Bold is an audacious and interesting book. I heard an interview with co-author Steven Kotler on Ted Ryce's Man Project podcast and decided to check out the book. Bold's central premise seems pretty trite: that big goals are within everyone's grasp and that by dreaming big we can accomplish great things. The difference is that the authors seem to really believe in this premise and have put it into action in their own lives. Co-author Peter Diamandis is responsible for one of the most awesome projects I've ever heard of--mining asteroids in space. Now, we've all heard of this, and ok, big whoop, it's a moonshot, to borrow the authors' phrase, why do I need to read the book? (Or in my case, listen to, since I bought the book on audio cd, which I recommend, because I suspect the sometimes repetitive nature and heavy use of anecdotes works better as an orally told story then on the written page, explaining some of the negative reviews.)
Well, it was only when I listened to Diamandis and Kotler tie together new, big emerging technologies and their rationale that I understood why mining asteroids was a big deal. The mining of the asteroids is only part one of a much bigger plan to defeat the earth's gravity well. Basically, first you mine the asteroids. Then you harvest resources that can be turned, via orbital 3-D printing, into more ships to mine more asteroids. Once you hit this stage, you have incredible exponential growth limited only by the number of asteroids that find their way into the range of our ships. You have von Neumann machines in space. Once I heard that--and if I can pat myself on the back, did a little of the math in my head, because P&S brush past this concept a little quickly--I was basically all in. This is an incredible concept. (If this doesn't excite you a little or you go what a bunch of garbage, you can safely skip this book.)
But, what the heck does mining asteroids in space in order to create a self-perpetuating robotic spaceship fleet have to do with our more mundane lives? Well, the other point of dreaming big, or going for a 10x performance, is that, as Astro Teller, director of Google's X laboratories, you will not hit your goal. Some external factors will intervene. But if you shoot for 10x and you end up getting 2x, that's great! Whereas if you aim for 2x and end up getting 1.1x, that's kind of a bummer. (Side note on Astro: he gets misidentified in the book as the grandson of the father of the atomic bomb, which would probably come as a surprise to Robert Oppenheimer, but hey, could explain a certain degree of the well-documented enmity between Oppenheimer and Edward Teller, Astro's grandfather of record, and father of the hydrogen bomb. If this kind of thing offends you, or the simple fact that the guy took the nickname Astro and ran with it, you also probably need to avoid this book until you re-calibrate. I'm a fan of Oppenheimer but I got over it in the time it took to raise and lower my eyebrow.)
So, set your goals big, tear down your preconceptions, work hard at them, and if not amazing things, certainly better things will follow than if you dream small. Hard to argue with that.
Sure, I think the criticism that a lot of this is easier said than done is absolute valid. Most of us can't crack the Rolodex and murmur "hmmm, should I reach out to Clinton, Page, Branson, or Bezos?" Fair enough. And, the publishing world is strewn with guys who seem to be selling the sale, selling the dream, and it really is all b.s. But, there's a certain something in these guys' vision that makes you say to yourself "ok, inner cynic, your points are absolutely well noted, but why not give it a shot?"
That brings me to a new concept that P&S explain and how I'll close this rambling review: stone soup. Again, this is a mega-cliche of the highest order. Ok, we all know the concept that the guy comes to town without a pot to micturate in and slowly convinces all the otherwise skeptical people to buy in. But, P&S explain so well how Peter took the stone soup concept and made the International Space University work, that you are really able to see how it works in real life. Basically, you come up with the idea, an idea that is so intoxicating that co-collaborators can't help but be interested because they don't want to be on the outside looking in. Here's another secret: if your idea is good enough, you can get pretty high level people interested. They will be interested because that's how they made it in the first place by recognizing and exploiting great opportunities. Another bonus of truly high level folks is that they don't have an immediate need for cash and their reputation is valuable to them, so you're not as likely to get screwed over by them. On the negative side, gaining and capturing their attention is difficult.
This emphasis on IDEAS as the most important thing is why I can't help but enjoy this book. It's like a how to grow X book, and the X is your idea. So, Bold differs from all the other "you can do it" books because it does not encourage you to put your capital at risk, nor does it make dubious promises about how if you simply do [real estate, investing, computer science] everything will be gravy. Instead, all that Bold asks is that you put your idea into play and gives you some resources to do it.
Highly recommended.
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Reviews with images
Exponential Blueprint for Tomorrow's world!
I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! This is a must-read for anyone who wants to maximize life today and be uber-ready for what's coming up (and fast). Peter is giving you his version of BOLD and invites you to be BOLD with him. He leaves nothing on the table. He shares everything that has helped him along the way. His insights and advice are brilliant. He reveals what those who are on top of their game now (Musk, Branson, Bezos and Page) think and their journeys are remarkable and inspirational. It's a new age (of Techology). It's a new world. And those who read this book will have a distinct advantage. I have recommended it to all my students. It will put a fire under your proverbial butt. Read it yesterday.:-)
Top reviews from other countries
H. Sebastian
Wow Read
Reviewed in Germany on September 11, 2021
H. Sebastian
Reviewed in Germany on September 11, 2021
The ever increasing speed of new technologies (in exponential ways) give powerful tools to make your ideas come true, feats which were limited to the rich and powerful (e.g. royalty in the past, then governments or multinational companies) can now be done by individuals or small groups, as described in the first part. The middle section explains how to develop a mindset to set the scene for our world changer, do not to get stopped by failures or limits („think bold“), the final part is describing how to use the power of the „online crowd“ by presenting how to successfully build your own community which supports your ideas.
In general, the enthusiasm is field and the idea of helping people finding their MTP resp. purpose in changing the world is really jumping on you while experiencing this wonderful book. To summarize resp. simplify look for an important challenge which has significant impact to the world, hold on to your ideas, find like minded people to support and go on making the world a better one. The book has a significant notes section, the authors are hosting several websites on the topic, however, some urls have changed (see „abundance.digital“ instead of „abundancehub.com“), the ways to connect to the authors are multiple ones. Great read, which took me basically one weekend to finish, can recommend this book for all you are still looking "that special something to prove" or for those who are interested in world changing or improvement.
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