You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by noirla1939
The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google by Scott Galloway
4.0
Scott Galloway continues to write a decent book that's not off the charts. This book is his analysis of how and why the big four tech companies - Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google - are doing so well. Granted, this was written in 2017, so it's been a good while, but even in 2025, Galloway's analysis isn't something to shy away from because these four companies are still successful today.
Galloway also talks about other companies that are making waves - Tesla, Uber, Air Bnb, Lyft, Microsoft, Walmart - but what I didn't expect for him to do was to try to relay advice to aspiring entrepreneurs about how to be successful. Hearing that part of the book took me for a spin like whirl wheel because I didn't think it made all that much sense to suddenly loop in self-help content in a book that's supposed to be about business. I'm not sure if Galloway succeeds in putting those two things together, but it's certainly interesting to listen to his insights.
One thing that caught my attention was his advice about balancing your life in regard to your career. He believes that balance is a myth, that when you're young, you're never going to find balance because you should be giving all your energy to your career. I don't know if I quite believe that, but I will say it was an interesting opinion because on some level, maybe he is right. There is a time in one's life where work is the only thing going on for us and it sucks because you want to have a life outside work, yet you find yourself grinding away for what seems to be most of your day.
Another thing I don't agree with Galloway that he keeps hammering in all of the books I read with him: his insistence that you live in a big city. It's so unrealistic to expect anyone to move to a big city to be successful. Not everyone can afford to and why would you want to live in such a cramped place to be miserable with work?
This is the thing about Galloway. He's clearly knowledgeable about business and finance. He's clearly accomplished. Yet he seems to forget that not everyone can be like him. He makes these generalizations that sort of contradict each other. "Go to college." "Live in a big city." "Don't trust in corporations." Some of these I would agree with, particularly the "don't put your trust in a corporation." But some of these are so general.
Despite some issues I had with this audiobook, I will admit that I was somewhat engaged with it. So maybe it wasn't all bad.
Galloway also talks about other companies that are making waves - Tesla, Uber, Air Bnb, Lyft, Microsoft, Walmart - but what I didn't expect for him to do was to try to relay advice to aspiring entrepreneurs about how to be successful. Hearing that part of the book took me for a spin like whirl wheel because I didn't think it made all that much sense to suddenly loop in self-help content in a book that's supposed to be about business. I'm not sure if Galloway succeeds in putting those two things together, but it's certainly interesting to listen to his insights.
One thing that caught my attention was his advice about balancing your life in regard to your career. He believes that balance is a myth, that when you're young, you're never going to find balance because you should be giving all your energy to your career. I don't know if I quite believe that, but I will say it was an interesting opinion because on some level, maybe he is right. There is a time in one's life where work is the only thing going on for us and it sucks because you want to have a life outside work, yet you find yourself grinding away for what seems to be most of your day.
Another thing I don't agree with Galloway that he keeps hammering in all of the books I read with him: his insistence that you live in a big city. It's so unrealistic to expect anyone to move to a big city to be successful. Not everyone can afford to and why would you want to live in such a cramped place to be miserable with work?
This is the thing about Galloway. He's clearly knowledgeable about business and finance. He's clearly accomplished. Yet he seems to forget that not everyone can be like him. He makes these generalizations that sort of contradict each other. "Go to college." "Live in a big city." "Don't trust in corporations." Some of these I would agree with, particularly the "don't put your trust in a corporation." But some of these are so general.
Despite some issues I had with this audiobook, I will admit that I was somewhat engaged with it. So maybe it wasn't all bad.