Book Review of Tao Te Ching: The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Book of the Tao by Lao Tzu

This book review was written by Eugene Kernes   

Book can be found in: 

Genre = Philosophy

Book Club Event = Book List (08/02/2025)

Intriguing Connections = 1) What Is The Power Of Belief Systems?, 

2) Ways To Help Oneself and Life Lessons, 3) Get To Know The Peoples Of The World (China), 

4) To Cooperate Or To Defect?

Watch Short Review

Excerpts

“Not to Honor the Worthy Puts an end to Contending Among the folk. Not to Prize Rare Goods Puts an end to Theft Among the folk. Not to Display Objects of Desire Removes Chaos From the Heart-and-Mind Of the folk.

The Taoist rules by Emptying Heart-and-Mind And Filling Belly, By softening the Will to Achieve, And strengthening Bones. The Taoist frees the folk From False Knowledge and Desire. Those with False Knowledge No longer dare to Act. The Taoist Accomplishes Through Non-Action, And all is well Ruled.”

– Lao Tzu, Chapter 3: Non-Action, Page 51

 

 

“Letting Go is better

Than Filling to the Brim.

A blade overly sharpened

Does not last long.

Halls stuffed with gold and jade

None can preserve.

Wealth, Rank, Pride,

All bring Calamity.

The Tao of Heaven-and-Nature

Is to Accomplish

And to Withdraw.”

– Lao Tzu, Chapter 9: Letting Go, Page 67

 

 

“Which is Dearer” Name Or True Person? Which means more: Person or Property? Which causes greater Harm: Gain or Loss? Undue love Comes at Great Cost.

Hoarding entails Heavy Loss. To Know Sufficiency Averts Disgrace; Whosoever Knows When to Halt Averts Misfortune, Endures”

– Lao Tzu, Chapter 44: Sufficiency, Page 171

 

Review

Is This An Overview?

Taoism is often contrasted to the authoritarian Confucianism.  Taoism means way or road.  Meant as a practical guide to improve people’s lives, to enable the person to become kinder, and gentler.  Taoism focuses on inner freedom. 

 

Outwardly expressions of greatness create chaos for others, and bring calamity upon oneself.  With possession comes great loss.  Taoists rule through non-action, through nonintervention.   A Taoist ruler does no violence, for violence rebounds.  A Taoist is inclusive with people and knowledge, and is attentive to minor details for even minor details have complexity.  Taoists prevent false knowledge and desire, and understand that there are limits to knowledge.  That complete complexity cannot be understood.  Those who think they understand, are enabling misunderstanding.  Taoist apply and put ideas into practices more than consider the ideal version of ideas.

 

Caveats?

Taoism is expressed through poetry, that has various contradictions.  Meant as a personal method of reflection, to enable the individual to think for themselves on how they would respond to the demands of society and on how they would resolve the contradictions.  This version of the book contains various commentaries, from various philosophers, to guide the reader through Taoism.

Questions to Consider while Reading the Book

•What is the raison d’etre of the book?  For what purpose did the author write the book?  Why do people read this book?

•What are some limitations of the book?

•To whom would you suggest this book?

•What is Confucianism?

•What is Taoism?

•Why is Confucianism and Taoism seen in contrast?

•How did Taoism effect Chinese culture? 

•Who is Lao Tzu?

•What is non-action?

•What is dust?

•Why let go? 

•Why is Tao ineffable?

•What does it mean to return to the root?

•What is the value of Sages?

•Who is the best traveler?

•How does a Taoist treat others?

•What is the outcome of violence?  

•How to find what is valuable? 

•What is the value of perfection?

•What is the effect of meddling?

•What is the effect of studying? 

•How to cultivate a future?

•What is the difficulty in the easy?

•What are beautiful words? 

