Rating: 4 out of 5
I’ve left reviewing this in depth quite late. I liked the book — there were plenty of chapters where I spent some time to think about the meaning of the author’s message — while at the same time my constant question was “What have the following 25 years brought up in research?”.
In this case the topics that the author brings up are quite possibly the most relevant ones — education, growth, and empathy — and yet the research that Mr Goleman uses now dates from three decades ago. While the anecdotal stories still carry some power, an updated version of this book that would use the new academic studies to reflect on the 1995 opinions (and to rectify any potential errors) is essential.
As I started out with, even in its present form this work has plenty to speak for itself. Nevertheless, nearly the entire time I read this I was wondering what has changed in science since then. I imagine that in most cases we have come to more researches supporting the author’s statements; yet, by now we should also have plenty more working examples to use in describing success (and failure) stories.
