Yikes

What disappointed you about Mastery?

Yikes! I can appreciate the tenants behind the book, but having to retread whole sections of earlier passages (verbatim) made me feel like I was the $10 I spent on it. I can save you your money: 1.find a thing you love 2. Do the thing ( even if it gets hard) 3. Don't let others be a negative influence over you 4. Look to other people who did the thing you love ( famous or not ) to help spur you on to your goal of mastering the thing.

At the end of the book , Greene reiterates all the biographies that are spread throughout the book. Why? I've read them all before?! That was silly. I expected so much more.

27 people found this helpful

Focus on passion=Less stress and more success

If you could sum up Mastery in three words, what would they be?

Clarity of purpose

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

Being great at something and to truly arrive at being great takes 10,000 hours or more. This is a message that is not being presented in today's age. Students think that they can cheat their way to greatness or be distracted by their phones and think that they can delve deep enough into a subject matter to earn a great job. Shortcuts are preached by many in education and politics. We are not meant to multi-task. Success is not a quick-fix away.

What about Fred Sanders’s performance did you like?

Fred Sanders is the best narrator of a Robert Greene book. He tells the stories well and with just enough passion to keep the listener engaged. I wish that the other books were also available unabridged and read by the same performer. The reader of the abridged Power and Seduction books was too smarmy and took away the credibility of the text.

If you could give Mastery a new subtitle, what would it be?

Master your passion, or be mastered by others.

Any additional comments?

This is a great book and I will read it again. I also purchased the print copy. It is easy to become sidetracked by the media and all of the various forms of entertainment and news that is "so important." Even at work, it is easy to major in the minor things and fall prey to the tyranny of the urgent. This book encourages a person to focus on one thing. To do that separates you out from the 99.999% who dabble and waste their potential and their lives never accomplishing anything worthwhile. What sounds like sacrifice actually is a gift of time and clarity of mind. It takes less time to prioritize when there is a singular goal and less time is needed when the goal is so clear.

97 people found this helpful

Too much emphasis on evolution

The author's world view is obvious and comes from the presupposition that the universe and all that it contains evolved by chance from some undefined matter. The existence of a Creator is ignored or discounted. Given these presuppositions, creativity is reduced to an accident or happenstance. I am probably not alone in seeing creativity as evidence of a Creator, who created me in His image.

I also think this book, for me, is too long and complicated to listen to. I would have to read and re-read, go back to refresh my memory. This isn't easily done in an audio book. I didn't finish.

I also wondered why he chose the masters he did.

All this said some of the steps to mastery are very interesting and are in step with what I have read elsewhere. 10,000 hours of practice, for example. Internships and finding a mentor are all good advice.

17 people found this helpful

Very Disappointed

Would you try another book from Robert Greene and/or Fred Sanders?

no thanks...

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

yes

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

principles are great, but this author has no heart for people. success at the cost of any relationship is not the way people should live - that's the reason this world is in the state that it is today

Any additional comments?

Robert Greene doesn't practice what he preaches... read the reviews of the 40 laws and you'll see that he doesn't practice them himself... what kind of a person writes and recommends things that he doesn't practice himself?

14 people found this helpful

Classic Robert Greene

I haven't listened to or read another author that tries to teach life lessons that are relevant today through historic stories from the past. Is he always successfull? No, not always. Is it entertaining and will you learn some cool stories about great masters of the past (think Mozart, Da Vinci)? Yes!

This book may or may not change your life. The lessons are great and the stories are interesting, however, as with all these self help types of books, you will only see change if you apply it. Fred Sanders does a great job narrating this book (one of the better Narrations I've listed to on a Robert Greene book).

57 people found this helpful

Must read

The books gives a big incentive to create. Moreover, reading this books definitely has a positive impact on the mood!
This is definitely one of my favorite books now.
Really enjoyed this audio version.

29 people found this helpful

Great book

Goes over common characteristics of historical figures that mastered something in their lives and explains how to take those traits and apply them to whatever you do in life

8 people found this helpful

Amazing

I changed my life because of this book. I was trough some depressing times but thanks to Mastery I became more productive.

31 people found this helpful

Please write another book Mr. Greene.

I love this author. Great book. Robert Greene is truly a Master Author and researcher.

57 people found this helpful

Its starts of really well but becomes repetitive.

The book started of really well, however it became repetitive. 16 hours is far too long. 10 hours would of been great. he lost me at 12.5 hours He repeats some stories at least three times. What i took from the book, anything you want to be great at you have to work work work.

14 people found this helpful