OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" by Kwame Annor-Mensah.]

Not All Who Wander Are Lost by Kwame Anmor-Mensah is a collection of essays about living a thoughtful life. Kwame has spent much of his life observing people and examining the consequences, good or bad, of their actions. He is especially focused on the thought processes people go through and whether those processes lead them to correct conclusions about the world. In the book, Kwame addresses issues that prevent a person from recognizing reality from fiction. These issues include bias, prejudice, preference for comfort, assumption, and many others. It is not always easy to navigate a world where many people want to deceive you. It is even harder when one of those people is yourself. This book helps you recognize the ways that you can be turned away from the truth so that you can move confidently forward with your feet firmly planted in reality.

Despite finding considerable wisdom in the book, I found it to be quite dull. I often found myself nodding along with what he was saying. Occasionally, he would write some advice that would serve as a reminder of how I should think about life. For example, he wrote about confirmation bias, and I recognized in my own life an area where I was possibly allowing that to warp my view of things. The problem is that the book is very repetitive. The author introduces an interesting idea and then repeats the idea over and over in different word salads. While there are some stories to help illustrate the ideas. They are too few and too short to keep my interest. My summary of the book is that it contains several great ideas expressed in too many words.

I give the book a 3 out of 5. My enjoyment of the book is lower than the score suggests, but I couldn’t give it a lower score because I genuinely did appreciate some of the advice in the book. However, I think many readers will struggle to read the book long enough to get the benefits. Additionally, the book is poorly edited. That said, I recommend it to anyone who wants a reminder of the ways our thoughts can keep us from seeing reality.

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Not All Who Wander Are Lost
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Your summary that the book contains many great ideas expressed in too many words seems to wrap it all up, stating both the book's main strength and major flaw. I am glad that some of the areas highlighted such as confirmation bias were useful. Many thanks for the amazing review, @Troy Patrick Reardon.

This book is a collection of essays about living thoughtfully and recognizing how our thoughts, biases, and assumptions can keep us from seeing reality. While it offers useful advice and deep insights, it becomes repetitive and lacks engaging stories. The writing could be improved with better editing.

It’s a good read for those interested in self-awareness and clear thinking, but it may feel dull to some.

Appreciate the honest review. I’ve definitely read books like this—where the message is solid but the delivery makes it hard to stay engaged. It’s frustrating when you know there’s value in the ideas, but it gets buried under repetition or dry writing. Still, the point about recognizing our own thought patterns and biases really resonates. Might still give it a shot, but I’ll go in knowing what to expect. Thanks for breaking it down!