The Element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the Element, they feel most themselves, most inspired, and achieve at their highest levels.

The Element draws on the stories of a wide range of people: Paul McCartney; The Simpsons creator Matt Groening; Meg Ryan; Gillian Lynne, who choreographed the Broadway productions of Cats and The Phantom of the Opera; journalist Arianna Huffington; renowned physicist Richard Feynman; and many others, including business leaders and athletes. It explores the components of this new paradigm: the diversity of intelligence, the power of imagination and creativity, and the importance of commitment to our own capabilities.

With a wry sense of humor, Ken Robinson looks at the conditions that enable us to find ourselves in the Element and those that stifle that possibility. He shows that age and occupation are no barrier and that once we have found our path, we can help others do so as well. The Element shows the vital need to enhance creativity and innovation by thinking differently about human resources and imagination. It is an essential strategy for transforming education, business, and communities to meet the challenges of living and succeeding in the 21st century.

Listening Length

8 hours and 2 minutes
Author

Ken Robinson Ph.D.
Narrator

Ken Robinson Ph. D., see all
Audible release date

January 29, 2009
Language

English
Publisher

Tantor Audio
ASIN

B001R5RTTM
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	8 hours and 2 minutes
Author	Ken Robinson Ph.D.
Narrator	Ken Robinson Ph. D., Lou Aronica
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	January 29, 2009
Publisher	Tantor Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B001R5RTTM
Best Sellers Rank	#19,499 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #44 in Creativity (Audible Books & Originals) #242 in Creativity (Books) #1,523 in Personal Success

Customer reviews

5 star		71%
4 star		15%
3 star		8%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

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Look for your passion elsewhere

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2018

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This book is filled with inspirational stories about people who overcame adversity to find interesting hobbies, and long-winded explanations about the Earth being bigger than Pluto but smaller than Jupiter. It contains very little help for the average person seeking to find and develop their passion. I got a quarter of the way through it, started turning pages faster, and eventually gave up. Very disappointing.

45 people found this helpful

Helpful

Life changing

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2013

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This book, if you let it, can be really life changing. It helps you to think differently about education (which is currently a very important and heated political topic right now) but it's main focus is not really about education. This book really strikes home to central message that any and every TED talk is about; passion, elemental passion. This book details the lives of many different people and how they discovered their element (which is where passion meets natural skill, talent or aptitude) and it is always encouraging you to go out and find it yourself. Even if what you are passionate about does not make you money, or does not make you a lot of money, it is still something that can change your life forever.

Also, I just love this idea of combining a senior citizen home with an elementary school, seriously why don't we do this more often! Ch. 9 "Is It Too Late" goes in to far more detail than I will here, but it is an amazing idea where seniors walk by children every day and then they start to volunteer with them. It's a great idea for teaching literacy with young children and it's a great idea for improving the quality of lives in seniors everywhere. Why doesn't this happen more often???

3 people found this helpful

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R. Rayburn

The Element is Elementary!

Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2010

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I have read The Element with the leadership team at my elementary school. We have decided that as teachers of young children, we have to create in them a passion that inspires their lives rather than just getting them to pass tests.

It is CLEAR that the tests and standards we currently live and die by for mainly political reasons are an insane way to measure student success. True innovation and success in life is almost NEVER measured by passing some test invented by some bureaucrat.

We are choosing what we believe is our sacred duty to help young people find their true path, prepare passionately for it, and then create their own success.

This book and its ideas put into words the manifesto for the generation of educators who are teaching the kids who will be creating base knowledge that will inform the 22nd century (do the math on current Kindergarten kids!!!!). We have to be better than tests that do nothing more that inform how wealthy children's families are or how well kids and schools have played the losing assessment and accountability game created under NCLB.

We should all read this and move on to a much better system of education and therefore a much brighter future!

Helpful

Aaron&Andrea Wenburg

Enjoyable and Inspiring

Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2016

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As someone who focuses on aligning one's business with identity, I am thrilled with The Element. The stories are inspirational and enlightening. The audiobook is a fabulous way to read this book because it's fun to hear Ken Robinson's voice speak both the profound ideas along with dry humor. Truly enjoyable and inspiring!

One person found this helpful

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Christina Alfaro

Quality of Book

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2021

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I really like the quality and the security it arrived in package. No pages were ruined or written on. I would highly recommend it!

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Migdalia

A Must Read!

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2019

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What I loved:

This book got me crying from the start because it talks about what I've been struggling with all my teenage and adult life. This is precisely what I've been fighting about with my mother ever since I had to start choosing a career. She wanted me to study medicine or law in order to have financial stability, but I wanted to (in the author's words) find my element. So, I wandered the whole time I was in university and am still struggling to find my element.

This book talks about so many topics related to the path on finding your element, such as education, mentoring, creativity, recreation, and so much more! It really got me wanting to read his other book, Finding Your Element. But it also talks about matters of society and the world as a whole. It's a really engaging read.