Book Details

Ancillary Author:   John Minford

Translator:              John Minford

Original Language: Chinese

Translated Into:       English

Publisher:               Penguin Books [Penguin Random House]

Edition ISBN:         9780525560319

Pages to read:          284

Publication:             2019

1st Edition:              4th Century B.C.E.

Format:                    eBook 

Ratings out of 5:

Readability    2

Content          1

Overall          1

Review of Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

This book review was written by Eugene Kernes   

Book can be found in: 

Genre = History, Empires

Book Club Event = Book List (11/01/2025)

Intriguing Connections = 1) Biographies: Auto, Memoir, and Other Types, 

2)  Get To Know The Peoples Of The World (Poland, Prussia, Russia), 

3) How Is Sovereignty Is Gained And Lost?, 4) Relationships, Right?, 5) To Cooperate Or To Defect?, 6) What Is The Power Of Belief Systems?, 7) Why Conflict Occurs And How To Resolve Them?, 

8) What Defines A Culture? How To Belong To A Community?

Watch Short Review

Excerpts

“During this solitary winter when Paul was born, Catherine decided to change her behavior.  She had met her obligation in coming to Russia; she had given the nation an heir.  And now, as a reward, she found herself abandoned in a little room without her child.  She resolved to defend herself.  Examining her situation, she saw it from a new perspective.  She had lost the physical presence of her baby, but, by his birth, her own position in Russia had been secured.  This realization prompted her decision “to make those who had caused me so much suffering understand that I could not be offended and mistreated with impunity”” – Robert K. Massie, Chapter 29: Retaliation, Page 171

“Peter had provoked and insulted the Orthodox Church, infuriated and alienated the army, and betrayed his allies.  Nevertheless, effective opposition still needed a specific cause around which to rally.  Peter himself supplied this by endeavoring to impose on his exhausted country a frivolous new war – against Denmark.” – Robert K. Massie, Chapter 42: The Brief Reign of Peter III, 250

“She sat on the throne of Peter the Great and ruled an empire, the largest on earth.  Her signature, inscribed on a decree, was law and, if she chose, could mean life or death for any one of her twenty million subjects.  She was intelligent, well read, and a shrewd judge of character.  During the coup, she had shown determination and courage; once on the throne, she displayed an open mind, willingness to forgive, and a political morality founded on rationality and practical efficiency.  She softened imperial presence with a sense of humor and a quick tongue; indeed, with Catherine more than any other monarch of her day, there was always a wide latitude for humor.  There was also a line not be crossed, even by close friends.” – Robert K. Massie, Chapter 45: Coronation, Page 281

Review

Is This An Overview?

Before needing to convert into Orthodoxy for marriage, Catherine was a Lutheran called Sophia.  As Sophia, as a child, was neglected by Sophia’s mother, Johanna.  As a princess, Sophia had the option of either marriage or being sent to a convent.  Sophia was eager for marriage.  At the time, Elizabeth, empress of Russia had come to the throne and was looking for a bride for the heir, Peter Ulrich.  Peter’s and Catherine’s views on Russia were different. 

 

Peter disapproved of Russia.  Disapproved the culture, and language.  Peter favored Prussia, and was an admirer of Fredrick the Great.  Catherine had a different approach.  Catherine was eager to embrace Russia and learn about Russia.  Catherine’s eagerness to be immersed into Russia gained approval of the people.  Catherine learned the customs of Russia, which included bribing people with gifts. 

 

When Catherine and Peter married, Catherine was neglected and failed to produce an heir.  In isolation, Catherine turned to books.  Learned various ideas for governance and justice.  After Paul was born, Catherine’s behavior changed, as that meant Catherine’s political position was secured.  At least until Elizabeth’s death.  Peter wanted to marry someone else, and therefore tried to remove Catherine.

 

When Peter became emperor, enabled some policies that were approved of, but generally Peter stigmatized the church, military, and allies.  Attempted to change Russian institutions to be more aligned with Prussia, and deferred to Prussia on political situations.  Catherine obtained supporters, for Catherine was a stark contrast to Peter’s views and policies.  Supporters who then put Catherine on the throne of Russia. 

