Smartcuts

How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success

By: Shane Snow

Narrated by: Shane Snow, Erik Bergmann

Entrepreneur and journalist Shane Snow (Wired, Fast Company, The New Yorker, and cofounder of Contently) analyzes the lives of people and companies that do incredible things in an implausibly short time.

How do some startups go from zero to billions in mere months? How did Alexander the Great, YouTube tycoon Michelle Phan, and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon climb to the top in less time than it takes most of us to get a promotion? What do high-growth businesses, world-class heart surgeons, and underdog marketers do in common to beat the norm?

One way or another, they do it like computer hackers. They employ what psychologists call "lateral thinking": rethinking convention and breaking "rules" that aren't rules.

These are not shortcuts, which produce often dubious short-term gains, but ethical "smartcuts" that eliminate unnecessary effort and yield sustainable momentum. In Smartcuts, Snow shatters common wisdom about success, revealing how conventions like "paying dues" prevent progress, why kids shouldn't learn times tables, and how, paradoxically, it's easier to build a huge business than a small one.

From SpaceX to The Cuban Revolution, from Ferrari to Skrillex, Smartcuts is a narrative adventure that busts old myths about success and shows how innovators and icons do the incredible by working smarter - and how perhaps the rest of us can, too.

©2014 Shane Snow (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers

Interesting and Important book

I truly found this book useful. He made a deliberate decision to look at his subject matter in a different way, used current examples and didn't try to force-fit the evidence to fit his theory (a major sin of a lot of modern writers). I've already recommended this book to 3 persons.

I love everything about this book

I found the information in this book to be unique and very useful. It was entertaining enough to listen to for long stretches at a time and I didn't feel overwhelmed by the amount of information provided . It was well-paced and kept my interest.

Great information for business and life

Loved the information - there are so many take aways! Shane Snow is a good narrator - pace, tone, and voice keep attention and never grate.

Great Book Club Read

I read this book with my book club, and because of all of the nuggets of information. It was great to hear the various takeaways from different members of the group. It was an easy read/listen. Highly recommend.

Awesome book

Love how the author explains each smartcut. It's one of those books I want to keep as a reference in the future.

Just ok

The book seemed to have a too many references to products, and websites. I also thoght that the book did not clearly define each "smarrcut" abd how it could be used in everyday life.

Great content, specially in audio format

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I was able to listen to this while doing other menial tasks, which made this a lot faster than sitting down to read. In terms of the content it's a great book to learn how others have learned to work smarter to get to their goals faster. Shane Snow's explanation of theories with every day examples of people who have succeeded with these techniques is super engaging and refreshing.

What did you like best about this story?

The examples brought it home for me. Specially when he concludes with Dwayne Edwards story.

Have you listened to any of Shane Snow and Erik Bergmann ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Well Crafted. A little slow.

Stick with this through the tangents. He did an exceptional job of building concepts on top of each other. Similar content to Bold by Peter Diamandis, which I got a little more out of.

it was awesome.

This was my first audio book and it would rate it 5 stars. very engrossing and unconventional.

Filled With Inspiring Stories

This book offers short stories well told to show how shortcuts can make a difference in your life. He makes clear points and the information is useful.