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Top positive review
37 people found this helpful
4.0 out of 5 starswhatever you would like to call it
ByBillie Pritchetton November 16, 2014
Roy Baumeister's Willpower was an enjoyable book, and fascinating for what it says about us as human beings. The most fascinating point is this. Willpower, self-control, free-will, whatever you would like to call it, is a relative capacity, and it is more or less controlled by certain features of our physiology, and it is particularly tied to glucose. Think of glucose in the body as the fuel that lets you run, or gives you self-control or free will. When this fuel gets burned up through the activities you engage in throughout your day, your level of self-control decreases. You make bad or hasty decisions, you get angry at a loved one, you don't do something as well as you should have, etc. And it's all because you are burning up the fuel that powers your body. The book is very good and practical about what to do to avoid your depletion of self-control, and it involves getting a reasonable amount of sleep and eating well throughout your day. 'Well' in 'eating well' is the operative word, by the way, because what gives your body a good dose of glucose that will serve your body best is healthy food that contains sugars but that does not just give your body a quick dose of sugar. Things like energy drinks, for instance, can increase your glucose levels, but they also cause a big crash because these are the kinds of sugars that burn quickly. Slow-burning sugars are the ticket. The book also gives other practical advice about kinds of exercises you can do throughout your day to increase your willpower. Perhaps it's a truism, but one easy way is setting clear goals, sticking with a standard to meet those goals, and rewarding yourself for the big and little goals met proportionate to the size of the goals are all ways you can maintain adequate levels of self-control and not use too much energy worrying or involved in trivial matters. Pretty good book.
Top critical review
2 people found this helpful
3.0 out of 5 starsDisappointed and unfulfilling due to confusing writing and poor credit reference.
Byjoon October 17, 2017
With utmost respect to 2 writers, I may say this is not a fulfilling or inspirational book for readers who seek inspiration on willpower subject. It's a psychology research book written in a "thesis" style than a "book/literature". No knowledge for you about how to train and practice skills to overcome your obstacles. Only informations about researches after researches and some neuroscience.
But this is not what I find disappointing. My deal breaker is the writers never give any credit reference to many studies they mentioned in the book. Therefore readers who are not familiar with this field (psycho-study) will find it difficult to expand their knowledge beyond the book. Such as;
- "New Zealand study published 2010" : Fortunately I watched the well-done TV documentary on this study from BBC, it's called "Dunedin Longevity Study". Why this book never bothers to mention the true name of the study? I don't know.
- "Walter Mischel study on marshmallow and children" : the book neither gives credit of the study name nor year and place. Fortunately I read the paper about it before. It's "the Bing Study" done at Princeton University campus in 1966 and later called "the Marshmallow Test" for the first time by the New York Times.
The book doesn't bother to mention the initial goal of this study. ("The initial goal of the experiment was to identify the mental processes that allowed some people to delay gratification while others simply surrendered." (The New Yorker : Don’t! The secret of self-control. By Jonah Lehrer in May 18, 2009)) And it even gave wrong information about the times scheduled in the study as "15 minutes". In fact, it was not. The time schedules were varied to each young kid. From 5-15 minutes.
- "Baumeister study"
It was mentioned in almost every page in the introduction. Who's Baumeister? Is it the name of the study, institution or a person name? No clues, whatsoever. I just realized it's the name of the author when I searched for the study. So why don't they write "Roy Baumeister" or "the author" to be specific?
- "Beaumeister career in social phycology in 1970's at Princeton" : It made me so confused since he was born in 1953, how can he became a psychologist at Princeton at age 17??? (Why the writers didn't give the exact year right away? I don't know why.)
*These are only a few examples that make me find this book disappointing, both in emotional sense and information sense.*
But this is not what I find disappointing. My deal breaker is the writers never give any credit reference to many studies they mentioned in the book. Therefore readers who are not familiar with this field (psycho-study) will find it difficult to expand their knowledge beyond the book. Such as;
- "New Zealand study published 2010" : Fortunately I watched the well-done TV documentary on this study from BBC, it's called "Dunedin Longevity Study". Why this book never bothers to mention the true name of the study? I don't know.
- "Walter Mischel study on marshmallow and children" : the book neither gives credit of the study name nor year and place. Fortunately I read the paper about it before. It's "the Bing Study" done at Princeton University campus in 1966 and later called "the Marshmallow Test" for the first time by the New York Times.
