The Choose Yourself Stories

by James Altucher

Following on the footsteps of the National Best Seller "Choose Yourself" James Altucher is back with the revealing, funny, and embarrassing stories from his own life that show that even in the worst case scenario there is always a way towards reinvention and happiness.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Self Help

223 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 21, 2014

About the author

James Altucher is a writer, successful entrepreneur, chess master, and investor.

He has founded over 20 companies and sold some of them for large exits. He has also run venture capital funds, hedge funds, angel funds, and currently sits on the boards of many companies.

He has written and been profiled in most major national media publications like the Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, CNBC, Forbes, and Business Week.

His blog, which began by detailing Altucher's precipitous fall from wealth and success to absolute rock bottom and then back to wealth, has attracted more than 10 million readers since its launch in 2010, and in 2011 inspired a comic book.

Reviews

[David Geschke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually liked this book better than it's predecessor "Choose Yourself", which I also read recently. This book starts out very strong, it's a collection of short stories. Caught my interest right away, I wound up reading it in two sittings. Very close to a five star rating, but the stories closer to the end didn't seem quite as interesting as they were to start the book. I love his writing style, very unique, very intelligent... Many times I paused to think about subject matter he brings up, how so much of it applies to everyone yet seldom is brought out in the open or talked about. I think James Altucher would be my favorite author to have lunch with. Read this book, it's awesome :)

[Evan Saxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ended up being less of a continuation of Choose Yourself, which I quite enjoyed, and more a collection of blog posts by the same author. The tone was significantly different from CY and the editing and general narrative mostly non-existent. There were a few gems sprinkled throughout but for the most part it was laborious. Three stars because I like what James Altucher is doing in a broad sense. It'd be fewer had it been a random book from a random author.

[Gen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book and the way the guy writes.

[Dave Weiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Choose yourself and loved it. I thought this would be stories of people who chose themselves, instead the author chose to write about himself. Some of the stories are good and uplifting other are downright depressing with a few making me scratch my head and wonder "what was he thinking?" Read Choose Yourself instead.

[collin · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many fascinating stories

This book is an interesting lesson in writing. Lots of interesting stories told in a conversational manner.
Highly entertaining.
It made me think of all the stories that I could tell from my life.

[Sam Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good. Guy is a hustler, but he's correct about the job market

[Nathan Sudds · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading 'Choose Yourself', I was excited to continue the journey with the Choose Yourself Stories - I don't know quite what I expected but this book definitely wasn't it. It was better. James' takes us on one rollercoaster of a ride that weaves stories of his life together and in the process can teach us a few about our own.

At first I was on a rollercoaster of my own, having preconceived ideas about what the book might be but James' isn't your average author and this isn't your average book so I was intrigued to see where he was going. Glad I went along for the ride.

I feel like the message that came through loud and clear was that Choosing Yourself will take on a life of its own as you step up and choose your own adventure in life - also that it won't happen overnight but nothing worth doing ever does.

James' ability to be, wincingly (I just made up that word), transparent helps drive the message home as we read thoughts we may have all had but never dare utter. There's a realness to the dramatic storytelling that from anyone else might seem like embellishment - I found myself wondering what was going to happen next, reading every chance I could get, even as I stopped to order take out, to get one more short story in.

It could just be that I see myself in James, why I was so intrigued but I bet you will see yourself too. His writing inspires me to write more and to choose myself even more too ( after 13 years of being on my own rollercoaster already). I'm realizing there's even deeper levels to Choose Yourself on, and much like anyone who has had success.. this doesn't happen over night and it's not without effort and determination.

Thanks James for Choosing Yourself and having the courage to tell us to do the same because it's what's best for us - even though you know it's a bumpy ride ahead.

[Amanda Alexandre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short chronicles for eroded Internet brains?

It had been months since I read my last book. Maybe internet is killing my attention span. (Quite grave for someone like me, who used to read 100 books a year.)

But I could finish this book in two sit-downs. I finally got back on the bike. This little self help book seemed almost clinically sewn to cure my literary drought. Its chapters are short, the titles are click-bait (and often misleading), and there is so, so much clusterfuckery going on, I couldn't help but read more and more.

Because it is interesting to read about the life of someone who got rich and then lost everything. The author also dealt with depression, and by the looks of it, some mild social anxiety. He just doesn't feel ashamed about the numerous faults he did in his life, and even if some of the stories sound ludicrous, the author depreciates himself so much, it all just reeks honesty.

Sometimes the style is ranty and all over the place, and some chapters end with an articulation of abstract nouns that reads like an Instagram inspirational post. I skimmed those parts. Despite that, I enjoyed the foot-on-the-ground advice (eat well, sleep well, surround yourself with positive people, and write down your ideas daily.)

For someone who couldn't read a book in months, I'm glad I'm back on the marathon.

[Valentina Thoerner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the sequel to Choose Yourself by the same author, or rather, it is an add-on. Or maybe the recipe book after you read the the theory on cooking. Though in James Altucher's world you best learn recipes for disaster as nothing teaches you how to handle a knife than cutting your finger. Hence, the book includes a collection of short stories. If you read his blog (or is it his newsletter?) on a regular basis you might recognize some of the stories. I did not see this as an disadvantage though, but rather as a reminder of good ideas I stumbled upon in the past.
What does the book do for you? You'll feel better because you probably haven't faced as critical situations as James did. You'll lend up with lots of different ideas to write about. Actually, this is one of the strong points of the book: it is quite broad in terms of topics, all hold together by the common theme of trusting yourself and taking care of yourself first in order to be able to care for others.
A quick and inspiring read, great for short breaks to increase productivity (I'll do this task and then I will read one story ;) )

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly schizophrenic in style, even within the confines of a single story at times, but often entertaining. The bits I enjoyed the most were those that reflected a weird NY before I started living there, somewhat reminiscent of that portrayed in Bleeding Edge. Occasionally gets a little too self-aggrandizing in a barely veiled way, and a little too self-help-y, but worth a dollar for the Kindle book.

[Richard Nessfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who's dabbled in self-employment, and hit drawbacks, this book is a must. As indeed is anything published by Altucher - his twitter account is well worthh following. Although it's primarily a collection of anecdotes, this book gives inspiration to all of us who need an extra "push" to overcome difficulties in life.

[Nancy Freund · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad I finished it. Really rather fabulous, if you like that sort of thing.

[Karl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, somewhat interesting, but rather scattered. Didn't finish.