I have no qualm with this book, it simply....was not useful to me? I don't think, as far as productivity books go, it was bad — it was actionable, relatively light on padding and pseudoscience (I say relatively but not entirely), and fairly self-aware. It did not promise anything unreasonable.
The two things that I found wanting:
- It's simply a bunch of stuff I already know! I can't fault the book for that; I'm a bit of a productivity wonk as-is.
- It felt...very apolitical, a sort of Habits 101. There was no strong or compelling thesis to the book besides "habits are good". I like my books a little weird and idiosyncratic (GTD is a great example of this, where ascribing to the GTD worldview means a couple peculiar things.)
The one most interesting thing the book offered was the relationship between habit and identity, and the performant nature of habits. That made me stop and think for a bit.
Anyway, I did not like it or enjoy it but I think I would still recommend it to people who are like "I have no idea what habits are or where to start". It is a good book for that.
★★