 

Catherine became empress through the support of Russia.  Supported by the army, church, nobility, and people.  Catherine was courageous during the coup.  While on the throne, ruled through rational politics, enlightenment ideas, and practical efficiency.  Tempered by humor.  Catherine became empress without experience in administration, but took on the responsibility.  Wanted to understand the problems Russia faced, and be provided with the information to find appropriate responses rather than just defer to others.  The threats that Catherine faced were competitors to the throne, general corruption in government, and a rise in grain prices. 

 

What Catherine did was stop deference to foreign powers, which appeased the exhausted army.  Funded medical infrastructure, and knowledge.  Reformed laws to make them systematic and proportionate.  Reformed the church.  Catherine tried to correct the mistreatment of serf, for if the unbearable conditions were not corrected, the people might revolt.  Catherine’s ability to change Russia was limited due to the dependence on nobility, culture, and the vastness of Russia. 

 

Who Was Peter III?

Peter was Elizabeth’s nephew.  The son of Elizabeth’s favored older sister Anee, and a cousin of Johanna.  After Anne died, Elizabeth adopted Peter, who then became heir to the throne of Russia.  By becoming heir to Russia, Peter had to relinquish the claim on the crown of Sweden.  As Peter’s source of solace was barrack life, wanted command and obedience. 

 

As a child, and later, Peter was tormented by a tutor, who thought that ill-treatment was meant to toughen Peter, but had the opposite effect. 

 

Elizabeth was anxious about the succession, as Peter scorned Russia and sympathized with Prussia.  But Elizabeth did not change the succession plan.

 

Caveats?

As a biography, this book covers the personal accounts of the person, Catherine the Great.  There are various references to Russia’s history, and how Russia effected and was affected by other states.  Deference is toward the personal reactions of Catherine, on the politics of Russian royalty.  This book provides background on the culture and history of Russia, but more research would be needed to understand many of the events. 

Questions to Consider while Reading the Book

•What is the raison d’etre of the book?  For what purpose did the author write the book?  Why do people read this book?

•What are some limitations of the book?

•To whom would you suggest this book?

•Who was Catherine the Great?

•Who is Peter the Great?

•Who was Elizabeth?

•Who are Elizabeth’s parents?

•Why was Elizabeth able to take the throne? 

•Why was Elizabeth not able to marry?

•What did Elizabeth think of Catherine?

•What were the features of Elizabeth’s evening balls? 

•Who is Peter Ulrick of Holstein? 

•What did Catherine think of Russia? 

•What did Peter think of Russia?

•How did Sophia become Catherine? 

•How did Catherine’s and Peter’s relationship change?

•What happened during the marriage of Catherine and Peter?

•How did Catherine change after Paul was born? 

•What threats did Catherine face when Elizabeth was close to death?  

•Why did the Count Nikita Panin support Catherine? 

•Why did the Gregory Orlov support Catherine? 

•Why did the Catherine Dashkova support Catherine?

•How was Catherine treated during the reign of Peter III?

•What policies were enacted during the reign of Peter III?

•How did Catherine take the throne of Russia? 

•What happened to Peter III after Catherine took the throne? 

•How was Catherine’s succession different than what was expected? 

•How did Catherine effect Russian sovereignty? 

•How did Catherine effect Russian religion?

•How did Catherine effect Russian army?

•How did Catherine effect Russian navy?

•How did Catherine effect Russian medicine?

•What happened to the Catherine’s imperial allowance? 

•What kind of authority did Catherine think was needed in Russia? 

•What did Catherine and Voltaire correspond on?

•What did Catherine think of the French Revolution?

•What did Catherine think of Diderot? 

•What did Arseniy want for Religion? 

•How did Catherine effect serfdom?

•What was Catherine’s love life as empress?

