Early adulthood – life after schooling ended – is often portrayed as somewhat meaningless. In this book, Dilenschneider says that not only is that impression wrong but that the twenties define many people’s lives. He offers this book as a sort-of devotional book of success stories based on individual talents. Twenty-three chapters about twenty-five people provide biographical vignettes about people who were disproportionately influential. He offers these to provide hope for those who might despair in their youth that they will never have wider impact.
Many programs – especially educational programs – make success seem like it’s easy and that everyone is doing it. Unfortunately, adult life is difficult, and success is only fleeting. Unlike academic courses, truly linear career progression is rare if not impossible. In these short biographies, combining innate passions with determination seems to count as much as formal education.
These stories are about 10 pages a piece. Instead of focusing on the final success, they focus on what the individuals were doing in their twenties that eventually led them to final success. In a distinctly American manner, they describe how individual personality and unique decision-making led ultimately to the big time. For instance, there’s the classic story of Albert Einstein working at a patent office while writing papers in his annus mirabilis. Or Steve Jobs founding Apple in his parents’ garage. Or Mary Shelley overcoming loss after loss to write history’s best piece of science fiction – Frankenstein.
Dilenshneider clearly tries to provide inspiration and hope to those who despair that the end-goal might never arrive. Sometimes, he addresses the reader directly in a self-help manner. This book reminds me of daily religious devotional readings that I read as a youth, only focused on marketplace success instead of personal integrity. In that sense, like the religious readings, these writings can be hokey at times. The underlying message is persevere with your passions because they will eventually bear fruit. I would have liked to have read more about examples of exactly how to decide on which activities are central and defining.
This book obviously targets ambitious twenty-somethings who are trying to find their place in life. By relating to other figures in history, this book’s readers can identify character traits that they can internalize to make a part of themselves. Further, this book can provide launching pads for further discovery in full-length biographies of individuals with strong rapport with a given reader. Ten pages for each story does not provide much room for analysis, but it can provide a start for a detailed review.
Nailing It: How History’s Awesome Twentysomethings Got It Together
By Robert L. Dilenschneider
Copyright (c) 2022
Citadel Press
ISBN13 9780806541754
Page Count: 260
Genre: Business, Inspirational, Biographies
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