One of the interesting things that has developed as part of the growth of e-books is the ability to publish essays and shorter type works quickly and easily and reach a large audience. If you want to publish something quickly and have the potential to reach a large audience you can now do it yourself in e-book form. Charge little (anywhere from $.99-$2.99 usually) and make it easier for people to pull the trigger.
I have been taking advantage of this development to read some interesting e-books from a variety of genres and authors. And over the next few days I want to take a moment to offer my quick impressions of these shorter works.
First up is a e-book that was actually free: The Flinch by Julien Smith.
A book so important we refuse to charge for it.
Julien Smith has delivered a surprise, a confrontation, a book that will push you, scare you and possibly stick with you for years to come.
The idea is simple: your flinch mechanism can save your life. It short circuits the conscious mind and allows you to pull back and avoid danger faster than you can even imagine it’s there.
But what if danger is exactly what you need?
What if facing the flinch is the one best way to get what you want?
Here’s a chance to read the book everyone will be talking about, before they do.
What are you afraid of? Here’s how to find out.
I saw this on Twitter and decided to check it out. After all, it was free. It turned out to be a sort of digital pep talk. It has an interesting hook and some useful challenges even if it is somewhat repetitive.
I think your reaction depends on a lot on your worldview, perspective, place in life, etc. Reading the reviews you can see that some people thought it was BS while others found it very helpful. I think it is a bit of both. If you need a pep talk to get you out of your rut and start thinking about achieving the things you have always claimed you would, this can be a helpful book.
I think it can be a useful way to realize that success isn’t going to be easy for most people and if you are constantly hesitating and avoiding risk you are unlikely to achieve all that much.
On the other hand there is a lot of repetition and pop psychology that will turn a lot of folks off.
It is not the greatest thing I have ever read but I think it was a helpful wake up call of sorts for me heading into 2012.
But again, it doesn’t cost a thing so what it the risk?
Related articles
- Flinch Harder (chrisbrogan.com)
- The Flinch – A Dangerous Read (cc-chapman.com)
