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What Should I Do With My Life? (by Po Bronson)
I had put this book on my wishlist because I thought it would be timely to read while I am approaching a crucial turn in my life come the fourth quarter of this year. Thanks a lot, Christian, for sending me this book.
The Content: Po Bronson describes in 54 chapters the stories of 50 people and their quest to find an answer to this all-encompassing question "What Should I Do With My Life?". These are real-life people whom Bronson has met and talked to, across the spectrum of American life with a bias towards well-educated people who are not too poor. All of them have grappled with the question, and some have found an answer.
The Theme: The book is not about the answer, but about the quest to search for each individual's life purpose. Its message (as I understood it) is that it is not likely that you will suddenly find a meaning, but rather explore your life hopefully iterating towards a meaning. Many of the people had transforming thoughts, but few could find the guts or nerve to change their life afterwards -- most of them took a long time and truly personal experiences to get there, and some haven't yet. But to be truly happy, Bronson derives, you have to be on that quest, you have to make decisions based on your inner goals, and you should not be afraid of making crass changes if they make you happier. Because eventhough they might seem foolish at first, they will open new roads for you which had not considered before, thus indeed taking you further towards your life's purpose.
What I liked and what I did not like: It's interesting to read the perspectives of so many people, and it's quite amazing how completely they have opened up to Po Bronson. The author's easy-going writing style makes it an enjoyable read. However, the biggest conundrum this book faces, is that it openly suggests that there is not one good approach to finding a answer to the posed question, which is fine in itself, but of course makes the book's usefulness partially go away. It's like a book on "How Should I Manage My Company?", that presents 50 case studies but leaves the drawing of conclusions how to manage his own company to the reader. Well, many books are like that, but with this particular one I found it frustrating.
Bottom Line: Altogether, this is a collection of quite interesting stories and some food for thought. Did the book help me to find out what I should do with my life? A tiny bit. Did I expect more? Probably. Could I really have expected more from a book? Probably not. Did I enjoy reading it? Yes.
- Book Title: What Should I Do with My Life? The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question
- Book Author: Po Bronson
- Buy the book at Amazon.com or Amazon.de.
- My rating:
