“If you think of something, do it.” This simple yet potent statement, uttered in sweet and resilient honesty by the writer’s mother, steers the entire debate on probabilities and possibilities in THE WHY NOT ADVANTAGE: How Small Probabilities Create Outsized Outcomes. Written by Sanjay Manandhar, this compact book beckons readers to question the daunting odds, excessive calculations, and predictive data that holds them paralyzed in their own minds and pushing their dreams away.
Manandhar offers insight into the world of startups and entrepreneurial ventures across America from the last quarter of the 20th century all the way to 2025. What may appear as a self-help or financial history book pleasantly transitions into a personal account from someone familiar with the world of technological and entrepreneurial change. This lends THE WHY NOT ADVANTAGE a deeply human attribute that relies more on personal stories than statistics.
Readers will definitely enjoy and benefit from the crisp chapter division in the book, breaking down and elaborating the author's uniquely crafted formula for success: “The Why Not Equation.” Although appearing on paper as a mathematical formula, the “Outcome Probability = Belief x Preparation x Context x Action” stance works on a more personalized, subjective, and soulful level. There’s a rhythm and musicality that Manandhar creates in every chapter, detailing each of these variables as he returns to his native land (Nepal) and incessantly unpacks his relationship with his friends, teachers, mentors, and family there. It is here where he compels readers to trust his voice.
Manandhar’s greatest strength lies in his absolute confidence in the audience, personally calling out his readers to try his frameworks at the end of each chapter (under the repeated heading, “Your Turn”). A conversation begins in these sections in every chapter, laying out questions and considerations that inspire and stimulate action in the readers’ minds. In those parts of his book, Manandhar emerges as both a mentor and (even more so) a friend. Questions like “Am I willing to start small in order to win big?”, “What becomes possible when you trust your own equation?”, and “Why not me?” proliferate in these sections—continually leading the narrative back to the main themes of the book: resilience, free will, critical thinking, and taking prompt action to achieve something big.
Oftentimes, memoirs written by people in the corporate or financial world incorporate industry statistics and stories that feel detached both from the writer’s world and the subject of the book. THE WHY NOT ADVANTAGE rejects that shallow and detached approach—instead talking about past incidents from the author's industry, his field of study, and American history.
Sanjay Manandhar’s THE WHY NOT ADVANTAGE: How Small Probabilities Create Outsized Outcomes generously offers its readers an introspective, revitalizing, and goal-oriented framework for achieving their dreams and redefining their possibilities in the face of devastating odds.
—Saba Khaliq for IndieReader