Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Duckworth has done some very interesting and important research. Unfortunately, because she decided to package her popularization as a self-help book, she's placed in the position of overselling the importance of grit. The self-help audience wants to know about the secret to success, not a significant but limited factor. Duckworth repeatedly genuflects to the idea that grit isn't the only thing that matters. But she undermines this with an endless parade of Horatio Alger stories about people who triumphed over adversity to become extraordinarily successful by demonstrating grit. There's no room in her universe for people who try over and over again but still fail because of macroeconomic conditions, discrimination, illness, disability, or misfortune. The idea that there are any limits to the power of grit exists only as an abstract possibility, to be mentioned and then ignored. The book has some good parts. In particular, the sections where she discusses experiments and field studies are informative and well-written. Unfortunately, there's no discussion of anything critics might have to say. The chapter on a culture of grit is particularly weak. It is mostly based on interviews of professional coaches and Fortune 500 CEO's, who provide predictably self-serving accounts of their sports and corporate cultures. If Duckworth had written an informational book that aimed to make her research accessible to a lay audience, I would likely have given the book a high rating. But her decision to package the book as self-help ruins the enterprise. (F.D.: I have been personally acquainted with Dr. Duckworth for several decades.)