Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Business books are difficult to read. The writing is usually poor (understandable; business people aren't writers), the subject matter is obvious (be yourself, don't be yourself, you can do it, make it happen, synergy etc.) and it's often self-absorbed and self-congratulatory. A book by Peter Thiel should be none of those things. According to some, he is the premier techno-intellectual of the day. He has founded and invested in lasting, innovative companies. He has ideas about stuff, some of which are counter-intuitive. His book, you assume, would express this, but what Zero to One does instead is express whatever modern business/technology/startup heuristic you've heard of in the past 20 years. It's good to be innovative and bad not to be innovative: that's the book. If this sounds like off-the-wall, contrarian thinking, you might be surprised to know it's pretty obvious at this point. This is a book of general maxims expressed in 200 pages or more. Go from zero to one...innovative. Don't not be innovative. If you're stuck between either being innovative or not being innovative you should stick with the former. Who's successful? Innovative people. You know why? Because they innovate. Ask yourself, is my idea innovative enough? No? Than make it more innovative, by at least 100%. The writing is weak (even by business book standards) and reads like a college essay. It’s bland, peppered with clichés and has constant--constant repetition. There are many things that make Peter Thiel interesting, but nothing makes this book interesting at all. When conducting an interview Peter usually asks: "What important truth do very few people agree with you on?", looking at the other Amazon reviews, mine would be: Zero to One is not worth reading.