I like economics books in the “economics is the study of human behavior” vein as opposed to the “effect of capital gains tax on gross domestic product” or the like (proven by that second example making no sense whatsoever), so I sometimes end up in the business section of the bookstore, which is dangerous. I took a few business classes in college and the books were written for people who don’t read. I’ve read picture books to my toddler that were more complex. It’s sometimes hard to tell which side an economics book will fall on – will this one be Malcolm Gladwell or See Jane Run?
Drive is the exact midpoint. It was an excellent book until its third section, which at under 200 pages meant that I essentially read a pamphlet. The back half of the book was a summarization of the previous chapters (again, about 120 pages. That’s a summary in itself, it doesn’t need a summarization.) applications of the findings, recommendations for further reading, and group exercises. It has, I kid you not, a twitter synopsis of the book’s point, and a footnote explaining twitter’s (then) 140 character restriction. It reads like a teenager padding the length of an assignment so he can play videogames.
Which is a pity, because the topic is interesting – exploring human motivation and intrinsic desires to succeed absent a reward is really interesting. I just wish that it had been fleshed out. There are even studies referenced in the back third that could have been written about rather than just given as further reading that would have made this a fully realized book. It’s a pretty ok brochure though.