•How did Catherine handle Gregory Orlov?

•Who was Potemkin?

•What were Potemkin villages? 

•How did Catherine change Russian laws? 

•Did Catherine marry someone after Peter? 

•What was Catherine’s relationship with her son, Paul? 

•What happened to Paul’s marriage?

•How did rumors change the court of Russia?

•Who is Otto Brümmer? 

•How did Brümmer treat Peter? 

•Who was Staehlin? 

•How did Johanna treat Sophia (Catherine) as a child? 

•Who was George Lewis?

•What was Prussia’s status during the 18th century? 

•What did Frederick think of Sophia (Catherine)?

•What happened to Ivan VI?

•Who was Bestuzhev?

•What was Johanna’s responsibility in Russia?

•Who is Madame Krause? 

•Who were the Chernyshevs?

•What did Catherine think of the treatment of Elendsheim? 

•What happened when Catherine wanted to go to Carnival in 1758?

•What was the situation with Khitrovo? 

•What was Poland’s political structure? 

•How did Catherine effect Poland?

•Why was Poland partitioned? 

•How did the Ottoman Empire effect Russia?

•Who are the Cossacks?

•Who was Pugachev? 

Book Details

Edition:                   Random House Trade Paperback Edition

Publisher:               Random House Trade Paperbacks [Random House]

Edition ISBN:         9780345408778

Pages to read:          572

Publication:             2012

1st Edition:              2011

Format:                    Paperback

Ratings out of 5:

Readability    5

Content          4

Overall          5

Review of Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

This book review was written by Eugene Kernes   

Book can be found in: 

Genre = Economics, Business

Book Club Event = Book List (06/28/2025)

Intriguing Connections = 1) Biographies: Auto, Memoir, and Other Types, 2) The Entrepreneurial Spirit, 3) How To and Not To Run a Business, 4) How To Allocate Resources?, 

5) To Cooperate Or To Defect?, 6) What Defines A Culture? How To Belong To A Community?, 7) Relationships, Right?, 8) What It Means to be an Activist, 9) War for Your Attention, 

10) How To Have A Conversation?, 11) Why Do People Think Differently?, 

12) How Competitive Is Competition?, 13) How Products Shape and Change the World, 

14) Intelligence, Of The Artificial Kind?, 15) How Does Digital Technology Modify Society?, 

16) Capitalism, Socialism, their Alternatives and Critiques, 

17) Get To Know The Peoples Of The World (South Africa, United States of America)

Watch Short Review

Excerpts

“From the very beginning of his career, Musk was a demanding manager, contemptuous of the concept of work-life balance.  At Zip2 and every subsequent company, he drove himself relentlessly all day and through much of the night, without vacations, and he expected others to do the same.  His only indulgence was allowing breaks for intense videogame binges.” – Walter Isaacson, Chapter 10: Zip2: Palo Alto, 1995-1999, Pages 74-75

“Musk restructured the company so that there was not a separate engineering department.  Instead, engineers would team up with product managers.  It was a philosophy that he would carry through to Tesla, SpaceX, and then Twitter.  Separating the design of a product from its engineering was a recipe for dysfunction.  Designers had a corollary that worked well for rockets but less so for Twitter: engineers rather than the product managers should lead the team.” – Walter Isaacson, Chapter 12: X.com: Palo Alto, 1999-2000, Pages 91-92

“Musk was laser-focused on keeping down costs.  It was not simply because his own money was on the line, though that was a factor.  It was also because cost-effectiveness was critical for his ultimate goal, which was to colonize Mars.  He challenged the prices that aerospace suppliers charged for components, which were usually ten times higher than similar parts in the auto industry.  |  His focus on cost, as well as his natural controlling instincts, led him to want to manufacture as many components as possible in-house, rather than buy them from suppliers, which was then the standard practice in the rocket and car industries.” – Walter Isaacson, Chapter 18: Musk’s Rules for Rocket-Building: Space X, 2002-2003, Page 129

Review

Is This An Overview?

