lkmreads's reviews
1086 reviews

 

Thanks to the author for providing the book in exchange for an honest review. 

I read a lot of non-fiction books, but most of them are focused on individual things I want to accomplish or know more about: writing craft, minimalism, various work matters, etc, but never really on success as a whole. That's why when the author, Joshua Candamo, approached me to request a review, I thought this would make quite an interesting read. 

Five Doors of Success is comprised of 3 general sections: The introduction, the 5 doors themselves (each containing both an anecdote that related to the achievement of this door, as well as an explanation of each door), and the final words which also contain a summary of the five doors and some axioms to live by and help you when you're struggling. 

The book has an overall very chatty feeling to it, more like someone is talking to you than your typical non-fiction book. Because of this, I found the introduction a little bit repetitive in parts, I understood what the author was going for, but it was a bit long-winded for me. Still, although the style of writing wasn't exactly what I was used to, the whole book was actually quite interesting. 

Through the five doors, Joshua Candamo tells you the story from when he first arrived in the United States without a degree and struggling to find a job, to being an executive with a Ph.D. degree and a fulfilling personal life. 

Although each door is pretty simple at first glance, each chapter goes into the many sub-topics or skills you might need in order to achieve them and explains those too, not leaving you hanging and having to figure out what each extra thing is. I appreciated that, although at times it seemed to branch a little too far from the main topic of the door itself. Still, it was good not to have to go to another resource to figure them out and by the end you always rounded back to the main topic of the door, making it easy enough to see how it all fit. 

The author touches on many topics that go along success, such as self-awareness, mindfulness, communication, balancing work and life and everything else in between, habits and rewards, goals and expectations, etc. 

As for the stories, normally I don't connect much with anecdotes in non-fiction books because they tend to be so far removed from my own experiences, it makes me miss the point entirely. If you enjoy reading stories and anecdotes, you'll really enjoy them though. The author has lead a very interesting life, and even for me, I could identify with what he was trying to get across even when I didn't feel things matched up with my life. I still greatly appreciated that he included both those and the story-free version of how to achieve each "door". A lot of books only do one or the other, leaving those who connect more with one of those styles of writing hanging. 

The summary of each door and axioms for when you're struggling were the perfect wrap ups for the book and a very helpful reminder of all you read thus far provided in a far more concise manner you could easily refer back to if needed. 

There were several things I took away from this book, but the two biggest ones are probably to reframe what I think success to be for myself and my life specifically, and to be more self-aware in regards of my own skills and weaknesses. 

Long winded, no actual "brain science" to be found, and didn't tell me anything I haven't read before. It just focuses on character driven stories.
Has one example through the entire book, and while I liked following one thing through to the end, it could have benefitted from more and better examples (instead of lo g winded paragraphs). 

No hacks to be found here, just general productivity stuff already said a thousand times in other, better books. I would have given it 2 stars, but the book offers "11 freebies" and keeps pointing you constantly to their website, which seems they couldn't bother to maintain (or fix the links in the book, apparently), so now none of those links work. Including the one that is supposed to handily take you to review them. Bad, bad, bad. 

This is a bit of a difficult book to rate.
 
On the one hand, I really liked that it was set up as a step-by-step, day-by-day guide. She does go over a few different types of outlining methods and encourages you to find the one that works best for you. She also gives you pros and cons for each. The advice is interesting and the exercises provided can be very useful, even if they're fairly typical of writing prompts or writing classes.
If you know nothing about writing, have no ideas on what to write, etc, this would likely be a 5-star for you.

On the other hand, though she goes through several types of outlining, including some that aren't as in depth, her books tosses you into a day by day in-depth outline making journey and provides no examples for anything less. As such, almost a whole month is taking by the outlining alone. 
Also, the exercises suggested imply you have no ideas of your own to work with. 
There is nothing I detest more than to be told "Write a memory from your childhood." Look, unless my childhood memory involves elves and vampires (spoilers: it doesn't, unless you count watching Interview With the Vampire or reading LOTR), I don't really care to write about it in any way, shape or form. 
Could you adapt that to your own ideas? Yes, probably. But it would take a lot of tweaking as the following exercises build up on the previous ones.

So, overall, I think it's a great book; but sadly, it ended up not seeming very useful to me in particular beyond random bits of advice here and there.