After trying for over a month to get through the “12 Rules for Life”, I needed a quick book to get me back on track. The book is a lot shorter, with only 274 pages, and I was extra interested because the author self-published the thing on CreateSpace (Through Amazon).
OK, I’ll give this crazy sucker a shot.
In summary form, I bought “Choose Yourself!” at like 2 AM on 7/11, and had the entire book read by 2 am on 7/12.
Now honestly, I don’t know if I would have had the same reading response had I not just tried to get through the other book. I’m going to be straight forward about a few things: It really wasn’t written that well, I disagree with a lot of James Altucher’s thoughts and beliefs, I think there were parts that were just simply wrong, and there’s a lot of reasons I could see someone saying it wasn’t so hot.. It also could be a bit crude at times and I generally only like “G” rated books, but I’d put this at PG-13.
But on the other hand it was real, refreshing, light hearted. This is the most “personal” writing style I’ve ever experienced. After just one book, I feel like me and the author are friends. I’d say hi to him on the street- I even thought about sending him an email, just because I feel like I know the guy (creepy eh?) Just that factor alone should intrigue some of you enough to read it. It made me think, question my own thoughts, and ultimately I believe it made my life a better place. Any book that improves my life has to get at least a few positive remarks, eh?
If you don’t know James Altucher, the author, he’s a little quirky. His voice is not like a voice you expect to hear reading a storing, and his style is lighthearted and fairly easy to read, although the editing leaves a tiny bit to be desired when a few sections stop you up. In general though its worth the time it takes to read it.
Like many books, James hits a few points that I believe many other experts are pointing out right now such as the idea that the middle class dream is kind of dead, and that if you want to be successful today you have to grab life by the horns and make something of it. I fully agree with this. He then really illustrates the argument that no one is in control of your future but YOU, and the biggest challenge you will face is exactly that- letting someone else control you. I think this is a big deal and something so many of us miss. We expect someone else to bring us happiness and success when the truth is, its in our control- only us. If we aren’t willing to take control of our own lives, then we have no chance of success. We can’t let ourselves be at the mercy of others.
The second thing he does is talks about the importance of the “daily practice”. Honestly the first time or two I read it I thought “oh sooo zen of you- hippie!”. Really, I rolled my eyes and thought of how painful this book was going to be. But by the end I wanted to pat him on the back and say “yes. Yes.”. In a way, this was the perfect book to correct for the “12 rules of life”, not just because he offers 4 rules for life instead, and 4 is easier than 12, but because I think he’s right about the 4 rules. I could mention those 4 “rules” or habits, but then I know what you’d do. 1/2 of you would say “duh” and brush the book off, and the other 4 would say “Hippie” and brush the book off, and I think only James himself can talk about those 4 areas in a way that makes you think “Yes. your right, and I’m going to do it”.
I think he’s right, I think my life is better after reading this book, I think it had an impact on me, and I think I’m going to recommend it as long as you can get past some of the shortcomings.
In this case, I actually urge you to read the paper version and not the audio book. The audiobook oddly doesn’t follow the written book precisely, and its almost more of an audio podcast ABOUT the book than it is the book in audio form.
So if this book is of interest to you, go ahead and check it out on Amazon. Its less than 10 bucks, so what do you have to lose?