Colton's Reviews > Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things

The only hidden potential of this book was the cash it grabbed in sales...

All jokes aside, there is nothing that a veteran teacher with a master's degree in the related field has not gleamed. This is a conglomeration of a lot of recent pop science into an even more pop self-help book. The amount of games of telephone are bound of course to lead to this book likely being flimsy at best even a decade later, as the science and measurements made to gain these results are reversed or refuted.

Most aggravating is the continued use of obvious physical anecdotes like sports and climbing mountains as a catch-all for all fields, regardless of nuance. Are we really still doing this?

This feels like a "CEO Crash Course" book that cannot hope to move and shake like it wants to. There is no indication that any of this information will be perceived and implemented by a leader like Grant has laid it out. Grant's book could just as likely cause unforeseen consequences. The points that exist outside this possibility for confusion are the most obvious and therefore trite: "students don't like to read. And reading is important." Pff...

Particularly in the realm of education, Hidden Potential comes off as a book written in outer space. School districts don't just have a problem with literacy, they have a problem with even recommending books at all. As Grant says that the literary canon should be expanded to student interest, books are simultaneously being banned and scrutinized at an alarming rate. And so curriculums are tighter and more controlled than ever.

The audiobook version was quite bizarre, with Adam Grant's own voice laughing at his own jokes to emphasize their importance, creating the irksome sensation of a housewife on speed who's happy she's vacuuming.

There's a lot of facts and logic here, but truth is nowhere to be found.