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  • Reinvent Yourself
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
529 global ratings
5 star
67%
4 star
17%
3 star
8%
2 star
4%
1 star
5%
Reinvent Yourself

Reinvent Yourself

byJames Altucher
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Top positive review

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Ivaylo
5.0 out of 5 stars8 Things I Learned from Reinvent Yourself
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2017
The book reads like a stream of consciousness exercise with little or no connection between the different chapters or paragraphs. And yet, it deserves five stars. James Altucher has developed a unique writing skill - he has learned to trim out all excesses and shares his view in the most simple way possible. This is rare and it has to be appreciated.

I enjoyed reading Reinvent Yourself. The book is packed with useful advice. Here are eight of my favorite quotes:

1. We are what we experience every day - “You are not just the average of the five people around you. You’re the average of the five habits you do, the things you eat, the ideas you have, the content you consume, etc.”

2. “Learning never stops. Many people die at 25 but are not put in the coffin until 75. The learning stopped for them early.”

3. Quantity often leads to quality - “Try many things. One thing I realized is that quantity equals quality. People think it’s one or the other but it’s not. When you have a quantity of ideas and things you are trying, you will find quality.”

4. On mentoring - “Believe it or not, sometimes it’s just as good (often better) to read all of their materials rather than be directly mentored.”

5. On how to be creative - “People say, “Everything has already been written.” Everything has already been said. But that’s a lie. I think every outline has already been written. But each human has a unique fingerprint. Just putting that fingerprint on an outline makes it yours, different, unique. And through practice and vulnerability, you make that fingerprint something others want to see.”

6. On how to sell - “If I want to sell an idea, if I want to convince, if I want someone to like to me, I have to figure out how to connect.”

7. On how to find your unique niche - “It’s hard to be the greatest at any one endeavor, but by combining passions, it’s much easier to be the greatest in the world at the intersections of those passions (because there are billions of things that can intersect, you can find your own place in the “long tail of passion” to be the master of).”

8. “But the only thing that gets results is action. Not a single ounce of greatness in history ended with thoughts. It happened with hands. With actions.”
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245 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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ItChanges
3.0 out of 5 starsNeeds Serious Editing
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2017
I like James. I've read his other books. But this one could have been half the length, edited properly, and been a much better book. What James learned from other sources (most of the book) could have been whittled down to bullet lists. And oh, the typos and poor grammar were bad enough, but he actually stated misinformation as fact in far too many cases. Things I know firsthand, even . . . I was actually there. So, although Reinvent Yourself has some great information, it lost me. A little more than halfway through, I just wanted it to end! When I read a non-fiction book, I want to know what it can do for me, not what it did for someone else. Too much narcissism, too much vanity here. Sorry, James, but you let me (and, I'm sure, many others) down. And please, get an editor. Some lines were so convoluted I had to bounce them off other people so we could try to figure out what you meant to say. I hate to close a book feeling disappointed, but I did that with this one.
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146 people found this helpful

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From the United States

ItChanges
3.0 out of 5 stars Needs Serious Editing
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2017
Verified Purchase
I like James. I've read his other books. But this one could have been half the length, edited properly, and been a much better book. What James learned from other sources (most of the book) could have been whittled down to bullet lists. And oh, the typos and poor grammar were bad enough, but he actually stated misinformation as fact in far too many cases. Things I know firsthand, even . . . I was actually there. So, although Reinvent Yourself has some great information, it lost me. A little more than halfway through, I just wanted it to end! When I read a non-fiction book, I want to know what it can do for me, not what it did for someone else. Too much narcissism, too much vanity here. Sorry, James, but you let me (and, I'm sure, many others) down. And please, get an editor. Some lines were so convoluted I had to bounce them off other people so we could try to figure out what you meant to say. I hate to close a book feeling disappointed, but I did that with this one.
146 people found this helpful
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Ivaylo
5.0 out of 5 stars 8 Things I Learned from Reinvent Yourself
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2017
Verified Purchase
The book reads like a stream of consciousness exercise with little or no connection between the different chapters or paragraphs. And yet, it deserves five stars. James Altucher has developed a unique writing skill - he has learned to trim out all excesses and shares his view in the most simple way possible. This is rare and it has to be appreciated.

I enjoyed reading Reinvent Yourself. The book is packed with useful advice. Here are eight of my favorite quotes:

1. We are what we experience every day - “You are not just the average of the five people around you. You’re the average of the five habits you do, the things you eat, the ideas you have, the content you consume, etc.”

2. “Learning never stops. Many people die at 25 but are not put in the coffin until 75. The learning stopped for them early.”

3. Quantity often leads to quality - “Try many things. One thing I realized is that quantity equals quality. People think it’s one or the other but it’s not. When you have a quantity of ideas and things you are trying, you will find quality.”

