Six Degrees of Freedom by Nicolas Dickner, Lazer Lederhendler
Six Degrees of Freedom follow Lisa, Éric and Jay over many years. And while Lisa and Éric are childhood friends, Jay is more of an outsider and is only connected to them because of their “experiments” and her work with the RCMP.
To be honest, this book just wasn’t my cup of tea. While the chapters are indeed brief the book is incredibly slow-paced. I felt that the author took a too much time just to get to the main plot which was the most interesting aspect of this book and unfortunately it did not unfold until the very last chapters of the book. Instead the majority of the book was devoted to the technical elements of the shipping and container industry in addition to the backgrounds of not just the three protagonists but also to the backgrounds of everyone they interact with.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Nicolas Dickner’s Six Degrees of Freedom because its synopsis did have me intrigued. However, the execution of the story didn’t do the story justice in my opinion. Lisa, Jay and Éric did have the potential to be compelling characters, however there just wasn’t enough time devoted to their development or to let the reader care about them which made for a rather dreary and long-winded read despite not being a thick book.
The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People’s Lives Better, Too) by Gretchen Rubin
Maybe it’s my psychology background, but lately I’ve been really getting into personality dimensions. I’ve taken Gallup’s StrengthsFinder assessment and my current workplace is obsessed with the Colours Personality Dimensions so I thought it would interesting to read up and learn about the Four Tendencies personality framework. Like Gretchen Rubin’s other books The Four Tendencies is laid out in a way that makes an otherwise complex and intimidating topic more accessible to the everyday reader. The design of the book is also visually appealing and the book has a quiz at the beginning for those who are curious to find out which of the four “tendencies” they are. In addition, there are lots of personal and practical examples that help the reader to understand each tendency better and know how to deal with people from the four tendency types. The Four Tendencies is a great read that is perfect for those who work in a team, parents, people who deal with clients and customers and even those who just want to bring the best in themselves and others. I definitely agree that the more you know about yourself and those around you, the better equipped you are to be more productive and even happy.
Regardless of how this book came into my possession, the above review consists of my honest opinion of the book and my opinion only.
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