The book doesn't bother to mention the initial goal of this study. ("The initial goal of the experiment was to identify the mental processes that allowed some people to delay gratification while others simply surrendered." (The New Yorker : Don’t! The secret of self-control. By Jonah Lehrer in May 18, 2009)) And it even gave wrong information about the times scheduled in the study as "15 minutes". In fact, it was not. The time schedules were varied to each young kid. From 5-15 minutes.
- "Baumeister study"
It was mentioned in almost every page in the introduction. Who's Baumeister? Is it the name of the study, institution or a person name? No clues, whatsoever. I just realized it's the name of the author when I searched for the study. So why don't they write "Roy Baumeister" or "the author" to be specific?
- "Beaumeister career in social phycology in 1970's at Princeton" : It made me so confused since he was born in 1953, how can he became a psychologist at Princeton at age 17??? (Why the writers didn't give the exact year right away? I don't know why.)
*These are only a few examples that make me find this book disappointing, both in emotional sense and information sense.*
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ByBillie Pritchetton November 16, 2014
Roy Baumeister's Willpower was an enjoyable book, and fascinating for what it says about us as human beings. The most fascinating point is this. Willpower, self-control, free-will, whatever you would like to call it, is a relative capacity, and it is more or less controlled by certain features of our physiology, and it is particularly tied to glucose. Think of glucose in the body as the fuel that lets you run, or gives you self-control or free will. When this fuel gets burned up through the activities you engage in throughout your day, your level of self-control decreases. You make bad or hasty decisions, you get angry at a loved one, you don't do something as well as you should have, etc. And it's all because you are burning up the fuel that powers your body. The book is very good and practical about what to do to avoid your depletion of self-control, and it involves getting a reasonable amount of sleep and eating well throughout your day. 'Well' in 'eating well' is the operative word, by the way, because what gives your body a good dose of glucose that will serve your body best is healthy food that contains sugars but that does not just give your body a quick dose of sugar. Things like energy drinks, for instance, can increase your glucose levels, but they also cause a big crash because these are the kinds of sugars that burn quickly. Slow-burning sugars are the ticket. The book also gives other practical advice about kinds of exercises you can do throughout your day to increase your willpower. Perhaps it's a truism, but one easy way is setting clear goals, sticking with a standard to meet those goals, and rewarding yourself for the big and little goals met proportionate to the size of the goals are all ways you can maintain adequate levels of self-control and not use too much energy worrying or involved in trivial matters. Pretty good book.
37 people found this helpful
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ByBrian Johnsonon August 27, 2015
"The result, after dozens of experiments in Baumeister's lab and hundreds elsewhere, is a new understanding of willpower and of the self. We want to tell you what's been learned about human behavior, and how you can use it to change yourself for the better. Acquiring self-control isn't as magically simple as the techniques in modern self-help books, but neither does it have to be as grim as the Victorians made it out to be. Ultimately, self-control lets you relax because it removes stress and enables you to conserve willpower for the important challenges. We're confident that this book's lessons can make your life not just more productive and fulfilling but also easier and happier. And we can guarantee that you will not have to endure any sermons against bare ankles."
"Improving willpower is the surest way to a better life."
"Self-control is a vital strength and key to success in life."
~ Roy Baumeister & John Tierney from Willpower
Willpower.
It's ESSENTIAL to optimizing our lives. In fact, in their *great* book, Willpower, Roy Baumeister (one of the world's leading scientific researchers on self-control) and John Tierney (science writer for the New York Times) tell us that "Improving willpower is the surest way to a better life."
I absolutely loved this book. It's an easy read and packed with goodness.
Her are some of the Big Ideas:
1. Eat Your Way to Willpower - No glucose, no willpower.
2. Exercise Self-Control - And improve your life.
3. Precommitment.- It's huge.
4. Tidy Up! - And improve your willpower.
5. Meditation - Anaerobic conditioning for selfcontrol.
To find 250+ more reviews visit http://bit.ly/BrianReviews
"Improving willpower is the surest way to a better life."
"Self-control is a vital strength and key to success in life."
~ Roy Baumeister & John Tierney from Willpower
Willpower.
It's ESSENTIAL to optimizing our lives. In fact, in their *great* book, Willpower, Roy Baumeister (one of the world's leading scientific researchers on self-control) and John Tierney (science writer for the New York Times) tell us that "Improving willpower is the surest way to a better life."
