Book Reviews: 'The Goal', 'It's Not Luck' and 'The Choice' by Eliyahu Goldratt

Cropped cover images. Source: Amazon.in

I have been a big fan of Eliyahu Goldratt's books ever since I first read 'The Goal' during college. I have read it multiple times, and ditto for 'It's Not Luck', which is now also titled 'The Goal Part II'.

These books are written as novels, and narrate the story of Alex Rogo, a factory manager who solves problems at his factory, in his marriage, and later at his division with the help of a consultant, Jonah. Fast-paced and gripping and yet easy to read, these books present Goldratt's approach of finding breakthrough growth by challenging seemingly logical assumptions.

Most of his other books are all written as novels too.

'The Choice' is the one I read most recently.
Here as well, his thinking processes are presented as a conversation between him and his daughter. The book is written from the POV of his daughter, a professional organisational psychologist. She takes the reader through her stream of thoughts and intermittently reads from reports to understand work done by Goldratt at various companies.

Compared to other books, this book distills the thinking processes into a set of belief systems that Goldratt holds about how humans work and solve problems. Since I had read other books, some bit of this books repetitive and slow. But the reveal of the basic beliefs was as enjoyable and mind-blowing as his other books.

Here are the links to books I have read and their ratings according to me:
The Goal, applies his theory to Production Management; Rating 5 stars of 5
It's Not Luck, applies it to Marketing; Rating 5 stars of 5
Critical Chain, applies it to Project Management; Rating 3 stars of 5
Isn't It Obvious?, applies it to Retail and Supply Chain Management; Rating 4 stars of 5
The Theory of Constraints, explains the core theory; Rating 5 stars of 5
The Choice, explains the core beliefs; Rating 4 stars of 5

Book Review: The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely

Cropped book cover. Source: Amazon.in

Just like movies, it's true for books too: sequels are rarely as good as the first. But 'The Upside of Irrationality' by Dan Ariely, is an exception.

Dan Ariely's first book on this topic was 'Predictably Irrational'. It introduced us to irrational human behaviour. And gave a few examples from his researches over the years.

But with 'Upside...', Mr. Ariely gives a more application-based understanding of our irrationality. And with each topic he assesses, he shows the variations within that irrational behaviour of ours. Hence, this book remains as enlightening and fun, but ends up being much more useful than the first book.

Also, it has many more examples and lessons that you will find relatable to your life and your decisions. So it has the added advantage of partly being a self-help book too.

Rating: 4.5 stars of 5
You can buy the 'Upside of Irrationality' on Amazon here

Book Review: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Cropped Book Cover. Source: Amazon.in

If you say yes to one or both these questions, you will find this book very interesting:
(1) Do you like reading about what drives our habitual behaviour?
(2) Do you believe in this saying “culture eats strategy for breakfast”?

Much like the cover explains, this book aims for both explaining human behaviour and taking a shot at self-help and improvement. It also seems reliably applicable in personal and organisational situations (sections 1 and 2), but it seems a force-fit in the social context (section 3).

Rating: 3.5 stars of 5
High rating for the applicability for the framework, cutting a few points for the 3rd section.

If you have already read and liked this book, you will like these too:
- Malcolm Gladwell’s “Tipping Point” and “Blink”
- Thaler and Sunstein’s “Nudge”
- Lewitt and Dubner’s “Freakonomics”

You can buy the ‘Power of Habit’ on Amazon here