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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
fast-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Inspiring stories about people finding their passion, otherwise feels like it was ghostwritten by whoever writes all these "business/self-help" type books. I don't remember who recommended this.
informative
slow-paced
Книгата ми хареса, макар и не толкова колкото очаквах. Четях я между другото, наред с други книги, защото макар и в началото да ме увлече, после започна да ми става леко досадна и еднообразна. Не научих нещо кой знае колко ново, а десетките примери и истории ми дойдоха в повече, - още повече предвид факта, че невинаги конкретната история илюстрираше смислено и напълно адекватно идеята на автора.
Като цяло съм абсолютно съгласна с разбирането му за образованието и ми се иска тази книга да стане достояние на повече хора, заети в тази област.
Като цяло съм абсолютно съгласна с разбирането му за образованието и ми се иска тази книга да стане достояние на повече хора, заети в тази област.
I was surprised that I really liked this book! I was looking for something similar to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective people and came across this as a free E-book on the public library's site.
I think it's a great read for anyone trying figure out what they want to do in life and if they feel as if they have been failing. Then they should venture out and try something completely different to be possibly be surprised at what they're good at! Some of the points might sound redundant, but looking beneath the obvious is pretty inspiring. I knew early on what I'm good at and what I'm not good at even though it's not my passion, it's why I chose my career path. Thankfully, I've found my passion in hobbies and this book helps consider the possibilities of finding a way to combine or balance both.
It's the type of book that I would stop reading so that I could absorb what the writer was saying. I agree with many of the other reviews and the writer about the outdated educational system we have and trying to fit everyone into one mold. Needless to say, I enjoyed it!
I think it's a great read for anyone trying figure out what they want to do in life and if they feel as if they have been failing. Then they should venture out and try something completely different to be possibly be surprised at what they're good at! Some of the points might sound redundant, but looking beneath the obvious is pretty inspiring. I knew early on what I'm good at and what I'm not good at even though it's not my passion, it's why I chose my career path. Thankfully, I've found my passion in hobbies and this book helps consider the possibilities of finding a way to combine or balance both.
It's the type of book that I would stop reading so that I could absorb what the writer was saying. I agree with many of the other reviews and the writer about the outdated educational system we have and trying to fit everyone into one mold. Needless to say, I enjoyed it!
The author is just calling “passion” as “the element”. He is just recycling everything that is commonly known. Just giving a million examples does not serve any purpose if there is no way to guide the readers about how to find the so called ‘element’. Please do not waste your time on this book.
I think the book helped me understand the importance in having passions and setting aside time for them/dedicating your life to them, but it didn’t help me understand HOW I can find my passion(s). But overall feeling a little bit more connected with myself and others after reading this
2.5/5. This book does a fabulous job of revealing the failings of the education systems in our societies, which is the aspect that originally drew me to the book. However, it quickly transforms into a self-help book, and I generally don't respond well to those.
The aim of this book is to reveal that everyone has within their grasp a passion which, if recognised and encouraged, can bring people into their 'element' and lead (apparently) to more fulfilled and happy lives. As examples of people who've found their element, Robinson uses the stories of wildly successful intellectuals or creative geniuses who all happened to be absolutely hopeless at school. All this is meant to suggest that school limits our natural abilities to the extent that some people never realise their true potential. Now that is all fine, but two things reeeeally annoyed me.
Firstly, exclusively using examples of highly successful people who failed school is extremely biased and suggests that everyone who failed at school can reach the levels of success that these people have.
Secondly, in the shortest chapter of the book on luck, Robinson quickly rejects the idea that chance plays any part in our lives, instead asserting that it is our attitudes which lead us to success. Apart from the quite obvious fact that the only reason we're alive on this earth is by mere chance (Darwin, anyone?) The idea that we can just smile our way out of our troubles, out of debt, out of poverty is laughable. I'm not advocating for bad attitudes - how often have we heard the wisdom 'count your blessings', or the more recent 'check your privilege' (although the latter is rarely applied to ourselves and more often demanded of others, usually older, white men. We should start applying it to ourselves more often). A good attitude definitely helps you deal with a current situation, but to believe that good thoughts can change your situation is a fallacy. It also goes hand-in-hand with the idea that only through hard work can you succeed. If you believe in that ideal of meritocracy, you also believe that unsuccessful people fully deserve to be so, because the element of the haphazard apparently has no effect on our lives. This eventually leads to a very conservative view of the welfare state... so yeah.
The aim of this book is to reveal that everyone has within their grasp a passion which, if recognised and encouraged, can bring people into their 'element' and lead (apparently) to more fulfilled and happy lives. As examples of people who've found their element, Robinson uses the stories of wildly successful intellectuals or creative geniuses who all happened to be absolutely hopeless at school. All this is meant to suggest that school limits our natural abilities to the extent that some people never realise their true potential. Now that is all fine, but two things reeeeally annoyed me.
Firstly, exclusively using examples of highly successful people who failed school is extremely biased and suggests that everyone who failed at school can reach the levels of success that these people have.
Secondly, in the shortest chapter of the book on luck, Robinson quickly rejects the idea that chance plays any part in our lives, instead asserting that it is our attitudes which lead us to success. Apart from the quite obvious fact that the only reason we're alive on this earth is by mere chance (Darwin, anyone?) The idea that we can just smile our way out of our troubles, out of debt, out of poverty is laughable. I'm not advocating for bad attitudes - how often have we heard the wisdom 'count your blessings', or the more recent 'check your privilege' (although the latter is rarely applied to ourselves and more often demanded of others, usually older, white men. We should start applying it to ourselves more often). A good attitude definitely helps you deal with a current situation, but to believe that good thoughts can change your situation is a fallacy. It also goes hand-in-hand with the idea that only through hard work can you succeed. If you believe in that ideal of meritocracy, you also believe that unsuccessful people fully deserve to be so, because the element of the haphazard apparently has no effect on our lives. This eventually leads to a very conservative view of the welfare state... so yeah.