Marlies
Why did I pick this book?
I saw the movie, it was amazing. And I saw from the movie that Herbert had done a tremendous deal of worldbuilding, which I wanted to know more about.
What did I think of it?
I was not disappointed by the worldbuilding. It is really amazing what Herbert has done, with a believable future for earth and the human race. How humanity has evolved, the butlerian jihad and use of computers, the evolution of religion; it's really refreshing to learn about.
I've heard several people have a gripe with Herbert's writing style, and I can relate to that. I can imagine people coming to these books after Game of Thrones and you can expect a similar level of different storylines interwoven together. Both books focus heavily on interactions and conversations between people. However, in Game of Thrones the battles and struggles in between are told in great detail as well, where Herbert can just glance over them and skip 2 years in time between chapters.
Herbert will shift between perspectives between sentences. Starting with the viewpoint of Paul and shifting in the next sentence to his mother Jessica. I really love this, as he can capture subtle signs, interactions and emotions really well, but it can be really confusing as well.
My recommendation
I loved this book for its worldbuilding; the ecology of Arrakis (the planet), how religion has evolved, the politics, etc. I also loved the subtle emotions. If you like this I would also suggest The Night Angle Trilogy by Brent Weeks.
If you liked the movie, also watch the 2006 movie The Fall. It has the same cinematic scenes.
Why did I pick this book?
I've recently read a few management books (Disney, Pixar and Steve Jobs) and love the insight it gives on managing a company, and overall challenges in life. What better book to step up a notch than from a President?
The book itself
Is massive. Don't expect to easily take this with you on a summer holiday.. Tho' I did manage to bring it along to the beach for some reading.
Also note that it is just the first part of Obama's presidency, up to the raid of Bin Laden. Another book is to follow on the next part.
In this one Obama takes the reader through his early life, growing up in Hawaii and the influence his mother and grandmother had on his life, through to his studying years, running for Senate and finally the presidency.
What did I think of it
As soon as I read the intro I knew I would be hooked. I was a little worried that it would be a dry book, for which you would need a thorough understanding of the United States political system.
However, as I discovered in the intro already, Obama takes care to carefully explain the background of a certain topic, before diving deep into how he and his team handled it. You can get a really good insight in the intricacies of most (global) topics.
Also, when Obama doesn't have to stick to the facts and run through a specific string of events, when he has the time to write about the scenery of the White House, or other politician's abodes, the writer in him pops up. I was enthralled by his description of the grounds around the House.
My recommendations
If you enjoyed this book, or maybe are on the fence about starting such a lengthy book, I would suggest going with ‘Ride of a Lifetime' by Robert Iger, the CEO of Disney. It's a much shorter book, but the style of writing and topics covered are pretty similar.
Als je één boek over klimaatverandering gaat lezen, laat het dan deze zijn.
Mommers verteld over de gevolgen van klimaatverandering en wat voor desastreuze effecten dat kan gaan hebben. Tegelijkertijd laat hij zien hoe het ook kan, dat we nog de optie hebben om te verduurzamen en naar een groene toekomst te werken.
Hij verteld wat voor kansen en voordelen dit juist kan opleveren, in plaats van dat klimaatverandering alleen maar voor beperkingen zorgt en dat we heel veel leuke dingen niet meer kunnen doen.
Als laatste sluit hij af met een hoofdstuk over wat je zelf kan doen, en dat dit níet een druppel op een gloeiende plaat is, maar een rimpeling die andere mensen kan inspireren en zo samen een golf kan veroorzaken.
Het boek is aan de ene kant alarmerend en deprimerend over welke gevolgen klimaatverandering kan hebben. Aan de andere kant is dit ook een heel hoopvol boek dat laat zien wat er wél mogelijk is als we ons daar hard voor maken, en daardoor vind ik het een sterke aanrader!
Why did I pick it?
I was looking for books from the School of Life, a philosophical school with very interesting YouTube videos. I also heard an interview with Alain de Botton and was very entertained by his way of talking. Finally, the topic ‘what can we learn from religion and why is it too short sighted to just ban religion altogether'?
The book
De Botton starts with the main thesis of the book; God does not exist, then, why do we even have religion and what can we learn from it?
