"This book is worth its weight in gold" by Markus Elsässer is a wonderful life guide that feels like a long conversation with a wise mentor. In short, concise sections with many anecdotes and stories, the author attempts to report on his life and pass on life wisdom and lessons to the reader. The advice ranges from dealing with one's own family and friends, to one's own career path, to negotiation techniques and dealing with money.
This makes this book an exciting companion, which should rather be understood as a workbook than as entertainment. For the author's derivations from his teachings inspire implementation.
In doing so, he is guided by the realization that success may not be something you can learn, but something you have to work for, but that you can still make your own path in life run more smoothly if you know "about the greatest dangers and the most important adjusting screws in advance". An important conviction that also keeps me reading, because although you learn best from your own experiences, you still don't have to make every mistake a second time, from which others have already reported their lessons.
Markus Elsässer lets his readers in on the many little tricks of the trade that he has picked up over time. Some of the chapters are called "Recommendations from Elsässer's treasure chest" or "A cross-section of Elsässer's scrapbook" and thus convey a relaxed mood.
We learn how to start our professional life under the best conditions, how to plan our career path, pursue it with determination and make the right decisions. But the role of family, friends, colleagues, mentors and competitors is also a recurring theme. This book should act as a little piece of advice, a different perspective and an instructive view in many tricky situations.
The fact that we don't usually learn such things at school is nothing new. However, Elsässer's approach is not to demonize school and create an all-encompassing work that makes all other sources unnecessary. Instead, he advocates holistic learning and tapping into all sources of knowledge and experience in the environment. "It's often the little things that make the difference between success and failure." And these are usually due to a lack of knowledge or awareness. However, those who manage to create a positive and mutually beneficial environment are already in a better position. After all, it is an invaluable advantage if you don't have to start from scratch.
It is not a theoretical textbook, but rather a smorgasbord of wisdom, humor, and teaching, as in a wonderful conversation with an interesting acquaintance or longtime companion. "It is my hope that you will be able to pick up something from it in your particular life and professional situation."
The bottom line is that this is really a very good book with so much wisdom that you can put directly into practice. At least that's how I felt while reading it. It's so valuable because so many people don't realize how early in their lives they come to important points and have to decide whether to go left or right. But at a young age, people can rarely appreciate the implications of such decisions. And it is at this point that the teachings of an experienced person can definitely save a lot of money and suffering.
Important Notice:
You can find our interview with Markus Elsässer on our Youtube channel at:
https://youtu.be/ig3YNx0ADOA