Customer Reviews

Opportunity: Optimizing Life's Chances

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The title of this book may lead you to believe it's a self-help book. My bet is that it was not written with that first in mind. However, anyone who reads it can benefit from a self-help point-of-view. Actually, this book is an exhaustive examination of the concept of "opportunity." It is so exhaustive, that I might add that it also is exhausting but, well worth it. I read it all, but I confess to jumping around. Some of the chapter titles grabbed me instantly. Others could wait.

There seems to be a genre of books that take an idea, and works it nearly to death (so to speak.) Shorter books like Zero or Salt come to mind. Their length and style aim at a popular audience. The length and style of Opportunity aims at a more diligent audience, one that isn't afraid to delve deeply. While "only" 394 pages, these are tightly written, closely argued pages...not breezy reading.

A somewhat lengthy quote from the Introduction will give you a sense of how deep this is:

"Our recognition of opportunity is affected by (1) the problems we face and the
nature of those problems, (2) our notion of sacrifice, (3) how we evaluate risk, (4)
how we perceive time, (5) what conditions we believe will improve out life, (6)
the techniques we use to predict the future, or at least the specific outcomes of
our actions, (7) our susceptibility to feelings of regret and remorse, and (8) the
causal influences we believe operate in the world - laws of nature, divine
providence, occult forces, fate, and so on."

The author then goes on to create an approach that deconstructs opportunity so you know it when you encounter it. The five components are: (1) the role of time, (2) the role of sacrifice, (3) the role of risk, (4) the existence of a catalyst, and (5) the possibility of regret or remorse.The book contains tons of examples...some from real life, some from literature so well known that the points come across clearly.

When it came to issues, my favorite explorations were:

The difference between "regret" and "remorse."
The difference between "opportunity costs" and "sunk costs."
The difference between "opportunity" and "opportunism."
Where opportunity exists and doesn't exist in a discussion of poverty.
How opportunity presents itself in theological and philosophical systems from
Calvinism to Existentialism.
What we do as humans to either take advantage of an "opportunity" or "never
miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity" (not the author's phrase, but one
that's popular now to describe various political groups.)

The author looks at the issue of opportunity from many perspectives: business, legal, social policy, economic policy, criminology, religion, just to name a few. If any of those areas are passions to you, you'll find this book worth your time.

This book will have a prominent place on my bookshelf. For some, it's the kind of book you want people to know you've read. While that applies to me, more importantly, it's the kind of book I want to recall that I, indeed, have read, and have used to help me in discussions/debates with friends and foes.

Although the term "opportunity" is bandied about very frequently, few have bothered to deconstruct the concept so that we could understand what it is, how it works, and what its limits are. Now Morris has done all of this, and more!

First and foremost, for "opportunity" to be a useful term it must have conditions and components. There are four conditions: (1) a framework consisting of the worldview of the society or situation wherein opportunities occur; (2) the existence of a real problem;
(3) the must be something of value to be gained by action (or lost through inaction); and (4) there must be a choice (or choices) available regarding the appropriate action to be taken.

The components of opportunity are equally crucial, and there are five of them: (i) there must be a risk regarding both action and non-action; (ii) a time limit must be present that requires action before a deadline; (iii) some sort of sacrifice (opportunity cost) will be involved - opportunities are not entirely free; (iv) a catalyst must be included that can leverage a smaller input into a larger output; and (v) there must be the prospect of regret - inaction could lead to a disproportionate sense of loss.

After laying this groundwork, Morris takes these concepts and illustrates their applicability through a multitude of examples from Religion, Philosophy, Economics, Anthropology, Accounting and a host of other subjects. By the end of this book, the reader is equipped to assess any opportunity, in any situation, with considerable confidence. This is important, because when it comes to opportunities, it helps to really know what you are doing.