He highlights several topics, among others community, art, perspective. He both argues what the secular world is missing, and what various religions have as a solution. For example, it is often difficult for people to admit that they have wronged somebody. In the spur of the moment sometimes even so badly, that apologizing seems like a monstrously difficult thing to do. The Jewish religion knows this, and has called for a great Day of Atonement (Yom Kipoer) on which everyone thinks about the wrongs they have done to people and tries to make amends. This is made easier because, since it is tradition, it is something that you just do, no matter how wrong you were.
Finally, de Botton makes recommendations on which traditions/solutions a secular world could implement to life a more meaningful life. From the roles of museums, to having the right idols, and how/why we go to restaurants.
My recommendation
I thought it was a really enlightening book. By both describing what a secular world is missing, and giving descriptions on how various religions tackle certain problems of life, de Botton offers a nice insight in how to life a more meaningful life. Especially the first chapter is really strong, focusing on community and community values.
I think most people can learn a great deal from reading this book, most importantly to keep an open mind and focus on what we can learn from people different from us, rather than rejecting them.
If you enjoyed this book for its philosophical aspect I would recommend to also watch the videos by School of Life. If your interest is peaked on what we can all learn from (various) religions, but in this recommendation from Christianity in particular, I recommend the video series from The Bible Project. And if you want more arguments for why we need religion, rather than reject it altogether I am also interested in that recommendation :)
Why did I pick this book?
Recommended as a staple book to read in the category self-development. Was a short read and available in my library.
The book
It's a very short read. Made even shorter by pictures filling entire pages and short chapters.
The book itself is divided into three parts; starting with a story setting the scene; a group of friends meeting at a high school reunion and reflecting on being afraid of changes. Then the actual story of ‘Who moved my cheese' is about; mice and men that need to navigate a maze to find cheese. Each of the four characters has a different approach to address this challenge and the story expertly highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
The last chapter is again from the focus of the high school friends that reflect on how the story's few on change can help them.
My recommendation
A very nicely crafted story. I like how they included especially the last chapter to also reflect on how this story could help people in their day-to-day life. It gives an example of how to interpret the story and an example of how to address someones resistance to change in a positive way.
The story itself is nicely written, easy to digest, and it's neither too dreamy/fuzzy nor too straight-cut as an example story. Due to the translation to mice/cheese and a maze, I think it's easier for a reader to distance themselves from the hard-lessons to learn and easier to jokingly agree that they might resemble one of the characters (as is done in the last chapter).
Definitely recommend for everyone.
Would recommend to follow up with ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' to give direction to your search for ‘new cheese'.
Why did I pick this book?
This was on Bill Gates' summer recommendation list and as I liked the Headspace app before, decided to pick it up from the local library.
About the book
Andy Puddicombe has travelled the world to visit various mediation monasteries. From the stories he tells in the book it feels like he visited them all. In the book he takes you, through stories of his own adventures and missteps, and examples as explained by his various teachers, Andy takes the reader through the steps to start meditation.
This is not a book that just says ‘sit. close your eyes. meditate.'. It is very well, and very carefully crafted story that very gently, very carefully takes the reader by the hand in the world of mindfullness and meditation.
My recommendation
Yes, very much recommend this book to anyone interested in meditation. I don't think anyone can explain the process as well as Andy does.
If your on the fence whether or not to get the book, I'd suggest downloading the Headspace app, or visiting their website. The animations they have on there are made from the examples/lessons discussed in the book and will give a really nice insight in the contents.
If you already have the app, but your missing the context of when to apply which method/animation from the app, then this book is a very good addition. Andy will describe what he struggled with in his life, and then describe the exercise/example he himself got thought to address the problem. So the book gives more context to the exercises in the app.
Did not finish.
Why did I pick this book
This book was recommended by so many articles/people. Especially in the theme of Mental Models, personal development, etc.
It was a new addition to my local library, so I picked it up when it was available.
The book
The book is by famed investor Ray Dalio. In it he describes in short his personal history and the lessons he learned during his lifetime. Dalio has been very systematic in noting down these lessons and creating a set of principles which he uses to guide his everyday decisions.
It is divided in two sections; life principles and work principles. As the name implies, life lessons focuses on lessons which can be used in life in general, and work principles focuses more on principles you can apply at work.
