Choke

What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To

By: Sian Beilock

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

It happens to all of us. You've prepared for days, weeks, even years for the big day when you will finally show your stuff in academics, in your career, in sports but when the big moment arrives, nothing seems to work. You hit the wrong note, drop the ball, get stumped by a simple question. In other words, you choke. It's not fun to think about, but now there's good news: This doesn't have to happen.

Dr. Sian Beilock, an expert on performance and brain science, reveals in Choke the astonishing new science of why we all too often blunder when the stakes are high. What happens in our brain and body when we experience the dreaded performance anxiety? And what are we doing differently when everything magically "clicks" into place and the perfect golf swing, tricky test problem, or high-pressure business pitch becomes easy? In an energetic tour of the latest brain science, with surprising insights on every page, Beilock explains the inescapable links between body and mind; reveals the surprising similarities among the ways performers, students, athletes, and business people choke; and shows how to succeed brilliantly when it matters most.

In lively prose and accessibly rendered science, Beilock examines how attention and working memory guide human performance, how experience and practice and brain development interact to create our abilities, and how stress affects all these factors. She sheds new light on counter-intuitive realities, like why the highest performing people are most susceptible to choking under pressure, why we may learn foreign languages best when were not paying attention, why early childhood athletic training can backfire, and how our emotions can make us both smarter and dumber. All these fascinating findings about academic, athletic, and creative intelligence come together in Beilock's new ideas about performance under pressure - and her secrets to never choking again.

©2010 Sian Beilock (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Both good and bad

This book is very interesting and contains plenty of good advice for performing well in different types of stressful situations. The reader has a very patronizing tone, though. I listened all the way through, but at the beginning, I wasn't sure I'd be able to stomach listening to her. The book also could have used more editing. It's very repetitive.

Both insightful and practical

This book held some extremely interesting scientifically-rooted insights as to why choking occurs, as well as several strategies to help prevent it. Perhaps the most eye-opening portion was that explaining the difference between chokes in sports and academic performance, how they relate to working memory, and the unique remedies of each.

Anxiety and Performance

In "Choke" Sian Deilock, professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, reveals what brain science is telling us about performance anxiety - choking. She opens the book reviewing the related literature on performance, neuroplasticity, pratice and other topics related to choking. She concludes with a series of practical things that individuals, students, and parents can do to help themselves and others overcome performance hazards. The last portion of the book focuses on choking in detail.

This is a book that is written to be available to anyone whose interest is in athletic, academic, or creative performance. Don't let this book pass you by whatever your reading interest. The writing sparkles and the reading of Suzanne Torren is excellent.

Awful

I must admit this book is awful. I choke often in critical meetings and I was looking for answers. I was so disappointed with how it was read. The book has a boring monotone narrator; I gave up after an hour. However, I am going to read the book from the library.

Redundant

There were some great takeaways but should be edited down by half. I did not finish as the same point was stated over and over again.

Great content, okay writing

As others have said, there are some really great takeaways in this book. It really helped me to understand myself better, and I do recommend it to anyone who has ever had issues with choking.

That said, the writing could have used another few rounds of editing. I also did not care for the narrator’s delivery. Her voice didn’t seem to match the “voice” of the author. The first couple chapters were particularly rough, but you’ll be glad you stuck with it in spite of that.

Surprise read

This book is so much more than I thought it would be! Very interesting and life changing!

Light on content, but what's here is good

The book starts off preachy, with the author coming off like she has all the answers and the world desperately needs her insights. A note to authors of these kinds of books: what you have are opinions, no doubt well supported and researched, but still opinions. Plus someone out there thought of it first, he or she just didn't write a book about it. Yet. So if you come off as preachy we will decide you are selling faith healing and move on.

Which I almost did. The first half of the book is mostly about sexual stereotypes, to the point it felt like a rant. What does this have to do with choking? I get that it is a factor in "stereotype threat" but jeez, leave it alone already.

Mixed in with that are many pages which can be summed up as "practice makes perfect". Did I need to spend an audio credit for this?

Fortunately the latter half of the book deals with research into choking, and has practical ideas on how to avoid it. I plan on re-reading the last third of the book and trying to put those ideas into practice.

The narration was good, clear and the tone suited the material.

Excellent resource

Very useful. Very accessible. Narrator can come across as a bit patronizing and pedantic. But her diction is clear and her pacing good.

Fine book. Insufferable narration.

This book functions well as a survey of research findings relating to performance under pressure. I have encountered much of the information before, but I appreciate hearing it summarized in layperson-friendly language.

The way the narrator pronounces L's, on the other hand, is jarring. Her bizarre, exaggerated affectation/inflection/emphasis of L sounds--particularly at the beginning of words--distracts from the information being presented. I've been forced to stop listening on several occasions, and I might not finish the audiobook.

It could just be a pet peeve of mine, I know. It's certainly peeving.