I absolutely loved this book. It's an easy read and packed with goodness.
Her are some of the Big Ideas:
1. Eat Your Way to Willpower - No glucose, no willpower.
2. Exercise Self-Control - And improve your life.
3. Precommitment.- It's huge.
4. Tidy Up! - And improve your willpower.
5. Meditation - Anaerobic conditioning for selfcontrol.
To find 250+ more reviews visit http://bit.ly/BrianReviews
ByWeston Winnon May 23, 2016
The writing style reminds me greatly of The Power of Habit in that the vast majority of the book is anecdotal and case study summation. In fact, I could quite easily get literally 100% of the book's usefulness in a 30 minute Ted Talk if done correctly.
So why five stars? I'd give it 4.5 if I could because the wordiness is a bit much, but the message behind the book, the approaches to rectify certain things, etc. are really quite amazing, and an incredibly fresh outlook on things. There are easy changes to make with profound effects and you really just don't get that out of books these days.
So why five stars? I'd give it 4.5 if I could because the wordiness is a bit much, but the message behind the book, the approaches to rectify certain things, etc. are really quite amazing, and an incredibly fresh outlook on things. There are easy changes to make with profound effects and you really just don't get that out of books these days.
ByArt Cardenon March 29, 2015
The authors summarize a lot of psychological research on willpower and self-control. There is a lot of discussion of statistical significance without as much discussion of the magnitudes of the effects as I would like to see, but this is a useful and credible explanation of the science of willpower for non-experts and non-specialists. Reading it is also a great way to avoid working on other things. :)
There's an important takeaway I've been considering in other contexts: willpower is limited at any point in time, and every decision we make comes with a willpower price. It would probably be useful, after reading the book, to list things that can be automated and that won't require decision-making capacity. I'm going to experiment with decision rules related to food and clothes: same things as often as is practical.
There's an important takeaway I've been considering in other contexts: willpower is limited at any point in time, and every decision we make comes with a willpower price. It would probably be useful, after reading the book, to list things that can be automated and that won't require decision-making capacity. I'm going to experiment with decision rules related to food and clothes: same things as often as is practical.
ByThe Docthoron March 5, 2017
"Will Power" has taken an abstract concept of the 19th century and transformed it into a 21st-century empirical scientific theory paralleling society's cultural transition from the enlightenment on to the scientific method and present day mega data analysis. I thoroughly enjoyed the attempted rigor of scientific citations of various studies. This more than anything provides credibility and legitimacy to the authors' arguments. It is a well written and intelligently thought-out treatise on the subject of individual will. There appears to be a third factor besides "Nature/genetics and Nurture/environment." Another variable that must be factored in when we endeavor to study human psychology let alone attempt to quantify and predict human behavior. 5 stars for throwing in another monkeywrench! Bravo! Well Done! Hats off to Dr. Baumeister and Dr. Tierney.
ByCMedon January 26, 2018
In the realization that willpower is increasingly important in the age of constant distraction and higher standards, it was great to find a book combining a scientific background with real world examples. It was thought-provoking while giving some techniques to improve willpower that have been used by others. It didn't feel like a self-help book, but more like taking part in a discussion centered on willpower. It wasn't preachy, which I always appreciate in books regarding behavior change. Overall, I highly recommend this book!
ByRay A. - independent & unsolicited revieweron January 19, 2015
Very much enjoyed this book. I'd read a fairly number of articles and books on willpower and was familiar with the muscle model and surrounding details. This book covered willpower in far more depth and breadth than I assumed possible in a book targeting non-research audiences. Everything from pre-Victorian, to Victorian to the self-esteem movement to the latest research. It did a fantastic job explaining the results and implications for each period up to and including modern research results.
The structure of the book was well done. I never felt like I was repeating information learned earlier; nor did I feel like they'd assumed knowledge and jumped ahead.
The end of the book had a nice review/summary of the key points which was nice, given said breadth covered.
I'm not usually one to re-read a book. This is one of the exceptions, however. Definitely worth the time/money if you're looking to improve or understand willpower.
The structure of the book was well done. I never felt like I was repeating information learned earlier; nor did I feel like they'd assumed knowledge and jumped ahead.
The end of the book had a nice review/summary of the key points which was nice, given said breadth covered.