The text is presented as a long argumentation of how certain principles came to be and what smaller sub-principles are contained within. This is really just a case of different header stylings with short bits of text in between.
What I thought
I was not able to finish this book.
The way the book is formatted it feels like just one long blurb of text and story-telling, with different header styles applied to random sentences throughout. Say you were reading through a long text -say the Bible- and you applied a Header 1 to every 100 sentences, Header 2 to every 80th sentence, etc.
With all these little sub-sub-sub-headers I lost track of the main points and these sub-sub-sub-headers are so general that they did not feel like eye-opening-must-remember-at-all-costs leasons to learn.
I stopped at the Work principles, because they also mostly apply to managers/directors and the higher-ups of a company (the ones making hiring decisions etc).
My recommendations
To get a start at self-development with really actionable steps I would recommend The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
To get a more fun-to-read, actionable, self improvement read my other recommendation would be An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth.
Did not finish.
Why did I pick this book?
I was looking for more books for Industrial Designers/Engineers. Got the recommendation to read any work by Petroski and was able to pick this one up from the library.
The book
This is really an essay on the difference between Scientist and Engineers. At the start there's quite an entertaining discourse on how Scientists and Engineers are mentioned in the media, with Scientists always being the one's to discover new, lifesaving/world-changing discoveries and the Engineers being the ones who make stupid Engineering errors and don't think things true.
Later on the book talks more about famous engineers and scientists and the overlap between the fields. At this point I stopped reading.
My take and recommendation
A few chapters in I noticed myself asking the question why I was reading this book. Although the start was entertaining, though a bit painful being an Engineer, the word use between Scientist/Engineer is not an issue in my language/culture. After that I could not really answer what it was I was expected to take away from this book.
Read if you are a journalist or write articles on Science and Engineering, if you're a scientist/engineer who has time on his/her hands and just wants to read something. Otherwise, for engineers I'd much more recommend biographies by Steve Jobs, James Dyson or even Adrian Newey.
Why did I pick this book?
I'm an Industrial Product Designer, so for me it's very interesting to get a peak into the mind of a fellow designer and a acclaimed one at that. This book was furthermore recommended by Jude Pullen, an interesting Designer with a great YouTube channel to boot.
The book/story
This is an autobiography by James Dyson, inventor of -amongst others- the bagless vaccuum cleaner. Describing his childhood in England, to his studies at the RCA and his many, many adventures designing, producing and selling his different inventions up to the DC-02 (and a hint at DC-03, 04 and 05).
My recommendation
I really enjoyed this book. Dyson has an interesting tone of voice in writing, intermixed with lovely english vocabulary. I found his way of describing his design life less pompous and more down to earth than Adrian Newey (How to Build a Car).
At times I found Dyson a bit grumpy, multiple times he starts complaining multiple pages about the state of manufacturing in England -which is at times outdated and not interesting for readers that are not from England.
Other than that I really enjoyed this book and am interested to read more about Dyson's following projects/products and/or the way of designing of the Dyson company.
Why did I pick this book?
I read Pretor-Pinney's first book - the Cloudspotters Guide- and loved it. That first book is all about clouds. What types of cloud there are, how they form, great anecdotes on clouds and all their shapes and sizes, mixed in with a good dose of exquisite British humor.
Finding this second book in a thrift store, and being a surfer, I just had to buy it.
The book
The book is structured similar to Pretor-Pinney's first book; with several chapters on different themes, loads of images with hilarious captions and short three-ish word notes in the margins. Pretor-Pinney covers the topic in both a general perspective and at times quite in depth. The second to last chapter, for example, explains all the details on the theory of light being both particles and waves, while the second chapter focuses on the bloodstream being a wave within the body.
There's also chapters on butterflies, cognitive links and synapses, etc.
My recommendation
If you've enjoyed Pretor-Pinney's first book, and you stumble across this book, then it's a great read. Pinney's retained his classical style of writing and applied it to a whole new topic.
If you're a surfer and thought this might be a good reference on how ocean waves form, than you better keep looking for a different book, as only three chapters are about waves in water, with one of them being the personal account of how Pinney went surfing in Hawaii.
