BRAIN: THE MAN WHO WROTE THE BOOK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD by Dermot Davis

I received a copy of this book from the author.

Daniel takes writing very seriously and dreams of writing the next Great American Novel. His career starts out in a promising fashion but, after a couple of years, his agent tells him that she can't sell his latest novel and it is clear that she is thinking about dropping him altogether.  Daniel is down and out with a car that doesn't run, thousands owed in back rent and no money for groceries.  Out of desperation, he decides to poke fun at the current trend of self-help book success by writing one of his own. But his book will be a clever satirical look at what readers are falling for these days.  Daniel is surprised to find out that instead of the satirical masterpiece he hoped to write, instead he has given the world the next great self-help sensation.

Although I try hard not to judge a book by its cover, I have to say that the cover and title of this book do it a great disservice.  At first glance, this looks like a non-fiction book.  Instead, it is a fun, often snarky look at the publishing world and the readers who are lured in by promises of great life changes if they only buy a certain book. To be honest, it doesn't have very nice things to say about readers in general but, based on the bestseller lists these days, I think Davis is pretty spot-on.

Although I wish the book had been a bit longer and bit more fleshed out, I still enjoyed it.  I feel that Davis could have gone a bit further into his characters.  I only had a real sense about who Daniel was. The other characters weren't as developed. The ending of the book also seemed a bit extreme but I understand the point Davis was trying to make.

BOTTOM LINE: Recommended. This would make a great vacation read.  Very quick and entertaining.  It will have you rethinking your reading habits.