I received this book in the mail here in Nice, France last week from a friend living in Oxford, UK. She sent as a birthday gift to someone who is still unsure what to do with his life...

I liked this book for its colourful cover. I think the designer should get a special mention for this one.

I also liked hearing tons of different testimonials and having a peek into so many different lives. That said, I regret that Bronson didn't interview a more diverse group of interviewees, though he does apologise for this at the end. There must be around 80 mini-bios in this book and the subjects are mostly young, middle class, and white. And for a book where so many personal and background details are given about the interviewees, not a single one was queer. Can queer people relate to an all-straight book? Of course. Does a queer person trust an author who includes no queer content in a non-fiction work of 80 character sketches? Not so much.

I also didn't relate to Bronson's selection of stories for other reasons. There's a fairly heavy concentration of business-focused stories. Bronson apologises for this also at the end. Some of them were very interesting and made me think, but I think Bronson missed opportunities for other kinds of stories that would also be interesting and thought-provoking. Plus, so many of these stories follow the theme of "Subject relentlessly follows goal without too much self-reflection or assessment of personal values. Subject beats all odds and achieves goal. Subject realizes that said goal was never what would truly make them happy anyway. Subject agonizes over loss of wealth and status if they backtrack and let go of said goal. Subject does or doesn't ultimately make a big change in their life and Bronson follows the result." This was interesting, but the repeated theme got tiresome, particularly because I didn't identify with a lot of these subjects. I was hoping that Bronson would include some stories of people who are just starting out, who haven't been coerced by parents to go into medicine or law and who haven't convinced themselves that wealth and prestige are the only worthwhile goals, and who are nonetheless unsure about what they DO want to do with themselves and the years ahead of them.

Anyway, still a worthwhile read and Bronson's frankness and willingness to admit his own faults was refreshing. I could do without all his armchair psychoanalysis of his subjects though...

RELEASE NOTES:

J'ai échangé ce livre-ci avec quelques autres livres pour Millenium People au "The Cat's Whiskers", un magasin de livres anglais à Nice. Ce livre est maintenant à vendre là-bas.

I exchanged this and a few other books for Millenium People at "The Cat's Whiskers", an English book store in Nice. This book is now for sale at the shop.