If you're unfamiliar yet with Gaving Pretor-Pinney I without a doubt recommend his first book more than this one.
Why did I pick this book?
I heard Tim Ferriss mention this book during his shows a couple of times. Then I saw it mentioned in a list of books to read during quarantine and got a little more info on its contents. Since now was the perfect time to pick it up, and I found a cheap secondhand option, I went for it.
The book
I got the very basic edition, with just the text of the Gita and no explanation or interpretation added. I liked it, because it kept the book very short and to the basics. You can get the gist of the story from many sources on the web, with a better description than I can give.
My recommendation
So this is a book that's interesting for people trying to reach the higher self, not just in a spiritual/religious way. I found many entries that can also be linked to Stoic philosophy (not getting overly attached to things, controlling your emotions, not being perturbed by fortune).
The story is however, for many chapters, focused on how great Krishna is. This is something I personally dont enjoy in religious texts. I'd rather see rules and guidelines on how to become a better person, than repeated statements of how great a God is.
Why did I pick this book?
I saw this book recommended in numerous lists, but decided to actually read it when it was highly recommended during a webinar on Mental Models to use during the Covid-crisis. We life in volatile and an uncertain time, and being antifragile means you can handle and even thrive in such an environment.
About the book
Nassim Taleb argues why we need to have an (working) understanding of what it means to be antifragile. How to identify things which are fragile and how to become antifragile; to be able to thrive in an ever changing and uncertain environment.
Taleb does this in a very unique way, which to me feels a bit like sitting down at a diner room table and having Taleb explain his view on antifragility. Meaning that, although there are chapters (and even books) within the book, they are not clearly separating different arguments. He also does it in a style of writing which is really his own. Do not expect to read a ‘clean', “scientifically” argued book with a clear definition of antifragility. Also, be ready to have Taleb's opinions heard (where bankers, people-in-suits and bureaucrats are not highly regarded).
My recommendation
Start with a short summary of the key take-aways from this book, as I feel Taleb gives too many personal anecdotes/arguments to get a clean take-away of the concept of Antifragility. If you enjoy the summary, and need more information around the topic this book is a very good read and contains quite a few clear and entertaining examples to argue his point of view.
Why did I pick this book?
I used to not be a big fan of Apple, and therefor also not a great fan of Steve Jobs. Heightened by the ‘artsy' appearance he has with his turtleneck shirts and typical appearance with his hand to his chin.
I'm a product designer by trade, but generally dislike overly designed products (a designer couch, for example).
However, Jobs got mentioned again and again on articles/podcasts etc I follow and my interest started to pique.
The books contents
Isaacson tells a very transparent story of Jobs' life; how he was put up for adoption, starting Apple, Pixar, etc. Isaacson starts with telling why he didn't want to write a biography of a living person, but why he did change his mind on this. For me this makes the book feel really like a description of Jobs' life, rather than an ode to him and putting him on a pedestal.
There's a lot of detail in this book and it's not only an ‘and then... and then... and then...' life story, but also features a lot of the lessons to be learned from Steve Jobs as a CEO of two very very successful companies.
My recommendation
I was surprised by how quickly I read this book. Jobs' life is highly intriguing. A lot can be learned from his story. It's a great book for creatives, anyone into product design and managers. I had expected to learn these lessons from Adrian Newey's ‘How to build a car', because Newey is also a designer, where Jobs was more of a Sales person. But this book is the more interesting one by far.
Also looking forward to other books from Walter Isaacson.
Oh my, such a great read.
I love how Weeks can weave multiple storylines together, and each one of them goes three layers deep in what a character thinks happened, what he thinks the other character thinks happened, what actually happened or what should have happened. Think House of Cards meets fantasy.
In the Lightbringer series Weeks even manages to weave in a whole religion/magic system and dependent culture which is on point.
Definitely recommend if you loved this style of writing from his first series the Night Angel trilogy. If you need to decide whether reading the Lightbringer of the Night Angel trilogy, I would recommend the Night Angel trilogy because I think the ending of that series is magnificent (though heartbreaking).
If you're more the magic - fantasy fan than go with Lightbringer.
But actually don't choose and read both!
Why did I pick it
Man's Search for Meaning is featured on all the must-read lists, hailed for -as the title suggests- giving answer to the big question of what the meaning of life is.
