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A review by starklinqs
The Hidden Power of F*cking Up by Keith Habersberger, Eugene Lee Yang, Ned Fulmer, Zach Kornfeld
fast-paced
3.5
I was curious about this book and knew it certainly wouldn't age well all the time with the Ned chapters, but this was an interesting book.
I feel like my enjoyment really varied based off the people - I will have to say that I think Zach and Eugene had the strongest writing in the book, while Keith and Ned had the weakest. Zach's voice was probably the most distinct to me, especially when I skipped over the little emojis that indicated who was who. I think based off Zach's writing, I'd give that a 4/5 while for the others I'd range from a 2.5-3.5 - even Eugene's, tbh. His writing was objectively good, but I didn't feel much from the chapters he wrote? Maybe it's because he's already shared so much of that in videos so it didn't feel like anything new was coming out of the chapters to me. Which is totally fair, because he doesn't have to write anything more than what he wants to, but it also just made his chapters objectively well written things that I've just heard before.
I think while Ned's chapters aged the poorest, Keith's was the least interesting for me to read. I do appreciate him talking about his journey to getting fit, but I can't really think of a lot of what he wrote for the rest of the book? Sometimes it felt like the other guys had big chunks of writing and then Keith would chime in for a side comment here or there. I did also have to laugh a bit at him saying he's on a vegan diet when he's definitely not - I understand the point of what he was trying to say, about eating that way most of the time, but still. Ned's chapters were objectively fine, but it's hard reading about how much he loves the Try Guys and his wife and his child with the foresight of what we have now about him cheating. It doesn't necessarily make what he believed and wrote any less true, but it's a bit rough reading about how someone believes they love their wife when you know they publicly cheated on her a few years later. I think his style section was also just not as well done as the other sections in the book.
The work section was easily the weakest out of all the chapters in the book all-around, and I think the "expert" opinions also weren't the best in that. It felt very much like a silly thing they were all trying instead of an honest reflection on their work. This whole book kind of felt like an extended video, but this chapter did in particular - especially with the play by play (sidenote - I do feel like maybe people would get the most out of this book with the printed version for photos and then the audiobook. The banter just did not flow as well in a book IMO).
Overall, it was an interesting book though. I think what I got from this is that if Zach ever wants to drop a memoir I'm all in LMAO.
I feel like my enjoyment really varied based off the people - I will have to say that I think Zach and Eugene had the strongest writing in the book, while Keith and Ned had the weakest. Zach's voice was probably the most distinct to me, especially when I skipped over the little emojis that indicated who was who. I think based off Zach's writing, I'd give that a 4/5 while for the others I'd range from a 2.5-3.5 - even Eugene's, tbh. His writing was objectively good, but I didn't feel much from the chapters he wrote? Maybe it's because he's already shared so much of that in videos so it didn't feel like anything new was coming out of the chapters to me. Which is totally fair, because he doesn't have to write anything more than what he wants to, but it also just made his chapters objectively well written things that I've just heard before.
I think while Ned's chapters aged the poorest, Keith's was the least interesting for me to read. I do appreciate him talking about his journey to getting fit, but I can't really think of a lot of what he wrote for the rest of the book? Sometimes it felt like the other guys had big chunks of writing and then Keith would chime in for a side comment here or there. I did also have to laugh a bit at him saying he's on a vegan diet when he's definitely not - I understand the point of what he was trying to say, about eating that way most of the time, but still. Ned's chapters were objectively fine, but it's hard reading about how much he loves the Try Guys and his wife and his child with the foresight of what we have now about him cheating. It doesn't necessarily make what he believed and wrote any less true, but it's a bit rough reading about how someone believes they love their wife when you know they publicly cheated on her a few years later. I think his style section was also just not as well done as the other sections in the book.
The work section was easily the weakest out of all the chapters in the book all-around, and I think the "expert" opinions also weren't the best in that. It felt very much like a silly thing they were all trying instead of an honest reflection on their work. This whole book kind of felt like an extended video, but this chapter did in particular - especially with the play by play (sidenote - I do feel like maybe people would get the most out of this book with the printed version for photos and then the audiobook. The banter just did not flow as well in a book IMO).
Overall, it was an interesting book though. I think what I got from this is that if Zach ever wants to drop a memoir I'm all in LMAO.