An entertaining, inspiring approach to life-hacking that begs to be implemented by the willing reader.
“Very little is impossible with ten years’ practice.” Journalist and performance coach Kotler delivers an incitement for us all to up our games.
Just about every human achievement was once deemed impossible, whether breaking the 4-minute mile or landing on the moon. Kotler’s Flow Research Collective, borrowing from the insights of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, studies “the neurobiology of human peak performance,” training and quantifying the nervous system at its optimum. Neurobiology being universal, it works for everyone in theory, even though when personality enters the picture, psychological traits such as risk aversion can affect the outcome. No worry, writes the author. Peak performance is attained through motivation, learning, creativity, and flow, the last of which is “how you turbo-boost the results beyond all rational standards and reasonable expectations,” surprising even yourself with the mastery that comes after figuring out how to do something perfectly. Kotler has something of the cheerleader about him, to be sure, but he’s thoroughly grounded in science, writing of the biological systems that drive fear, anger, grief, lust, and other emotions, all of which can be turned to advantage. He also offers a novel approach to learning, removing stress and letting curiosity make a game of it. “We’re letting our pattern recognition system find connections between curiosities that make us even more curious—which is how you cultivate passion,” he writes after chronicling a user-friendly approach to learning a new subject. Other strategies for performance optimization include getting enough restorative sleep; eating properly; spending your time effectively, including scheduling time for meditation and focused thinking; and avoiding stress. Kotler’s up-and-at-’em approach never sounds a false note, and it’s clear that he has applied his advice to himself. Besides, it’s fun to read sentences like, “Remember, the ROI on reading says books are the best way to go.”
An entertaining, inspiring approach to life-hacking that begs to be implemented by the willing reader.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-297753-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harper Wave
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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