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Seth Godin

The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? Hardcover – Illustrated, December 31, 2012

by Seth Godin (Author)

528 ratings

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In Seth Godin’s most inspiring book, he challenges readers to find the courage to treat their work as a form of art

Everyone knows that Icarus’s father made him wings and told him not to fly too close to the sun; he ignored the warning and plunged to his doom. The lesson: Play it safe. Listen to the experts. It was the perfect propaganda for the industrial economy. What boss wouldn’t want employees to believe that obedience and conformity are the keys to success?

But we tend to forget that Icarus was also warned not to fly too low, because seawater would ruin the lift in his wings. Flying too low is even more dangerous than flying too high, because it feels deceptively safe.

The safety zone has moved. Conformity no longer leads to comfort. But the good news is that creativity is scarce and more valuable than ever. So is choosing to do something unpredictable and brave: Make art. Being an artist isn’t a genetic disposition or a specific talent. It’s an attitude we can all adopt. It’s a hunger to seize new ground, make connections, and work without a map. If you do those things you’re an artist, no matter what it says on your business card.

Godin shows us how it’s possible and convinces us why it’s essential.

Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Portfolio
Publication date

December 31, 2012
Dimensions

5.8 x 0.9 x 8.6 inches
ISBN-10

1591846072
ISBN-13

978-1591846079
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Seth Godin is the author of more than a dozen bestsellers that have changed the way people think about marketing, leadership, and change, including Permission Marketing, Purple Cow, All Marketers Are Liars, Small is the New Big, The Dip, Tribes, Linchpin, and Poke the Box. He is also the founder and CEO of Squidoo.com and a very popular lecturer. He writes one of the most influential business blogs in the world at SethGodin.com.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Portfolio; Illustrated edition (December 31, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1591846072
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1591846079
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.8 x 0.9 x 8.6 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #376,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,566 in Creativity (Books)
- #2,592 in Business Motivation & Self-Improvement (Books)
- #2,675 in Motivational Management & Leadership

Customer Reviews:
528 ratings

About the author

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Seth Godin

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Seth Godin is the author of nineteen international bestsellers that have been translated into over 35 languages, and have changed the way people think about marketing and work. For a long time, Unleashing the Ideavirus was the most popular ebook ever published, and Purple Cow is the bestselling marketing book of the decade.

He's a recent inductee to the Marketing Hall of Fame, and also a member of the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame and (go figure), the Guerrilla Marketing Hall of Fame.

His book, Tribes, was a nationwide bestseller, appearing on the Amazon, New York Times, BusinessWeek and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. It's about the most powerful form of marketing--leadership--and how anyone can now become a leader, creating movements that matter.

His book Linchpin came out in 2008 and was the fastest selling book of his career. Linchpin challenges you to stand up, do work that matters and race to the top instead of the bottom. More than that, though, the book outlines a massive change in our economy, a fundamental shift in what it means to have a job.

Since Linchpin, Godin has published two more books, Poke the Box and We Are All Weird, through his Domino Project. He followed these with The Icarus Deception via Kickstarter, which reached its goal in less than three hours. Joined by Watcha Gonna Do With That Duck and V is for Vulnerable, those books are now widely available. In late 2014, he announced his latest, What To Do When It's Your Turn, sold directly from his website.

In addition to his writing and speaking, Seth was founder and CEO of Squidoo.com,. His blog (find it by typing "seth" into Google) is the most popular marketing blog in the world. Before his work as a writer and blogger, Godin was Vice President of Direct Marketing at Yahoo!, a job he got after selling them his pioneering 1990s online startup, Yoyodyne.

You can find every single possible detail that anyone could ever want to know at sethgodin.com

Customer reviews

5 star		76%
4 star		11%
3 star		6%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Joe P

No

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2020

Verified Purchase

I really had high hopes for this book. I’ve never read the author but it was highly reviewed and came up in a number of lists.

At about ten pages in, when godin started talking about the industrialized machine, I figured ‘ok. Nothing especially new there. But I’m sure he’s going somewhere.’

At about twenty pages in it becomes more apparent that the book is shaping up to be just a series of non-interconnected braingasms that the writer assumes sound sagely, but aren’t; or at least they were seventy years ago, when people like Aldo is Huxley wrote books like brave new world.

He lost my attention completely when he used the word leverage; if ever there was a bastardized misappropriation of the English language by an audience of people schilling intelligence in a desperate bid to falsely inflate intellectual stock, that’d be it.

I can’t think of any greater sign of conformity.

