The element : how finding your passion changes everything

by Ken Robinson

Paper Book, 2009

Status

Available

Publication

New York : Viking, 2009.

Description

Self-Improvement. Nonfiction. HTML: The Element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the Element, they feel most themselves, most inspired, and achieve at their highest levels. The Element draws on the stories of a wide range of people: Paul McCartney, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Meg Ryan, Gillian Lynne, who choreographed the Broadway productions of Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, journalist Arianna Huffington, renowned physicist Richard Feynman, and many others, including business leaders and athletes. It explores the components of this new paradigm: the diversity of intelligence, the power of imagination and creativity, and the importance of commitment to our own capabilities. With a wry sense of humor, Ken Robinson looks at the conditions that enable us to find ourselves in the Element and those that stifle that possibility. He shows that age and occupation are no barrier and that once we have found our path, we can help others do so as well. The Element shows the vital need to enhance creativity and innovation by thinking differently about human resources and imagination. It is an essential strategy for transforming education, business, and communities to meet the challenges of living and succeeding in the twenty-first century..… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Doey
Cute stories; extraordinarily little substance
LibraryThing member buchowl
This book was a disappointment to me. It was filled with inspiring stories about people who had found their passion/life's work against the odds, but the book had no direction or advice about finding what that passion is (some of us need a little help in that area). Then, after multiple chapters of
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inspiring stories, the book launches into a discussion on educational reform, then to environmental issues and finally to population statistics. While informative (and depressing) I'm not sure what exactly that has to do with finding your life's work or playing to your strengths (unless education/the environment/population issues ARE your passion). Nice book, important information but not the correct forum/vehicle.

Recommended for someone who is well aware of his/her strengths and passions but needs a push to go for it. Skip chapter 11 and the afterword unless global/educational issues are of interest to you.
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LibraryThing member dmcolon
If you've ever heard Ken Robinson's famous Ted talk, The Element is pretty familiar ground. To some extent, it is an elaboration of that talk. Robinson stresses the importance of creativity and how schools systematically sap creativity out of students. The book is sprinkled with interviews with
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celebrities, scholars, authors, and the like. I really didn't learn anything new from the book, but Robinson does a good job making his case. He doesn't really outline much specific in terms of educational practices, but he does pose the problem to us. Robinson asks: how do we harness our creativity to face the challenges we face as a society? In that sense, the Element raises what is perhaps the single most important topic of our age.
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LibraryThing member GShuk
This book is really just his opinions on this topic for he only uses anecdotes to support his points. While it was uplifting at points it also felt long and drawn out. It was interesting hearing about the famous people who were having a hard time in school only to find their calling later in life.
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(He does a lot of school bashing) While this is not a self help book he does explore what is involved in finding your element and valuing the pursuit of it in others. There are better books on this topic.
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LibraryThing member cbjorke
According to a popular myth there is a calling for each one of us, something that we are so good at and love doing so much that it doesn't feel like work at all. Ken Robinson advocates for the existence of this perfect occupation. He calls it being in one's "element," and recommends looking for
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that element in our own lives and pursuing whatever calling it presents us. Unfortunately, Henry David Thoreau's often quoted "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation" is more true now that when he wrote Walden in 1854.

Robinson never mentions this, but I believe that finding such an "element" for each and every person on Earth would be a good argument for the existence of a personal, omniscient and ever present God. Who else could organize the world in such a way that every single person would born with such a perfect fit to one or more pursuits? The evidence is not in favor of this hypothesis, though, as Thoreau has pointed out. Very few people ever find an "element."


Robinson uses examples, such as Paul McCartney, Julia Child and one of my favorite people, physicist Richard Feynman, to illustrate his thesis. Each of them did find something to do that was eminently suitable to his talents and each of them enjoyed his job immensely, not to mention making a pretty good piece of change at it. These very talented, very lucky people were able to take advantage of opportunities when they presented themselves and they all created careers for themselves doing what they loved doing. Most of us are just not that talented, or that lucky.

Dr. Robinson wants to encourage each of us to find our "element" and to help our children find theirs.I found his argument against the emphasis on standardized testing in schools, the core of "No Child Left Behind," to be highly cogent. As Robinson says, "I doubt there are many children who leap out of bed in the morning wondering what they can do to raise the reading score for their state." His basic thesis, however, I find to be messy, new age claptrap. Not that I am against people pursuing their dreams, but I think it's important to have a fallback position in case it doesn't work out.

