A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life

A Curious Mind is a fascinating and inspiring read. As a curious person myself (my tinder bio was “incurably curious”), I was immediately drawn to the idea of exploring how curiosity can enrich our lives.

Grazer does an excellent job of weaving personal stories and insights from his own life with those of the many influential people he has met throughout his career. He shares his own experiences of how his curiosity has helped him in both his personal and professional life, and how it has led to some of his greatest achievements.

One of the things I appreciated most about the book was the way Grazer encourages readers to be curious and to never stop asking questions. He argues that being curious can lead to new opportunities, deeper connections with others, and a greater sense of fulfillment in life. He also provides practical tips and advice for how to cultivate and nurture curiosity on a daily basis.

There's nothing particularly new in the book, though. And if you're not interested in a life of a Hollywood producer, you might find it hard to enjoy.

Meh. There were a few anecdotes that I found interesting. I found the concept compelling but the execution was ... meh.

I dashed through A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life. The author is a quite-famous producer of movies (including Splash and Apollo 13). The secret of his success, he reveals, is his explorations of things he is curious about. And that's the whole book. Lots of little stories about his interviews with other quite-famous people, if you like that sort of thing. But really, if you want to save time, just read the title. That's all you need to know.

A paean to curiosity. Would have been better as an essay than a whole book.

This is the second fastest nonfiction book I've ever read. First and foremost, the size is misleading. If you flip to the back of the book, you'll see that it's 300 pages. The last 100 pages is comprised of notes, a list of famous people he's met with and expanding on meetings he mentioned previously in the book. In reality, the book is only 200 pages.

As I said earlier, I flew through this book. I found it incredibly motivating. Reading about his start in Hollywood was the best part. He took one chance, one opportunity and used it to change his life around. He went from a boring desk job to working his way into the film industry. He reiterates time and again that life is made up of chances and choices. It's not all about luck. It's 50% lucky, but 50% choice. What will you do about those opportunities you are presented with? If you heard of a great job opportunity, would you act on it or just sit around thinking “that sounds great” but do nothing about it? The moral of his book is to always keep your eyes and ears open. You never know what is around the corner.

While at first some of Grazer's stories don't make sense, he eventually brings everything back together. Before you know it you've learned a valuable life lesson through his experiences.

This book is a fast read. It's not perfect and could have used more editing. At times I felt that he was dragging things out to meet a publishing quota. If this was paired down to 150 pages, I would buy this book and present it to every graduate I know. It's a great example of how being curious can get you places. Always ask questions. Always try to look at things through another person's eyes. This isn't a book just for creatives and Hollywood types. It's for anyone looking to get the most out of their life. At times it felt like a great speech given given at a graduation ceremony. If you're looking for motivation in life this might be the book for you.