Elon Musk is a brilliant visionary with an aptitude for hardware and software, but Elon is someone difficult to work with.  Does not like sharing power, and does not accept no as an appropriate response.  During childhood, Elon went through physical and emotional turmoil.  Becoming callous and impulsive.  Elon can be intimidating.  Elon potentially has Asperger’s, given the lack of social skills, emotional connectivity, and self-regulation.  Elon is frank with people, which does not endear Elon to others.  But Elon does not think that managers need to endear themselves to others, that endearment would be counterproductive for a manager.  Elon loves to argue, and is drawn to chaos.  Stability and contentment are not acceptable.  Rather than mitigate risk, Elon seeks risk out.

 

Elon Musk is a demanding manager, who instills a constant sense of urgency.  A relentless work effort during the day and night.  Elon expects others to do the same.  A work ethic that can inspire, but also demoralize.  Leisure is rare, with videogames being an accepted indulgence.  Teams are formed to enable people from different production aspects to work together, rather than separately.  A system in which engineers and designers work together, and gain immediate feedback on how their ideas affect the product and manufacturing capacity. 

 

Elon has a production algorithm for what everyone working needs to consider.  The algorithm asks to question requirements, delete anything unnecessary, simplify, accelerate cycle time, then automate.  Rather than rely on established requirements, everything needed to be experimented and tested.  To experiment as much and fast as possible to quickly find the problems that needed to be resolved.  Sometimes finding that the requirements had good reasons and were costly to test, and sometimes taking the risk improved the product. 

 

To achieve long term goals, Elon needed to keep costs down as much as possible.  Rather than outsource components, Elon decided to manufacture components in-house when the market price of the components was high.  Deleting as much as possible from the product.  With the claim that if at least 10% of the deleted parts were not brought back, then not enough was deleted.  Cutting costs has enabled product improvements, but sometimes cost cutting came at the expense of safety. 

 

Caveats?

This biography covers a range of sensitive topics.  From personal to the different companies.  Sharing a person who is complex, and has complex views.  From how Elon’s personality can motivate, but also cause harm.  Setting up the narrative for the reader to make their own decision on what to think of Elon Musk.  

Questions to Consider while Reading the Book

•What is the raison d’etre of the book?  For what purpose did the author write the book?  Why do people read this book?

•What are some limitations of the book?

•To whom would you suggest this book?

•Who is Elon Musk?

•How does Elon respond to fear?

•How does Elon respond to contentment? 

•Does Elon have Asperger’s?

•How did Elon learn the difference between what people said and meant? 

•Was Elon interested or hardware or software? 

•What does Elon think of technological progress? 

•What did Elon learn at Zip2?

•What happened between Zip2 and PayPal?

•Why SpaceX?

•What is America’s approach to space?

•What happened to the NASA’s cost-plus contracts? 

•What happened at Kwaj?

•What was the space race? 

•What is Starlink?

•Why Tesla? 

•Was Tesla bailed out by the government? 

•What is Tesla’s self-driving approach? 

•What happened with the SEC?

•What was the approach with China? 

•What was Tesla’s approach to vehicle accidences?

•Why Neuralink? 

•What does Elon think of Artificial Intelligence? 

•Why SolarCity?

•Why The Boring Company? 

•Why Twitter / X?

•How did Elon effect content moderation? 

•What does Elon think of psychological safety?

•What was Twitter’s political bias? 

•What is Elon’s management style?

•What is The Algorithm? 

•Is being a tough and cruel needed to innovate?

•What was Elon’s approach to engineers and product designers? 

•What is Elon’s approach to risk? 

•What is Elon’s approach to costs? 

•What is Elon’s approach to deadlines?

•What is Elon’s approach to experimentation? 

•What did Elon think of rules?

