Choose Yourself
Choose Yourself - James Altucher
“Without rejection, there is no frontier, no passion, and there is no magic. When you give up searching for frontiers, inevitably you end up stuck in a swamp, sinking deeper into the mud the more to struggle to get out.”
Rating 4/5
James Altucher has tried, failed, and succeeded in many different avenues throughout his life. He is as apt to make an example out of his failures as he is his successes if it will make for a great story and help someone else. I don't know if anyone considers James a true expert in any one subject but he certainly likes to make his presences known across many different industries.
I like James. The way he is constantly trying to sell his ideas makes me question his integrity a lot, but I still like the way he writes and the stories he tells; Choose Yourself was no different in this sense.
The book revolves around the central idea that to be happy and create value in the world for others you must choose yourself, meaning that you have to think about yourself and your ideas as an entrepreneur would. James says that the world of the manual labour job is quickly disappearing and that the only way you'll be able to thrive in the future is to become a creator, in other words, someone capable of Deep Work.
The book doesn't follow much of a progression from beginning to end and instead is more like a collection of essays and many of James' ideas on why you must choose yourself. He is an unusual, yet captivating writer and I found myself devouring the pages to see where each story led James next.
Who's This Book For:
- Anyone looking for entrepreneurial inspiration.
- If you like 'mad genius' style thinking, you'll likely enjoy James' sometimes rambling style of writing/thinking.
Who's This Book Not For:
- People who dislike disjointed ideas.
- People content with their 9-5 jobs that don't want to take any risk.