Review by AntiAwesome8 -- Burn Zones by Jorge P. Newbery

[AntiAwesome8]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Burn Zones" by Jorge P. Newbery.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Entrepreneur Jorge Newbery’s book Burn Zones could comfortably be considered a business memoir, with plenty of TED Talk-worthy insights from a productive life; but it would be a shame to bypass the true “burn zone” posited here: the struggle to channel compassion while pursuing financial monopoly. To be clear, fortune was never Newbery’s primary objective, and compassion seems to come easily to him, but this is a story any wannabe-tycoon would do well to ingest.

The book is well-paced for the casual reader. Newbery grows up in a suburb of Los Angeles, his mother a former actress and his father an Argentine who instills in him style and self-confidence. Newbery uses the pro cycling term “burn zone” many times throughout the book to describe “do or die” moments that challenge a person’s courage or perseverance. While I find the term a little too cheesy to encompass all of life’s challenges, I can see how Newbery tries to use “burn zones” to collectivize and unite us. We are all forced to enter burn zones intermittently throughout our lives.

Most of the book is told in a light-hearted, if matter-of-fact, tone. Passages about Newbery’s father summon the most sentimentality. Newbery takes most of his mistakes in stride and expresses as much enthusiasm for mastering business jargon as improving the lives of the tenants who occupy his apartment complexes (which is to say, a lot). He gladly sacrifices his thrilling but low-earning life of professional cycling in favor of the more economical real estate industry. One gets the sense Newbery feels a compulsion; indeed, a calling, to pursue greater and greater successes. He claims that in 1999 he was likely the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s #1 REO broker in the U.S., and this was but an early accomplishment.

The greatest interruption in his upward mobility comes in 2006 after a storm leaves hundreds of tenants without heat or electricity. Newbery’s exhaustive efforts to reconstruct the community are constantly thwarted by local bureaucrats, who slam him for “incompetence;” for failing to refurbish ruined housing within a short timeframe and with negative income. Having once been naïve, he is disheartened to learn that it is perfectly common for legal disputes over government money to be rigged against the prosecuted. Although perhaps boastful of his charitable successes, Newbery took many uncommon risks in his pursuit to thwart bureaucratic greed.

Newbery is one to root for, with his fearless (and diverse) personal quests; gratitude for his parents; and innate business sense. A memoirist couldn’t ask for a better origin story: a middle-class upbringing with love and care but plenty of room for upward momentum. As I was reading about Newbery’s early life in L.A., I found myself puzzled by his perfect temper and iron work ethic. There aren’t many seven-year-olds who would request a job delivering papers, nor are there many cyclists able to push themselves to the brink of sanity to earn a spot in the Tour of Mexico (among other races). I couldn’t relate to this perfect specimen of human nature, but I also reckon he couldn’t imagine living any other way.

I rate Burn Zones 3 out of 4 stars. