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Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
by Daniel Pink


What motivates us? Really?


In reading this book, I'm struck by how damn good at conforming I -am- was. As a kid, I quickly grasped the whole - it doesn't matter if it makes sense, just that you do what the teacher/parent/coach/etc wants when they ask. I was super good at school and giving the ‘right' answer even when it was ‘not-exactly-right'. I went on to try to get my kids to follow the whole do A to get B formula. All of this is exactly in line with the thinking BEFORE I was born, entrenched in the systems of adults to this day. Except, in some places. That thinking was that people are like “smaller, slower horses, responding to juicy carrots and painful sticks” (paraphrasing). Thinking this way leads teachers to ply students with good reader awards after x hours of reading, managers to give cash bonuses if you meet the target, and all kinds of other short-term simple minded rewards that change our why. When you are offered a reward, the why is no longer in your heart...it is the reward. There are countless examples in the book.


The stories in DRIVE show us that these reward structures make us less good versions of ourselves. Thankfully, Daniel finds research that shows our minds are moldable (like you may have read in The Shallows by Nicholas Carr). This is the single biggest takeaway from DRIVE, I think - that you can, personally, change your life such that you are working in line with intrinsic (BETTER) motivation like we are wired from birth. He uses the example of babies and toddlers and how they don't need rewards to be curious and busy - they get inner pleasure from actively engaging in their world. Only after we beat our growing and developing selves into automatons with gold stars, right answers, candy, trophies, certificates, etc... do we become slave to external rewards. I also learned that I misunderstood Type A - I am indeed not Type A, yay! but I do have trouble relaxing control of things that I have finished.



I have read several of the scientific studies cited in this book AND I must have a type because I have also read countless books that reference those same studies - mostly about psychology and behavior related in some fashion to economics. I don't mind getting the info again - honestly, that is how I think learning happens, in layers. That being said , there is a lot of material, but Daniel is pulling it all together in a frank and digestible fashion. Thankfully, at the end of the book, Daniel gives a summary of the book, a long list of recommendations for further reading (summarizing each book and giving the reason why it is applicable to his thesis), and a list of questions for further reading. There's also a set of activities for improving the reader's own intrinsic motivation.


I enjoyed this book - perhaps more so because I listened to it right after I finished When (same author). Since the books are both read by the author, the voice is familiar. I dunno about you, but sometimes the narrator gets between me and the content.


Recommended for adult readers - I think middle grades on up could read it, but there are so many references to work life ... and I just don't see kids with the same interest in what drives motivation...or the life history to have seen motivation gone wrong and ‘get' the examples.


Planned to listen? I played this on 2X on Libby and finished it in less than 3 hours.


I listened to this book running > 19 miles on a random Sunday morning for no reason at all, so I am feeling a little smug that I must have some kind of intrinsic motivation. I'm, like 80%. :)

Interesting approach for a coming of age story. I enjoyed thinking through the clues with the main character. A reminder that life happens whether it is as planned or not.

My brain kept wanting to merge the enigmatic Margo with Alaska (a character from another John Green book).

0.1 is from the perspective of Cal's mom. I wanted to know more about this character. The glimpse was so short, but good.

0.2 is from the perspective of Farley. I did not like all of the messages with encoding and classification. The action background was interesting and answered questions from the story.

This is a fun middle grade mystery. I enjoyed following Mo and Dale around as they solved a crime and saved the day. A few times, there were frightening moments for Mo and Dale, and they had to handle stuff that many middle grade kids will not (operating a store, protecting people from abuse, etc.)

Along the way, Mo discovers that she might be adopted, but she doesn't need to search for her parents because she already has a home.

Setting: well done - I could feel small town North Carolina
Characters: varied & dimensional, children and adults
POV character: young, female, adopted
Topics: adoption, alcoholism, domestic abuse, robbery, murder, amnesia, economic inequality
Tone: strong, adventurous, curious

Pratchett is such a master. This story is fun, light, surprising, and fanciful. You don't need to be immersed in the series to enjoy it.

I wish I had read this one before Making Money, though.

A powerful story of aspiration and the search for meaning in life. In the brutal twist that we all expect from the cover, the doctor seeking to understand how meaning, illness, knowledge, and death are intertwined gets to find out first hand.

There is a lot of message in this book about thinking about what gives your life meaning. If you had 3 months, what would you do today....three years? thirty? What should you do if those things are different? The idea of confronting the tragedy of uncertainty is powerful. I think that the author could have been a fantastic writer and perhaps (given the story) neurosurgeon. Tragically, he did not get that chance. This book is edited from notes he put together as his life came apart.

Having recently read “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande, I highly recommend that readers of Kalanithi's book also look into that one. Atul had the blessing of time to complete and expound on his ideas in his book.

This is a quick read with adventure and just a hint of scary. Great for elementary, and advanced young (1st through 3rd) readers ( no adult themes ). Middle schoolers and above might wish for more adventure and deeper characters, but that's hard to do in a short book.

Another fun “economics outside the lines” book full of connections that are intriguing and sometimes unexpected. I enjoyed the narrative, transitions between stories, and the tone (inquisitive and open). Don't expect any deep explanation of economics-this is a popular science book at best.

I'd recommend it to adults (some topics are not appropriate for even precocious children).

