Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong

Eric Barker

May 2017 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

Wall Street Journal Bestseller

Much of the advice we’ve been told about achievement is logical, earnest…and downright wrong. In Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Eric Barker reveals the extraordinary science behind what actually determines success and most importantly, how anyone can achieve it. You’ll learn:

• Why valedictorians rarely become millionaires, and how your biggest weakness might actually be your greatest strength
• Whether nice guys finish last and why the best lessons about cooperation come from gang members, pirates, and serial killers

• Why trying to increase confidence fails and how Buddhist philosophy holds a superior solution
• The secret ingredient to “grit” that Navy SEALs and disaster survivors leverage to keep going
• How to find work-life balance using the strategy of Genghis Khan, the errors of Albert Einstein, and a little lesson from Spider-Man

By looking at what separates the extremely successful from the rest of us, we learn what we can do to be more like them—and find out in some cases why it’s good that we aren’t. Barking Up the Wrong Tree draws on startling statistics and surprising anecdotes to help you understand what works and what doesn’t so you can stop guessing at success and start living the life you want.

Ratings and reviews

The book is generally a good one, although I see multiple flaws. 1. I estimate female representation ~~8-20% (much more than zero, thanks!) Quick search shows: " he " occurs 445 times and " she " 40 times. The book states that friendliness is a key for successful leadership, but talks only about male leaders. Lots of ways to interpret this. Or the statement about relationships being "the only thing that really matters in life". This was actually only solidly proven for men (ref. Valliant). Not obvious if married women are more successful than single. Plus a sad fact about different life expectancies. How does overliving your spouse contribute to your happiness? No answer. I'm sceptical if advice from the book is actually working for everyone. 2. The description of the Dunning-Kruger effect is flawed. Wikipedia: "Their studies categorically didn’t show that incompetent people are more confident or arrogant than competent people". And the effect might also be stat.artifact

In my eyes this book is a well written guide to success. It has engrossing stories to illustrate points, straight forward advice on how to achieve, looking at multiple approaches and most importantly, in my opinion, backs all of this information up with cold, hard facts and research. I am not exaggerating when I say I consider this book to have changed my life.

Covers way too many topics. Problem with that is it cannot go in depth into anything and lacks focus. It is an interesting read, though.

About the author

Eric Barker is the creator of the blog Barking Up the Wrong Tree, which presents science-based answers and expert insight on how to be awesome at life. His work has been mentioned in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, TIME magazine, The Week, and Business Insider. He is a former Hollywood screenwriter, having worked on projects for Walt Disney Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, and Revolution Studios. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MBA from Boston College and a Master of Fine Arts from UCLA.