Awaken Your Genius
Escape Conformity, Ignite Creativity, and Become Extraordinary
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4.1 • 11 Ratings
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
Unlock your originality and unleash your unique talents with this simple guide from the acclaimed author of Think Like a Rocket Scientist.
We say some people march to the beat of a different drummer. But implicit in this cliché is that the rest of us march to the same beat. We sleepwalk through life, find ourselves on well-worn paths that were never ours to walk, and become a silent extra in someone else’s story.
Extraordinary people carve their own paths as leaders and creators. They think and act with genuine independence. They stand out from the crowd because they embody their own shape and color.
We call these people geniuses—as if they’re another breed. But genius isn’t for a special few. It can be cultivated.
This book will show you how. You’ll learn how to discard what no longer serves you and discover your first principles—the qualities that make up your genius. You’ll be equipped to escape your intellectual prisons and generate original insights from your own depths. You’ll discover how to look where others don’t look and see what others don’t see. You’ll give birth to your genius, the universe-denter you were meant to be.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Inside you is a vast reservoir of untapped wisdom," contends former rocket scientist Varol (Think Like a Rocket Scientist) in this lighthearted guide to boosting creativity by looking within. Drawing on personal anecdotes and the stories of successful individuals, Varol encourages readers to discover the "real you" and outlines strategies for generating original ideas. Schools, he contends, squash creativity by rewarding memorization over curiosity, and he urges readers to revive their imagination by walking through a park alone with one's thoughts or getting "lost in a foreign land." Anecdotes of creative breakthroughs show how to come up with novel ideas, as when Varol touts the importance of pursuing "knowledge with no obvious utility" by telling how physicist Richard Feynman's Nobel Prize–winning research on quantum electrodynamics was the unintended offshoot of his frivolous calculations on the physics of tossing a plate in the air. The author recommends readers emulate his practice of jotting down thoughts throughout the day and suggests that freewriting "connects you to your intuition" by helping sort through half-formed ideas. Though men are conspicuously overrepresented among the "extraordinary thinkers" anecdotes (Beethoven, Stephen King, Johnny Cash, but also Glennon Doyle, among others), Varol succeeds in distilling from their stories sensible advice that benefits from his encouraging tone. Readers who feel stuck in a rut will find this a boon.
Customer Reviews
Excellent book!
This book was amazing & helped me really consider the limitations I’ve placed on myself. Although this was my first time being exposed to author Ozan Varol, I loved his writing & will be keeping up with his future endeavors👍🏽