Reviews and Comments

This book completely changed the way I look at conversations and at human interactions in general. I never got educated on a coherent model of handling difficult conversations and this book has it: before, during, and after.
And it has exercises and examples so that I was able to start applying the knowledge immediately.

If you ever struggled with conversations, this book is for you.

The first 3 chapters of the book were kind of boring, to the point that I almost gave up on the book. The reading became much more interesting after that. I like how Esther adds so much nuance and layers to infidelity. I fundamentally changed my perspective on this topic, which in our days is grossly oversimplified and brings useless labels to all involved.

It's by accident that I got to read Crucial Conversations first. The information and knowledge in the books are largely overlapping. So, no matter which one you pick up, it's going to be of use, if you ever struggled with difficult conversations

This feels like a book that might benefit those with Tao experience.
It contains plenty of concepts and names that I've never heard of and are not explained. Some of the arguments that Huai-Chin Nan cannot be checked (quotes for old masters) and other arguments lack any explanation (e.g. ).
This makes it kind of a belief book, instead of a book that I can use. On the other hand, the quote at the end of the book does warn the reader: "The reader should suppose that the words in this book are just talk in a dream"

For a beginner, this book has little to offer. The only useful advice was some meditation techniques presented at the end of the book.

The first (about slack) and last chapters (about risk and risk management) were particularly insightful.
The author makes a strong argument in favor of downtime and including it in estimates.
The risk management approach was completely new to me and I clicked with it immediately.

Middle chapters were boring (probably because it was aimed mostly at managers).

Short and to the point. I like that about this book...
But.
Maybe this was a good book when it was written and it might give some good ideas to someone that has never worked from home, but I find it quite common sense nowadays.
And despite the common sense still not enough companies doing remote work.

I've been reading personal development books for a while and nothing that this book contains is new to me. Sometimes to the point that it's annoying to re-read the same old ideas. There are parts that I a bit far-fetched for my taste and some parts are dumbed down, but it's a decent read.

It's probably that I'm at a specific point in my life that this time they really stick to my mind. It's going to my re-read list. But, there's no promise that this book will work for you or that you'll find it valuable

I've never worked for a startup, but I do work in IT. The reason for which I gave this book a five is because it open my eyes to the possibility that startups work the way the author describes. Any book that increases my world view deserves five stars

It's a pretty good book on SQL. It is aimed at people with beginner-medium SQL experience.
Beginners will not really understand what's happening there.
And if you've written the database interface layer for 3-5 apps, it might be partially interesting for you.
If you're advanced with SQL, you already know these patterns.

This book is a good starting point to getting your sleeping on track.
Some of the strategies are commonly mentioned everywhere, some strategies are not that common and 1-2 strategies seem pseudo-science.
Overall a good book that I would recommend to anyone that wants to lear about what are some of the factors that affect sleep.
At this moment I'm running an experiment using most of the strategies in the book, so I can't really tell if the strategies actually work.

Interesting and well documented book about how poorly designed incentives can encourage unwanted behaviors on Wall Street.
I enjoyed reading it, but at some point I've lost interest in the subject.