I enjoyed hearing Emmanuel's anecdotes throughout this motivational self-help book! Each story had a clear purpose and he always tied it into the theme of doing the illogical thing. A nice quick listen!

Emmanuel Acho is one of the most dynamic thinkers and speakers of our time. While I’ve sorta outgrown my self-help book phase, I couldn’t help but dive into this one, simply because I love Emmanuel’s voice, vision, and passion for life. While some of what was written were things I’ve heard him say/things I’ve read before from him, this felt like an approachable and easily digestible book that I listened to in one sitting on a gloomy afternoon.

Emmanuel Acho is a very engaging speaker--I love listening to him. The content of this book probably warranted three stars (there are some good examples and anecdotes but also a lot of ideas that are pretty common in motivational books), but LISTENING to him as the narrator on the audio version bumped it up to four stars for me. The energy and enthusiasm in the narration definitely made it fun and inspiring for me beyond what was written on the pages. I'm not 100-percent sold on the idea of being "illogical" (he seemed to offer some pretty logical tips for how to become illogical, and the overall idea seemed more about being unlimited than illogical), but it was really was an enjoyable book to listen to.

I listened to an audiobook provided by the publisher via #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

“Stop letting your value, your success, or even your greatness be determined by someone other than you. Especially someone you don’t know. Stop letting your beauty, your happiness, or your worth be dependent upon the convention of the time… Once you’ve realized that your standards are the only ones by which you should measure anything, then you can take full agency over your life.”

*cue mic drop.*

In this book, Acho uses several stories from his own life, his family’s life, the lives of celebrities and elite athletes, and even lives of figures from the Bible to prove his thesis. He maintains that you have to play by your own rules in order to achieve your goals, even when society calls those rules illogical and tries to force you down the “logical” path.

“Logic limits, and you were meant to fly.”

I loved this eARC audiobook so much, I had to run out and buy a copy of the gorgeous hardcover today at Target. Read Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man last month and it was a 5 star read for me just like this one!

Acho does a phenomenal job narrating his own audiobooks. It was a quick yet powerful listen.

“You don’t follow your calling because you’re qualified. You qualify by following your calling.”

“Your calling is your calling. It’s not a conference call.”

Illogical - Emmanuel Acho
5/5 stars

I am a fan of Emmanuel Acho's work, in particular CONVERSATIONS WITH A BLACK BOY, which I found to be very meaningful to me as a mother to a Black son. ILLOGICAL was also a very enjoyable book to listen to, although it feels less significant and more in line with many books in the self-development genre.
Acho again uses not only his personal story but biblical references, history, and a lot of historical sports examples and against-the-odds accomplishments of contemporary athletes like Steph Curry, to support his premise that in pursuit of greatness and full exploration of potential, one should be illogical, meaning not limited by logical expectations.
He's charming and this is an easy listen. I'd definitely recommend it for any young athlete, or parent who wants to share a book with their teen- whether they are aspiring to be a robotics champ, head on a path to a spelling bee title, or play in the NFL. Most impactful to me was the example of the track star who set a record time previously unthinkable- breaking a record that had been untouched for more than a decade. Once a new record was set, many other sprinters did the same, and then even better. All you can accept as explanation is that the mind was holding back the body, because logic dictated that time couldn't be beat.
Valuable anecdotes and an overall positive experience.

3.5 stars

I probably would have given this book 4 stars, but I just read Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man last month, and this latest book feels like at least 25% was a repeat of content.

It also felt a lot like there's more ego involved. It must be difficult to write a self-help/motivational manifesto and still sound humble.

That said, Emmanuel Acho is a great narrator and storyteller. I'm grateful for the early listening copy of Illogical via the NetGalley app.

This was a great read! Unlike most celebrity advice books, Acho keeps it real, raw, and honest. He never gets pretentious or acts like he somehow knows more than the reader. I enjoyed this book very much

Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC! #illogical

“Take the time to find the right note.” Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of the audiobook. I love listening to Emmanuel Acho speak and he has important points in the book. As a rule follower, he has me thinking about where I should think outside the box. Really enjoyed this second book of his and plan to read any future books he writes.