Today is a special day; it’s special, because I’m kicking off a brand new section of the site: books.
Yes, for someone that gives people such shit for not reading books, I sure haven’t been very good about promoting them here on Unfinished Man. So today I’m going to change all that, and I’m starting off with one of my recent favorites, Choose Yourself by James Altucher. As this is my first kick at the book review can, things may be a little rough, but my goal is to review books in about two minutes worth of content. We’ll see if I succeed…
Deciding to Choose Yourself
James Altucher is described as a successful entrepreneur, chess master, investor, and writer. I know him best for his blog Altucher Confidential, where he seems to write about anything and everything that pops into his head. In fact, I would go so far as to say that he’s one of the most prolific bloggers I’ve seen on the internet, and in this case, that’s a good thing. I don’t think I’ve ever read a boring or useless piece by James, and that trend continues with his book.
I’ve been trying to come up with a way to appropriately describe Choose Yourself, and I’ll be honest with you… I’m having a lot of trouble. I could describe it as a self help book, but that really wouldn’t do it justice. No, it’s more like a hard slap in the face. It’s more like having a bucket of ice cold water dumped over ones head. Drawing on his own lifetime of mistakes and successes, from making millions to subsequently losing it all, James lays out a compelling reason(s) to skip post secondary, avoid big business, and forge one’s own path in the world through cultivated creativity and a bit of entrepreneurial spirit.
Perhaps most importantly, though, is that James teaches us how to grow our creative muscle with a few simple exercises. I don’t care who you are, or what you spend your life doing: being creative is one of the most important skills a person can have. But if nothing else, I promise you one thing… you’re absolutely going to love the introduction. For a sample of the first few pages (including the introduction), you can head over to Amazon. If you’re smart, you’ll even order a copy while you’re there.
