Title: Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Author: Adam Grant

Narrator: Fred Sanders

Rating: 4 Stars

Reviewer: Melinda

Looking at this book and the description I wasn’t very sure that it would be for me. I do enjoy good non-fiction books but I don’t consider myself much of an original! But a friend with similar non-fiction tastes as me recommended it so I took the plunge. I’m so glad I did!

I have a decent daily commute so I chose to get this on audio because I do better with non-fiction with audiobooks. From the beginning I was hooked. Adam Grant did a great job of weaving fascinating tidbits and studies the got me hooked and drew me into the subject matter and made me want to listen to the whole thing right away.

Grant uses startups and well known names to start out with as examples about original people with original thoughts. Throughout the book he moves from there to other case studies – using the CIA and historical figures to make his points. Using well known figures helps get the information across in a way that I found both entertaining and educational. Infotational? Edutaining? Yeah, I don’t think either of those words work!

I really enjoyed the sections on quantity v/s quality, procrastination, and on entrepreneurs.  My favorite thing of all is that I feel that anyone who reads this book will be able to take away at least one thing they can apply in their own life or find out something that negates a belief you previously held. I loved that!

This is my favorite mini takeaway about the faults in defaults.

To get Firefox or Chrome, you have to demonstrate some resourcefulness and download a different browser. Instead of accepting the default, you take a bit of initiative to seek out an option that might be better. And that act of initiative, however tiny, is a window into what you do at work.

The hallmark of originality is rejecting the default and exploring whether a better option exists.

If you like non-fiction along the lines of Malcolm Gladwell I definitely think you should give this one a try. The audiobook narration was really great and I’d recommend that version.