Kind of reminded me of reading murakami. Pop pulp.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Otis Woodard

I Love Seth (but this book is 1.5x too long)

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2014

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The book in a nutshell:

1. We've been brainwashed by the industrial complex to fly too low, to comply, to surrender our brilliance for perceived security.
2. That strategy once worked--our comfort zone and that safety zone we were offered were aligned.
3. They are no longer aligned and most aren't noticing. That's dangerous. The world tilted on it's axis and folks aren't noticing.
4. The new gig is to produce "art" in whatever you do (no matter what you do), because art "connects" and people want connection.
5. Everybody can be an artist at whatever they choose to do. You don't need to change your work or career. Just elevate your work to art.
6. But to do that you have to step over fear and the lizard brain (amygdala) we have that screams "you are gonna die!" if we attempt to do something risky and creative.
7. But you gotta do that because the world is waiting on your art, your connection, your breath of fresh air.

The bulk of the book is looking at the nuances of all this in about 88 different ways when you'd really probably get it after four. He's got a great theme and call to action, and there are some gems in here to be sure. But there are times when I was simply thinking to myself, "Really, Seth? I trusted you, and you are driving me around all the blocks in the neighborhood when just a couple would have conveyed the sense of the place."

But heck. Maybe I didn't get the "art" of this type of book. But don't get me wrong. I'll buy the next Seth book because Seth rocks and all. But, my goodness, this was the longest short read I've ever read, and I even just skimmed all the Kickstarter Acknowledgements that are a whopping 20% of the total length of the book. Would I recommend the book? I am glad for the gems I pulled out of it. But, honestly, after seeing the pattern, I was ready for the book to be over with. So the answer is, "It depends." If what you are looking for is a kick in the pants to get on with your "art," I'd recommend Pressfield's "The War of Art" instead. If you are not sure you are an artist or can be an artist at whatever you do, and want to entertain that idea, then this book might be for you.

44 people found this helpful

Helpful

Geoffrey A Blades

I love this book

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2016

Verified Purchase

I looked at the reviews that showed up below, and I was surprised by how negative they were. When I looked to see the book was rated 72% 5 stars I wondered why Amazon served me all the crummy reviews.

I don't know how other people judge whether this book is good or not, but I do know that it was very good for me. At a time when I felt like the wax was peeling away from my own wings, in this book Seth helped me get back some of my lift.

We all love Pressfield's book and it's true that in Icarus Seth covers ideas he has hit before, but inside this book Seth takes us on a journey, of not just what it takes to fly, but to keep soaring higher and higher.

Creating remarkable art takes more than creativity and go go go. It takes the right guides at the right time, and that's what Icarus was for me.

26 people found this helpful

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Charlie

Good examination of what it means to be an artist - could've been much shorter

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2014

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Overall I’d recommend this book.

His basic message is to create things you feel compelled to create, because that's your best shot at success in this new economy.

With the advent of the Internet, distribution is now basically free. In the traditional economy, everything was tangible and thus scarce. Customers demanded these goods, so value was created when you could bring these goods to the customers. That created lots of gatekeepers who would decide how to allocate their scarce resources: retailers charge slot fees, publishing houses pick authors, etc.

However, now distribution is free: billions of people are (mostly) free to connect with any of the others billions of people. It’s an unprecedented and amazing time for us, given how important connections are to us.

But because distribution is free, there’s a lot more noise out there. Curation is still important. How do you cut through all the noise and add value to other people?

The answer is that you do things that are valuable and are worthy of cutting through the noise. And the author asserts you do that in two ways: making a commitment to art, and getting good at that art.

Art, as defined by the author, is work that is new, real, and important. It’s using your gifts to make a difference in other people’s lives.

It’s operating without a map, exploring the edge of what’s possible. And, it’s inherently risky. You might fail. You’ll probably fail. There have always been “safe paths”, but those necessarily required you to follow a plan that’s not yours. And people usually have to give up part of themselves to follow it.

Instead, now today, we live in a world where you can create your own path. You can find and serve your customers wherever they are. But you need to find your unique offering, because if you just copy someone else, then customers will just go to that someone else.

There are millions of bloggers out there, but certain bloggers stand out in part because of their unique voice. We connect with them, we like their style and personality. But I’m not going to connect with every great blogger because some will just rub me wrong. That’s OK, because someone I connect with will rub someone else the wrong way.

When you can’t please everyone, that’s OK in the new economy. In fact, that is a differentiator.

One action item from this book is to recognize situations where I’m feeling internal fear/stalling/insecurity when creating, recognizing procrastination and subtle instinct to seek approval. Another is to remember that shame is a choice – you can’t feel ashamed without your permission, only if you agree it’s bad.

