r0b3rta's review against another edition

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5.0

Very good and a quick read. It was a good refresher for me personally, I was introduced to meditation in an academic setting and the book outlined similar techniques along with some new ones. For anyone who has heard of Search Insider Yourself but who may not work at Google this is a good alternative. Tan starts each chapter with a quote relevant to the chapter. Chapter 1 Search Inside Yourself "Look within; within is the fountain of all good." - Marcus Aurelius

He talks you through the meditations and other exercises "Siberian North Railroad" (which I plan on utilizing) in a very personable way. It's not your traditional touchy-feely book. A lot of good information and at 247 pages a quick read.

slichto3's review against another edition

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3.0

This book provides an interesting and somewhat useful introduction to meditation, but that's about it. It teaches you about why meditation might be really useful, as well as how you can start meditating. The start to the how-to was the most useful to me. I'm going to give meditation a shot for a while, and this gave me a straightforward way to pursue that. I found the evidence supporting the benefits of meditation to be less than completely convincing, but still suggestive enough for me to try it. As for changing your life, eh… I don't know that this book really gives you the tools for that. The examples of that were pretty sparing and not all that believable. If you're interested in learning about meditation, I would give this book a moderate recommendation, but, if not, I'd take a pass.

gicungdc's review against another edition

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5.0

This is one of the best books of my life

kristel1010's review against another edition

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3.0

A very simple introduction to meditation and its benefits.
I did not learn anything new but if you're a person who has never really heard/thought about empathy, mindfulness, or why these things could be useful to you then this might be up your alley.
Did not appreciate all this Google-worshipping or namedropping and the sudden pivot to accomplishing world peace did not follow logically from the previous parts of the book.
But hey - at least it's short.

ginalucia's review against another edition

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3.0

The book in 3 sentences/summary:

Increase productivity, creativity and happiness with this book created by the man behind the Google program.

Experience Google work culture and use it within your business and life.

Feel more at ease, in control and excited to utilise the practices within this book.

My impressions:

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Search Inside Yourself but I had a feeling the content would be top notch, especially considering it’s associated with such a massive brand such as Google.

I wasn’t disappointed, Chade-Meng did a brilliant job of introducing and illustrating the benefits of mindfulness, meditation, journaling and more in the workplace and in daily life. 

He backs his findings up with research, experience and stories and writes in a compelling and easy to understand manner.

Should you read it? (who would benefit from this): 

This is a good one for the mindful-sceptics. Chade-Meng will change your mind! Literally.

What I personally got from the book:

There were many ah-ha moments within this book which I will be logging away in my brain for later. Similarly, there were many tweaks to my own habits which I will start to implement having read this book.

justbobbi's review against another edition

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5.0

One of my favorite books of all time. Re-reading it now.

saviraqaini's review against another edition

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4.0

I spent 2 months to finish this book due to several reasons:

1. I had severe reader's block
2. It is easy for me to lose interest as half of the book aren't new for me as someone who practice meditation and went to therapy for these past few years

However, I didn't regret to finally read half of the book during Eid holiday. I like the fact that this book is very scientific and data-driven yet is easy to relate by commoner, even for someone who has no idea on mindfulness before.

Have you ever met someone who is SO SO SO NICE then look back to yourself thinking why you can't be as nice as him/her? One of the key learning I got from the book is being kind is something you can consciously cultivate. So, if you are not kind by nature, you still can be kind by nurture. It gave such a relief for me personally, hehe.

The tips are very practical and I marked some pages as I believe I will need to reread it on difficult time someday haha.

Btw, this book is written by Google engineer (not sure if he still works there or not) and I really can sense he tries to joke a lot in this in attempt to make the book as lighter as possible. Somehow a decent effort but as the joke is very 'engineering guy' (hard to explain it clearly, but if you work in tech startup, you must get the idea LOL) so yeah many times it made me grin dryly lol.

erikars's review against another edition

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3.0

There is much to like about this book: The advantages of mindfulness and their applicability to personal and business life are well covered. The exercises strike a good balance between breadth and simplicity, and they avoid feeling too "out there" for a secular audience. The book would be a great introduction to mindfulness for someone interested in the topic but wanting to avoid the new age baggage that often comes with meditation.

My main reason for only giving this book three stars, is that for someone who is already familiar with mindfulness meditation, there is little new. It was still worth reading -- I am inconsistent enough at actually practicing meditation to make any reminders in that direction useful -- but it was definitely more of a refresher than anything else.

haileyannereads's review against another edition

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4.0

I chose to read this book for as assignment, so I really wasn't expecting much. But, I truly enjoyed it! It was beautiful, insightful, and pretty funny. Tan presents mindfulness and meditation in a very approachable way. He also presents his plan for world peace in a very achievable way.
This book is great for anyone who is curious about mindfulness and meditation. You will learn skills not only in those areas, but also in empathy and kindness.
I'm very happy that I stumbled upon this book.

sharrypdx's review against another edition

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Second time through...

... I'm beginning to understand. Search Inside Yourself is the internal companion to Dan Goldman's concept of Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Very helpful and practical work here! Great for new managers.