Honest Business Book Reviews (Part 7)

Hello! If you’re new here, I like to do a quarterly-ish roundup of the business-y books I’ve read recently. A LOT of business books are full of bullshit, but some are pretty good. This newsletter will contain 5 mini-reviews of books that are somehow related to the world of work. If you’re curious, check out previous posts in this series.

Links below will take you to Bookshop.org, but I would encourage you to find these books at your local library or independent bookstore.

Let’s do it!

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

By Oliver Burkeman

I love this book. The first time I read it, I immediately restarted the audiobook and listened to it again. I’ve since read it a third time, and I plan to read it many more times. 

This book is about productivity and time management, but it's NOT the typical "hustle culture" approach to cramming as much into each day as you possibly can and burning yourself out. In fact, the main thesis is that time is finite, and we truly DON'T have time to do many things each day — or even throughout our entire lives. It encourages readers to really think about what is important and to make very conscious decisions about how to spend their time. 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business: Make Great Money, Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want.

By Elaine Pofeldt

I should have dropped this book before finishing, but I’m stubborn and it was short. I'm confused about the audience for this book because the advice is both extremely surface-level (Have you considered investing in real estate?) and completely impractical for the majority of people who aspire to quit their jobs and go solo (Why don’t you just find an angel investor?) 

Also, there were WAY too many "success stories" about fitness/nutrition/supplements peddlers (read: grifters), most of whom aren't actually running "one-person" businesses because they scaled and hired employees and/or contractors. I actually don't know if there's even one example here of a person with a truly "one-person" business. Super disappointed in this one. 1 star. ⭐

Find Your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic

By Lisa Congdon

This was a great little book about creativity and art by artist Lisa Congdon. I enjoyed the audiobook version, although I'm wondering if I perhaps missed out on some images and illustrations? Might have to check out a hard copy too. I finished this book feeling inspired and motivated to create! 4 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock

By Jenny Odell

I enjoyed this book a bit more than How to Do Nothing (also by Odell), especially the beginning, which had a bunch of interesting anecdotes about time and labor. However, the structure was very meandering and hard to follow at times. The narrative became very introspective, and it got tedious. I feel this book may have benefited from a tighter focus and a shorter length. 3 stars. ⭐⭐⭐

Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts

By Oliver Burkeman

This book was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024. I would say this is a companion or sequel to Four Thousand Weeks, as the content and themes were very similar. That said, I still loved this. I did not read a chapter per day for four weeks, as suggested, but I still tried to savor each tidbit as I went. I have since purchased my own copy, so I can reread at my leisure. 4 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, please send any book recs you have or let me know your thoughts if you’ve read any of these!

See you next week,

Kara

P.S. Got a question about self-employment, anti-hustle culture, business books, or something else?

Kara Detwiller is a writer and creative based in small-town Saskatchewan. She specializes in long-form content writing for enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity, and manufacturing clients. She is also working on her first novel, among other creative pursuits. To connect, reply to this email or find Kara on LinkedIn or Bluesky. To support her work on Wishful Working, share this email with someone or buy her a “coffee.”

Why Wishful Working? I write this newsletter because I want to see more people enjoy a life not centered around work. For some, the path to freedom and flexibility is through self-employment, but we also need to challenge cultural norms and champion healthier working conditions and work/life balance for all types of workers.