Preface: I randomly bought this book on my kindle when its ad popped up after I opened my kindle cover. I have a habit of impulsively buying/downloading arbitrary books onto my kindle and because thus far I've always been pleased with my stray purchases influenced by Amazon's ads, I don't object to the marketing. I didn't know who Scott Adams is. I've heard of the Dilbert comic strip but that's it; never read them. I've never read any of his works until this book. My opinion of this book? Absolutely worth my time and mere $12. Reading the book was akin somewhat to how I think it would be like to have the good fortune of knowing a sharp, successful, resolute person who was willing to share his thoughts, over time and many coffee get-togethers, on his success and life in general.
Tongue in cheek title but quite a fresh, enlightening book that actually is more aptly described as 'How to Think towards and about Success'. This is a book of opinions. That make good sense. Nothing earth shattering but rarely is anything that is simultaneously difficult and easy to do novel or original. Jim Rohn used to explain that behaviors that are conducive to the path toward success are easy to do but also easy not to do. The value in Adam's thoughts come in the form of offering his experiences and methods in his own life on making it easier to do the right behaviors, and thus making it easier for him and us to choose the successful habits. Adam's book offers his macro view of what allows for success, what greases the wheels for success. And how not to get hung up on popular concepts like "passion". Great short chapter on the fallacy behind being fed advice to "follow your passion" which Adams reasons can be detrimentally misleading. In short, readers will be better off simply reading this single chapter and understanding Adam's explanation that success is more a factor in causing passion than passion is in causing success and that energy is good but the concept of passion can be bullcrap, as Adams says.
I don't mind reading opinionated thoughts because I am sufficiently confident that I can ferret out what I need and want from them without getting hung up on them. (There are some weird opinions on hypnosis and notion of humans as holograms in a computer software program that were wasted on me...but it's all good; I still like the book....) I very much liked Adam's "How to Fail at Almost Everything" precisely because he didn't strain over proving his logic or overwhelm us with justifications for his methods. He shares with us his thoughts: he shares a simplified extract of his personal thought processes and offers them as an example of how such might facilitate our own path toward our ideas of success. Adams offers patterns he's observed in his life that can prove useful and ways to think of concepts that are more practical over popular alternatives that tend to weigh us down with intricate methodical scientifically proven plans that may not be easy to sustain in the long-run.
There are some core, foundational aspects in our lives that Adams lays out that need attention in order for us to find our success. Adams believes that you need to tend to the groundwork for success by tending to your mind and body so as to allow yourself and your own set of talents and strengths to surface and flourish. Success is not easy but it's achievable...for anyone. Adams provides a set of skills and areas of knowledge towards which he thinks we should all vow a lifetime commitment to honing, learning and mastering. These make up a manageable and sensible list that will help in dealing with life and other people.
There are a lot of great thoughts packed into this book, little nuggets here and there that you really must extract for yourself because your nuggets will undoubtedly differ from mine. My personal favorite system-based concepts include the following, all of which cannot be adequately expressed through such a list without reading Adam's presentation of them:
1. "If you believe people use reason for the important decisions in life, you will go through life feeling confused and frustrated that others seem to have bad reasoning skills." So damn true, Mr. Adams.
2. Success/Passion fallacy of thinking. It's all comes down to your personal energy.
3. Simplify your systems, thus simplifying your life.
4. Good ideas have no value - it's all about execution, Baby.
5. Always be looking for your next better job options as soon as you get your current job.
6. Appearance matters (don't shrug...common sense yet not common)
7. Systems are ongoing; it doesn't matter if you can't tell their components are moving you towards the right direction on a daily basis.
8. Wishing is for losers. Decide to pay the price and then pay it.
9. Manage your illusions wisely and you might get what you want even if you don't understand why or how it worked.
10. Careful who you surround yourself with.
11. Everyone "is a basket case on the inside."
12. "If you do selfishness right, you automatically become a net benefit to society."
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Customer Review: The Tao of Scott Adams
Kendal Brian Hunter
Reviews with images
Simply the best book I've read.
I'm changed just by reading it without a need to do anything "more." How so? Buy it, read it, and you'll see what I mean.
Top reviews from other countries
Marco B.
Ottimo Libro
Reviewed in Italy on August 4, 2020
Marco B.
Reviewed in Italy on August 4, 2020
Offre lezioni e consigli utili su un numero vastissimo di temi. Dalla finanza personale a trucchi per diventare bravi conversatori.
Elenca inoltre una serie di abilità che dovremmo sviluppare per avere maggiori probabilità di successo nella vita.
Ti carica e lo fa per bene.
E' stato il primo libro di lingua Inglese che abbia comprato. Normalmente avrei evitato, ma in questo caso mi sono fatto trascinare dall'eccitazione perchè l'ha consigliato una persona che stimo molto.
Il libro è scritto in un Inglese molto semplice e accessibile. Chiaramente qualche parola non la si conosce, ma di solito sono parole molto specifiche che, anche se sconosciute, permettono comunque di capire il senso del discorso. Io l'ho letto con un dizionario vicino e/o un portatile connesso al traduttore online reverso davanti. Le parole che non conoscevo le facevo passare per il traduttore e ascoltavo la pronuncia. Alla fine il registro di parole è sempre quello, come noi possiamo avere le nostre dieci parole difficili che usiamo spesso, anche l'autore non è diverso.
Se fate come me e leggete ad alta voce il libro può anche migliorare la vostra pronuncia.
Quanto è bello imparare e migliorarsi!
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Enis Zuferi
Von erfolgreichen Menschen lernen
Reviewed in Germany on February 26, 2020
