Synopses & Reviews
It's a Dog Eat Dog World. Don't Be on the Menu.
What are the differences between a winning and losing performance? Why are we able to rise to the challenge one day, but wilt from it the next? Can we in fact become better competitors? In Top Dog, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman use cutting edge science to tease out the hidden factors at the core of every great triumph — and every tragic failure. By enabling you to identify your own competitive style, Top Dog will help you tip the odds of success in your favor. Integrating wisdom from politics, finance, genetics, neuroscience, psychology, military training, sports, economics, education and more, Top Dog offers counterintuitive, game-changing insights into the nature of competition, such as:
- Why the home field advantage in sports is just as relevant in diplomacy and deal-making
- That women are better at judging risk, while men are better at ignoring it — and how this plays out on K Street and Wall Street
- Why younger siblings are more competitive than first-borns, and how early-childhood influences shape competitive styles forever
- That the shape of entrepreneurs' hands can be just as revealing as their business plans
- How a single biochemical can predict a winner before an event has even begun
- Why discord can be better than harmony, and why stars on a team do deserve special treatment.
As President Dwight Eisenhower said, "What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight-it's the size of the fight in the dog." In Top Dog, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman reveal the size of the fight in all of us.
Synopsis
New York Times Bestseller Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman's work changes the national dialogue. Beyond their bestselling books, you know them from commentary and features in the New York Times, CNN, NPR, Time, Newsweek, Wired, New York, and more. E-mail, Facebook, and Twitter accounts are filled with demands to read their reporting (such as "How Not to Talk to Your Kids," "Creativity Crisis," and "Losing Is Good for You").
In Top Dog, Bronson and Merryman again use their astonishing blend of science and storytelling to reveal what's truly in the heart of a champion. The joy of victory and the character-building agony of defeat. Testosterone and the neuroscience of mistakes. Why rivals motivate. How home field advantage gets you a raise. What teamwork really requires. It's baseball, the SAT, sales contests, and Linux. How before da Vinci and FedEx were innovators, first, they were great competitors.
Olympians carry Top Dog in their gym bags. It's in briefcases of Wall Street traders and Madison Avenue madmen. Risk takers from Silicon Valley to Vegas race to implement its ideas, as educators debate it in halls of academia. Now see for yourself what this game-changing talk is all about.
About the Author
Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman's NurtureShock was on the New York Times bestseller list for six months. One of the most influential books about children ever published, NurtureShock landed on more than 35 "Year's Best" lists and has been translated into 16 languages. The authors have won nine national awards for their reporting, including the PEN USA Award for Literary Journalism and the American Association for the Advancement of Science Award for Outstanding Journalism. Prior to their collaboration, Bronson authored five books, including What Should I Do with My Life?, a #1 New York Times bestseller with more than ten months on the list. Merryman's journalism has appeared in Time, Newsweek, New York, The Washington Post, and many other venues. Bronson lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children. Merryman lives in Los Angeles.