Book Review - Grit by Angela Duckworth

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 of 5 stars)

You should read this if: You're interested in personal growth willing to do some self-reflective work. And if you're willing to re-read about some common self-improvement ideas.

You should not read this if: You're looking for a practical, step-by-step tutorial on building perseverance in yourself or others.

The influence of some individuals/books are so significant and sweeping that reading their works ends up seeming obvious and unoriginal or even boring (such as Mere Christianity). I suspect Angela Duckworth has influenced and evangelized herself out of a novel book, of which she should be proud. Grit covers many common self-improvement concepts, from passion to growth mindset to optimism, citing various interesting studies and examples. Readers well-versed in these concepts may find these sections tedious, but I didn't mind them too much.

Despite the self-help feel of the book, it's really more descriptive than prescriptive. The research on the effectiveness and importance of grit compelling, but I found the practical advice significantly weaker, ranging from self-evident (deliberate practice) to unhelpfully abstract (find something you're passionate in). As a new parent, the parenting section was helpful in theory (model grittiness, try various hobbies, commit to hard things), but I imagine that real life decisions will not be as cut and dry as portrayed.

That said, Duckworth does really highlight the importance of grit and the outcomes it achieves, balancing the talent vs effort question quite convincingly. In describing the environments and circumstances that foster building grit, she focuses significantly more on the personal and familial aspects, rarely discussing cultural factors. To me, this is a large omission. Immigrant populations of all races globally are disproportionately successful. Various cultures have deeply-embedded aspects of grit (the idea that a kid is simply "bad at math" isn't found in Asian households) and failing to consider or communicate cultural influences leads to an incomplete American individualistic perspective.

The best thing about reading Grit has been reflecting and discussing on my own level of grittiness, how it manifests, and how it was built, considering the various influences and experiences of my own life. Even though my wife didn't read this book, the accessibility of the concepts and general familiarity with the topics helped us have some long, meaningful discussions. This concepts in this book have helped us understand ourselves more and also clarify some of our parenting philosophy.

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Quotes:

"As much as talent counts, effort counts twice."

"Greatness is many, many individual feats, and each of them is doable."

"At its core, the idea of purpose is the idea that what we do matters to people other than ourselves."