4. On mentoring - “Believe it or not, sometimes it’s just as good (often better) to read all of their materials rather than be directly mentored.”

5. On how to be creative - “People say, “Everything has already been written.” Everything has already been said. But that’s a lie. I think every outline has already been written. But each human has a unique fingerprint. Just putting that fingerprint on an outline makes it yours, different, unique. And through practice and vulnerability, you make that fingerprint something others want to see.”

6. On how to sell - “If I want to sell an idea, if I want to convince, if I want someone to like to me, I have to figure out how to connect.”

7. On how to find your unique niche - “It’s hard to be the greatest at any one endeavor, but by combining passions, it’s much easier to be the greatest in the world at the intersections of those passions (because there are billions of things that can intersect, you can find your own place in the “long tail of passion” to be the master of).”

8. “But the only thing that gets results is action. Not a single ounce of greatness in history ended with thoughts. It happened with hands. With actions.”
245 people found this helpful
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Dogson
3.0 out of 5 stars is James a genius or a hack? He's both.
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2017
Verified Purchase
Is James Altoucher a legit genius, or is he a hack self-help writer spamming as many books as possible? I just read his first two books, "Choose Yourself" and "Reinvent Yourself", and the verdict is, he's both.

James is an Idea Guy. The main takeaway you'll get from these books is to write down 10 ideas a day, and develop the good ones. If you have a really good idea, figure out the next step to take. What separates a big idea from a small one - and what makes an idea "too big" for you, is if you can figure out the next step.

These books are the result of James being a voracious reader, insatiably curious, and focused on getting better every day. The mindset behind these books are worth the price. They're full of ideas, and if even one changes you for the better, that's a good ten bucks.

The cons are, the books are full of typos. He also re-published several sections of "Choose Yourself" inside "Reinvent Yourself". These are the actions of a hack writer. If you consider yourself a literate or well-read person, you'll probably be very annoyed by this. But you can also learn from it. The mindset of an entrepreneur is to "fail fast, fail forward," meaning create something rapidly, don't worry if it's not perfect, get it done, and move on to the next thing. This mindset is what can actually create your company. It's also the mindset of why every company becomes terrible once it goes public, and why so many things across every industry are of poor quality.

If you read this book, learn from the nuggets of gold AS WELL AS what James is doing wrong. Don't be a hack writer, or a hack entrepreneur. Take the time to do things well, so you can build a reputation for quality. I'm glad I read these books, but I definitely won't be buying any more of them.
34 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars Collection of Listicles
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2021
Verified Purchase
In a bad place looking to change, this book was the most highly reviewed, and the Kindle version was inexpensive, without reading the reviews. I also admit that I am not familiar with the author's work as a blogger or podcaster.

I had hoped for a more structured plan on changing you life drastically, and for the better. This is not that.

The book is a collection of listicles, and arranged without real structure. He bought me in with his unfortunate introduction that matched, or felt worse than my current situation. The rest of the listicles can be summarized as, "# of Things I Learned From Unlikely Source." In those, there is no big, "Ah ha!"s that are not in other books like "Do What You Love and The Money Will Follow", or other ideas about generally living well, being kind, and having a creative outlet.

There have been some good bytes of information, like finding a mentor. This seems like good advice, but, according to the book, only if you can drop money to travel to a foreign country where they happen to be, or your experienced consulting business can help their million dollar corporation. It does not offer any instruction or tips for those of us that are not in that position. It also comes from a place of privilege that one can just pursue a goal simply by believing in themselves, and betting everything on yourself. There should have been more about how to overcome realistic personal obstacles. But this is not that book. This is a motivational speaking yelling platitudes at you and hoping you get caught up in the fervor.
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Jen Turrell
5.0 out of 5 stars Yeah, I'm a James Altucher fan and thought this book was great.
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2017
Verified Purchase
I'm a pretty big James Altucher fan, so it isn't surprising to me that I loved this book. I've read Choose Yourself and The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth. I listen to his podcast and I am a subscriber to his Altucher Report. Which means that some of this book I had read before. James does tend to repeat the story of his rise and fall, rise and fall, building a start-up and selling it for a lot of money, losing all of his money, getting divorced, making money again, losing money in different ways. But the thing is, because I like him and know that this is part of why he does what he does, I don't mind reading that same story in a few different places. I was however really glad to get past that bit and on to the stuff that I hadn't read before. Some of my favorite take aways from this: read a lot. If you are interested in something and read 100 books about it, you will move yourself from being a novice to knowing more than all but the top experts in that field. Read 200 books about it and you will be one of those top 1% experts. Sure you will need to actually do something with some of that knowledge as well, but he uses cases like Bobby Fischer taking a year to read books about old chess games to move him from being a really good player to being one of the best. I am currently doing a 100 book challenge for 2017 and am happy to have this book in my count. I also love the advice that he gives based on so many of the podcast interviews that he has done. So many great insights from so many great podcast guests.
5 people found this helpful
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KJS
1.0 out of 5 stars HORRIBLE!
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2017
Verified Purchase
This was a waste of money. It was nothing but vague, flimsy, all-over-the-place, incoherent blather. I didn't learn anything about reinventing myself or any of the things the ad promised I would. This guy might be good at creating businesses. He's great at writing ad copy, because I got suckered into buying this ridiculous bunch of nonsense. When I buy a book that promises to teach me something, I expect a well thought out blueprint with a step-by-step, "Here's how I did it successfully" sort of logical path to follow. No. Not this...book. I can't even call it a book, the stuff in it is so random and worthless. It's more like a senile old grandpa's stuttering, fluttering bits of memory. Where can I file for a refund??
22 people found this helpful
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John
4.0 out of 5 stars Not The Best Ever, But Not Bad
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2017
Verified Purchase
I usually love James' work and his writing style, which is of high quality still in this book, but this is essentially a review of his podcasts and lessons learned from each. There's no real systematic structure to bring home the idea of how to reinvent yourself, rather there are colorful anecdotes of lessons learned from Eminem & 8 Mile, or his interviews with people such as Coolio. It's still a good book, but not on the same level as Choose Yourself, which had me writing idea lists and getting so inspired that I would stop and start writing down ideas that would come into my mind and expanding upon them until returning to read more of his book.

