Pause to Think by Jaime Lester has an interesting premise, but it ultimately falls short of its potential. The book starts strong, drawing you in with a reflective tone and some genuinely thought-provoking ideas about mindfulness and decision-making. However, as it progresses, the narrative feels repetitive, as if the author circles the same point without adding much depth. The anecdotes sprinkled throughout are hit or miss—some feel relatable, but others seem overly simplistic or even a bit contrived.

One of the biggest challenges with Pause to Think is its writing style. While conversational, it often drifts into clichés, which can make the text feel uninspired. There are nuggets of wisdom here, but you have to sift through a lot of filler to find them. The book would have benefited from tighter editing and a bit more focus. Overall, while it has its moments, Pause to Think doesn't quite leave a lasting impression.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This book introduced a lot of important concepts such as the mind-body connection, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Occam’s razor, compound interest, and correlation versus causation. The exercises are a great way to make you think and apply the concepts in a way that may make more sense to us and the answers at the back help, especially with the mathematical exercises, which I’m not used to being included books. The explanatory cartoons were a helpful way to liven up some potentially dull topics. However, the book is very factually dense containing 32 concepts in the first 96 pages alone which isn’t ideal for everybody. I also read it in a digital form and some of the figures such as tables and graphs overlapped the writing on the adjoining page making it very difficult to read those paragraphs.

A dense packed book that feels like a first year university text for decision making whether it’s investment or work decisions. Lots of information and exercises. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for a DRC.