Post: #1

James Altucher's newest book. Has anyone here read it?

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Rudyard Kipling

Post: #2

I've never read his previous work, but this long-form sales letter proves that people will still read a shit load of text if the offer is good. Very tempted to buy and have the hard copy sent to my brother. Seriously, after reading more about him, this is a hell of an offer for $39.

Edit: OK let's break this down real quick. You can buy the new eBook on Amazon for 12 bucks. Choose Yourself is 3 bucks. You DO get access to his new newsletter and a couple other guides, and the hard copy is nice, but useless for someone traveling. The only complaints I could dig up are that his new book doesn't include much information you can't find on his blog and podcast.

Post: #3

I bought and I read most of it. It's good shit.

Post: #4

Still reading so far very good, I love his work

Post: #5

Not yet, about to, just saw it today.

Post: #6

What's his Choose Yourself Book like anyone read it?

Post: #7

(03-21-2015 07:43 PM)TheSpecialOne Wrote:  What's his Choose Yourself Book like anyone read it?

It's about his mindset and about the current culture in society that you will need to choose yourself. I feel so far The Guide to Wealth is expanding more on that concept and how to better monetize it. The daily practice is heavilty preached which includes building your idea muscle, stay mentally,physically and spiritually fit as well. He also includes many stories of his life and his ups and downs

Post: #8

I read Choose Yourself a few months ago. It's about the changing landscape of the job market and how to adapt to new circumstances to be successful.

Altucher talks about the new opportunities available for people through online business and networking. He also expands on a sort of total-person concept of taking care of mind, body, and spirit. And goes in-depth into his own failures and how he managed to bounce back.

An excerpt:

-I eat well, i dont eat junk food

-I sleep well (8 hours/day). I used to never sleep. Sleeping is the key to ALL health

-I dont drink. Drinking is a depressant and has a lot of sugar.

-I only engage with positive people. ELIMINATE all negative people from your life.
NEVER gossip

-I read every day. 2 hours. Books. not web.

I write 10 ideas a day. Doesn't matter what kind of ideas. The key is to get the idea muscle going.

-I am every day grateful. if i start to slip into thinking about scarcity, i change to think about abundance. It is such a pleasure to do this."

Post: #9

Just got it in the mail today.

I read Choose Yourself three times.
I look forward to this.

Post: #10

(03-20-2015 11:12 PM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  James Altucher's newest book. Has anyone here read it?

I just bought it a few minutes ago.

Only $1 on my Kindle.

Post: #11

(03-24-2015 11:46 PM)germanico Wrote:  

(03-20-2015 11:12 PM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  James Altucher's newest book. Has anyone here read it?

I just bought it a few minutes ago.

Only $1 on my Kindle.

I think you're looking at this first book, "Choose Yourself."

Unless I'm missing something, the new one, "The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth," is $9.99.

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Rudyard Kipling

Post: #12

This may be near-blasphemous to many people out there, and I admire the man, his writing style, and his ideas - so I'm not trying to hate on him...but I never actually finished "Choose Yourself" (the first book).

I believe I was the first person, or one of the first, to start linking Altucher's articles on the forum, and I do still enjoy his articles (I even link him on my site). But I felt like I was reading a book of blog articles. I don't really enjoy reading a book of blog articles. A book is a different writing form completely and far too many people who have done well blogging take the advice that writing a book is just like writing 20 or so articles too literally.

One reviewer on Amazon put it well here:

Quote:One of the things that Altucher talks about (over and over and over and over again) is how in the "Choose Yourself" era, you don't have to rely on others to choose you in order to do things like publish a book, how technology -- and Jeff Bezos -- have made it possible and easy to completely bypass the traditional publishing system and get your writing to the reader without having to go through any of those pesky gatekeepers like editors. I agree with him; it's a revolution in publishing that enables a lot more amazing books to be seen by a lot more people. But it also enables many more subpar works to be seen. With the gatekeepers out of the picture, there's no longer anyone weeding out the bad stuff; no one telling authors like Mr. Altucher "I see promise in what you've written, but it needs a lot of work before being published."