Since it's also a key to-read book for people interested in Stoicism I decided it was time to flip its pages.
The book itself
The book is split up in two parts (or rather, three in my edition); the first part detailing Frankl's experiences being a prisoner in a concentration camp.
The second part explaining the key elements of logo-therapy; the branch of psychotherapy that Frankl developed.
In my edition a short essay on logotherapy was also included.
It's a thin little book, but quite bland in it's writing. Not a real page-turner for me. The two parts of the book are really interesting on their own rights, but together they do not really form a whole that's better than it's parts.
The part on Frankl's experiences in the concentration camps is personal, raw and fascinating. Much more ‘real' than what can be portrayed in a movie. However, I feel it could have gone even more in-depth to really get a better grasp at how camp life would have been. For example by giving the reader more information on his capture, how long he stayed in the camp, interactions he had with friends and enemies, etc.
The second part gives a short description of logotherapy, it's key takeaways and how it differs from other psychotherapies. But I feel like Frankl could have connected this more with his experiences of part 1 of the book. Or given the reader more hand-holds for how to apply the ideas of logotherapy to his/her own life.
Recommendations
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in indeed finding meaning in his/her life. Specifically on getting a better grasp that life is not about finding success, riches or for that matter happiness.
I had hoped that this book would give me a better insight into Stoicism as well, but I would not recommend this book for that purpose. I think ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' actually has better key take-aways for that. That one also offers more actionable tips on how to bring meaning to your life.
Why did I pick this
I can't remember a specific example, but I know Freakonomics has appeared on many online must-read lists. I put it on my list, expecting I could learn something about the ‘invisible forces' at play in a community. Since it was available in my library I borrowed it.
The book
In the book Levitt describes some interesting causes and correlations at play in society. For example; that people will have a tendency to cheat (in this case specifically sumo wrestlers at tournaments, or parents of pre-school children).
As the author notes in the book there is not a single thread connecting the many observations. The story wanders, and at times I found this very annoying, as I could not really connect the content I was reading to a specific takeaway.
Recommendations
I believe this book might be one of the first to focus on numbers and statistics to uncover ‘wrong' assumptions in society. Which might be the reason why it's on multiple to-read lists.
However, I do think that in the mean time better books have arrived, with Factfulness by Hans Rosling high on number one. Shortly followed by Sanne Blauw's ‘Het best verkochte boek ooit' (unsure whether it's available in English). Both of these books do not feature sections which praise the author in between chapters, which I thought was a bit self-centered...
Why did I pick this book?
How to Build a Car was recommended by many of my recommendation sources. When a recently discovered YouTube channel, focused on engineering, suggested the book I decided it was time to check it out.
I'm an Industrial Designer, so the engineering aspect of the book really peaked my interest. The Formula 1 aspect did not particularly speak to me and I had never heard of Newey before.
What the book is about
This is the autobiography of Adrian Newey, apparently the best Formula 1 racecar designer ever. He chronicles his life, starting with early years, studies and then his many years in the racing industry.
My review
It's the largest (in size as well as in volume) book I've read in a while. Not a book you can easily take with you reading in the train.
Luckily, and surprisingly, it was super easy to read and I got through it in no time, not having to take it with me to finish it. Newey has a way of writing which is kinda similar to actual story telling, including getting off track and having to “But, let's get back to the story” interruptions.
Unfortunately that is the most positive I have to say about this book. I was pleasantly surprised it read so well, but I was disappointed the book dives so little into the real engineering aspects. I had hoped to get a deeper understanding of aerodynamics, the systems engineering that goes into a sports car, how to manage such an extended team, etc, etc.
However, we only get a description in the way of; ‘I designed a better car the next year and then this and this and this is what happened at the races.' I learned nothing, only that apparently Newey has had many accomplishments and he wants to see that reflected in his salary, and if his cars did not finish first it was due to reliability issues with the engine..
Was disappointed and would not recommend to anyone expecting to learn something from this book. Would however recommend anyone already interested for Formula 1 and people who could use a different perspective on the F1 world, which is not from the driver's perspective.
Shorter book than I had imagined, but a great read.