•What is Elon’s approach to automation? 

•What is Elon’s approach to feedback?

•What material does Elon favor? 

•What does Elon think of woke? 

•What were Elon’s inspirational sources?

•How did Elon effect Ukraine? 

•What does Elon think of Bill Gates?

•What is reddskool?

•How did Kimbal Musk affect Elon?

•How did Maye Musk affect Elon?

•How did Errol Musk affect Elon?

•How did Elon behave in relationships?

•What was Elon’s relationship with Justine?

•What was Elon’s relationship with Talulah?

•What was Elon’s relationship with Amber Heard?

•What was Elon’s relationship with Grimes?

•What happened to Elon’s children? 

•What happened after the Rio vacation in 2001? 

Book Details

Publisher:               Simon & Schuster

Edition ISBN:         9781982181307

Pages to read:          686

Publication:             2023

1st Edition:              2023

Format:                    eBook 

Ratings out of 5:

Readability    5

Content          4

Overall          5

Review of The Schopenhauer Cure: A Novel by Irvin D. Yalom

This book review was written by Eugene Kernes   

Book can be found in: 

Genre = Novel

Book Club Event = Book List (07/26/2025)

Intriguing Connections = 1) Why Conflict Occurs And How To Resolve Them?, 

2) Ways To Help Oneself and Life Lessons, 3) What Defines A Culture? How To Belong To A Community?, 4) Why Is Behavior of Individuals Different When They Are in A Group?, 5) How to Teach? How to Learn?, 6) Why Do People Think Differently?, 7) How Do Humans Age And Die?, 8) To Cooperate Or To Defect?, 9) Some Kind of Friendship, 10) The Forge Called Habits, 11) Relationships, Right?, 

12) The Persecuted and The Persecutors, 13) War for Your Attention, 14) When Intelligence Goes Wrong, 15) Get To Know The Peoples Of The World (United States of America)

Watch Short Review

Excerpts

“But even more intriguing was the riddle of why he chose to revisit Philip.  Of all his old patients, why choose Philip to lift out of deep memory storage?  Was it simply because his therapy had been so dismally unsuccessful?  Surely there was more to it than that.  After all, there were many other patients he had not helped.  But most of the faces and names of the failures had vanished without a trace.  Maybe it was because most of his failures dropped out of therapy quickly; Philip was an unusual failure in that he had continued to come.  God, how he continued!  For three frustrating years he never a missed session.  Never late, not one minute – too cheap to waste any paid time.  And then one day, without warning, a simple and irrevocable announcement at the end of an hour that this was his last session.” – Irvin Yalom, Chapter 3, Page 29

“”There’s no true contradiction,” Philip replied instantaneously.  “One can be a competent therapist and supervisor even though one fails with a particular patient.  Research shows that therapy, in any hands, is unsuccessful for about a third of patients.  Besides, there’s no doubt I played a significant role in the failure – my stubbornness, my rigidity.  Your only error was to choose the wrong type of therapy for me and then persist in it far too long.  However, I’m not incognizant of your effort, even your interest, in helping me.“” – Irvin Yalom, Chapter 9, Page 67

“Gill, you’re not going to like my answer.  But here it is.  I can’t tell you what to do: that’s your job, your decision, not mine.  One reason you’re here in this group is to learn to trust your own judgment.  Another reason is that everything I know about Rose and your marriage has come to me through you.  And you can’t avoid giving me biased information.  What I can do is help you focus on how you contribute to your life predicament.  We can’t understand or change Rose; it’s you – your feelings, your behavior – that’s what counts here because that’s what you can change.” – Irvin Yalom, Chapter 11, Page 90

Review

Is This An Overview?

