Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment Hardcover – October 9, 2018

Anybody who reads self-help books knows that they've been changing over the past decade or so, becoming more focused on your individuality instead of offering generic prescriptions that everyone should follow (ex. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). But Dark Horse is the best of this new bunch. There are other books out there that offer empowering advice based on harnessing your individually, but Todd Rose is the only author who draws upon twenty-first century science, math and research. He shares just enough science to make it clear he knows what he is talking about but it is not boring or dry and he stays focused on how to use this knowledge to actually live a better life. I liked the table inside the book that compares the dark horse mindset to the traditional self-help/success mindset and how I know when I have reached it. That is when I realized how different the dark horse mindset really is. It's revolutionary! The book is well worth the read.

I have been a fan of Todd Rose since I first saw his TEDTalk "The Myth of Average" and read the book by the same title. His explanations of how standardization impacts personal fulfillment are an essential part of understanding why we sometimes have our priorities backwards. Todd writes that we pursue excellence, success, monetary rewards, approval instead of pursuing fulfillment. He and his co-author Ogi Ogas explain that it is not grit, resilience or any other character trait that leads to the success of the dark horse. Rather, it is the decision to prioritize fulfillment. The book is comprehensive with case studies (not your usual dry academic case studies) and look at motivation, choices and conviction. As an educator, I was so excited to read about the successes of those who take the road less traveled, the dark horses no one would ever bet on. It gives me hope that all those kids out there suffering through standardized curriculum will someday find a path that they can carve out for themselves because they've found a purpose, something that excites them, tasks that make their heart sings. I highly recommend this book for educators, parents, workers...ok well, for everyone.

This book is worth reading. Its insights into the ways that American society is a faux meritocracy—which allows the wealthy and powerful to remain entrenched while giving the appearance of allowing equal opportunity—are worth the price of the book in themselves. My disappointment in the book lies in the fact that it ends with no concrete suggestions for how to shift the United States to the kind of society where personalization of opportunity is the norm. It may be that this book is a kind of warm up to another book that offers such solutions, though. Still, this is very much worth reading.

Was recommended this book and it’s incredible. To anyone wanting to develop as a leader or person, snag this book and give it a go!

3.5 out of 5 stars. Started well, many of the examples and connections to their “manual” resonated with me until literally about halfway through the book. At that point, I could understand where the authors arguments were coming from but the discussion felt one-sided.The whole book felt like the authors had an ax to grind but the later half of the book took on an oddly Traditional American/patriotic-and-political tone (like the fervent, honk-if-you-love-America-and-its-political-traditions tone/ 'Murica! ). The section against the US school system (and how unfair the selection process is) also seemed at odds with the fulfillment dark horses felt in providing such “quotocracy” concepts such as scholarships. The book starts breaking down at the end as a utopian ideal of what the authors feel the education system should do without providing sufficient answers as to how it will work economically. Their Standardized vs Dark Horse model is self-described as mutually exclusive but I wonder if it isn’t more like a spectrum. Some of their foundational concepts can more simply be described with the increasingly common term “authenticity” and the concept of being “authentic to yourself.”Book design: interesting matte black book jacket and gold lettering but the book itself could be my preferred 8inch length without losing much in layout. The subsections within each chapter felt like I was reading many related essays shoved into each chapter... it was a touch odd

This book is a page-turner and I read the whole thing during my 6 hour flight. I was already loving this book and then it reaches the conclusion where it unexpectedly takes everything to an even higher level. The authors offer a radically different way of thinking about a successful life, and it feels like something very new and different—and then they show how all of this was embodied in the American Declaration of Independence. I never thought about the Declaration before, but this book made me see it in a whole new light, which also helped me see how we define success in society in a new light. We are so obsessed with rank-based quotas for success, but this is exactly what they did in the Soviet Union, too. The idea of being a dark horse is a very American idea. In this time of extreme political chaos and partisanship, it was a non-partisan message that transcends political views and is grounded in basic American ideals that anyone can achieve success while being true to themselves.