A.J. Jacobs thanks everyone who contributes to his morning cup of coffee and goes all the way to the people who filter the water or who design the logo on the cup. Super interesting to see the fastness of the supply chain and love Jacobs' enthusiastic writing style.
Why did I pick this?
Highly recommended by most of the people who I get my book recommendations from. I'm also interested in Mental Models and recently came across an interesting way of deducing Mental Models by Peter Kaufman, called the three-buckets method. Here you take the three largest sample sized there exist; the organic universe, the biological universe and recorded human history.
Sapiens tells the history of human kind, so I thought it would be a good fit for bucket number three.
The book
The book is divided into four parts; the cognitive revolution (separating Homo Sapiens from other ‘human' species), the agricultural revolution, the unification of humankind (going from very separate societies to a world-spanning species) and the scientific revolution.
In each part Harari describes the factors contributing to the revolution, for example, he argues that money, imperialism and global religions played major factors in the unification of humankind.
My thoughts
Loved the read. Harari has a great way of explaining concepts in layman's terms, making the rather dry subject of Human History very accessible.
This is even more so due to his novel ways of describing certain concepts. This is already the case in the opening pages (from memory); “At first there was the inorganic universe, and we call the field that researches this Physics. Chemical reactions started to take place and we call this field Science. Etc”
I had the feeling that Harari skipped over some statements quite quickly and would need more argumentation. Or state that it was personal opinion.
Recommendations
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the overall history of humankind and especially those who want a general overview (rather than specific events).
As I mentioned in my intro it's also interesting for people looking for Mental Models, although from what I've heard maybe his second book is more interesting (called Homo Deus).
Another book on my want-to-read list that I think would nicely complement this book is The New Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan, which describes the way the Silk Road and global trade has influenced the unification of mankind.
Why this book?
I have been brought up as a Christian, and went to a Christian school. For me Christianity is something overarchingly good. However, some of my friends are almost extremist left wing anti-Christianity/religion.
I wanted to delve deeper into the rules of the Bible, if they encourage violence (my friends' opinion), or support pacifism.
Also, I love personal challenges, and living according to the literal rules in the Bible seems fun and challenging.
My opinion
Already the book starts out great, with Jacobs' enthusiasm and humor. Apparently there's a rule in the Bible that you may not shave the corners of your beard. Jacobs does not know where the corners are, so he decides to just not shave his beard entirely, and he starts with a description of what kind of reactions the beard has evoked. I couldn't put the book down.
The story itself is an entertaining collection of personal anecdotes of what happened when literally following the rules of the bible (including using pebbles to stone an adulterer and taking on a slave). I love challenges like these and can imagine myself taking on the same challenge.
Unfortunately a year is even not enough to follow all the rules in the Bible, and is too short even to figure out which rules are meant to be taken literal and which to be taken figuratively. As Jacobs describes in the last chapter the Bible can be compared to a banquet, and it is to the individual to decide how to interpret it, which courses/rules to follow more literally and which not.
For me this is somewhat of a let-down, as it doesn't give me an answer whether the Bible encourages violence or not (it depends on which courses you choose).
I was however enthusiastic with Jacobs' conclusion; the rules make you more overall aware of how special life is, to be grateful for what you have and be kind to your neighbors.
Recommendation
I would recommend this book to people looking to get a basic understanding of the Bible and the different ways to interpret it. Jacobs' tries to talk to people from all spectra of followers, from extreme left to right.
It's also a really interesting and fun read to get a basic sense of the Biblical rules and how they work in modern life.
I would not recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn the actual rules, as they are not summarized here. And also not recommend it to anyone wanting to know (or get reconfirmed) what is the best way to interpret the Bible.
Why did I read this?
I think it can be said that this book belongs on many people's ‘everyone should read this book at least once in their lives'-list. Therefore, of course it was also on mine. Combined with an interest in becoming more effective/successful I thought it time to start this book.
My view
There already exist great reviews and summaries of this book, so I want to focus on what I found unique about this book compared to the little literature I've read on this subject.
I really enjoyed the read, as Covey carefully constructs and explains a whole system of evaluating successfulness, effectiveness and a clear way of talking about Personal Change. It not only answers the question of which habits to develop to become more effective, but starts with why you should develop those habits and how to measure a new habits effectiveness.
