Book Review: “Uncommon” by Mark Divine
Uncommon Knowledge?
There’s a good chance that former Navy SEAL Mark Divine will read this review. In his latest book, Uncommon, he admits that he reads his press. Thus, I’ll want to be as charitable as possible here and not say anything that would be disrespectful. However, I am hopeful I won’t do that as Uncommon turned out to be a somewhat resourceful self-help book on mastering the five “mountains” that a person must climb to live a life that goes against the grain: physical, mental, emotional, intuitive, and spiritual. I can say that the book is a success because I found myself going for a 4,000-step walk after finishing the chapters on maintaining physical health. For some, I would imagine that Uncommon might be the most crucial guidebook of the year. That’s not to say that I didn’t always agree with it, and my feeling is that any book that quotes from Brian Tracy and Stephen Covey is a little suspect. However, it also briefly covers the Japanese concept of ikigai. For a book about going against the kind of lifestyle that your parents would want you to live, I find it ironic because my dad has been after me to read a book on the subject of ikigai that he bought for me. Insert smiley face here.
The book might be helpful because it offers exercises for the reader to participate in — everything from breathing exercises to silent meditation to reflective journaling. While all of these exercises have the posture of being solitary, Divine does write a chapter about the need to have a team behind you if you want to succeed. It’s hard for me to say if these exercises would be helpful, given the constraints I have as a book reviewer — I read one book and then go on to the next one. Uncommon is a book you should linger over for an extended period. To do it proper justice, this is probably something that should take a few months to plow through. And, perhaps, readers could do an even deeper dive in searching out the books that Divine mentions in his text, given that Uncommon is a read that feels like five books crammed into one. A lot of ground is covered here, but as they say in some 12-step programs, readers should take things “one day at a time.” Uncommon is a book about developing the skills needed to succeed at a higher level of operation, and its virtues are such that it may take a while to see results.
I said earlier that I do want to be charitable. However, I didn’t buy the chapters about intuition and the mind-heart-gut connections. I needed to see that a bit more fleshed out because the rational side of my mind can’t believe that a person can tap into some psychic power that can make a person feel the pain of, say, a family member many hundreds or thousands of miles away. I’m skeptical of some of the claims in the book and needed more than a pat assurance that there’s a way to tap into intuition and that it (supposedly) works. This is probably part of the danger of a book like Uncommon: it wants to be everything to everyone. It skims through its topics at a very surface level. So, if I have a criticism of this work, I sometimes wanted to see more depth in its treatment of its five topics. Perhaps as well, there should have been less of a reliance on pop culture motivational speakers — even if they’re popular and have tactics that have worked for the author. I cringe when I see stuff like this, and I wish that Divine had backed up some of his assertions a little more at times with science and not just things from Navy SEAL basic training and activities.
It’s funny, though, that Divine is energetic to the point of almost resembling a drill sergeant. That’s not too much of a bad thing, considering that I think Divine’s heart is in the right place. Uncommon is essentially a Life Hacks 101-type of book: nothing more, nothing less. I think it will be helpful to those who have never heard some of the concepts (ikigai, as mentioned now for the third time, for instance). There are worse things that could be done than reading this, and it may allow the odd reader to get off their duff and exercise more. I would caution that the reader take this book with a slight grain of salt: it would be impossible to do everything in a day that Divine recommends without turning into a carbon copy facsimile of the author himself. Still, there are suitable activities that the reader can cherry-pick from based on their interests and whatever strikes their fancy. Ultimately, Uncommon is a not-bad read that might encourage and inspire readers to go above and beyond their way of living. I found some excellent stuff here, but some seemed to be a bit questionable. However, that’s probably par for a book such as this. Uncommon is unconventional; I hope Divine would agree if he is reading this.
Mark Divine’s Uncommon: Simple Principles for an Extraordinary Life was published by St. Martin’s Press on July 16, 2024.
Of course, if you like what you see, please recommend this piece (click on the clapping hands icon below) and share it with your followers.
Get in touch: zacharyhoule@rogers.com
