Bob Burg

"You like to read..."

Giving and loaning books is hard if you actually want the receiver to get what you hope out of a book. People that introduce their offering with the above words are the worst. These are people so unaccustomed to reading they seem to think reading is something some people just like to do. If that were that case I wouldn't laugh like an idiot every time Alec Baldwin declared that The Handbook for the Recently Deceased "reads like stereo instructions!" I've read me some show more shit books and thankfully many more awesome ones. This is the kind where I can't stop wondering just how stupid the author thinks I am.

The Go-Giver is a business self-help fanasy novel apparently written for people for whom conventional self-help books are too challenging. Unfortunately it's the self-help that's fantasy and the book is entirely void of wizards and unicorns.

In a way the book is sort of an anti-Prince. The Prince has long served as a manual for cold machination and ruthless strategy for dictators, business men and stone cold bastards. The Go-Giver, on the otherhand, preaches selfish selflessness. To put it simply, the revolutionary secret to "Stratosheric Success" is just be a good person. Except, how good can you really be if you're only good because you think you'll get something out of it? The two authors (it took two dudes to write this crap!) actually came up with "Five Laws of Stratospheric Success" but it's equal parts lame and depressing. The laws fall into two categories. The first category is just do the things that any decent person would do because they've got a baseline of human compassion. The second category is stand back and wait for your good behavior to be rewarded richly. Failure to be properly rewarded indicates a lack of "receptiveness" according to the shameless authors.

On the one hand I like that this book is essentially saying, "don't be a dick". But ultimately the complete message is "treat other people with decency and kindness with the expectation that you will get something out of it." That's a sociopathic take on ethics. To make matters worse the book takes the tacit view that success and money are a manifestation goodness, effectively sainting the wealthy. Certainly there are good people that are also wealthy, but there are also an awful lot of very not nice people that are wealthy and successful. It sticks in my craw that the book sets up an implied scale that equates goodness with status and wealth. It also irks me that these two grinning yahoos are no doubt transforming the publicity garnered from their undeserving bestseller into traffic for their consulting business. show less

When you start to read this unassuming little fable, your own sense of fabulousness and swagger will try to convince you that it's too simplistic and corny to be worth your time. Fight through that urge and read on. This short read -- it will take all of two hours to finish -- brings a kind of zen quality to the sales career; it teaches you to embrace generosity and abundance. In the world of the Go-Giver, those who clutch and claw and protect ultimately lose. This one might not only make show more you a better seller, it may make you a better person. show less

Not bad for a business parable - dialogue a bit stilted, writing a bit contrived, and an ending that reminded you that this book had an obvious target audience to appeal to. But, it didn't feel like a waste of time and had some good insights. If only people actually used these books instead of reading them to fulfill a requirement or appease their boss.

I really enjoy Bob's books. I've read Endless Referrals all the way through all three Go Giver books. I'm a firm believer in the methods he teaches and the reasons for them.

With, the Art of Persuasion, he brings some new material intermixed with some ideas from his previous books and those he's read and admired. I would've easily given this a full five full stars but I couldn't believe I found quite a few typos scattered throughout this ebook. I can expect an accomplished writer such as show more himself, his publishers will be quick to fixing this and ill quickly fix this rating in turn.

Highly recommended regardless. Grab this book and read it more than two times. In fact read it twice a year. show less