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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
This book could’ve quite easily been a blog post or interesting article. Instead the author decided to pad it out with many similar stories (which get continually brought up again despite having already forgotten about them) and references to the fact that, yes, he lives in California now. The chapter about education towards the end was the only really interesting chapter in the book I’m afraid. An excellent message don’t get me wrong, it just didn’t need to take up that much of my time is all.
Good mix of stories of people finding their element. Also has a section on finding a tribe for support.
I came across Ken Robinson after seeing his TED talk. You can't help but agree with Robinson that our education system is outdated, ineffective, and killing creativity. The element is doing what you are good at and what you love.
This book is stories of well known, successful people that have found their passion even when the education system failed them. Robinson breaks down the key concepts others used and would be needed to find the element.
This is not a self help book to help someone find their passion. Robinson gives the points needed to find ones passion but is vague on details. And at times the stories of individuals started to become too long and too many.
I really like Robinson's writing and humor and will probably pick up his most resent novel [b:Finding Your Element How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life|16158494|Finding Your Element How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life|Ken Robinson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1356089374s/16158494.jpg|21998910] which sounds more like a guide that helps people find their own Element.
This book is stories of well known, successful people that have found their passion even when the education system failed them. Robinson breaks down the key concepts others used and would be needed to find the element.
This is not a self help book to help someone find their passion. Robinson gives the points needed to find ones passion but is vague on details. And at times the stories of individuals started to become too long and too many.
I really like Robinson's writing and humor and will probably pick up his most resent novel [b:Finding Your Element How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life|16158494|Finding Your Element How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life|Ken Robinson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1356089374s/16158494.jpg|21998910] which sounds more like a guide that helps people find their own Element.
This is not the usual type of thing that I read but I picked it up in the library on a whim. Dr. Robinson explains that those who do what they love are happier in life, no surprises there. He then goes on to give multiple examples of people who have had great success in life after doing poorly in school. The point being that schools do not do a good job of developing talents outside of math, science, and reading. While I agree with Dr. Robinson’s assessments, once he made them he really had no where else to go so he kept making them in different ways. The book was relatively short but I got bored with it about half way through, once I got the main point it became somewhat depressing to hear about people doing what they loved and making a living at it. All in all it wasn't a bad book and Dr. Robinson injected a good bit of humor throughout. Bizarrely, some of his writing reminded me of Douglas Adams.
Inspiring book, as was his TED talk. Easy to read.
I think this is a pretty good starter book if you too are trying to find your element. Or maybe you don't have one, maybe you have more. This book is trying to get you in the right mentality to discover yourself by peaking into the mentality, habits and ways of those who have already. I found it to be encouraging to those who have not found it yet as well. It's never too late as long as you are passionate about life and curious about what it's made of. The key to feeling young is not giving up that curiosity of what does it do and how can I do it and what if I did it like me instead of you. I don't know what I'm going on about here. What I took from this book is that there isn't one way to make it, but you can make it your way. It's hard because it might feel like you're on your own so it helps a lot to find others who struggle like you, who did this before you. But in the end, nobody will believe in you if you do not, so you have to make the recipe as you go, but trust that it will turn out right.
There is alot of inspiring storied of people finding their passion and going onto great things, which is well and good but it did start to become overkill. The Element was a very interesting read and I enjoyed most of it. Now I just need to start applying the thinks I’ve learnt to my life.
The title makes this book sound really campy, like one of those self-help books that is clearly meant to just waste your money so someone else can get rich out of BSing you.
However, it wasn't really like that.
The Element is essentially a collection of stories of how famous people found the "thing" that they are good at, and that they love doing. Ken Robinson humanizes them, taking away all the mythical glitz, and describing how they accomplished their passions even through intense hardships. i.e. Apparently James Earl Jones was a stutterer and had stage fright before he became a famous actor.
All of these stories are very encouraging since he approaches them from every possible doubt or excuse one may be tempted to hide behind. i.e. What if a centenarian wants to be a ballerina?
He ends the book with a strong criticism of current school systems and how they stifle creativity (and finding our Element) under the guise of teaching kids what someone standardized test decides they "need" to learn.
I couldn't agree more with this, and his compilation of stories was very educational and motivational.
The question is: how do we get there?
p.s. This book is not a practical guide to achieving everything he shares in his stories. Apparently this is: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16158494-finding-your-element
However, it wasn't really like that.
The Element is essentially a collection of stories of how famous people found the "thing" that they are good at, and that they love doing. Ken Robinson humanizes them, taking away all the mythical glitz, and describing how they accomplished their passions even through intense hardships. i.e. Apparently James Earl Jones was a stutterer and had stage fright before he became a famous actor.
All of these stories are very encouraging since he approaches them from every possible doubt or excuse one may be tempted to hide behind. i.e. What if a centenarian wants to be a ballerina?
He ends the book with a strong criticism of current school systems and how they stifle creativity (and finding our Element) under the guise of teaching kids what someone standardized test decides they "need" to learn.
I couldn't agree more with this, and his compilation of stories was very educational and motivational.
The question is: how do we get there?
p.s. This book is not a practical guide to achieving everything he shares in his stories. Apparently this is: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16158494-finding-your-element