Mitch Olson

I didn't realise this book was a workbook; this should be more clearly articulated. It would probably be great for an organisational change program manager learning their organisation through Kegan's Constructive Development Theory's “Immunity to change” diagnostic model, but no good for anyone else.

There is so much obvious stuff missing in CDT that I was hoping that Kegan might have built on CDT after all of these years, but other than this simple but tool there were no new insights.

My rating reflects the value I got out of there book; as per my first paragraph, others may get more.

I got half way through and then belatedly I guess realised this guy is a idealist. What's with all these blimin dualists? Bloody Descartes and his stupid splitting of the world into mind and matter. The error of materialism is to think that matter is fundamental; the error of idealism is think that mind is fundamental. Any models of the world built from these half truths is going to be wrong. Stupid people don't realise they are both part of a larger whole that includes both, as well as value. The world is not dyadic; it's a triadic.

Never even thought about fungi until I read this book. Only now are they starting to be recognised as something distinct from plants. And they seem to have this amazing ability to cooperate with other life forms. Google “fungus zombie ants” for one of the most amazing examples of what fungi can do. Not really a full book length of material in this book but mostly entertaining nonetheless.

This book was birthed out of an essay he wrote and I suspect even then it was too long. Furthermore it's like the proverbial bringing of a knife to a gunfight. His repertoire of distinctions is enough to draw a stick figure but hardly adequate for something that looks like a book. There is no argument being made or logical thread being created. There is no point. This book feels like it's written by a teenage boy. A waste of everyone's time. If you want to learn about self referentiality or identity then I direct you 180 degrees from this book.

This book affirms my belief of the importance of stretching yourself beyond your comfort zone in building capability to create a better life.

There's some good stuff in here. But it's tinged by the fact that the author has latent (& self-admitted) imposter syndrome together with a fear he doesn't belong. This leads to, in my opinion, a take on community that has a shadow side, that whilst well-meaning has too many ego-offset mechanisms to create truly good community. Too much emphasis on status and inner sanctums of specialness are examples of this. At its best it at least acknowledges digital communities and offers some thoughts about this. I thought some of his Christian background brought a useful emphasis on some of the more “nuanced” aspects of community like ritual. Still looking for a good book on community with sufficient relevance to my interest in digital communities.

There's nothing particularly revelatory in this book in terms of how to live a good life. Having said that James Doty's autobiography is engaging & he sure seems like a good human being.

This book somewhat held my attention for more than half of it, but I guess I just don't find the Greek myths all that engaging. I'm sure they would have been more engaging a couple of thousand years ago.

A pretty good framework for building a “structure of belonging”. I particularly appreciated his “6 conversations that matter” (Ref https://www.abundantcommunity.com/six-conversations-that-matter-a-quick-review/).

If there is one criticism I would make of this book is that It doesn't touch much upon my own specific interest in community which is communities of practice and digitally mediated communities.

This is my 4th time through this book. Come to think of it I don't think I've ever read another book this many times. I always get something new out of this book. It's definitely a cerebral kind of read but Pirsig makes philosophy pretty accessible. His Metaphysics of Quality is a massive step beyond the primitive Cartesian subject-object philosophies that still somehow manages to dominant our unconscious assumptions of the experience of life. Not as popular as Zen & the art of motorcycle maintenance but a much more satisfying book in terms of its exposition of his philosophy.

As dry as a bone with narration to match. Hoped for me.

A history of media and it's monetisation. I was hoping for more coverage of the underlying psychology of this but it provided scant insight. Some of it I found interesting like the coverage of war-time propaganda but it lost my interest with the rise of media sluts and slutworks like Oprah Winfrey & reality TV. Would be a good book for someone interested in the history of media.

What I liked most about this book is that the author was also the investigator & experimental subject. Should be subject material that we are all taught at school.

Spoiler alert; I didn't finish this book. I got 11% of the way in & gave up. I think you need to be Jewish to appreciate this book. I didn't laugh once or relate to a single thing he said.

Not sure who this book is targeted at. Not me that's for sure. OMG it was boring. You won't learn a thing about “self awareness” in this book, an almost criminally mislabelled book, or at least a teeny tiny portion of that domain. The biggest shortcoming of this book is that like almost all psychological models that attempt to explain phenomena by referring to processes in the brain it is conceptually impoverished. There is no underlying conceptual model of the self or it's relationship to itself and it's goals or experience. Any intellectual endeavour that does not have a clear and well defined conceptual model is a waste of time. Anyway I have already wasted enough time on this book so I'm off to hopefully find a more interesting one.

I've come back to edit this review (later on the evening I wrote it) because I realise what annoyed me about the book. And that was that I invested all this time in reading it in the hope that it would better equip me in life to more robustly work towards what is important to me. In other words, it would have utility in my life. And failing that that I could see it perhaps have utility for other people. But my disappointment in this book, & all those other sub-3-or-4-star rated books, is that I am left no richer or well prepared for life and I can't see how it has progressed humanity in any meaningful way.

What the f**k is the point about studying & then writing about self-awareness (or the teeny tiny portion of that he calls “meta cognition”) if a “tool” is not produced from this. A rule of thumb that helps someone in the everydayness of their life. A tool that can be shared. If knowledge doesn't help someone move closer to what is important to them then it's not knowledge; it's noise. I'm sure there are some people for whom this book is knowledge but I lay odds it's not you.

Ok but nothing you will remember.

Entertaining & satisfying story. Recommend

I think this rating is probably a bit generous. But also just reflects the value I personally got from this book which was “not much”. But I think if you're a marketing person then this framework is a reasonable place to start. Cialdini's model is probably better.

Great story-telling from the author. Engaged in this entertaining story from beginning to end.

The audience for this book is post grad philosophy students. That wasn't clear to me before I bought it. I was hoping for some exposition of Heidegger's ideas but the experience was incredibly frustrating and disappointing from beginning to end; I am none the wiser. This is the sort of wanky bullshit that gives philosophologists (ref Pirsig's distinction between philosophy and philosophology) a bad name. If philosophy doesn't give the average man a tool or perspective with which to more powerfully meet the challenges and opportunities of the world then it fails. This book failed me.

I honestly can't work out why the author bothered writing this book. There is nothing new or interesting in it. Learned nothing.

Really great & important book. Points to the importance of practice as a core discipline in life and the significance of the distinction between knowledge and skills (& I would add willfulness)

Entertaining read about the author who courageously invites a navy seal mad man into his life for a month. That he lasts the full 31 days is full credit to the author.

This book is about building a relationship with your potential. Potential means the capability of coming into being. It's real, but not yet actual. The idea of an alter ego is tapping into that potential in order to meet the challenge of a moment or accelerate your growth. This book has some helpful tactics about how to do this. It sits alongside the previous book I read “Chatter” around creating “psychological distance” to “author” your sense of self.

A practical book for helping to gain more control over the conversation you have with yourself.