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A review by sowalsky
5 by Dan Zadra
1.0
I'm naturally skeptical of self-help books: for every such book which is truly helpful there are two which fail miserably, and this work falls squarely into the latter category. "Five" claims to help the reader imagine the next five years of their life and, in doing so, maximize their human potential. Perhaps I should have been more suspicious going in, since this book was given to me by a former boss who turned out to be a shameless hypocrite. And I should have known what I was in for after reading the very first substantive statement contained in this volume: "In five years Columbus opened up a whole new world by discovering the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaliola, and North America." Leading with praise for one of history's great monsters does not exactly inspire confidence.
As with many of the worst self-help books, the bulk of "Five" consists of a jumble of quotations -- really out-of-context platitudes -- which, on account of their mostly well-known sources, are supposed to carry the weight of authority and profundity. Yet this book is really just a round of rah-rah-rah cheerleading for the privileged class. Advice such as, "Visit the home of your ancestors," is problematic for anyone who doesn't enjoy both financial and cultural advantages. But, then again, the author clearly understood his audience, since anyone who would pony up $14.95 for a hardcover book in which two whole pages are devoted to the sentence, "See the world," is likely to consider the advice found here to be timely, relevant, and deeply moving. To the rest of the world -- or to those of us who are too smart for that bullshit -- it is more likely to act as an emetic. Yech!!
As with many of the worst self-help books, the bulk of "Five" consists of a jumble of quotations -- really out-of-context platitudes -- which, on account of their mostly well-known sources, are supposed to carry the weight of authority and profundity. Yet this book is really just a round of rah-rah-rah cheerleading for the privileged class. Advice such as, "Visit the home of your ancestors," is problematic for anyone who doesn't enjoy both financial and cultural advantages. But, then again, the author clearly understood his audience, since anyone who would pony up $14.95 for a hardcover book in which two whole pages are devoted to the sentence, "See the world," is likely to consider the advice found here to be timely, relevant, and deeply moving. To the rest of the world -- or to those of us who are too smart for that bullshit -- it is more likely to act as an emetic. Yech!!