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A review by studiomikarts
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumph by Ryan Holiday
Did not finish book. Stopped at 46%.
Since I DNF'd this book, I'm not going to waste any more time on it by writing a detailed review. Suffice it to say, the first third of the book I found to be motivating and instructive, but from that point on, it was steady downhill. Misogynistic viewpoints, the lauding of self-destructive work ethics, and extremely repetitive language are the main things that killed it for me. I'll copy-paste my DNF notes from my reading journal to finish this review.
"I feel this advice could be given with more room for maintaining one's mental and physical health along the way. Today's chapters basically said: work nonstop, try literally everything, fail repeatedly, and focus on the process rather than the outcome. Good advice when simplified like that, but the details are suggestive of a shortened, desperate, miserable fight of a life, an "I'll sleep when I'm dead" style life. At one point the book even questions why aggression is seen in such a negative light these days. Wow. No wonder the book has a misogynistic and overall unhealthy flavor.
"I'ma DNF this book. I see, like many other reviewers, it lost me precisely when the "Action" section began. The first section, "Persistence", was full of sticky notes, and they just stopped after that. That was when I went from inspired to frustrated, bored, and even confused. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like the actionable advice is all over the place, or simply unrealistic or even unhealthy. I'm also gonna give away this and the other book from this series that I have. There's too little time to waste reading subpar books."
"I feel this advice could be given with more room for maintaining one's mental and physical health along the way. Today's chapters basically said: work nonstop, try literally everything, fail repeatedly, and focus on the process rather than the outcome. Good advice when simplified like that, but the details are suggestive of a shortened, desperate, miserable fight of a life, an "I'll sleep when I'm dead" style life. At one point the book even questions why aggression is seen in such a negative light these days. Wow. No wonder the book has a misogynistic and overall unhealthy flavor.
"I'ma DNF this book. I see, like many other reviewers, it lost me precisely when the "Action" section began. The first section, "Persistence", was full of sticky notes, and they just stopped after that. That was when I went from inspired to frustrated, bored, and even confused. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like the actionable advice is all over the place, or simply unrealistic or even unhealthy. I'm also gonna give away this and the other book from this series that I have. There's too little time to waste reading subpar books."