After reading The Element I am ready to quit my job in order to pursue my dream of becoming a rock star. Or maybe not. He did mention being good at it.

I'll Never Forget The Day I Read A Book!
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LibraryThing member randomaccess
Yet another "find your passion/do what you love" book, which makes a case for the importance of doing something you're passionate about (duh!), but with little advice on how to go about doing it. This one adds a deserved dig at our educational system.
LibraryThing member jugglingpaynes
For anyone who has seen Ken Robinson's TED talk, some of the anecdotes in this book will sound familiar. The book is full of stories about men and women who have found their element, their passion. It offers advice on how to find your own element, as well as the obstacles that keep us from it. I
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was particularly interested in the section on standardized testing. I have been an opponent of standardized tests for a long time, and I have rarely heard a better argument against them. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to help guide a child (or themselves) toward a more fulfilling life.
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LibraryThing member cepheid36552
I love this book! It is SO inspiring. I think everyone should read this at some point in their life. It is never too late to make a difference with your life.
LibraryThing member sgtbigg
This is not the usual type of thing that I read but I picked it up in the library on a whim. Dr. Robinson explains that those who do what they love are happier in life, no surprises there. He then goes on to give multiple examples of people who have had great success in life after doing poorly in
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school. The point being that schools do not do a good job of developing talents outside of math, science, and reading. While I agree with Dr. Robinson’s assessments, once he made them he really had no where else to go so he kept making them in different ways. The book was relatively short but I got bored with it about half way through, once I got the main point it became somewhat depressing to hear about people doing what they loved and making a living at it. All in all it wasn't a bad book and Dr. Robinson injected a good bit of humor throughout. Bizarrely, some of his writing reminded me of Douglas Adams.
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LibraryThing member PeskyLibrary
The Element by Ken Robinson & Lou Aronica stresses the importance of diverse intelligences and creativity, and aims to show how the modern school system grossly underserves students who do not excel in math, science, and reading.
Ken Robinson promotes the existence of an ideal occupation for
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everyone – something that we love so much that it doesn't feel like work. He calls it being in one's "element" and states that it’s never too late to change your life – hence the book’s subtitle, How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. He supports his claim with a wealth of examples and inspiring stories of people who have found their passion. Problems with the Western school system and how/why they came about are also touched upon, but not analyzed in detail. He also discusses some influencing factors to finding your element, for example the importance of mentors, but unfortunately the discussions don’t go very deep.
Towards the end, the book gets somewhat repetitious. It would have been more enjoyable either as a more condensed or greatly expanded version; as it is, it struggles between being an analytical work (problems with schools and education) and an inspirational one (the importance of finding your element). It also falls short as a self-help book. Nevertheless, a fluent and interesting read.
EJ 02/2013
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LibraryThing member lauren.castan
Inspiring book, as was his TED talk. Easy to read.
LibraryThing member Sharon.Flesher
This book made my reading list because it was on a list of books recommended to change your life, or a similar promise. Perhaps this would be true if I were reading it at age 19, but I suspect that most people of my age have encountered Robinson's themes previously. I recall as a teenager having
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Dr. Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking thrust upon me by my parents, who apparently thought I was mired in teen negativity. Imagine that! In the intervening years, I've had exposure to finding my "zone", the "artist's way", and myriad programs of workplace creativity-inspiring. And yet, I still can't definitively label my particular element. There are numerous activities I enjoy, and a few I even do well, but nothing I could accurately describe as an overriding passion.

Most of Robinson's success stories involve people who found their element seemingly by chance. I'm left to wonder what happens to the would-be dancer who is never taken to the ballet studio and thus never discovers this latent gift? Robinson doesn't address that, although he does give examples of people who find a passion later in life, or in a unorthodox context.

I spent most of the book also wondering who would drive the garbage trucks if everyone is out looking for their creative element. Surely some tasks are necessary but unlikely to elicit much passion. Zen Buddhists tackle this reality by urging mindfulness and reverence when performing every task, no matter how mundane. But Robinson doesn't seem to be coming from the "be here now" school of thought. However, he does indirectly address the question in a section titled "for love or money," noting that some people pursue their passion as a hobby while working a job to pay the bills.

