Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown My rating: 4 of 5 stars Like Carol Dweck in her book “Mindset”, Greg McKeown separates people into two camps – the essentialists and the non-essentialists. Sadly, the real world is not as black and white. Unlike Dweck, McKeown explains his “theory” with well-supported reasoning so… Read More »
Grit by Angela Duckworth My rating: 3 of 5 stars So apart from delayed gratification being a predictor of future success, as documented in Walter Mischel’s book The Marshmallow Test, “grit” – a special blend of passion and perseverance, does the same thing too. Well, at least that’s what Angela Duckworth seems to imply in… Read More »
Steal the Show: From Speeches to Job Interviews to Deal-Closing Pitches, How to Guarantee a Standing Ovation for All the Performances in Your Life by Michael Port My rating: 3 of 5 stars The first two parts of the book are boring to read with a lot of fluff. It didn’t steal the show as… Read More »
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck My rating: 2 of 5 stars The concept of fixed/growth mindsets is sound, but the arguments for it in this book are stretched too thin at times (like a simple blog post being over-extended into a book). Dweck ended up devoting many pages describing the… Read More »
Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials by Malcolm Harris My rating: 1 of 5 stars This book regurgitates much of what is known about the millennial generation. There is no new insights, except the painting of a doomsday scenario, which hardly qualifies as an insight. This is not surprising. Harris is… Read More »
The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change by Adam Braun My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a great book for those who are struggling to find purpose in their lives. Unlike many books in this genre, it doesn’t sound preachy or highfalutin. Each chapter (or mantra, as… Read More »