Barking Up the Wrong Tree

Eric Barker argues that much of the familiar advice about achievement sounds logical yet is wrong, and turns to research on what separates the extremely successful from everyone else. He asks why valedictorians rarely become millionaires, how a weakness can work as a strength, and whether nice guys finish last, taking lessons on cooperation from pirates, serial killers and gang members. He also sets a Buddhist alternative against efforts to raise confidence, identifies the ingredient behind the grit of disaster survivors and Navy SEALs, and approaches work-life balance through Spider-Man, Genghis Khan and Albert Einstein's errors. Statistics and anecdotes carry the argument, and at times Barker finds it good that most people are not like the very successful.

SupportNinja chief executive Cody McLain said it gathers insights from Barker's blog into one book and gave him a clearer sense of what success really is and how to reach it.