Genre: Non-fiction
Pages: 92
Format: paperback, kindle edition
Publisher: North Eagle Publishing
Year of publication: 2017
RATING: ✰✰ 1/2 (2.5/5)
Title: ✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰ (9/10)
The title speaks for itself. A non fiction book should
necessarily have a very revealing title, because the readers will pick up the
book based on it. ‘Think straight’ literally talks about how to think
straight and declutter your mind of unwanted thoughts, so as to properly channelize
whatever you think towards something productive. The author has appropriately talked
about the motto of this book himself: “The emphasis is on deciding. And that’s
what this book is about: with practice, you can get better at controlling your
thoughts so you can decide what you think.”
Writing style: ✰✰✰✰✰✰ (6/10)
The writing style of the author is very easy-flowing
and friendly. He has a very cozy way of talking about difficult topics, and he
relates everyday hardships with his own life---- drawing lines between what
happened, what could have happened and what is the takeaway from it. The word-selection
and construct of the writing is motivational and uplifting.
But at times, he does beat around the bush and I found
it hard to take a step back and reckon what he was actually talking about. The
writing has a very wholesome exterior look, but it lacks crude content in some
parts of the book. Sometimes the author starts off with a new idea, then deviates
from it and talks about something completely different in the subsequent lines.
He frequently talks about what amount of hard work has gone into the book to pen
down his ideas, properly format and categorize it--- but flaws like these testify
against it and are examples of poor editing of the book.
Clarity: ✰✰✰✰ (4/10)
The beginning of the book is extremely captivating and
promises of an eye-opening and genuine content. The author has succeeded to
clearly chart out the objectives with which a reader might pick this book up
and also what should the takeaway be from this book. He then talks about why
this book needed to be written as well as his inspiration to write this. He introduces
very complex philosophical ideas like “pragmatism” and “cognitive biases” but fails
to clear the concepts. He certainly tries to relate these ideas to daily life
but is not able to offer a clear canvas on which a fellow reader may locate
these ideas. This brings me to what I think perhaps might be the root of these
problems: the author didn’t seem to be well versed with subjects like philosophy
and cognitive science himself. He just took certain fragments from these vast
fields, researched about them probably without any guide, and them morphed
these ideas to suit his own needs. The worse part is somehow pushing these
ideas into daily life and forcibly trying to convince the readers that these things
really do impact their lives. He repeatedly quotes famous psychologists and
philosophers ranging from ancient Descartes up to modern day icons, to support
his theories about ‘thinking straight’. But whatever he’s trying to preach is
so obvious and so familiar already, that many times I had to wonder, “okay, why
am I reading this? Am not I already aware of this?”
My opinions:
Bottom line, the book is old wine in a new bottle. It’s
the same old tips to “make brain more efficient” and “how to control your mind”
stuff that we have been discovering, reading, forgetting, then again stumbling
upon and re-reading for centuries without applying it in our lives. The point
of the book (as clarified by the author himself) was not just the theory behind
decluttering our mind, but to actually learn how to do it ourselves. According
to me, the author succeeded in this ‘how’ part in about 30 percent of the book,
whereas rest of it was only endless backstories and life histories.
The book is already pretty compact and is supposed to
be power-packed and brief, but I found myself skimming through most of it and highlighting
the important points that I may want to refer back later. This, to me, is a
major flaw. I understand that the author wanted the readers to take it easy and
rather consider the reading to be a verbal journey where there will be storytelling
and reflections, but in the end, they will be left behind with a lesson, or a
moral to take back. But this process is easier said than done, and the author couldn’t
make it happen.
Only certain parts of the whole book were actually pertinent
to ‘thinking straight’, although majority of it was nothing new anyway. A lack
of attention to chapter subdivisions was very visible, because some of the
chapters ended too soon without conveying what it should have. Whereas, some
went on and on and then abruptly ended, soon followed by a chapter with no
relation to the preceding segment altogether.
Why I will recommend this book if I have to
To me, the book felt like a quick revision of what I already
knew regarding this topic. To some readers, that might be the point of reading
this book anyway. I must say that the author has taken time to distill down the
concepts and put them forward concisely (although it could be much shortened
even after this). This might be a fast, breezy read on the go, to brush up some
important stuff. But it seriously doesn’t match up to the expectations set in
the introductory part of the book and is definitely not worth the hype.
(Quick tip: if you really want something new from this
book, have a look at these chapters that I have selected for you—-Life is not
linear, Look at facts, Take your time, No quick decisions, Take time to
reflect, Think about details. Although you can read each and every of the thirty
chapters, but check these ones out if you want a proper selection. Trust me,
you won’t regret it)
Post a Comment