“Think about this the next time you face that choice: Do I need this? Or is it really about ego? Are you ready to make the right decision? Or do the prizes still glitter off in the distance?
To be or to do—life is a constant roll call.”
This was the best massage I could notice in the book and it has been repeated so many times with allegories, analogies and sentence structures manipulated with wonderful words, order of words and other essentials. However, the message remains the same – identify your true being and your ego in distinction… that’s the key to escape ego and march ahead light and constantly.
Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday is one of the best books by him, popular and bestselling as well. The book has three parts – Aspire, Success and Failure. It is quite surprising because the author has chosen to put failure at the end. This, perhaps, to test what the readers have learnt by reading the book and have they been competent enough to digest the scenarios of failure easily or they might react to it driven by their ego on the drivers’ seat. (This is, by the way, linguistic ego…)
The book is loaded with examples, opinions and extracts by others – speeches, quotes, sayings and writings. Ryan Holiday has tried his best to explain, deduce and simplify the messages for the readers. The book does not tell you what to do and what to avoid. It only shows you situations others have been through and you might pass by. The decisions are made by others with their determination and grit… you see the messages conveyed by the author and you have to decide, act and be persistent. This may be good or bad depending upon your own deduction of the book. For me, it’s something in between – Ego is the Enemy and we all know it. How to move ahead? We might have been better with some instructions that could allow us to think directly rather than decoding the messages and understand the layers hidden behind apparent allusions.
“Ego kills what we love. Sometimes, it comes close to killing us too.”
Other than the message above, and one at the top of the article, you will find very similar ideas in the book as you go ahead. And therefore, the whole book is like a surface that allows you to understand why Ego is bad and why you must kick it out of your life. The book will be a good time-killer for the readers who have enough time and a good skip for the readers who want some truly effective literature that tells them how to deal with ego. So, you can choose at your convenience and enjoy reading or missing the book.
The language and the style of the book are simple. It has many chapters that are placed under three groups. All the chapters begin with some quotes at the top and extracts here and there. The author has tried to explain what he has learnt from others and it’s a good thing… honest execution and nothing shameful in showing that you have learnt from others. Many authors would like to overtake their masters…
You can get a copy of this book from Amazon India by clicking the link to the book below.
Review by Ashish for Indian Book Critics
Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday: Book Review
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IBC Critical Rating
Summary
Should you read this book? Yes, of course. Can you skip this book? Yes, of course. The book is simple and it largely interprets the lives of successful people, words by the ancient masters and hypothetical situations in life… It is motivational, yes… it is argumentative, no.