Choose Yourself!

Title: Choose Yourself!  Be Happy, Make Millions, Live the Dream
Author: James Altucher
Genre: Self-help
Pages: 274
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Altucher is a self-made millionaire several times over.  Between each of those times, he lost all of his money, and had to pick himself back up again and start over with nothing.  Along the way, he learned a lot about himself and what makes him tick.  In this book, he shares what he has learned from the violent roller-coaster his life has been.
Thoughts: By nature, Altucher is much more of a risk-taker than I am, and hence he has had both more successes and failures than I have had (or ever hope to have, really).  But, it makes him a very interesting person to listen to, even if I disagree with much of what he says.  The main things I like in this book were his ideas on not getting stuck in a mental rut.  I definitely need more creativity and spontaneity in my life, so I've tried his suggestion of coming up with 10 new ideas every day, and I think it's really good for me.  Much of his advice seemed quite conventional to me (get enough sleep, don't carry grudges) even if they were good reminders.  And then there was plenty of things that I disagreed with completely (you don't need to have a purpose in life).  Luckily, all of it was interesting.  My main complaint with the book is that felt very disjointed, with random stories thrown into the middle of chapters than didn't have much connection to the main point.  Often I found myself thinking, "Okay, this is interesting and enjoyable to read, but what's the point he's trying to make?"  At any rate, this book was not life-changing for me, but it was fun to read and had a few good ideas.
Disclaimer: None.

Addendum:  You can read Altucher's blog at www.jamesaltucher.com.