Looking Past The Story

Today I thought I would write about a book Ian mentioned. He said he hadn’t read it, but it had a “cool dude” on the cover. It irritated me a bit that he hadn’t read it, but I never said anything to him about it. There was a reason I told him he should read it, but I never told him the reason. I wanted him to find the reason out himself. Since he never has, and likely won’t, it is an open subject for me.

The book is “Tactics of Mistakes”. I found it while I was in the time in my life where reading how-to-succeed-in-business books were important. It was a break for me to read it, an escape from work related books. I had purchased it about five years earlier and never even started it. May have been the “cool dude” on the cover was the reason I bought it. To my surprise the book gave a clearer picture of what all the business-for-dummies authors were saying. Maybe that’s because it was hidden in the science fiction aspect that I related to it more. But the concept they were trying to teach was there. I read it about four times to make sure I understood it, but it finally sunk into my thick skull. As I was forced to read more of the business-for-dummies books, I found they were all saying the same things just saying it a little differently. Some I related more to than others, still, I always went back to Tactics of Mistakes at least once a year.

So being the goofy father I am, I wanted Ian to find what I had. I didn’t succeed since he hadn’t read it. So my writing this is a father’s hope he may. Fat chance likely, but it is a hope.

I did find one other useful thing from reading it. That is, don’t let the subject matter cloud your judgment of a book–look past the story and see what else you find.

I always wondered if the first self-help business book author had read Tactic of Mistakes.