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This is a much better explanation of why I disliked this book than my review, which is just a disorganized rant.

Becca wrote: "This is a much better explanation of why I disliked this book than my review, which is just a disorganized rant."

I much prefer your specific criticisms. And now I want to rate it one-star, too. Cheers!

My sentiments EXACTLY.

100% agree. The book could and should've been just a couple chapters long. It started getting extremely frustrating and irritating reading the same thing repeated chapter after chapter. No new ideas really presented after the first chapter. Hope she got paid per word.

I just read an article about the book that made me intrigued about it. Would you say based on your comments above that reading the first chapter would suffice?

Sardonyx wrote: "I just read an article about the book that made me intrigued about it. Would you say based on your comments above that reading the first chapter would suffice?"

You don't even need to read that. Just read the Wikipedia summary.

read these comments after I wrote my review... somewhat relieved and amused that I wasn't being too harsh after all lol

I completely agree. The underlying concept was interesting and applicable to thinking about the world in a different way but after the nth retelling of basketball success it really wore thin.

accurately put! hardly any original social experiments to peove her theory.

Agree: "She is too in love with her idea". Interesting idea and right attitude, but too long. The book is really not organized well.

My school leaders place her work on the pedestal and worship her fervently. Growth mindset is now hailed as the new fad for the school culture. Not really a bad thing though but i really dont find her theory that fascinating. It isnt a new notion but repackaging an antediluvian idea into the 21st century context.

Completely agree.

Whew! Just read the first two chapters and was really annoyed because the ideas seem to be the same as extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation. Glad to know I'm not alone in thinking it's not a novel idea.

Very repetitive, though Iam only half way through :/ Still, I am dedicated to read it all -- who knows... But it does become a bore after a while :(

100% agree. This book could have been about 30 pages total. Very redundant.

Couldn't agree more. I'm too tired to read repetitive passages and I'm sick with the "quotes" of students/educators/CEO/or anyone in this life... just to prove that they failed/success because they have fixed mindset/growth mindset. Do they really think about success or failure that way too naive???? No way, even my 6 year old daughter knows that if she really wants to archive something, merely intelligent is not enough.

So far so good on fixed and growth mindsets, I have found this book on success and self-improvement

Currently reading but it has become so redundant that I find it to be boring now. I'm making myself finish it only because I want to add it to my 2016 reading challenge list. I did like the first few chapters but now it's like the movie Groundhog Day.... If you can appreciate the analogy.

Anyone who thinks her point is that "every failure could have been averted but for a change in mindset" is missing the entire point of the book. Failure is inevitable, how you learn from it or not is entirely based on your mindset.

You orchestrated the facts well according to your mindset but I doubt most of the things you said nevertheless In a way it is just your Fixed mindset.

I'm only nine pages in, but I'm bothered by the lack of actual concrete data. Every pop psychology and sociology book I've read is full of data. There's one mention of numbers in the first chapter and it's only 167 (I believe) researchers. I volunteered to lead a discussion group on the book so I'm committed to finishing it now, but I appreciate your review. I taught my students about growth mindset and I think there's value to the idea- if only to encourage students to try harder than they think they can. I'm a little concerned this book is going to force me to abandon teaching the concept at all.

For me it is a must read in terms of understanding the key concept bur the book is too big.

Thanks for writing my thoughts exactly, now I just have to give you kudos instead of typing all that. :)

I feel the same
I think a couple of chapters in and I got the whole book

Thank you for helping me put into words why I didn't like this book so much. It was so hard to get through!

I could not agree more!!!

