emdubber Male, 30. San Francisco, CA, USA

Well, this book has me torn. I think the productivity tips are really useful, offering guidance and structures for organizing one's workflow on multiple time horizons (daily, weekly, etc.). I subscribe to a number of RSS feeds regarding productivity "hacks" that use Allen's book as a foundation for their tips and tricks, and GTD delivered on providing my own framework for implementing those tips. In fact, I was able to arrange my Outlook and bust through my inbox right after reading the book.

However, the two-bit moralizing about 'relaxed control' got in the way of otherwise useful information. The last two chapters are absolute malarkey, and should be disregarded. Additionally, and this might be a time-saving boon, much of the book can be skimmed for the juicier morsels.

the so-so rating probably isn't fair. there are certain articles/essays within the book that are really great. reading the book straight-through, however, is a bit tedious, and i found myself skipping around to topics of interest, with no desire for the satisfaction that comes when a book is put down having been read from cover to cover.

however, the book does function as enjoyable, highly interesting occasional reading. i will most likely, in the future, leaf through it.

articles to check out: the one on how long it takes the sun's rays to reach us (something like a million years), and the namesake article on what happens as you near and cross an event horizon (death by black hole).

i really enjoyed this book, and i will recommend it to everyone i know.

the only thing that kept the book from receiving an "i LOVE it!" is that wilson oftentimes slips into personal description of his life and colleagues about whom he's writing. i wouldn't have minded an occasional parenthetical on his personal history, how he and his wife lived in this place and how the light reflected off the blades of grass on a hill, but the long-winded ruminations on these things subtracted from the excellence of the book.

overall, though, book rocks!: cool vignettes about bee, beetle, ape and human behaviors; well-structured survey of the major topics within evolution and its methodology; and a cogent application of evolutionary principles to multiple disciplines.

things i really liked: beetles (i forget the type) and explanation for infanticide, and the dancing of bees and the architecture of larger "societal" structures.

this book is good for what it does. basically, it accompanies a personality test - or, to be more precise, a strengths test. at the outset, the book primes you to correlate finding your strengths with success and business value with a few threadbare chapters. the majority of the book, however, is dedicated to defining the 34 strengths.

there are some good things to note:
(1) gallup is a trustworthy name in polling and statistics, and i would trust them to have assembled some solid research;
(2) the book defines the strength, identifies the trait w/ characteristic quotations from people with that strength, then it gives you some actions to start aligning your life w/ that strength - that seems like a comprehensive approach to me;
(3) once completed, you will have a vocabulary of strengths to use to describe yourself and others, which may have positive impacts for team-building as well.

what i don't like:
(1) i can't say that the actions are tactically useful (i.e., if you're creative, let's say, the book might tell you to start an arts and crafts project or take a painting class)
(2) there's not a composite view of you and your 5 strengths - so i'm left with: how do i prioritize my action planning? are there typical strength clusters to which people with strength A belong? who am i ultimately?

if anything, this book is useful for implementing a strengths-based assessment of yourself and others and using that to discuss activities and performance.

or, you could just keep telling people to be less of a dumbass. come to think of it, i wish there were a parody book called WeaknessFinder 2.0, and it would assess my idiocy profile. in that case, i might be a lazy, boorish, idiot, garrulous jackoff. but my good friends could probably already tell you that.