236
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #124,673 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★☆☆☆☆
A single blog post stretched into a book
Like many, I came to this book by enthusiatic recommendations of others. The main driver, the explanation of fixed vs growth mindsets and their real life implications, is covered immediately in chapter 1. What then follows for hundreds of pages are case studies that seek to "prove" the theory. Finally, on page 223, comes a primer on how to make mindset changes. This too is written from a case study perspective, and ultimately leaves the reader at the end of the book feeling like the payoff chapter you've been waiting for never arrived. It all feels a bit like...an infomercial for something outside the book.
The thesis of fixed vs growth IS an interesting topic. The thing is: it's not new. Fixed, pre-determination is otherwise known as "post modernism", and growth-based, self- determination is "existentialism". I find it very ironic that politically unpopular existentialism - the thought that YOU, not your environment are in control of your outcome - has found a rabid new audience under the renamed "growth mindset"! I'll give Ms. Dweck credit for that trick alone.
It's a great idea, but the book itself is a shambles. If you read the first and last chapters, you'll have not missed anything. One star for at least providing the spark of an idea.
