More Balls Than Hands: Juggling Your Way to Success by Learning to Love Your Mistakes

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Summary: I'm Inspired!
Review: Every time I read one of Michael's books, I feel inspired for greatness, and this book is no exception. Michael has a gift of taking things that are familiar and looking at and applying them in unique ways. In this book, Michael talks about the importance of creating mistakes in a safe environment and using them to accelerate learning to become a better leader, coach, parent, or person. He makes it feel safe to venture out into new territory by teaching that success means pursuing your goals and dreams with much childlike passion that success and failure become irrelevant. I especially love how he frames examples throughout the book with expert quotes that provide meaningful and often thought-provoking context. The quote by Dr. Glenn Doman, Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential, provoked a great family discussion about how important it is for a child to view learning as fun and the positive impact a person can have to help inspire that belief. In the last section of the book, Michael takes a unique approach to teaching juggling, in which he applies all the principles in the book. I never would have thought that dropping balls on purpose would help me learn to juggle, but it did. And it gave me a new confidence that I can do anything!

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Summary: Inspiring, but not what you expect!
Review: I was overjoyed to finally find an advice book for those afflicted with polyorchidism. But despite what the title would lead you to believe, Mr. Gelb has no specific advice for polyorchid men such as myself, and is even heartless enough to talk about the virtues of "letting the ball drop".

What this book DOES have is a bunch of inspiring stuff about improving one's learning potential to become more productive, and in the end that more than compensated for its lack of addressing the medical condition described in its title.

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Summary: Metaphor of the Millennium
Review: Michael Gelb has captured the metaphor of the millennium in juggling. It is something that jugglers and non-jugglers alike can relate to at a gut level, because most of us have anything but time on our hands. A single issue of the New York Times is said to contain more information than the average person in the Middle Ages was exposed to in a lifetime. And it just starts there. MORE BALLS THAN HANDS gives you more than just the metaphor, but stories and testimonials from the workplace, as well as practical coaching on how to juggle. The book is readable and doable, and can be enjoyed on many levels. The only thing that could make it even better would be illustrations for the tips on the advanced juggling beyond 3 balls. ...

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Summary: A Good Read!
Review: The best and most useful part of this book comes near the end, where author Michael J. Gelb gets down to basics and offers instructions on how to juggle. The first part of the book consists of a series of exhortations and homilies about the advisability of relaxing, letting yourself make mistakes, practicing to be perfect and other personal attitude guidance. Those who thirst for such encouragement will find the first part of this book a godsend. It includes quotations from Lao Tse, Vince Lombardi and Leonardo da Vinci. All of the advice is highly meritorious, even the advice that you ought to take a break or two every day to juggle. That looks like fun whether you favor New Age nostrums or not. We recommend this book to anyone who must multi-task. Even if juggling doesn't smooth out your work life, at least it will help you relax.