(Book Review) The Dip, 1st Edition

Overview

Review Published: February, 2020.

From entrepreneur and marketer Seth Godin comes a concise overview of how to focus your efforts to create success in your chosen endeavours, and how to avoid the pitfalls that come with wasting your time and effort.

Starting with general concepts about why quitting can be a powerful tool, the author moves on to provide specific scenarios for you to watch out for, and how to proactively plan for when you encounter difficult situations.

Rating:

3.5 / 5

(Great Content, Presentation Needs Polishing)

What does this score mean?

Difficulty:

Intermediate (Content is fairly simple, but some detailed business knowledge helps).

Length:

85 pages.

Where to Buy It:

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What's Good

Great summation of general scenarios; the book does a great job of introducing specific types of “dips” that any professional is likely to encounter, and the specific features of each, so that identifying them in your own endeavours is very straight-forward.
Clear explanations; each type of “dip” is examined in detail, given good examples, and the psychology behind it is concisely explained.
Real-world examples; clear, real-world examples are given across a variety of industries and endeavours, so it’s simple to find specific examples that generally fit with whatever it is you do (i.e. from specific fields like UX & Product Design, Sales & Marketing, etc., to general endeavours like choosing a career).

What Can Be Improved

Organization is a bit vague; the book lacks a table of contents, or an index, that would help with quickly referencing sections or specific content.
No references for additional reading; several concepts are expressed that only make sense within a wider context, and unfortunately, additional reading that would provide this missing context is not included.

The Bottom Line

Content is good, but needs fleshing out; the lack of a more cohesive structure, reference aids, and additional reading are missed opportunities for what is otherwise a very worthwhile book.
A decent introductory read for any creative professional; this book introduces some very valuable content that serves as a jump-off point for anyone looking to make a difference in their field or industry, but to make the most of it I would also recommend checking out some additional books for added context (i.e. “Originals” has some great sections about organizational dynamics surrounding change, and “Crossing the Chasm” does a great job of outlining specific marketplace challenges).
A low-cost primer for understanding big endeavours; for less than $15, this book provides a valuable outline of how to approach challenging endeavours and deal with general difficulties that may arise during those efforts (but be prepared to follow-up with the books I recommended above).