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Naturally, it was in his nature!
Format: Kindle
Naturally, it was in Robert Greeneโs nature to write this book. Accustomed as he has been to writing about human activity involving power relationships, Greene has produced yet another extraordinary book jam-packed with fascinating insights about how the mind of homo sapiens often works in dealing with other members of the species.
As Greene describes in the introduction, this book is a codebook for deciphering peopleโs behavior, with each chapter telling the story of some iconic individual(s) who illustrates the law being covered, along with advice on how to operate successfully (if thatโs possible) under this law.
So what laws (all negative aspects or shortcomings, 18 to be exact, of human behavior) does Green focus on in this book? Irrationality, narcissism, role-playing, compulsive behavior, covetousness, shortsightedness, defensiveness, self-sabotage, repression, envy, grandiosity, gender rigidity, aimlessness, conformity, fickleness, aggression, generational myopia, and death denial.
As usual with Greeneโs not-inexpensive books, he gives one a lot of ideas and pages to chew on for the money, leaving one well satisfied with the investment. If I do have any criticisms, the main one relates to the stories he uses to highlight the laws. Quite often the characterizations are so extensively detailed and intriguing that one can easily forget the law being discussed. Also, thereโs his possible hairsplitting of each of his 18 laws into numerous subcategories, reminding one of the mythical Eskimo vocabulary for the word โsnow,โ which can get one to question how useful the subcategories are depending upon oneโs situation. In addition, some chapters kept me wondering, for example, the one on gender rigidity. Do those things really happen? This brings up a related general criticism: a selected bibliography, yes, but no supporting footnotes to back up a few especially dubious, IMHO, assertions.
All in all, however, I believe youโll find the book well-written, enjoyable, and educational as regards important strategies the less-than-honorable portion of the population uses and the strategies the more honorable can use to successfully counter.
Of possible consideration for those interested in a book distilling five main life strategies from 87 of historyโs master strategists:
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Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2023
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