Tag: Books

Blink: Worth a Read?

So, I read a lot. I’ve been going through about a book every week or two for the past few months. I’ve had a few favorite authors throughout my lifetime: Steinbeck, Hemmingway, Orwell. And now? Malcolm Gladwell, the author of “Blink” He was recommended to me through a professor of mine and I’ve since read “Tipping point”, “Outliers”, and now “Blink”. All three are wonderful books, so with that, let’s get started.

What’s it about?

“Blink” is an adventure book that delves into the unconscious mind. It explains specifically the question of “trusting our gut”. What I like about Malcolm Gladwell is he uses research to illustrate his points. He will go over case over case until his question is clearly illustrated. He’s analytical without being dry. If you’ve ever wondered why you make the decisions you make and have a “hunch” then this book is for you. As you read further into the book, the bigger picture becomes clearer and clearer. My favorite part was when he went over mind reading towards the end of the book. So if you say mind reading is impossible, you might want to give this book a go.

My Recommendation

Read it! It’s such a fun book. Not only is it fun but it’s a thinking man’s (or woman’s) book. Malcolm Gladwell has yet to disappoint. The writing is quality, the humor good, and the interesting subject material aplenty. So go on, give this book a spin and yell at me if you’re disappointed.

Where to Buy?

I literally do all my shopping on amazon (thank you amazon student), so here’s a link: Blink

Comments?

Already read Blink or have questions? Comment below and start a discussion, recommend it or say it’s terrible, whatever you want, just be polite!

Go-Givers Sell More: Worth a read?

Short answer, it depends. In my honest opinion, I’d say no. You are much better off reading “How to win friends & influence people” or “7 habits for highly effective people”. This book, while not inherently bad, offers nothing new. In fact, the title gives away the entire book. Read the title and you’re good to go. The premise is if you’re nice to people, you’ll be more successful. This is a lesson you learn just by breathing and living. The difference is that this book places it in the context of “making sales”. The advice given is filler, while decent advice, there’s nothing that makes this book stand out. This a book you’ll read once and put away on your shelf. This book is a business book but as with all business books it can be applied to your personal life as well. Yet most of the techniques I’ve read in the book were watered down versions of what previous authors/philosophers have said before. Building off the ideas of others is a foundation of success, but for all it’s talk about creating value, this book came off as filler. The anecdotes used in the book are bland and boring, offering very little substance to get the gears turning.

Final Verdict:

Time is the most valuable resource we have. While I didn’t feel like my time was completely wasted I still felt that a lot of this book was trying to live up to greater titles such as “How to win friends & influence people”. This book never really found it’s footing. I can neither recommend it as a business book nor a personal book. The ideas presented in this book have been written about before and in a much more entertaining manner.

The One Thing: Worth a Read?

So, what is the one thing? Well, that’s the idea behind this book. People are constantly making themselves busier and busier but for what? People try to achieve a work life balance but only find themselves stressed and frustrated. This book challenges this belief and instead refers to the “work-life” counterbalance. If you’re working, your focus should be on work. If you’re “living” your focus should be on life (family, friends, yourself, etc). This is just one of many ideas touched upon in this book.

Readability:

The book is easy to read and is very engaging, often riddled with pictures and diagrams. Gary Keller and Jay Papasan take the time to literally underline important concepts in the book, as if you were making notes in the book yourself. It’s a cool and memorable idea, and makes it easy if you want to refer to the book later on. The end of each chapter has a “big ideas” section that covers all the key concepts.

Application:

This book is extremely useful. I read the book a few weeks ago and a lot of the concepts have stuck with me even though I haven’t been practicing all of them. This is a book that gives you specific techniques to do more with less and really helps you manage your time more efficiently.

Final Verdict:

Amazing book, I’d put it high on my list for “must reads”. I’d say it was just as helpful as “how to win friends and influence people” and “7 habits for highly effective people”. If you’re someone who feels like you want to make the most of your time and not waste it doing things that don’t matter to you, pick up this book!

Good to Great Review: Is it worth a buy?

So “Good to Great”,  was it good or was it great? Well, that’s a tough call. As an “essential” business book I found it a little meh when compared to the works of Stephen Covey and Dale Carnegie. Th basic premise behind “Good to Great” is that in order to make the leap from good to great, a company must have “disciplined people, disciplined thought, and disciplined action”. It’s a fun idea and what I liked is the book found this information through extensive research into companies. For that fact alone it’s worth a read. This is a data driven book that tries (and largely succeeds) to marry the data to “universal rules”. I thought Jim Collins was a good author, being honest and transparent in his language. He does tend to repeat a lot of the concepts but for the most part I never felt like it was going in circles. So what’s my recommendation?

Recommendation: Worth a Buy, but I’d definitely wait until you’ve read some other “essential” business books. The book can get dry at times but there’s a lot of good material to read. Can also apply what you learn to your everyday life (although not to the same extent as “7 Habits” and “How to Win Friends”).

Note: I listened to the audible version, which was fun because Jim Collins himself narrated it and added extra snippets that weren’t in the original book. As far as content, there are a few diagrams which couldn’t be shown that are in the book but that Jim Collins took the time to describe in detail. As far as using this book as a reference, I would most likely recommend the hard cover.

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