Julius is a therapist who received a grave diagnosis.  Having at best one year of health left, Julius evaluates one’s life.  Evaluates whether Julius was an effective therapist.  Although there were those who improved with the guidance of Julius, there were those who Julius could not help.  One person in specific, Philip, was the worst of Julius’s failures.  Julius could not help Philip even after spending years in therapy.  Wanting feedback, connects with Philip who seems to have been transformed.  Philip confirms that Julius’s therapy did not help, but that the transformation was caused through the philosophy of Schopenhauer. 

 

Phillip believes that Schopenhauer’s philosophy can also provide comfort for Julius’s metal state.  Julius wants to consider Schopenhauer, while Philip needs professional supervision hours to become licensed.  They make a contract that Julius will supervise Philip, and Philip will provide guidance on Schopenhauer to Julius, under the condition that Philip first attend Julius’s group therapy sessions.  The reason for the condition, is that Julius cannot accept Philip’s impersonal methods of therapy.  Can Julius’s group therapy help Philip or is Philip’s Schopenhauer cure the better type of therapy?

 

Caveats?

This book relies on psychology and philosophy.  No background knowledge of the fields is required, but interest in those topics depends on the reader.  Most of the book takes place in the therapy group, the discussions that the group has.  The experience and effectiveness of group therapy can differ for everyone.

Questions to Consider while Reading the Book

•What is the raison d’etre of the book?  For what purpose did the author write the book?  Why do people read this book?

•What are some limitations of the book?

•To whom would you suggest this book?

•Who is Julius?

•What is happening to Julius?

•What kind of therapist is Julius?

•How does Julius change during the year?

•Why did Julius contact Philip?

•What are the guidelines to group therapy?

•Who is Philip?

•What did Philip think of the three years of therapy with Julius? 

•What did Philip’s students think of the lectures? 

•What is Philip’s behavior problems?

•What kind of therapist does Philip want to become?

•Why is Philip interested in Schopenhauer?

•What is the Schopenhauer cure?

•Who did Schopenhauer influence? 

•What was the relationship between Schopenhauer and Schopenhauer’s mother Johanna?

•Wha are the advantages and consequences of attachment and detachment? 

•What advice does Schopenhauer give? 

•Who is Gill and what are Gill’s behavioral problems?

•Who is Tony and what are Tony’s behavioral problems?

•Who is Bonnie and what are Bonnie’s behavioral problems?

•Who is Rebecca and what are Rebecca’s behavioral problems?

•Who is Pam and what are Pam’s behavioral problems?

•What are the relationships between the group members?

•What does the group think of Julius’ year?

•What does Buddhism offer? 

Book Details

Publisher:               HarperCollins Publishers

Edition ISBN:         9780061840883

Pages to read:          351

Publication:             2009

1st Edition:              2005

Format:                    eBook 

Ratings out of 5:

Readability    5

Content          5

Overall          5

Review of Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness by Steve Magness

This book review was written by Eugene Kernes   

Book can be found in: 

Genre = Decision Making

Book Club Event = Book List (06/21/2025)

Intriguing Connections = 1) Ways To Help Oneself and Life Lessons, 2) Why Do People Think Differently?, 3) How to Teach? How to Learn?, 4) To Cooperate Or To Defect?, 

5) Is There Fee Will? How Much Control Do We Have?, 6) The Persecuted and The Persecutors, 

7) War for Your Attention, 8) What Defines A Culture? How To Belong To A Community?,

Watch Short Review

Excerpts

“Regardless of whether it’s on the sporting field, in the classroom, or in the boardroom, strength and resilience don’t come from blindly powering through adversity or pretending that punishing ourselves yields results.  Instead, real toughness is experiencing discomfort or distress, leaning in, paying attention, and creating space to take thoughtful action.  It’s maintaining a clear head to be able to make the appropriate decision.  Toughness is navigating discomfort to make the best decision you can.  And research shows that this model of toughness is more effective at getting results than the old one.” – Steve Magness, Chapter 1: From Tough Coaches, Tough Parents, and Tough Guys to Finding Real Inner Strength, Pages 14-15