As Covey states in the introduction, this book really focuses on deep-rooted, long lasting character traits, rather than short, quick-fix personality changes and having a concise way of describing this is essential in my view.
I loved this book more than Brendon Burchard's more recent book ‘High Performance Habits', of which I've listened to some chapters and a podcast interview. I think the Habits mostly overlap, but have slightly different names. I think Habit 6 (synergize) in Covey's book was not really actionable, and is something which (magically) might come about, but can not be formed by habit. I think a Habit like Get Energize from Burchard's book would be better.
I also enjoyed Covey's way of writing better. I feel Burchard starts from a point of view where the reader is currently in a negative effectiveness level and needs powerful and much coaching to address his/her problems. Covey's book on the other hand already talks to the reader like they are capable people and just want to slightly but consistently want to improve their behavior.
I would be interested to follow this book up with ‘The power of habit'. Covey's book has given me the tools to address what character traits I want to change, but I think The Power of Habit might give some practical examples of daily habits which might help me achieve higher effectiveness.
Why did I pick it?
As a recommendation from this list: https://www.valetmag.com/living/culture/2019/successful-people-reading-list-080819.php
Apparently Tim Ferriss highly recommends it.
My thoughts
It's an interesting read, and describes a very cool new perspective which I hadn't thought about so much before (that we evolved from tribes and therefore are seeking that tribal connection, in a nutshell).
However, the book is very anecdotal and not as ground shaking as I had expected from the recommendation above.
I think a more interesting, deeper story is being released on Wait But Why now: https://waitbutwhy.com/story-of-us
I chose this book because I both wanted to read some of the original Winnie the Pooh (because the bear has some great wisdom) and more about Taoism and this book seemed to capture both perfectly.
Indeed in that sense it is a great read, with little snippets from the original Pooh books by AA Milne (incl illustrations) which Hoff uses to explain the fundamentals of Taoism. As Hoff explains in the introduction; the Tao is an Eastern philosophy, which is difficult to understand coming from a Western culture. However, using a Western story (Winnie the Pooh), we can kinda get a basic understanding and they both seem to strengthen each other really well.
In the first book, The Tao of Pooh, the two concepts really work together really well. You get the best quotes from Winnie the Pooh, with great insights about Taoism and I get a sense what Taoism is about. In the second book, The Te of Piglet, I felt there was a lot of negativity. There's a really long chapter on why the Eeyore's in the world are really terrible. In the book the writer also interacts with the characters, and is really awful against Eeyore, and I felt this was not at all according to the little things I knew from Taoism.
A large part of the second book is also negative about the current world situation, where people own too much and care too little about other human beings, which is more the writer's personal view of the world than what the reader could learn from Taoism.
Recommendation
All in all I really recommend the first book if indeed you have an interest in Winnie the Pooh and Taoism. Especially if you want to dive further into Taoism and get a basic understanding of the fundamental ideas of Taoism.
I advise against reading the Te of Piglet. All-in-all it was too much the writer's personal opinion, rather than more info on Taoism, and a really negative view in that.
Leuk boek om te lezen! Het heeft wel wat weg van Factfulness, wat ik echt een aanrader vind.
Ik was tegen een paar audioboek hoofdstukken van dit boek aangelopen (het hele boek is ook gratis te beluisteren!), en vond de manier van vertellen en de interessante feiten die naar boven kwamen erg interessant en verfrissend.
Daardoor besloten het hele boek ook te lezen, aangezien ik het fijn vind om even snel terug te kunnen bladeren etc.
Het verhaal leent zich erg goed voor een audioboek, aangezien het heel verhalend verteld is, met leuke en interessante anecdotes. Het boek heeft ook wel wat weg van Thinking Fast and Slow (TFaS). Maar waar TFaS voor mij ten onder gaat aan saaie, droge beschrijvingen van studies en resultaten, houdt dit boek het heel verhalend en gemakkelijk volgbaar.
Daar zit echter wat voor mij dit boek afhoudt van een 5-sterren review; het is zo toegankelijk geschreven dat het super snel door te lezen is, en doordat het zo snel gaat heb ik geen tijd om stil te staan en in me op te nemen wat ik nou eigenlijk gelezen heb.