life, you're editing something and you've read it so many times that you basically want to die and goddammit you just can't think of a way to convey to the reader that the character is angry (short of dropping in "he said angrily" -- oh sweet sweet adverbs!). In that situation, The Emotion Thesaurus feels like it was sent from heaven. *angels singing*

I do wish some of the suggested beats were less clichéd. You can find yourself in the situation of swapping out a tacky adverb and replacing it with a tacky cliché, which is hardly a step up. Nonetheless, in a pinch, it's great (she said, biting her lip).