“Real toughness is about providing the tool set to handle adversity.  It’s teaching.  Fake toughness creates fragility, responding out of fear, suppressing what we feel, and attempting to press onward no matter the situation or demands.  Real toughness pushes us to work with our body and mind instead of against them.  To face the reality of the situation and what we can do about it, to use feedback as information to guide us, to accept the emotions and thoughts that come into play, and to develop a flexible array of ways to respond to a challenge.  Toughness is having the space to make the right choice under discomfort.” – Steve Magness, Chapter 1: From Tough Coaches, Tough Parents, and Tough Guys to Finding Real Inner Strength, Page 17

“False confidence helps in situations where we largely don’t need an extra boost.  Faking it works on easy tasks, where the challenge is low and a bit of extra motivation is needed to get you started.  In the workplace, research shows false confidence can fool those who are uninformed on a subject, but those with even a moderate understanding of the topic will sniff out your lack of acumen.  In situations that demand toughness, false confidence largely fails.  Outer confidence is fragile, falling away when pressure or uncertainty arises.  A secure inner confidence is robust.  While we envision tough competitors and executives as having an unshakable belief in themselves, the reality is that the best way to be prepared for a challenge isn’t bravado but tragic optimism, a sense of reality in the short run but hope over the long haul.” – Steve Magness, Chapter 4: True Confidence Is Quiet; Insecurity Is Loud, Page 68

Review

Is This An Overview?

Being tough is culturally perceived by a lack of fear, emotions, and vulnerabilities.  Being tough means being callous.  Creating a variety of toxic behaviors that were excused for being portrayed as what tough people do.  Cruel training methods were used to develop this version of toughness, but had negative consequences.  Rather than build toughness, the cruel training methods sorted those who were or were not tough, but they failed at sorting.  Those who left did tough activities while those who stayed became more physically and mentally fragile.  Cruel training methods taught people to respond to external motivation of fear and power, to avoid being punished.

 

The perceived toughness is fragile, for the individuals tend to lose their emotional control, confuse power for respect, and take their frustrations and insecurities out on others rather than deal with their frustrations.  Real toughness is about having equanimity when facing adversity.  Real toughness is being able endure adversity with thoughtful action, rather than blindly powering through the adversity.  Those who are really tough keep their focus, embrace challenges, recover from errors, persevere, and are intrinsically motivated.  They use their emotions for feedback to guide behavior, as feelings provide valuable information to make better decisions.  They set appropriate expectations about their capacity to cope with a challenge, by embracing reality rather than being deluded by false confidence.

 

Caveats?

This book is filled with examples of the various types of toughness, and methods to develop toughness.  Interest in the examples depends on the reader.  

Questions to Consider while Reading the Book

•What is the raison d’etre of the book?  For what purpose did the author write the book?  Why do people read this book?

•What are some limitations of the book?

•To whom would you suggest this book?

•What does it mean to be tough?

•How does being tough effect sports?

•How does being tough effect how a child develops?

•How tough are the people who are trained through authoritarian methods?  

•What happened to people who are punished into becoming better, when they are not being punished? 

•Who are the Junction Boys?

•Can cruel training methods build toughness? 

•What is dissociation? 

•How do soldiers build toughness? 

•What does it mean to believe in yourself?

•How does confidence effect coping with a situation?

•What happened to the self-esteem research and how did that research effect society? 

•How does self-worth effect a person’s mental health? 

•When does faking confidence work? 

•What is give-up-it is and how does it effect society? 

•How does a sense of control effect mental health? 

•How do emotions effect thinking and behavior?

•Why is being alone a skill?

Book Details

Edition:                   First Edition

Publisher:               HarperOne [HarperCollins Publishers]

Edition ISBN:         9780063098633

Pages to read:          216

Publication:             2022

1st Edition:              2022

Format:                    eBook 

Ratings out of 5:

Readability    5

Content          5

Overall          5