Publisher:
N/A

Publication Date:
03/14/2023

Copyright Date:
N/A

ISBN:
979-8-9858043-0-0

Binding:
Paperback

U.S. SRP:
N/A

YOUR BEST LIFE: Tactics, Tools and Insights to Create a Life of Fulfillment, Joy and Abundance

By Mike X

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IR Rating:
3.0
With more passion than detail, YOUR BEST LIFE by Mike X is an energizing look at ways to change one's life for the better.
Jack-of-all-trades Mike X lays out his recommendations for living a more fulfilling life.

Mike X opens his new book, YOUR BEST LIFE, with a quote from Abraham Lincoln: “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” It’s a great quote, and one that dovetails with Mike X’s message–except Lincoln never said it, according to several scholars.

Passion over detail is a recurring theme of YOUR BEST LIFE. In his introduction, the author says that he writes like he talks. Indeed, the entire book sounds like one half of a conversation. Or a sales pitch, with a little Beat poetry thrown in. He uses lots of parables–the bank robber, the bedroom in a jet, the “hypothetical” owner of a Pacific Palisades mansion–as well as some historical examples–Elon Musk, Phineas Gage (who survived an iron rod being driven through his head), the “Harvard Happiness Study” (which is actually called the Harvard Study of Adult Development)–that could be documented but aren’t. He also uses a lot of illustrations. Some are photographs that he took; others are ones that he apparently lifted from the internet, like the picture of Los Angeles Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis high-fiving that is almost certainly copyrighted.

Graphics can make a book more visually appealing, and therefore more interesting, but too many of them can serve as a distraction. It is as if Mike X doesn’t trust his book’s premise, and maybe he doesn’t. Typical nonfiction books, he writes, “are built around a single core message or hypothesis. They go deep.” His book, by contrast, “goes wide,” which he views as a selling point. Breadth, however, is not automatically a strength. There’s a reason that writing teachers emphasize the thesis sentence: it unifies the work, providing a road map to keep readers on track. YOUR BEST LIFE is more like waking up in a field and having to find a way back to town.

Mike X’s background is in marketing, which shows in his joie de vivre, his wide-ranging interests, and his rapid-fire mind. No doubt he’d give an awesome TED Talk. As a writer, he needs to settle down. Check his sources. Perfect the book’s skeleton before adding flesh, much less brightly-colored clothing. And don’t steal pics of LeBron.

With more passion than detail, YOUR BEST LIFE by Mike X is an energizing look at ways to change one’s life for the better.

~Anthony Aycock for IndieReader

Publisher:
N/A

Publication Date:
03/14/2023

Copyright Date:
N/A

ISBN:
979-8-9858043-0-0

Binding:
Paperback

U.S. SRP:
N/A

YOUR BEST LIFE: Tactics, Tools and Insights to Create a Life of Fulfillment, Joy and Abundance

By Mike X

Covering multiple aspects of self-help topics can be a weighty task, but author Mike X empowers with his provocative YOUR BEST LIFE. It is a thought-provoking read that challenges readers to make better decisions and become more disciplined by learning a combination of neural science and psychological tools, strategies, and tactics to rethink hardened beliefs to create a better life.