Do you really think you are smart and it is all there is to get everything in this world? Read this book and reconsider.

MIT or not, if you have ever spent a couple of years banging your head with some intensive mechanical and civil engineering courses, had to struggle under the pressure of inhumane deadlines to stand up to the standards of your university, or had to bear the harshness of your professors (the kings of the mountain) then you really know what Mr. Pepper is talking about.

Being an engineer is not easy and trying to have your master's degree in engineering (mechanical, civil, computer, electrical, etc.) from one of the best technology universities in the world, MIT, probably is tough experience, if not tougher and harsher than the description of the author who had been there and done that.

I read the book more like a thriller than a diary. Mr. Pepper proved to be not only a good engineer but also a very engaging writer. Well, I guess if you have at least a bit of that geek, nerd or engineering streak than this book will be definite page-turner for you. It has its technical points, psychological analyses, personal dramas, behind-the-scenes expositions, hard-to-bear suspenseful moments. What else could a reader like me ask for?

This book is the saga of young man who goes to a temple in order to get the degree he wishes for but what he really gained was the ability to think in a very rigorous manner when faced with challenging and original problems. One of the most important aspects of the book is that you can see how the author spends very intensive time to solve a problem and how his experience with seemingly an artificial problem helps him to solve many different 'real-life' problems.

And the final take home message of the book should be considered this: No matter what your ambitions are, no matter how pressured you are, do not forget your humanity. You may think you'll compensate for the broken hearts in the future and then it may be too late. Think like a human, act like a human.

Well done, Mr. Pepper. And thanks for the recommendation of the bicycle museum at Dinant, Belgium. I'll be listening to some tunes played by the instrument invented by Mr. Sax as I wonder at the adventures of human creativity and problem solving. ( )

I went to an Ivy, and now work at MIT. I love it - and this book does a good job of capturing how intense and stressful, yet exciting and invigorating, that kind of environment can be. ( )