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66 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Save Your Money - Misleading, poorly written, needs an editor, December 11, 2009
This review is from: The 168 Hour Week: Living Life Your Way 24-7 (Hardcover)
I bought this book on the basis of all of the stellar reviews, but now that I've read it, I have to agree with my fellow 1-star reviewer that all the positive reviews must have been a set-up by the publisher. This book really blows.
On the subject of the content, it's okay - nothing novel or particularly insightful. Other authors have covered the same ground and done it better. I think there are a lot of self-promoting, misleading chunks of "advice" throughout. My personal favourite is "the $100,000 idea". The author starts the chapter by telling you that for the first time ever, he's providing a $100,000 idea. I get to the end of the chapter, and I'm thinking, "okay, so where's the idea?" I went back through and found it: If you write a book and sell 100,000 copies, and you get $1 per copy from your publisher, you've got $100,000. Okay, that's not a $100,000 idea, that's just basic math. And as an author of three top-rated marketing books myself, I can tell you, that's no mean feat.
As for the book production, all I can say is holy cow. The book is poorly written to a degree that is rarely found in widely distributed books. Every single paragraph has sentences in ALL CAPS, sentences in bold, sentences in ALL CAPS and bold, sentences with italics, and way too many ellipses - as in... way... too... many. And used... really... poorly. A good edit would have gone a very long way to make this readable, and given that a very solid business book editor isn't that expensive, I have to surmise that either the author either isn't as successful as he claims, has too big an ego to let anyone else improve his work, or simply doesn't care about the quality product he's selling.
Finally, the book layout... It looks for all the world like this book was laid out in MS Word by someone with only a basic understanding of the software. It's rough, hard to read, and in places, looks just plain goofy. For instance, there is a two-page numbered list, where each number runs to at least a couple of lines. It has been laid out so that there is no space between the items, making it confusing and tedious for the reader.
Maybe it's because I'm an author and hold myself accountable to book buyers, but I can't believe that someone who is prepared to put their photo on the front of a book is not prepared to put in the effort to get the content and presentation just right. The funniest thing is that he takes issue with a number of other authors who have got those things right.
I have read the whole thing, but wish I hadn't. I'm on an extended holiday in a non-English speaking country and it's one of the few English language books we have with us, so I persevered. I'm ruing the day I chose this book over almost anything else in my to-read pile!
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Your map and workbook to time success, October 20, 2009
This review is from: The 168 Hour Week: Living Life Your Way 24-7 (Hardcover)
You have very few things in common with every other person on the planet. Having 24 hours in a day is something that is universal for stay at home moms to CEO's of fortune 500 companies. The challenge that you have is to utilize your time to get the most benefit whether working on a project or playing on the weekend.
This book is your skeleton key that opens the door for gaining time for your advantage not just for money but your most precious resource, time.
In this book Kevin gives you the formula to use your time and set your goals in a way that you will actually get done what needs to be done instead of saying "I wish I had more time". Because there is a ton of bad information people have been led to believe that what has worked for others by trial and error or handed down like a legend will work for everybody. What is great about this book is that the information is easily understood and does not require a bunch of vague ideas. The examples that are used and explained can be part of your life just as much as your neighbors.
There is a wide range of information to utilize from how to set up your life in case of disability, getting off the paycheck to paycheck cycle, motivating yourself, understanding how other people affect your plans and goals, implementation takes time and repetition, how limited time really is for you, discovering what motivates others and how that helps you, how to use a journal or notebook for your time advantage and so much more.
The points that I found most profound were:
"Nothing is more important than environment and context to achievement (page 20)" Meaning that where I am and who I am around help determine success.
The best way to set a schedule is to have all of the steps for that process or goal on every page not just on the first page of the notes so that it leaves a map to get to the next point so true success can be measured.
My concept of time has been incorrect but that notion can change and my productivity will increase.
The true issues and costs involved of living paycheck to paycheck in the short term and long term. Disability can happen to any of us and as I get older the chances of me becoming disabled increase.
Other peoples time management ideas, beliefs, attitudes and feelings impact my day just as much as I can. Theses issues can be solved by a little communication with the other person or group.
The real way to dedicate a journal to get the most out of my goals and achievements to impact my future for the long run.
To get the most out of your time from reading this book treat it as a workbook take the actions immediately and write all over the pages. For you to get the most out of your life you must get your time control in order, learn the proper way to set up goals in your schedule and how to take advantage of now.
Take advantage of this well researched and written book. Get the edge over your competitors at work, hove more time for fun and become more productive. If you have never read one of Kevin's books the information and abilities that you will learn will far exceed the investment you will make today.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Wrote it on his home computer and never showed it to an editor, January 17, 2010
This review is from: The 168 Hour Week: Living Life Your Way 24-7 (Hardcover)
I had a really hard time deciding how to rate this book. If I could have rated just the content, I would give this book 5 stars. But the fact that it is written so poorly; an unreadable mish mosh of amateurish typesetting, poor grammar, muddled syntax and total disregard for the rules of punctuation I had to give it just the one star. A book is more than just it's content; just as important is it's style (as in The Elements of Style (Original Edition) by Strunk and White). I couldn't get past the poor writing style to give Kevin the credit for his admirable content.
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