I'm going to be bold here. This is one of those books, like the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and “Getting Things Done” that lays out what you think might be obvious in a way that makes it actionable and concrete. It belongs on the same shelf, to serve as a reminder of the tools available to us.

Basically, Jake Knapp clearly (with examples from Google Ventures) lays out how you can save time by focusing attention on ideation, elimination, and testing to get from “My Big Idea” to “My Actual Thing” in a reasonable amount of time. Pitfalls, roles, and materials are all identified. The decision structures and limits laid out in each step may be the most valuable part of this book. I like that you can read it straight through and see how this worked for the example ventures (only one of them is software) and still reference the the tools and checklists included in the book from the website later.

While I have not tested the Sprint idea, I feel confident (since it was tested by Google Ventures more than 100 times) that following the plan will work for many different kinds of ideas. This book is an incredibly fast read with well-organized reference material. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to do/create/make/sell/etc. something and isn't exactly sure how to get there.

Weird and interesting

Preparing for non-motorized activism

There is quite the world created here. I have my ins and outs with liking this story. The characters are a little bit stuck.

After reading other books in the same world (Wizard's First Rule, Stone of Tears, etc.), I was happy to see this one on the shelf and have an opportunity to dive back in. The book promised a legend for the beginning. Goodkind again created characters to love and hate, but they felt more transparent and less real to me than characters in other stories. Even the talk of magic gets dull at times with references to star points and networks and connections. Something was missing from this story, and I'm not sure what it was.

I'd recommend this book to folks who already like the world of confessors and the sword of truth. It is interesting to have an origin story. Otherwise, skip it. There are plenty of great books out there.

This story is surreal. It felt like historical fiction, but for a non-history. Interesting story with moving characters...I finished it and I'm still almost sure what happened, though.

This book is good but too short. After The Order of Time, I was pumped for more detail and stories. Carlo opened the door, but I want more!

This is a great last book.

So many series start out great and then get lost by the end. This one...this one keeps the reader engaged to the last page...and is somehow not quite a perfectly happy or tragic ending. Keen readers will recognize parallels to other beloved worlds and characters - which makes the story more fun, in my mind...because then you can think about what is different about the stories and why.

Throughout the series, we get to know characters, some deeper than others, whose motivations completely drive their behavior. We get to glimpse a small part of a world where magic is manifest in everything, and its workings are not even well understood by the people living in it. This ambiguity leaves space for wonder and conjecture for the reader as well as the characters.


Recommended reading from middle grades on up to adult. Some violence. Some adult themes, no graphic content.

Some interesting and original characters here. It's unfortunate that the supposed heroine needs so much support, but the young hero character pulls through.

I loved this book. The anecdotes are relatable, the narrative is clear, and there are actionable insights. This book takes us beyond habits to skills we can use to create additional meaningful change. It won't be easy or instantaneous, but we can slowly shape our future selves by changing our current toolset. Recommended!

I have seen the movie and had no idea that it was based on an English book.

This story is so fun. I love the characters and their stubbornness. Truly an enjoyable and quick read. Perfect for kids and grown ups - especially if you watched the movie.

My favorite of this series so far. Blood of the Mantis is intriguing and a little confusing. The plot thickens to mud here, with several new characters, settings (races!). Keep it moving.

Curious. Thud is a curious tale with characters that I think I'd like to know better. I did not read the previous books in the series, so perhaps I'm missing something. While I was a little disoriented as a reader throughout this story, I enjoyed it. Nobody was quite how they appeared at first glance, and prejudice was so pervasive that it almost got old. I assume that both of these have something to do with the world with which I am not familiar. Despite the prejudice and shifting people, the plot pulls the story along well, and all is well that ends well.

As we rolled past the 43rd anniversary of this eruption, I read my first (extended) historical account of it in this book.

Largely, I thought this narrative was useful, informative, and gave insight that we don't hear often.

However, I didn't enjoy the actual writing. About a third of the book is a biography of the Weyerhausers, which is interesting, but feels unwarranted. Surely more of the text could have been used to help us readers get into the head of Governor Ray, who must have been quite a character.
In addition to that over extended or imbalanced attention, we get some tiny details about some of the people who perished that are completely unnecessary or do not propel their story forward.

I say, go ahead and read this. It is worth the few hours.

Oh, man. George R. R. Martin isn't afraid to kill off characters.

Sabaa continues the dramatic escape and rescue plan from An Ember in the Ashes. At the end of that book, we are basically running away, so book 2 was essential. At the end of this book, there is a bit of a button up. A reader could walk away. I already have book 3 - compelled to keep reading because I'm interested in the magic/mythology of the world and the characters.

This world holds a lot of promise even with the very simplistic splits of peoples.

A few things are too good to be true here, but I like that we got to keep moving forward.

And...when a character has some herbs to prevent pregnancy (no details for spoilers), well, I could not believe that because of the conditions of the character (likely first time) and conditions (remote/away from familiar places/running).

All through this story, I changed my mind back and forth on whether I even liked the protagonist. The story feels raw and emotional. The mundane issues that drive the characters to take their next action are so much more relatable than the world or what you might expect would drive plot. It's a real-life coming of age novel with some quirks.

Caution: This story contains some sex, swearing, and abuse of alcohol and drugs. I thought the target audience was a little younger based on the book summary than it actually is.