Steven Kotler

The book has some good science breaks but is otherwise constantly redefining flow without tying it down to any standard definition. The authot talks of flow-hacking, chasing flow, flow riding, flow this and that but there is no definition, even when science comes in the picture there isn’t work to lock things down. So basically the book is all based on subjective ideas of flow, and therefore could just as easily be called bleem.

The awful thing is this flow is by definition, only when you dont make a mistake and lose your life falling off a mountain, so maybe a better name for this flow is luck?… (mehr)

I feel like I've been reading this book forever. The first few chapters interested me, particularly the section on trying to find common threads between the things that interest you, but after that it became very dense and reminded me too much of a number of greedy, self-absorbed / psycho business people I've come across over the years (see Elon Musk if you don't know any personally) and I started to zone out.

Yesterday I decided to finish it once and for all, and actually I got more out of it than expected. Certain points were interesting, like his thoughts around getting into (and stying in) a sense of 'flow', and the importance of reading to become a master at what you do, and how to read around your area of interest to get most out of it. But somehow with many books like this I keep coming back to the same point - much of it is all very well if you've got time on your hands, and I'm pretty time poor.

If you hold people like Musk and Jobs on some kind of business pedestal you'll be the type of person who gets a lot out of this book, but it's not what I'm looking for at this stage in my life.

3 stars - some interesting concepts but a heavy read at times.… (mehr)

I picked this up on a whim from the library after having had it on my radar for quite a while. I'm familiar with Kotler's work on flow, having followed him online for a time. Still, I hadn't previously read any of his books.

I found THE ART OF IMPOSSIBLE to be pretty approachable, despite being heavy on science and neurobiology (a lot of which, I admit, went over my head). And while I welcomed the practical application suggested, much of it seemed aspirational to your average person. Sure, Olympic athletes can schedule their day based on Kotler's methods to optimize flow, but most of us, who have responsibilities outside of our chosen passion/purpose paradigm, are going to struggle to make that happen.

Still, I appreciated the depth of insight shared in this book.… (mehr)