21A - Reading Reflection No.2

The book I chose was How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams.

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The theme of us this book is to never give up and turn failures into success.  It describes Scott Adams and his life that was filled with a multitude of different failures.  He learned from these and developed different theories and tips that can help anyone rebound from failures.  His persistence and grit led to his hit comic strip, Dilbert.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book definitely connected and enhanced what I learned in ENT 3003 because of the stress on learning from failures and turning those failures into successes.  In this class, we have done some of the same assignments, but when we re-do them we have the chance to look at our feedback and learn from it.  This is similar to what Adams did on his journey to success.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

If I had to design an exercise for the class it would include having each student make a list of 5 different failures they have endured and how they responded.  I would then have the students either read this book or read about the techniques in the book.  After this, the students will go back to their list and revise how they would attempt to turn their failures around.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

The biggest surprise from this book was learning about how many failures it can take before someone finds success.  It really cemented the idea that giving up is not the answer and that if someone puts in enough effort and work then they can find a way to become successful.