What I didn't like:

There are very few things I didn't like about this book, but one stands out and is the reason for me giving it four stars instead of five (although, in reality it would be a 4.5 because I really loved it). I'm referring to grammar. Missing words in a sentence really distract me, and change my overall experience with a book. It happened a few times in this book.

Who this book is for:

I wish everyone would read this book! Parents, above all, should read this book. We as parents influence our children's lives in so many ways, and by encouraging them to pursue their passions we can positively influence them. But this book is for anybody wanting to learn more about finding their purpose and what drives them.

8 people found this helpful

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Victor

Great Guide for Parents & Educators!

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2019

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This book helps you explore yourself, it provides you with a different insight into life. Real stories are used to illustrate the topic. You will not regret having this book.

Helpful

Fred

Passion, Intelligence and Training the road map to a happy pursuit in life!

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2013

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What we fail to accomplish in our education is nourishment of a person's inherent talents and intelligence. "Element" provides a guideline as to how one needs to approach education. It asks what is one's passion? Not an easy question to answer for many, if one were to truly seek the answer. It then continues by moving to the next steps; once you know the passion, then, one needs to see if there is the intelligence for pursuit of that passion.... if the answers are positive, then and only then, one needs to go after acquiring the skills needed to make that passion into a life long pursuit. What the book clearly demonstrates is where we as a society fail to identify the passions, talents and intelligence and simply move on to the training part, as all our educational system is geared towards that last part, training one in the skills necessary to do a function, without regards in latter two.

Element is a great book, fun to read and I recommend it. It changed the way I look at education and it also changed the way I approach my children as to what they want to do and how they want to do it.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Icy Sedgwick

What's YOUR element?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 11, 2018

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We often talk about someone being "in their element" when they appear to both excel at something and enjoy it at the same time. Think of top sports stars, actors, musicians, or speakers. But what exactly is this "element"? Is it something anyone can access? Is it different for everyone? Turns out the answers to the last two questions are 'yes' and 'yes'. The first question forms the basis of this book.

Ken Robinson sets out to detail what the element is, how famous examples have found theirs, and how it could radically impact the lives of individuals and wider society. Win.

It's a fascinating read and really gives you food for thought about what your element might be. And herein lies the small snag at the heart of the book. He doesn't really give you any real direction as to how you might go about finding yours. True, you might find inspiration in the examples he gives of others, including Paulo Coelho, Ridley Scott, Paul McCartney, Mick Fleetwood and Susan Jeffers. But a little more assistance might have been nice - especially given his focus on the importance of those mentors and teachers who have helped his examples find theirs. Perhaps this is because he wants you to buy his follow-up book.

The first couple of chapters get a little repetitive and after a while, the endless congratulatory stories of a person going from having a terrible time to loving life get very same-y, but from about chapter 4 onwards the book hits its stride. It's a damning indictment of the education system, although more solutions could have been offered than just showing more examples of schools that do things differently. It's easy to criticise a system, but much harder to propose a new one.

That being said, it's still a fascinating and inspirational read, and highly recommended reading - particularly for policymakers.

18 people found this helpful

Velvet Lounger

Interesting lecture on education but not a self help book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2020

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This is a really interesting essay about what the author sees as wrong with the way our education system boxes us up and pushes us down a narrow lane which in most cases doesn't suit or skill, and has a wonderful set of examples and mini biographical stories. What it is not, in any way shape or form is a self help book about how to find what suits us or implement it.. so if you were searching for a treatise on education or even a thoughtful book for parents, great. If you followed a link to a find a book on how to find your own 'element' dont bother.

9 people found this helpful

Brian Richards

Encouragement to find and be yourself

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2017

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Based on the phrase "being in your element". The author question the conforming pressures of social norms and challenges us to be more free thinking, and daring enough to break from the mould and truly discover ourselves.
This is linked in with his criticism of education, which does not cater for diversity and squeezes children down very narrow channels.
His views and outlooks on identity, finding satisfaction and simply being yourself fit in perfectly with my job as a counsellor
An easy read that challenges you to think "Am I really happy with my life and my job, or am I just doing things that everyone else expects me to do!"

13 people found this helpful

Auburn Ashley

Excellent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2017

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I loved this book and I think I would love to have Ken Robinson as a dinner guest! We all have passions, interests and loves and finding them could be the key to mental and physical wellbeing. This book is full of real life examples of people who have found what being in their element is and how it has transformed them - and it is never too late to discover that except maybe, as Ken Robinson points out, being a prima donna ballerina in your 90s may have its physical limitations. A must read for everybody!

5 people found this helpful

joel galley

Excellent overview of a foundational issue in our world.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 15, 2019

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Ken Robinson's emphasis on finding our true abilities and passions is in my opinion foundational to the true and positive growth of any society/industry. He does an excellent job of outlining the cracks in our systems and the flaws that underline our education system in particular.
He outlines how every individual will only find true happiness and fulfillment when they find their element and spending as much time in it as possible. He explains how the education system needs to nurture this idea instead of work against it.

The book will be an eye-opener to anyone who reads it and inspire the reader to think more carefully about the direction of their lives.

Great read!

3 people found this helpful

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