I probably purchased Switch sometime in 2010 when it was first published, because I own a hardcover copy and would have bought the paperback had it been available. When I first read it, I was expecting it to be more of a self-help book, which it wasn’t. But I really enjoyed it anyway.

Links:

• The Heath Brothers have their own website with information about all three of their books and free resources. There’s a free resource about personal change, though you need to create a free account to access it.
• This review from Forbes has a good summary which lays out the book’s premise pretty well.
• This link has the first chapter of the book, which is a good way to see if you want to read the whole thing or not.

What I Liked:

• Overall, the style was easy to read, and enjoyable. It’s actually categorized as a business book, but it doesn’t read like a typical business book.
• The authors based the entire book around the metaphor of an elephant, with a rider, following a path. The elephant represents our emotional side, which is complicated. The rider represents our rational side. The path represents the process of changing. Unsurprisingly, the elephant is tough to control, not unlike our emotional selves can also be tough to control, but the authors point out that there are ways to manage the elephant as well as the path. There are numerous sidebars which analyze different examples of successful change.
• The way the book’s key principles were illustrated through case studies. Even after five years, I remembered a story about how a lowly manager managed to advance a vision that contributed to the store’s current success.

What I Didn’t Like:

• Really nothing. If you’re interested in a book with a lot of concrete advice, you’d be disappointed. But even though there’s little direct advice on how to change, the stories are motivational and I could see someone who wanted to make a personal change finding it inspirational.

This was a fun and very interesting read. I’m somewhat interested in reading their two other books, Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work and Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, but neither are a big priority right now.

Even though it’s not directly relevant to my project, I think it was a worthwhile choice. I love books about decluttering and organizing, especially ones that help you work through the reasons behind the stuff. But I think it’s helpful and important to read books like this which may not be directly relevant, but still have good ideas which can be applied across multiple areas.