Also, there are numerous typos present in the book. Seems like a small thing to point out, but it gets annoying after about the 5th time you see a misspelled word. I know James self-publishes, but come on man! Edit a bit more! Other than that, this is still a wonderful book that will inspire you at points and at others remind you of that one guest he's talking about from his podcast. Certainly good to go back to his podcast episodes from certain guests too after you read about his lessons learned from them and how they contribute to reinventing yourself.
3 people found this helpful
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Mohammad Rasheed
5.0 out of 5 stars My first book on self assuredness
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2017
Verified Purchase
I am in the process of quitting my secured and full time job of 12 years because I felt that my personal life priority has been swallowed up by a job that I love and can't get enough of the action. My unknowingly accepting sacrifices regarding my family, my hobbies and interests, my personality etc. have been bugging me and are no longer acceptable at the age of 53.
This book is a compilation of concentrated ideas and life experience stories taken from very successful people together with the author's own. It contains clear guidelines on what frame of mind and attitude one should have when faced with different and difficult situations as well as how to tap positivities from individuals and situation. I will use this book as a go to to create the path and philosophy I need to follow, to give myself a good chance at becoming who I want to be while having a go at making a reasonable living. I will have to re-invent myself, no doubt. I walk away not having a back up job as I do not want to work for someone else. So I am starting a business offering tour packages. The underlying principles are turn your dreams and aspirations into successful businesses, be true to yourself and always contribute to make a better situation and help those around you with goodness and sincerity. This in turn will translate as an advantage for you in many ways. Wake up every morning and ask yourself, what am I going to do to help someone today.
Loved the book and trust it's content.
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Steve Burns
5.0 out of 5 stars Who do we really want to be?
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is an outstanding book that really inspires the reader with the potential for individual change. The author of this book James Altucher has really become one of my favorite authors through his innovative thinking on how to live in a 21st century world. This book was thought provoking and an enjoyable read page by page. I loved the way the author tied together quotes from entrepreneurial legends along with his own personal life journey through the peaks of success and the deep valleys of failure to show how we are not stagnant we can choose our self and we can reinvent our self and go on the journey from where we are to where we want to be. Who do you really want to be? The author shows the path is through incremental improvements daily and choosing our hopes and dreams for growth over the cage of doubts and fear that keep us trapped and stagnant.
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Venkatesh
4.0 out of 5 stars In a similar vein as "Choose Yourself" -- interesting, entertaining, and insightful.
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2017
Verified Purchase
I was impressed by "Choose Yourself" (and "Power of No"). However, I was disappointed by "Rich Employee". So, I was kinda doubtful about this book as it may be repetitious. However, I was glad it wasn't (largely).

It was more kinda in-your-face like "Choose Yourself". The book almost reads like "what I learned from X" where X ranges from Snoop Dogg to Mark Cuban to Einstein to Bukowski. Instead of just talking about the achievement by X or certain aspect of X, it provides views of what enabled the achievement by X or created the aspect of X. It was fun to read and learn about these views. More over, the writing is peppered with lots of pithy quotes, which at times seem rather banal but they aren't (cos' interpretation lies in the mind of the reader :)

Overall, folks who liked "Choose Yourself" will like and gain from this book. If you haven't read "Choose Yourself", then just read it cos' you will gain something from it :)
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