The difficulty I am finding in applying the growth mindset to my life as I read this book is around motivation; the exact thing dr Dweck implies is they 'key' to success. How can I grow an area of my life, when I am just not 'intrinsically' motivated? Fair enough if you didn't get something it's because you didn't work at it enough and you didn't want it enough, but what if I want it because I have to do it. It's a necesariy part of my life and I'm just trying to ease up on the friction I feel having to do it? Like my job, I've gone through service redesign and now find myself in a job I don't love like my previous one (which was my 'dream job'), but I want to be good at it and do the best I can. How do I apply the growth mindset to a job I don't really want to do but I am happy enough in for the time being as I'm not in a position to leave it? What about kids who hate school and can't love every subject and just want to come home and build model aeroplanes? (I'm not asking for advice here by the way, merely using it to illustrate my point). I'm not too sure this mindset approach can be used in every situation, like many of you above point out, she shoehorns her arguement into so many situations, but what about the variety of human emotions? She is saying black and white growth or fixed. But offers no intermediary places, where you could be in between. I understand she has to write it like it's a ground breaking theory, otherwise the book wouldn't sell, it is like many things tho that could get hailed as the new thing and be used as an excuse to make kids work far too hard. I did feel uneasy that it could just make kids end up more effective for the workforce and stifle any kind of dreaming/creativity/just being kids!

Haha. Couldn't not have put it better. Gave her 3* would have been 2* if read yours before.

I totally agree with you.

I thought that her chapter on relationships was profound and enlightening

Just saved me from having to write a review. The book also made me wonder to what extent it's appropriate to present anecdotal evidence as proof of a theory - one could, as you did, argue that other confounding factors were vital for the listed successes. Even if not the case, one could imagine it possible to cherry-pick varying examples to support almost any theory

I appreciate the idea the author wants the reader to experience and learn,but at times I found the few sections very repetitive and boring,nonetheless..something that can help you deal with all kinds of attitude problems in life.

Exactly! I could not agree more! 😅😅😅

Could you recommend some other works that delve a bit deeper or provide more applicable and actionable ideas while still holding to the mindset concept? I like her ideas but agree with your assessment. Thanks!

Steve wrote: "Could you recommend some other works that delve a bit deeper or provide more applicable and actionable ideas while still holding to the mindset concept? I like her ideas but agree with your assessm..."

Hey Steve,

As far as attitudinal works go, Dweck’s book suffices. “Have a growth mindset, not a fixed mindset.� For actual literature on behaviors to enact that growth I’d recommend reading in the vein of “deliberate practice� and the �10,000 hour rule.� A cursory overview could be found in Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers.� A deeper but still lay-friendly book would be Geoff Colvin’s “Talent is Overrated.� For the actual scientific literature to go deep you’ll want to read the work of Anders Ericsson and his progeny.

I agree with you! You can't use mindset as a blanket solution for everything and force it into any given life example.

perfect review. exactly my thoughts.

I think you’re taking it too literally. You can see where the mindsets can be applied. If you had to break it down into just 2 i think she does a hell of a job. Apply it with your own experiences. It’s a book... she tried to back her points with examples, even if they weren’t completely accurate I enjoyed the short stories. (Also, i applied them intuitively?)

Giving Ms Dweck a hammer is dangerous - she makes everything look like a nail

I completely agree!

100% agree. I think her findings could have been shared in a white paper instead of a book. So much repetition 😓

This review sums it up totallly. I'm not halfway through the book.. I just can't it's so irritating reading the same thing over and over. The sports chapter really was the last I could take.

This, 100 % - her portrayal of a fixed mindset being so often equates to the very worst prople was way too much

My thoughts exactly!

Gosh my thoughts exactly. I found it very repetitive and the useful aspects quite limited. The arguments of the book could have been reduced to a few pages

Too many fixed mindset in this chat LOL. I partially agree with the opinion since taking literally the message is up to the reader.

No issues in repetition, our mind get knowledge through repetition and the histories were fun

An unfair review that clearly demonstrates that the reader did not grasp the idea beyond a superficial level. Dweck is not saying that if you have a growth mindset you will instantly win and if you have a fixed one you will lose, which is what the reader alludes to. Instead she is saying that your mindset plays a crucial role in the amount of effort you exert and the strategy/strategies that you utilize to achieve your goals.

Exactly

100% agree. The concept is great, but I only have a tiny bit of the book left and it’s still just repetition of success stories over and over and over. When do I get to the actionable steps?!?!

The book could and should've been just a couple chapters long. I started feeling bored and irritated after reading first few chapters. The same concept has been feed to the reader in a loop.