Benjamin Zander

Ben Zander's TED presentation was great, so I decide to buy his book, but the book wasn't as impressive as I expected. it was slow and boring and not practical.

I loved this book. I've quoted from it many times (find the quote about leadership from the young student at Walnut Hill School). I've given at as a gift several times. And I've now gotten to see Ben Zander conduct a youth orchestra live, and loved that too!

Here's what I wrote about this read in 2008: "A very good business read. Recall encountering after a two-day workshop with Filippo Passerini and friends, and then sending out as a follow-up prize. Key takeaway: Everyone starts with an "A". Nice quotation from amazon.com review: "the Zanders' suggestions constitute sound, practical advice that has much in common with Zen concepts of holism, balance and grace""

Honestly, if the only takeaway that I wind up with from this book is the action of throwing my hands up in the air and saying "how fascinating!" when I make a mistake, I feel like that was worth the listening time. Of course there are lots of cool ideas in here, and I love the way this book challenges the dominant paradigm of constant competition and scarcity. I really enjoyed hearing how about the world of classical music as well, and having concrete examples of some of the concepts.