Sometimes the author is more interesting than the subject. This is true with Hindsights, written by Guy Kawasaki, one of Apple Computer's original "evangelists" - the folks who tried to rustle up software developers for the Macintosh bandwagon. After Kawasaki left Apple, he wrote The Macintosh Way, an outrageously humorous book about marketing. Kawasaki's a funny guy, but he's also an audacious self-promoter - indeed, he's offering anyone who purchases Hindsights in advance of its publication a $22.95 copy of his latest software: UnderWare, a screen entertainment utility. And Kawasaki doesn't stop there. He says he wrote this book because his wife was about to leave him, and he needed advice about how to deal with this situation. So he searched for an answer in a book, but he could only find books full of platitudes. So he wrote his own - except, it's full of other people's platitudes.
Here's the template for the book: There's a short quote from some famous person, like Helen Hayes, obviously snatched from Bartlett's or a similar source. Then comes three or four pages of life experiences as told by some famous person, like Bill Walsh, football coach; Steve Wozniak, inventor of the Macintosh; Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop; Hans Bethe, physicist; or Tom Peters, management guru. Some are not so famous but have accomplished something, like Brenda Reed, who spent decades battling the US government to get her husband a postmortem Silver Star for his actions in Vietnam; or Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, lesbian activists; or Harold Gordon, a Holocaust survivor Kawasaki accidentally met at a bookstore in Monterey, California.
Most of these people say what you expect them to say. Ruth Graham, wife of Billy, says, "The important thing is to know when to disagree. You never disagree when tired... Never disagree with your hair up in rollers." Dave Foreman, eco-warrior, says, "You can't compromise on your principles." Victoria, a victim of abuse, says, "Words don't mean shit. What counts is what people do." And Wozniak offers this advice: "Find something you are good at, work on it, and eventually you can succeed and make your life."
In general, this book is long on hindsights, but short on insights. I sure hope it saved Kawasaki's marriage, because there's not enough inspiration in here to save anybody else's.
- Sylvia Paull
Hindsights: The Wisdom and Breakthroughs of Remarkable People, by Guy Kawasaki, US$22.95. Beyond Words Publishing, Inc: +1 (503) 647 5109, (800) 28 9673
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