Now, that may seem a bit harsh, but it's a succinct point. "Choose Yourself" came across as a book with potential that was not fully actualized. Obviously Altucher has no problems selling books, so take that criticism as you will, but there it is.

I'm just hoping his newer book will be more substantial, grounded, and actionable. I'm also surprised that more men of the forum haven't taken issue with the first book.

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Rudyard Kipling

Post: #13

I've liked his ideas in the past as well, but when it came down to reading his books I lost interest. I think its his writing style or the way he comes across, I can't put my finger on it. Similar thing when I listen to his podcast, its just hard to explain why I can't absorb any of the information.

I'll give it a go again and read his new book.

Post: #14

Reading the book right now, its a lot more composed than his previous, lower cost efforts. So far, so good.

Post: #15

(03-26-2015 08:55 PM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  I think you're looking at this first book, "Choose Yourself."

Unless I'm missing something, the new one, "The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth," is $9.99.

Yes, my mistake. It was the first one, Choose Yourself, the one I bought.

Im halfway through it and loving it so far. Ive been highlighting it like crazy.

Will definitely look into the second one when im done with it.

Post: #16

I went ahead and read the book after seeing this thread. Here is my take on it.

Overall, it reads quickly and the crux of the matter is already apparent on the first few pages: Ideas are the currency of the 21st century. With that in mind, he argues we should focus on generating ideas and sharing these ideas with others, even if it means giving them away for free. Only then will be able to escape the corporate realm and find greener (money) pastures.

He explains that the value of social networks (i.e Facebook) rest on their capacity to spread information. Many of these social networks allows us to share our ideas and create some sort of identity or business for free. I sort of agree with this point, although a lot of what is on social networks is complete garbage. So, how do we filter the good from the bad?

Another point he makes is that if you give an idea for free, this doesn't necessarily mean you lost a good idea. Altucher introduces the concept of idea karma - if you have good ideas, people will come back to you for more ideas, because they will be making money off your ideas. Sharing ideas builds your network and creates wealth for everybody, which in turn increases your net-worth.

He urges each and one of us to share our knowledge (ideas) with everyone, leveraging the low cost and high reach of existing technologies: social networks, blogging platforms, mobile apps, wikis, etc. Now, I think we need to be more careful here and think about what we are really good at and see it as a competitive advantage, because we will be competing with other people who are doing the same thing. I believe he fails to be specific in this regard and that he is sort of hand-waving, instead of being more meticulous about the process.

The Good Points:
-Focus producing ideas, not money. Money will come eventually.
-Learn to leverage the power of technology.
-Create an extensive network - Transform competition into collaboration.
-Don't be afraid to sell or even give out your ideas for free.
-Most ideas are bad, but one good idea can be worth millions.
-Shoot for having 10 new ideas each day. Do this religiously.
-Focus on emerging industries, for example, energy. (Their value cannot be calculated).
-Stay debt-free.

What I did not like:
-I am not a particular fan of his writing style.
-It seems as if he's jumping around sometimes. Lacks laser-like focus but you can follow the themes.
-His take on real-estate investing.

Some of the content intersects with The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco, we can see that both guys are telling us to build a business and sell it at a liquidation event (MJ DeMarco's term for it).

Anyway, Altucher is a badass and is willing to share his entrepreneurial wisdom with us. A must-read if you want to become independent and bid goodbye to the corporate world.

Post: #17

I appreciate you bringing this author and his book to my attention. I will add it to my reading list and report my experience here once I have finished it.

Post: #18

Not yet done with this book but picked it up after reading this thread.

It's one of those inspirational books that tells you what you already know. But sometimes that is just what you need.

The "10 ideas a day" part is gold. I've already used it to take 2 concrete actions on my business. Worth the price tag for that section alone.

Post: #19

Dreambig, are you referring to the first book or the new one - because I believe he talked about that idea in "Choose Yourself"?

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Rudyard Kipling

Post: #20

Haven't actually read Choose Yourself. The ideas idea of his was from the new book. Simple but useful stuff. We could all do it without buying another book but sometimes you need that extra push. I'm a fan of self-help for that reason.

Will write a bit more once I'm done.