Mastery
From the bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power and The Laws of Human Nature, a vital work revealing that the secret to mastery is already within you. This is the only authorized paperback edition in the US.
Each one of us has within us the potential to be a Master. Learn the secrets of the field you have chosen, submit to a rigorous apprenticeship, absorb the hidden knowledge possessed by those with years of experience, surge past competitors to surpass them in brilliance, and explode established patterns from within. Study the behaviors of Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Leonardo da Vinci and the nine contemporary Masters interviewed for this book.
The bestseller author of The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, and The 33 Strategies of War, Robert Greene has spent a lifetime studying the laws of power. Now, he shares the secret path to greatness. With this seminal text as a guide, readers will learn how to unlock the passion within and become masters.
Each one of us has within us the potential to be a Master. Learn the secrets of the field you have chosen, submit to a rigorous apprenticeship, absorb the hidden knowledge possessed by those with years of experience, surge past competitors to surpass them in brilliance, and explode established patterns from within. Study the behaviors of Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Leonardo da Vinci and the nine contemporary Masters interviewed for this book.
The bestseller author of The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, and The 33 Strategies of War, Robert Greene has spent a lifetime studying the laws of power. Now, he shares the secret path to greatness. With this seminal text as a guide, readers will learn how to unlock the passion within and become masters.
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Community Reviews
THE GIST:
Robert Greene delivers practical, yet life-altering advice on how to become the master of your craft (whatever it may be). Drawing upon historical and biographical paradigms, Greene delves into the minds of our greatest thinkers and examines their contributions to society as a means of explaining the ways in which all of us can achieve this mastery.
THE PLAN:
Essentially, Greene repeatedly points to certain patterns and predilections of history’s greats:
✿ Possess an affinity for a particular field of study at a young age
✿ Happen upon an opportunity to develop their endeavor
✿ Enter into an apprenticeship which sparks a greater desire to learn more
✿ Develop an insatiable yearning to hone and perfect their craft to mastery
Sounds simple enough. Yet, this penchant for greatness is not something to be learned in school or in an apprenticeship – it is an innate desire or passion that drives us to distinction.
Greene explores six million years of brain development that has our potential “hardwired,” and outlines six stages towards achieving our potential complete with strategies gleaned from the stories of 55 masters.
THE GOOD, BAD & UGLY:
Clearly, Greene has done his homework. The sheer number of references to many of our great thinkers alone make this work notable and worth the money. The writing style is fairly uncomplicated, and the subtitles make maneuvering through each chapter relatively painless.
The Table of Contents, however, is an absolute mess! It resembles more of the author’s working outline and notes for his book, than a navigation tool for the reader. There is no consistent organization, and the paragraphs of information reprinted in the TOC are redundant and clutter the pages. Ironically, a book about achieving our greatest potential is muddied from the start. Although the anecdotes are quite interesting (I’m particularly fond of those about Mozart and Einstein), such stories do not a great work make.
In all, I am not completely convinced of Greene’s premise that EVERYONE has the ability to achieve supremacy. For the most part, those who truly need these strategies to avoid complacency, apathy, and self-destruction are sadly not the audience for this book. It is not exactly a “light” read, but Greene does advocate for essential virtues that successful people must possess: hard work, determination, passion, and persistence.
Robert Greene delivers practical, yet life-altering advice on how to become the master of your craft (whatever it may be). Drawing upon historical and biographical paradigms, Greene delves into the minds of our greatest thinkers and examines their contributions to society as a means of explaining the ways in which all of us can achieve this mastery.
THE PLAN:
Essentially, Greene repeatedly points to certain patterns and predilections of history’s greats:
✿ Possess an affinity for a particular field of study at a young age
✿ Happen upon an opportunity to develop their endeavor
✿ Enter into an apprenticeship which sparks a greater desire to learn more
✿ Develop an insatiable yearning to hone and perfect their craft to mastery
Sounds simple enough. Yet, this penchant for greatness is not something to be learned in school or in an apprenticeship – it is an innate desire or passion that drives us to distinction.
Greene explores six million years of brain development that has our potential “hardwired,” and outlines six stages towards achieving our potential complete with strategies gleaned from the stories of 55 masters.
THE GOOD, BAD & UGLY:
Clearly, Greene has done his homework. The sheer number of references to many of our great thinkers alone make this work notable and worth the money. The writing style is fairly uncomplicated, and the subtitles make maneuvering through each chapter relatively painless.
The Table of Contents, however, is an absolute mess! It resembles more of the author’s working outline and notes for his book, than a navigation tool for the reader. There is no consistent organization, and the paragraphs of information reprinted in the TOC are redundant and clutter the pages. Ironically, a book about achieving our greatest potential is muddied from the start. Although the anecdotes are quite interesting (I’m particularly fond of those about Mozart and Einstein), such stories do not a great work make.
In all, I am not completely convinced of Greene’s premise that EVERYONE has the ability to achieve supremacy. For the most part, those who truly need these strategies to avoid complacency, apathy, and self-destruction are sadly not the audience for this book. It is not exactly a “light” read, but Greene does advocate for essential virtues that successful people must possess: hard work, determination, passion, and persistence.
Bought it on a whim because of the title and the author. Feels like the lessons sound and can be useful to someone pursuing mastery… not applicable to me atm
This was a very different kind of self-development book. This book discusses different historical and modern masters of their field, and the paths that they took to fulfil their potentials, and how this fulfilment was related more to hard work and tenacity and willingness to be creative, then due to some hidden talent or money. I really enjoyed this book because it was a call to action, to learn more widely and deeply, to know that the process takes time, that there is a deep human need to create something that is in everyone.
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