[I received a copy through Edelweiss.]

An interesting read in general, whose first part especially was really good, dealing as it does with common myths such as "if I tell people they did a good job, they'll be full of themselves" or "I had to do it the hard way, so why would I make it better for others now?" It also has several examples of how to exert a more gratitude-oriented approach at work, although this seems to be more geared toward the corporate world/office/business work (I'm not sure if it can be applied per se in every single branch of work, or depending on the circumstances, as it lacks examples for those).

Wow, I didn't even realize how behind I was on posts until today. I have been busy reading, though my challenge does not reflect that. Has anyone figured out the bug that won't let me add books I've read in 2020? I thought that bug was a millennium problem?

Anyway, I just found out that some of my recent reviews for the Wiley journal, Global Business and Organizational Excellence, have been posted where people can read them! Usually they are subscription only. So, if you are interested in business books, I actually started the year out very optimistically, and these choices reflect that. 

Even if you are not a business book fan, I highly recommend Range, which has special appeal to parents in these questionable times.

READ MY REVIEW HERE

There is actually more humility on display here than you would expect from the egocentric title. Elton John is one of the survivors amongst his hard-living generation of rock stars, and one reason for that is that he developed a bit of self-knowledge along the way, as well as the (eventual) courage to jettison his drug/alcohol habit with the help of some remarkably loyal friends.

At the distance of a few weeks, none of the anecdotes in this heavily anecdotal (and quite readable) memoir leaps to mind as the most remarkable, though the life itself has been altogether remarkable in its good fortune; that good fortune appears to have been supported by a pretty good work ethic (except during the most depressed episodes) and a solid sense of how the business works as a whole. Like just about any other celebrity autobiographer I've read, Elton John has his own tales of venal &/or inept management. But it seems he has managed to hang on to control of his own work pretty well, and even managed to dictate his own terms with heavy hitters like Disney. And he has also, against all odds, acquired a happy domestic life - with marriage (to a Canadian!) and kids - in his old age.

John has a legendary temper. He admits to it here, but I doubt he really admits to all the damage he has likely done with it over the years. He does provide a bit of insight into its origins when he discusses the painful and lengthy friction with his mother.

I enjoyed this while I was reading it, and would recommend it to anyone interested in the period, but really I'd far rather go back and listen to "Your Song", "Rocket Man" or "Crocodile Rock" than read it again.

I'm not sure how to classify "Identity Crisis". It feels like a satire except that it's unflinchingly honest and that kind of honesty makes me wince rather than smile. It's not a polemic as it's not selling a solution, just displaying a problem by flaying the surface of it and exposing the bloody mess underneath. It has too much bitter humour in it to be a dirge or a lament. Perhaps it is just a mirror, held up to make us look at ourselves and take in what we've become.

The focus is on how social media is being used to create a climate of fury, to discredit evidence-based argument and to undermine support for any view of the world that is neither angry nor extreme.

It is a world in which appearance is more important than substance, where being "on the right side of history" is achieved by weaponising hashtags to pillory opponents, where identity is more important than information, where the "national conversation" is a curated stream of propaganda that sustains anger and division to pre-empt challenges to extreme political positions.

The story is pitched around a referendum to make England independent of the rest of the UK. It's told with a bitter wit that was so close to home that I felt like I was watching a vivisection. Although it's not a long book, I had to take regular breaks from it to allow the feelings of disgust and despair to dissipate.

Ben Elton has a deep understanding of how social media is being used to shift opinion, create and sustain tribalism and distract us from the real agenda being driven by the powerful.

The strongest parts of the book are those that deal with the referendum, with mainstream media and social media response to sexual abuse and with the use of a revamped version of "Love Island" to surface issues related to gender and sexuality.

In the end, I felt the novel went nowhere. It was an exposition rather than a narrative. If these issues are new to you, it will make you think. If these issues are known to you then it may confirm your darkest views of what's happening.

I listened to the audiobook version of "Identity Crisis", which is narrated by Ben Elton. He does a serviceable job but I would have preferred to have had a narrator with a little more range. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.

I'm not sure how to describe this. It feels like a satire except that it's unflinchingly honest and that kind of honesty makes me flinch rather than smile. It's not a polemic as it's not selling a solution, just displaying a problem by flaying the surface of it and exposing the bloody mess underneath.

The focus is on how social media is being used to create a climate of fury and of distrust of evidence-based argument, to undermine support for any view of the world that is neither angry nor extreme.

It's told with a bitter wit but it's so close to home that I feel like I'm watching a vivisection. I'm taking a break from it now. I can only take so much expostion of just how bad things are in one sitting.