Monday 15 June 2020

Irrationally Passionate by Jason Kothari: a review

What happens when you, in the midst of a pandemic, get notified about a book titled, "Irrationally Passionate?" Well, you end up reading it. That is precisely what I did when I got to know about Jason Kothari's book. I would be wrong if I say that the book didn't match up to what I thought. This book is so much and so much more at the same time and you would not be able to determine the extent this book can get into your head till the time you read it yourself. So, what are you waiting for?

About the book: While a college student at Wharton, Jason Kothari scraped together money from family and friends to save his childhood favourite comic book company, Valiant Entertainment, from bankruptcy and bring it back to life. A few years later, he transformed Valiant into the third-largest superhero entertainment company in the world after Marvel and DC Comics and sold it for $100 million. Jason then became a professional turnaround leader and went on to transform distressed Indian Internet icons Housing.com, FreeCharge and Snapdeal, helping save billions of dollars in value, and advise giants like technology investor Softbank and real estate developer Emaar, who have invested billions of dollars in India. Irrationally Passionate reveals the inside story of how a rebel, train-wreck kid transformed himself into a successful young entrepreneur and business leader who became one of the top ten paid executives in India while only in his 30s. From getting his first job as an assistant to Jackie Chan in Hong Kong, to learning strategy from champion Muay Thai fighters in Thailand, to tackling huge personal setbacks, to becoming a CEO in 60 seconds, among many other stories - Jason's inspiring journey across countries, industries and companies has something for everyone, right from students to entrepreneurs to corporate CEOs to even parents of students and entrepreneurs. Irrationally Passionate is a highly personal, authentic, open and complete account of a young entrepreneur's life. Brimming with practical advice and philosophical insights, it will force readers to reflect on how they perceive life, work, family and spirituality by giving them a fresh perspective.

In these testing times when you yearn for a little bit of fiction to get you going, I picked up this non-fiction because of the title, to be honest. What surprised me is the way this book holds together feelings and success moulded into this fine narration by the author. Not only does the story attract you, but it gives you moral life lessons which are pretty useful in today's time.

I took a lot of time reading it because I wanted to grasp every chapter by its soul and so I did. The journey of the writer from the start till the finish kept me hooked to the story. The writing style of the writer is one where you feel like he is narrating the entire story to you, face to face, and I believe that is one of the top-points of the book. You would be able to literally imagine what it felt to be in the author's shoes when you read the same and that is something I loved about this particular book.

You would be drawn to the book no matter what you are doing in life because this is much more than just writing about business or life goals. The chronological order that the book goes through lets you live the journey in your own way. Once you are done with the book, you would feel as if you are a part of the author's life, which is very unlikely seen in the other non-fiction books being published these days. The book is written in such a way where you would be able to relate some or the other incidents with one in your life, making it all the more worthwhile.

One of the minus points for me in the book is that the book drags long. Yes, while someone would live to read more and more about the author, there are a few sections of people who would have wanted more details about his life and its ups and downs, rather than sticking on one situation and focusing on that for a long time. Apart from those places where it felt like the author could've used lesser words to describe the incidents, I do not have to say much negative about the book. Starting from the scratch to being what he is, the author has given it his all to make something this credible and I would love to read and know more about him. To me, Irrationally Passionate gets 4.5 out of 5 and loads of luck for the future endeavors.

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