Compete, Play, Win: Finding Your Best Competitive Self

by David Apostolico

This book is a sociological examination of competition and the competitive drive, told from the viewpoint of a competition freak. The author explores the energy and force behind the need to compete, and what the consequence of that need is. In the chapter “Sperm Wars,” Apostolico discusses conception as the beginning of the competitive nature of humans, while also discussing the competition for a mate that precedes it. Through this, he sets up the idea of a biological necessity for competition and how evolution has modified and enhanced that drive. In a later chapter called “Competitive Nature,” Apostolico participates in as many competitive endeavors as possible (eating contests, drag races, dog shows, etc.) and answers a set of 10 questions about each, concluding with, “Can a competitive junkie ever truly feel satisfied?”

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 13, 2009

About the author

I love a good book whether it is a terrific work of fiction, an historical biography or a current non-fiction book. I'm a fan of many genres and a few of my favorite books are listed in my ratings. Lately, I have really enjoyed the works of Malcolm Gladwell. Both The Tipping Point and Outliers really resonated with me. The books challenged some of my beliefs and were eye opening in their relevations. Gladwell is a master of tackling cutting edge concepts and presenting them in an oh so easy to read style.

In my latest book Compete, Play, Win: Finding Your Best Competitve Self, I hope to do for competition what Gladwell did for marketing in The Tipping Point. I want the reader to look to discover a few things about him or herself as to why and how they compete and how they can harness that innate instinct for maximum gain in today's strategic world. How we're wired has not changed in thousands of years but how we need to channel that competitive drive productively has changed dramatically. Just about all of us will, at times, let our competitiveness get the better of us and lead us down a path of self destruction rather than production. Recognizing that tendency and knowing how to combat it is critical to achieving success. I want people to become results oriented rather than focused on winning little battles that accomplish nothing more than satisfying the ego. Here's a link to the listing on amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Compete-Play-Wi...