Robinson's stories are engaging and inspirational, and every now and then even those of us in our middle years can benefit by renewed attention to this question of, "what are my dreams and am I pursuing them?"
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LibraryThing member Brumby18
Great stuff - esential reading for all kids in grade 8, teachers and teachers administrators, and policy makers
LibraryThing member flying_monkeys
Rating: 3.5 of 5

The Element was an inspirational introduction to Robinson's concept the Element which is "the place where the things we love to do and the things we are good at come together." Filled with with examples of how successful people discovered their own Element it's a great jumping off
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point for those who know in their gut something just isn't right in their life and they want to change that. But you won't find any how-to or exercises for finding your own Element. For that sort of stuff you'll have to read Robinson's other book, Finding Your Element.

Quotes that jumped out at me:

"What is true is that if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original (p. 15)."

"The Element has two main features, and there are two conditions for being in it. The features are aptitude and passion. The conditions are attitude and opportunity. The sequence goes something like this: I get it; I love it; I want it; Where is it? (p.22)"

"You can think of creativity as applied imagination (p. 67)." Imagination is internal; creativity is actually doing something with that imagination.

"Activities we love fill us with energy even when we are physically exhausted. Activities we don't like can drain us in minutes, even if we approach them at our physical peak of fitness...When people place themselves in situations that lead to their being in the zone, they tap into a primal source of energy. They are literally more alive because of it (p.93)."

"It turns out, " Dr. Henry Lodge says, "that 70% of American aging is not real aging. It's just decay. It's rot from the stuff that we do. All the lifestyle diseases...the diabetes, the obesity, the heart disease, much of the Alzheimer's, lots of the cancers, and almost all of the osteoporosis, those are all decay. Nature doesn't have that in store for any of us. We go out and buy it off the rack. (p.197)"
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LibraryThing member zarasecker18
Ken Robinson is a well known speaker, author and international speaker for the arts. He has done many talks dealing with education and living a fulfilled life. The Element is yet another example of his work and passion. When reading this book I felt I could hear him speaking just like I had seen on
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many video clips. What he said in his book made so much sense to me in that he truly highlighted how a person playing to their passion makes all the difference to not only their own lives but also to how easily performing all the relevant tasks for the job comes for them. To further highlight this Ken used examples of many different celebrities and how they found their element. Whilst it was good to have these examples the proliferation of them became a bit annoying and detracted from the overall feel of the book. In spite of this though it is still a worthwhile read for anybody and especially for those who are trying to find where their passion is.
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LibraryThing member FlavioMiguelPereira
Even in Portuguese (only version found in Portugal) , Ken Robinson knows what to say and the examples he give in here are something to consider.

Very Recomendable book
LibraryThing member Schneider
It was OK. Not quite what I was expecting. Maybe that is more of an indictment on me than the book...
LibraryThing member LoriFox
I read this book for three reasons. First, I’ve been a fan of Sir Ken Robinson since I watched his first TED Talk, “Schools Kill Creativity” along with his subsequent talks on TED.com. Second, I’m an English teacher and I agree wholeheartedly with Robinson that our educational systems need
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to be redesigned beyond the current industrialism model. Third, I assigned this book to my current English 302 class and wanted to read it along with them.

I was not disappointed. It’s easy to read, full of examples for every point Robinson makes, and dotted with humorous references in every chapter. My students mostly liked it too (most gave it 4-5/5 stars. My only criticism is that most of the book is filled with anecdotal examples, and it isn’t until the last chapter that Robinson actually offers some very doable suggestions for making changes.

The book is filled with some very relatable sentences that make sense and offer good advice or bring the reader to an epiphany. For example, Robinson says, “Creative insights often come in nonlinear ways, through seeing connections and similarities between things that we hadn’t noticed before. Creative thinking depends greatly on what’s sometimes called divergent or lateral thinking, and especially on thinking in metaphors or seeing analogies.”

A few pages later he writes, “We don’t just see the world as it is; we interpret it through the particular ideas and beliefs that have shaped our own cultures and our personal outlook.”

My favorite chapter is the last one, “Making the Grade.” It makes reading the anecdotes worthwhile as Robinson describes ways in which we can transform our current educational system into one that encourages creativity and happiness. I highly recommend this book for all educators, from teachers to administrators, and to policy makers, parents, and students. As Robinson says regarding life and education, “we can always try to think differently.”
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LibraryThing member dele2451
If you've ever found yourself sitting in a classroom wondering what in the heck you were doing there, this book offers 260 pages of pure encouragement.
LibraryThing member CraigGoodwin
Enjoyable read.
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