A review by lindseyswanson
Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz

2.0

A big MEH. I stopped reading this part way through (which is odd for me)- there's some nuggets in here but I didn't realize how outdated the perspective would be with how good of a reputation this book has still. It's just missing so much context in regards to how the world works. It's a lot of, "just believe you can!" and "if you want it to happen, then you can make it happen!". And that disregards a lot of the difficulties that come with being a human. It assumes that the world is a fair place and that people succeed because they are the best at what they do, which just isn't true. He even talks about how the people who run companies and are in management are logically there because they were promoted for being the best and smartest. And no... because nepotism, power, money, and systematic oppression. You do have to work hard, you do have to believe you can, you do have to make things happen - but you're also working in a broken and unfair system. You also have to know when the odds are stacked against you and change the game. And sometimes you are in an oppressed group and don't have the ability to change it just because you want it enough. Not to be all nihilistic about it, it's just that most levels of success are directly tied to connections, luck, and inherent privileges. And I'm saying this as a successful person who has directly benefited from that system.