I first ran into Robert Greene’s work randomly stumbling through my local library. I was in my mid-thirties and starting to deeply feel the ennui of needing to create lasting meaning in my life. The book was simply titled Mastery. It was and is to this date, the most singularly impactful book I’ve ever read. Greene put into words concepts that I could sense at the periphery of my understanding but could not fully grasp as if I was trying to catch smoke in my hands.
This is the only book that I read, put down without reading any other book in between, and immediately reread to tease out all the essence that I could. Clearly, I cannot recommend this book enough. I recommend re-reading this book every few years, in fact.
Please know that this book is not for everyone, depending on your stage of life. If you find yourself still seeking to learn the basics of the world (adulting?) or your profession, save this book for when you feel that you’ve mastered First Order thinking and are anxious to see what lies beyond what you perceive but can’t yet fully grasp. Mastery is not a roadmap to spell out how to see farther, but a perspective-changer that will unlock your own thinking, rewiring your brain to be open to contradictions as not exceptions but as part of the path.
