Although delving at times into what must be unhappy memories of his parents, Robert Greene touches on ideas also found in Austin Kleon's Steal Like an Artist series, especially about time and practice, and Dr. Caroline Leaf's research on the neuroplasticity of the brain, enabling us to grow and change. Lots of good encouragement here! I'd like to get a paperback and highlight/circle sections to read aloud to my kids. There is a lot of redundancy and detail that I would edit out, to keep their attention yet share the gems. ( )

Honestly, I ended up skimming it. He presented tremendous biographical detail to make his case in each example. I started skimming the bios. I wonder if he could still make his point by offering the supporting biographical examples in lengthy footnotes. I kept wanting to cut to the chase. Maybe if I have time later, I should give this a more thoughtful and thorough read. ( )

Loved this book. A lot of words but it has a lot of good examples of the principles it teaches. My main takeaway was that you should always be stretching yourself and always learning, and when things get easy you've got to make them harder. ( )

What does it take to rise to the top of one’s profession or any other domain in life? Through artful storytelling of historical and contemporary figures, Greene offers us a plethora of examples to follow. He tries to tie each case to principles of how the individual mastered her/his own environment. In so doing, he offers us a self-driven manual for how to command a sector in life.

Greene’s contemporary exemplars include figures from many domains, including piloting, research, and linguistics. Ancient figures include geniuses that you learned about in school. All in all, a variety of personality and professional types are represented, including both men and women, people with disabilities, and the formally educated as well as the self-educated.

The author is clearly adept at spinning a good story. His storylines stick to readers’ ears and hearts. I listened to this book as an audiobook while I performed other tasks with my hands; each chapter drew my attention in, and time passed quickly. I have not read Greene’s other works for comparison, but his skill in the narrative arts is evident.

What most lacked was intellectual rigor. Yes, he brought forth diverse inspirational examples that illustrated key concepts related to mastery, but I could not deduce if Greene’s theorizing was ever tested via a scientific method. I hoped to see studies cited or some sort of quantitative analysis to back up his far-reaching claims of long-standing principles. What shows me that his contentions are true besides anecdotal evidence?

That said, this book does offer much fodder to activate readers’ creative juices. Inspiration needs to be followed by perspiration, no? That means that I have a lot of work to do because Greene began a process of trying to learn about the finer details along life’s paths. He showed how these figures, through their own perspiration, managed to overcome situations to help others and to lead. If one function of books is to push us on to increasing excellence, then this book succeeds in spades. ( )

The overall thesis "Anyone can be a Master" is a fallacy of epic proportions. The common threads he tries to weave are a tangled, garbled mess that is pointless to try and follow. The bit on social interactions is highly narcissistic in nature and too simple of a view on how one should look at and act around others.

However, Mastery still is an interesting read. The stories of the masters are at times well told, and their stories do have important lessons to impart. The major theme, mastery does not come naturally, but with dedication, hard work, and intense focus, is a lesson we should all at least aspire to do. ( )