S. Smith

A bit of a struggle

Reviewed: 28-07-23

After an interesting start, I must admit that I lost interest in this book and ended up grinding my way to the end. The format of following a different character in each chapter means that each chapter follows a similar pattern.

The character finds the dictionary department, thinks that it is weird, then comes to understand and eventually love it... rinse and repeat. Scatter in a couple of interesting but long-winded facts about the process of writing a dictionary and that's it, that's the book.

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Meandering mish-mash of concepts

Reviewed: 22-05-23

The concepts described in this book are better explained in other books. In effect this books is the wisdom that one man has pulled in during his life and some techniques that have worked for him and the artists he has worked with.

The problem is that it is barely organised, it's a mish mash of thoughts and sometimes contradictory ideas, presented in a way that many will call "meditative", but I will call "of limited use". Go and get yourself a deeper book on any of the topics that Rick touches upon...

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7 people found this helpful

Very practical tips, well explained and backed up

Reviewed: 25-08-22

The audio performance on this book was really good, well recorded, well paced and the author gave it a sense of personality.

The content itself was an amalgamation of well researched principles from across social psychology and seemed to be well backed up by the authors experience as a relationship coach.

There's nothing mind-blowing in here, it's all stuff that we know we should do, but is hard to do in the moment, so it's a great reminder.

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Great ideas on long-termism but a shaky foundation

Reviewed: 24-08-22

First off, a good audio performance, well read, no lip/breathing sounds or tics, clearly enunciated at a good speed.

The author provides a good framework for evaluating future threats and some good arguments for why we should be tackling these threats as soon as possible. He also does a good job of explaining how we might go about working on these issues and how we might each most effectively help.

Where I feel the book falls down is in the philosophical underpinning of the long-term movement. The author relies on staw man arguments and abstract thought experiments that don't necessarily map back onto real life. To his credit, he is occasionally honest about this, saying that there are still arguments about these topics and he is consciously choosing to come down on a certain side, but I think it shows the shaky ground that this is all built on.

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2 people found this helpful

Excruciating

Reviewed: 18-08-22

Seth writes as if he is desperately trying to convince you to come back after the ad break on a 90s daytime TV show.

He'll give you the interesting data, but not until he has:
- Told you three times that we now have data, where we didn't have it before
- Gotten you to guess what the results might be
- Plugged his previous book
- Told you, once again, that the results will surprise you
- Pulled a fake out on telling you the data
- Trotted out a dull personal anecdote

The first chapter reads like the pitch to his publisher. From there on out the content is incredibly thinly spread and drawn out.

Just like his previous book actually...

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1 person found this helpful

Unlistenable

Reviewed: 16-03-22

Bought the book instead. The narrator punctuates nearly every sentence with a noisy, squelchy lip smack, a mouth gasp of air right into the microphone or just the weirdest grunts, huffs, and mouth slops. They should have had an actual professional read the book out, or at least stumped up the money to have someone edit out the awful mouth sounds.

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6 people found this helpful

Cranked out in a few days?

Reviewed: 05-11-20

Feels like it was written in a short period of time, a very rough structure of tidbits, stories and life advice. Reads like a bit of a ramble...

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30 mins content stretched for hours

Reviewed: 04-09-20

This book confirms that you can get all you need from Julian Treasure by watching his TED talks. This book uses the same facts over and over again. It is full of so much padding, repetition and alluding to future content that it very quickly becomes tiring.

As a narrator, I also find that, despite his efforts, he's not actually that great an orator. His delivery is overly performed, like someone who is desperate to use the widest possible range at all times. His voice sounds to me like the oral ecquivalent of an episode of the podcast RadioLab, where every sentence needs a change of tone, or a sound effect, because he is terrified we might drift off. Again, it is draining...

Within the first couple of chapters he tells you about 5 times each that:
"Modern headphones can play music too loud"
"I live in the Orkney Isles" - Not sure why he keeps saying this!
"Your voice is just breath"
"You can find out more on my website, here is the address, use the password - 'conscious'"

The book also frequently veers into areas outside of "How to be Heard" and comes across as weak life advice. Ignoring your inner critic, decreasing your screen time and topics such as these often pop up, are barely explored, then disappear. Rather than soft padding like this, perhaps Treasure should have hired a more vicious editor!

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8 people found this helpful

An absolute chore

Reviewed: 15-06-20

There are some interesting insights hidden in this book. But there is no variation in style / prose. The author seems like he is writing a full, dry, thesis... or a Wikipedia article. It just drones on and on. This makes the process of getting to the interesting insights an absolute chore.

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Essential listening, especially now

Reviewed: 03-05-20

Despite being written about 9 years ago, this book remains relevant. In fact, at the time of writing this review (in Covid lockdown), the book takes on the status of "essential listening".

We have seen in the past month or two, how essential out working classes are. Yet for years we have reminded them. While politicians are quick to praise our key workers now, it may all too quickly be forgotten when we "return to normal" and once the first quarterly earning report is due. How we react post-Covid will be vital.

Will we do our best to raise the quality of living for the working classes, or will we go back to treating them poorly? This book explores what happened after the 2008 Financial Crisis. I sincerely hope that we don't have a repeat of our behaviour after that crisis. Reading this book will help you to understand what we can do to be better, therefore I heartily recommend that you read/listen. It is especially vital, right now.

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