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A review by lauraborkpower
The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It by Kelly McGonigal
3.0
This is an interesting and helpful book with a straightforward tone and process that follows the scientific method rather than one that is a motivational explosion of rainbows and marshmallow clouds.
McGonigal, a lecturer at Stanford, models this book after a 10-week continuing education course she leads, and she explains that although readers can burn through the book quickly, it's also possible to take one chapter per week (as a "class"), and work on a specific challenge for that week before moving on to the next item. I tried to do this, and I quite liked it. I re-read the chapters immediately so I could focus on whatever skill or task McGonigal was explaining, and then I tried to be mindful of it as I moved through my daily life that week. It was fun and more helpful than if I'd read the book start to finish and then tried to implement changes.
McGonigal uses neuroscience (not technical, very pop-science accessible) to explain why we have trouble doing or not doing things, and how we can approach ourselves--our lives, choices, and brains--to change. It's a cool little book and I'd recommend it.
But the reason that this is only three stars is that the narrator of this audiobook is a man: Walter Dixon. Now, did he do a bad job? No, not at all; in fact, he has a pleasant voice and I enjoyed his narration. But Kelly McGonigal is a woman and this is a non-fiction science book. Did the producers of the audiobook think that an audience would be more likely to follow the advice of a man? That perhaps a man would carry more authority? Whatever the reason, it pissed me off. Every time Dixon read one of McGonigal's anecdotes, I knew it wasn't a man, but a woman leading her students through the process. And I got angry.
So, read a hardcopy; or listen to the audiobook with the knowledge that the woman behind the words is undermined by the male narrator. But then pay attention to McGonigal's ideas, because they're worth your time.
McGonigal, a lecturer at Stanford, models this book after a 10-week continuing education course she leads, and she explains that although readers can burn through the book quickly, it's also possible to take one chapter per week (as a "class"), and work on a specific challenge for that week before moving on to the next item. I tried to do this, and I quite liked it. I re-read the chapters immediately so I could focus on whatever skill or task McGonigal was explaining, and then I tried to be mindful of it as I moved through my daily life that week. It was fun and more helpful than if I'd read the book start to finish and then tried to implement changes.
McGonigal uses neuroscience (not technical, very pop-science accessible) to explain why we have trouble doing or not doing things, and how we can approach ourselves--our lives, choices, and brains--to change. It's a cool little book and I'd recommend it.
But the reason that this is only three stars is that the narrator of this audiobook is a man: Walter Dixon. Now, did he do a bad job? No, not at all; in fact, he has a pleasant voice and I enjoyed his narration. But Kelly McGonigal is a woman and this is a non-fiction science book. Did the producers of the audiobook think that an audience would be more likely to follow the advice of a man? That perhaps a man would carry more authority? Whatever the reason, it pissed me off. Every time Dixon read one of McGonigal's anecdotes, I knew it wasn't a man, but a woman leading her students through the process. And I got angry.
So, read a hardcopy; or listen to the audiobook with the knowledge that the woman behind the words is undermined by the male narrator. But then pay attention to McGonigal's ideas, because they're worth your time.