domdelorenzo rated On Tyranny: 4 stars
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
In previous books, Holocaust historian Timothy Snyder dissected the events and values that enabled the rise of Hitler and Stalin …
Enjoyable, but fluffy. I can't help but think that the book suffers from a lack of the focus it claims to evangelize.
It borrows heavily from other popular self-help/airport books of the time (e.g. spending a chapter summarizing Duhig's 'The Power of Habit'). The book plays fast and loose with data and leans on anecdotes from people like Daniel Kahneman and the (now disgraced) Philip Zimbardo. I'm sure that made sense when everyone was still in love with TED talks, but that format has NOT aged well.
Some of the advice is outright sociopathic. For instance, in the discussion of how to pare down one's commitments and obligations, the author suggests simply bowing out without really discussing or considering how that might affect the other parties involved even if you were the person who suggested the event/club/conference to begin with.
Nevertheless, like most self-help books, it's …