The major critique I have for this book is it’s way too long. This thing could’ve been 25% the size and still gotten the major points across. It meanders this way and that way. I’m sure he could’ve made more concise without compromising himself.

19 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

AFRoberts

A life-changing book (for me)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 25, 2017

Verified Purchase

I've been an Amazon customer for a long time. I've been reading books on self-improvement, productivity, happiness, spirituality, psychology for over 15 years. I'm a qualified Life Coach. This is the first book I've left a review for.
This book is a life-changer for me, but it won't be for everyone. In Seth's own words, "If the audience doesn't like this work enough to connect, there's a mismatch. Perhaps this is the wrong work for the wrong group. Don't fix it by pandering for a quick ovation." There is an important message in this book, that will connect with some people and not with others. Some people will always remain part of the "wrong group". Others, if they keep the book long enough and return to it, might find their connection to the message later.
Buy it. Read it. If you "get it", act. If you don't "get it", set it aside and come back to it. Please.

20 people found this helpful

Simon Osborne

...the Art of the journey

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 25, 2013

Verified Purchase

I `got' this book after only about 30 pages which came as a bit of a surprise. Some books ask you to accept the fear, overcome the worries and doubts, or cognitively change your behaviours. I interpret Godin as suggesting that we embrace these challenges, defined as your Lizard Brain, and make them integral to the Art of our journey.

Many books strive to explain authenticity and fall short. This book does not, I think, mention authenticity once, yet suggests to you a living plan of how to find it, nurture it, live it and love it.

Godin expresses Art not along traditional interpretations such as painting, sculpture, writing, acting, but as your everyday activity perhaps through delivering a service, an idea, an interaction, a meeting. And this for me was a breath of fresh air.

This has been my first Godin book - I doubt if it will be my last.

23 people found this helpful

Claire Georghiades

You will either love it or hate, but either way, it is food for thought.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2013

Verified Purchase

This book is like marmite. You'll either love it or hate it. I loved it because it made me think. It was food for thought and the ideas that Seth puts forward stayed with me long after I finished reading the book.

The essence of the book is "You Choose." You pick whether you do something well or not. You no longer need to wait for someone else to pick you. Don't queue in the long line of people waiting for the buffet table of life which has all the good things on. Or sit aggressively waiting for the phone to ring. The power is in your hands. You decide. Do you want to do what you want? Or will you just do what you are told to do?

Seth writes, "The rules keep changing and we might as well enjoy the process of changing them."

The ideas in this book resonated with me. In fact, I think that "The Icarus Deception" is even more relevant now than it was a year ago. And from my limited knowledge of marketing, I think it applies more than ever. It explains the world the next generation are growing up in.

In this brave new world, public relations no longer means a one-way communication with the public. It can be heavily affected by the public. And social media is the new voting system, so if you want your product or service to be found, you need to be social. Your role in this brave new world is bigger than you think. As a consumer but mainly as a producer. Embrace this new responsibility.

This means tearing up the old rule book. Seth Godin gives us instead some of his new rules:

"Learn to sell what you've made.
Say thank you in writing.
Speak in public.
Fail often.
See the world as it is.
Make predictions.
Teach others.
Write daily.
Connect others.
Lead a tribe."

Do you see what I mean now? He may not be right. Love him or hate him, but the ideas Seth Godin puts forward in "The Icarus Deception" will give you something to chew on.

I would recommend this book who is struggling to understand the rules of the world their children are growing up in, or anyone who is open minded to the fact the rules have changed and needs inspiration on what to do about it.

11 people found this helpful

GARY DOOLEY

Starts well, then goes nowhere.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 26, 2021

Verified Purchase

After starting well, this book simply repeats what amounts to pretty much the same message over and over again albeit in slightly different ways throughout the course of 240 pages. I can't escape the feeling that Mr Godin has missed an excellent opportunity to explore a good approach more widely, and I cannot understand why it took the author almost 240 pages to drive home the ideas he shared in full by page 50. The only reason I continued to the end was in the hope that he would eventually move things along though that proved to be a hope of the most optimistic nature.
This was my first venture into this authors work, and if this is a typical representation of his style, it may be a long time before I am tempted to give it a second try.

Dr. K. A. Jobst

An all time great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 29, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a book to inspire, to cajole, to implore, to explain, to create with - it is extraordinary and I believe will be one of those timeless books, written at a certain moment in the emergence of the digital world but applicable to all times and all ages - at least in my opinion - well, well, well worth the purchase.

See all reviews