Allen is the anti-Covey. While Covey says schedule your priorities, Allen wants us to prioritize our schedule. The difference is simple. Allen says do all your menial work first and then leave lots of time for the creative stuff. Covey says do your Most important work FIRST and then fill in the day with the rest of the junk because that never ends and during the day you are going to need a break from that and drudgery will then be a welcome relief.

I preferred his original book, "Getting Things Done". But the format of "Ready for Anything" allows people that comes by to just read one chapter that interest them (since it's separated in 52 tips) is interesting.

Classic David Allen! I loved it immensely! Only reason it didn't get 5 stars was due to it's length....way too short (IMO). would have given top ratings had it been double the length!

David Allen is my super nerdy organizing your life boyfriend. This book is hot. It should be combined with his celebrated (I'm still raising a glass) Getting Things Done, better know in left/anarchist circles as the GTD Revolution.

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a great book. It has really helped me a lot in organizing my life. David Allen in this book compiled the articles from his website about the details of GTD applicability, and the minutiae of GTD mentality. This book might answer the question of "why is GTD so useful, popular and timeless?". But the rationale of the GTD system in the main book is very enough. So, Don't read this book.

I'm only on the introduction. I tend to be a little ADD with reading books and sometimes my currently reading list will be quite long.

So far, I like the introduction a lot. It's piqued my interest.

Free Your Mind, Become Your Most Creative Self

Productivity is a buzz word that is the subject of books, emails, blogs and all forms of social media. However it all comes down to your system for Getting Things Done. I have read David Allen’s book by the same name about two years ago and implemented many of the ideas. I felt it was time for a refresher and his compilation book divided into 52 Productivity Principles served this purpose. Even if you have not read the original book, “Ready for Anything” can be used as a stand alone treatise that can have you on your way to a systematic approach to your Business and Personal schedule.

2018 update; I reread David Allen about every year. It gets both simpler and more complex every time.



Sometimes when I read this one along with the others in the series I'm disappointed, this time I enjoyed it the most of the 3. It's the most personally insightful and personable of his books.

This book is basically shovelware collection of David Allen's e-newsletters about the Getting Things Done system. As such, it's pretty uneven; some chapters are engaging and useful, some are vague and meandering. I read the book as a booster shot for my application of Getting Things Done, and to that end it was quite effective; I was reminded of a few aspects of the system that I haven't implemented properly, and I was inspired anew to implement GTD properly.

This isn't necessarily the kind of book you'd read straight through, but it's a good bathroom read if you want to invigorate your implementation of GTD.

I probably had unfair expectations on this book because I got so obsessed with Getting Things Done. This too is a good book, though it's really a series of productivity essays by David Allen. A good follow up to GTD but you'll definitely make sure you read it after Getting Things Done and Making It All Work.

A whole bunch of nothing

David Allen has a great many good points in this book, but it feels very disjointed. The book has no flow and it feels like a heap of ideas. That may very well be the author's intention, but for a productivity book, it may have been a better methodology to make larger chapters focusing on particular problems and elaborating upon them.