I'm not usually one to re-read a book. This is one of the exceptions, however. Definitely worth the time/money if you're looking to improve or understand willpower.
ByThing 3on June 9, 2012
Don't let the title fool you. This is not a book about willpower in the sense of "the power of positive thinking" but a review of how humans control urges and stifle desires, or not. The authors Baumeister and Tierney present the latest research on facets of human self-control. Some of the findings will surprise you--at least they did me, as they often did the scholars who originally performed the studies. One of the most novel findings is announced early and it is this--we only have so much self-control to use in a day and as we deplete it our ability to control our urges and tendencies weakens. We must then eat, sleep, and/or, possibly, exercise to restore it.
I am a regular reader of works of popular science--physics, biology, psychology, etc. The writers' prose is accessible; I would judge an above average twelve-year-old wouldn't have any problem reading it. Those in later adolescence should probably read it to understand urges better and, maybe, as a result, find them easier to control. The authors explain their points well. Don't expect the analogies and metaphors that some writers use so eloquently to explain their subjects, but, then, the subject here is pretty easy to grasp anyway once the studies' hypotheses and results are explained--not the complexities of physics or micro-biology, for example.
My criticisms of this book are these: The authors sometimes seem to forget that there are females reading their work. It seems to me that they sometimes speak to females as if they are a subset of their audience that is mainly male. In one topical entry, readers are asked to imagine a scenario in which they have a choice of selecting A, B, C, D, and their corresponding choices are all female prostitutes vividly described with whom they should expect to have a sexual liaison. I was offended, and not because of the sexy descriptions, but because of the presumption. Why the authors set up the entry in this fashion I can only imagine. Where were their editors on this one!!
Another criticism is with their use of case studies to demonstrate their points, such as the use of the case of Eric Clapton to discuss the new research in self-control with regard to alcoholism, Oprah Winfrey in the case of dieting, and others. I thought these discussions lingered too long on the personalities at the expense of the topics, but, on the other hand, many readers will be pleased to read about celebrities' personal lives. They are the "pop" in this popular science read.
In the main, I found the research discussed in the book fascinating.
I am a regular reader of works of popular science--physics, biology, psychology, etc. The writers' prose is accessible; I would judge an above average twelve-year-old wouldn't have any problem reading it. Those in later adolescence should probably read it to understand urges better and, maybe, as a result, find them easier to control. The authors explain their points well. Don't expect the analogies and metaphors that some writers use so eloquently to explain their subjects, but, then, the subject here is pretty easy to grasp anyway once the studies' hypotheses and results are explained--not the complexities of physics or micro-biology, for example.
My criticisms of this book are these: The authors sometimes seem to forget that there are females reading their work. It seems to me that they sometimes speak to females as if they are a subset of their audience that is mainly male. In one topical entry, readers are asked to imagine a scenario in which they have a choice of selecting A, B, C, D, and their corresponding choices are all female prostitutes vividly described with whom they should expect to have a sexual liaison. I was offended, and not because of the sexy descriptions, but because of the presumption. Why the authors set up the entry in this fashion I can only imagine. Where were their editors on this one!!
Another criticism is with their use of case studies to demonstrate their points, such as the use of the case of Eric Clapton to discuss the new research in self-control with regard to alcoholism, Oprah Winfrey in the case of dieting, and others. I thought these discussions lingered too long on the personalities at the expense of the topics, but, on the other hand, many readers will be pleased to read about celebrities' personal lives. They are the "pop" in this popular science read.
In the main, I found the research discussed in the book fascinating.
ByKit Carpenteron February 1, 2016
This book gave me some great insights into willpower. It makes sense that we don't have an unlimited supply and that our willpower can be drained. It's probably one of the best non-fiction books I've read in the last decade - by best, I mean, most meaningful and having the most impact on me.
ByEric Lebergon June 24, 2014
This has changed my understanding of myself and how to design a life to get what I want. Basically, will power is depleted by making a LOT of decisions, especially decisions all day long, because each decision uses up a little glucose (the fuel for the brain.) By the time 5-6PM rolls around, if people haven't nourished themselves well, they may make poorer decisions involving will power, from all the big and small decisions they made during the day. So they might decide to have three beers instead of one, like they promised themselves the night before, or they may say something insensitive to their spouse that they regret. ("I just don't know what got into me....") A good read.
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