White collar pop-science, in a bad way.
One of the few books I couldn't finish. It's that bad. Had to give up after 1 hour of listening. It's a non-stop flow of "research shows" completely unconnected and contradictory with each other. There are insane blanket statements that you think after the author said, some type of refinement or explanation would come out. But no... according to the author, "studies show people with ADD are more creative". It's not that sometimes under some situations some people might favorably exhibit certain creative behavior, or not - the book simply says "people with ADD are more creative".
I bet that's not what the actual research says. The research probably has all the caveats that such statement would require - but the author doesn't have time for subtleties. And that's not an isolated case, it's one right after the other, I think there were …
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inerte rated Tower Lord: 3 stars
Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan (Raven's Shadow -- Book II)
"In Blood Song, Anthony Ryan introduced readers to "a fascinating world of conflicting religions and the wars fought in the …
inerte rated Blood Song: 3 stars
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan (Raven's Shadow, #1)
inerte rated Your Money or Your Life: 4 stars
inerte rated American Gods: 3 stars
inerte rated Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds: 4 stars
Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds by Brandon Sanderson (Legion, #1-3)
Stephen Leeds is perfectly sane. It’s his hallucinations who are mad.
A genius of unrivaled aptitude, Stephen can learn any …
inerte rated Chasing the Prophecy Beyonders: 3 stars
Chasing the Prophecy Beyonders by Brandon Mull
Jason and Rachel were not born in Lyrian. They did not grow up in Lyrian. But after all of the …
inerte rated Seeds of rebellion: 3 stars
Seeds of rebellion by Brandon Mull (Beyonders -- bk. 2)
After Jason succeeds in finding a way back to Lyrian, he's immediately in more danger than ever. Meanwhile, Rachel and …
inerte rated Brandon Mull's Beyonders Trilogy: 3 stars
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
In 2005, Brandon Sanderson debuted with Elantris, an epic fantasy unlike any other then on the market. To celebrate its …
inerte rated Enlightenment Now: 4 stars
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker
If you think the world is coming to an end, think again: people are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier …
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking is a 2012 non-fiction book written by Susan …
inerte reviewed Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker
Review of 'Barking Up the Wrong Tree' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
White collar pop-science, in a bad way.
One of the few books I couldn't finish. It's that bad. Had to give up after 1 hour of listening. It's a non-stop flow of "research shows" completely unconnected and contradictory with each other. There are insane blanket statements that you think after the author said, some type of refinement or explanation would come out. But no... according to the author, "studies show people with ADD are more creative". It's not that sometimes under some situations some people might favorably exhibit certain creative behavior, or not - the book simply says "people with ADD are more creative".
I bet that's not what the actual research says. The research probably has all the caveats that such statement would require - but the author doesn't have time for subtleties. And that's not an isolated case, it's one right after the other, I think there were times that under 1 minute 3 different types of "research shows" were given, out of context, jumping from one line of thought to the other.
I tried to persevere. I rarely give up on finishing a book. But it keeps going. There's a mention about David Geffen suing Neil Young for not being himself. It says Geffen signed up Neil Young for his label and when the musician didn't produce music Geffen was expecting (in his usual style), Geffen sued Young. Then it goes to say how Young is an innovator, plays against the rule, not Coca-Cola consistency.
Fine! But what about David Geffen? He's exactly the sort of character the book spent minutes praising (Steve Jobs, Peter Drucker, etc) - David M.F. Geffen founded one of the most successful music labels of all time, then opened DreamWorks SKG (it's his G in the name!) with Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. He produced music albums, TV shows, movies, Broadway shows, and a lot more. He is worth EIGHT BILLION dollars! He's the epitome of what the book is talking about.
You might say that the story from Neil Young's perspective is one, but from Geffen is another. Exactly! The book picked one side and ran with it: What about one of the most successful entertainment moguls suing an artist? Is that common? Shouldn't THAT be considered an example of what the book talks about?
I pressed stop and removed the book from my audio player on this part: "Consider the people we're all envious of who can confidently pick something, say they're going to be awesome at it, and then calmly go and actually be awesome at it."
WTF? For real, how many people do we know that confidently become awesome at something they chose? Not only that, but calmly? Super easy. We all know them, right? They just chose something and become amazing it.
Calmly! The first story of the book is about an endurance cyclist that is nuts. He would stop his ride and fist fight mailboxes. Another story if about Gleen Gould and all the unusual (crazy? eccentric?) stuff he did. The book spends a lot of time establishing a narrative that obsession and not dampening your strengths is good for you, just to wreck with a statement like "they calmly go and become awesome".
Nothing on this book makes any sense.
inerte reviewed Measure What Matters by John Doerr
Review of 'Measure What Matters' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This book made me finally understand OKRs. I heard “As measured by” and it finally clicked. Would give 5 stars if I was considering only the OKR part!
But the CFM part is full of platitudes. I would tune out while listening and come back seconds later and it still sounded empty as “multidirectional continuous communication built to strengthen strategic global organization” or something innocuous like that.
inerte rated The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: 5 stars
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni (J-B Lencioni Series)
After her first two weeks observing the problems at DecisionTech, Kathryn Petersen, its new CEO, had more than a few …