Book Review: How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams
Cartoonist Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert comic strip tells his life story in How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life. A cartoonists life is not necessarily filled with humor as we learn.
Rarely have I read a self-help book as prescriptive as this one. Scott Adams writes in simple words, like he would his cartoon strips, the story of how to embrace failure to build a system that guarantees success in the long run.
I finished this book in 5 days (which is quite fast for me) because I could not keep it down once I began reading. Although he is a cartoonist, the humor, as he admits himself, is limited. But the way he talks to the reader, he captivates us by the humor in his tone.
The author is genuinely interested in helping us improve our lives and the “summary” chapter at the end of the book proves that. My favorite part of the book is the chapter in which he prescribes a list of skills he considers very important to have. The advice to switch to systems rather than focus on goals is solid.
The anecdotes from author’s life where he succeeds against odds through sheer will power are inspiring. He is honest about how affirmations could have played a very important role in his life. More importantly, he considers everything as experiments and observes patterns to derive principles. That system begs emulation.
This book, is a must-read for job seekers, wannabe artists, and entrepreneurs.