James Altucher
After I received a copy of the e-book version of this book for free, Mr. Althucher asked if I would post a comment at Amazon.com once I had a chance to read it. I have answered affirmatively, so what follows is a general impression on the book format and a summary of my findings regarding the contents of the book.
Although the book reads fast, it is not an easy read. There's a wealth of information and a great variety of topics; and the book is structured to read more as a collection of separate blog entries with certain repetitions (for which we are warned at the beginning of the book). All of the above makes it difficult to absorb everything at once, so re-reading is required, and the cost of this was 1 star on the rating scale.
In my view, the Daily Practice recommendations are what the book is all about. A smart play with words aside, Mr. Althucher shows us not how to be the luckiest person alive, instead he teaches us how to be physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually FIT so that we will be able to recognize/create, as well as act on/follow through opportunities for bettering our lives. I put some of the recommendations to action (the physical and mental ones) and was ashamed to realize that first; I couldn't even do 5 push-ups and second; that after relying on a calculator for my daily tasks for so long, my mental “muscle” “objected” when I tried to add two numbers in my head. Not good…
The rest of the advice given in this book (on education, writing, housing, stocks, entrepreneurship, health, negotiating, customer service, etc.) is brutally honest (I laughed a lot about the “functional idiot” comment) and very much real life. On the surface this may cause the reader to form an opinion that Mr. Althucher is not a very nice person and that maybe work ethics are not his strong point. Digging deeper will make you realize that there's solid reasoning and, for a relatively young fellow, a lot of experience behind his recommendations (in his case, the old saying “it's not the age, but the mileage” rings very true).
I warmly recommend this book – if you strayed from your chosen path, it will help you prioritize your responsibilities and get back on track; or on the other hand, maybe it will even help you challenge your assumptions about the chosen path in the first place, causing you to reshape your life.
You may or may not like or agree with what Mr. Althucher is proposing, but one thing is for sure – you will definitely not be indifferent to it.
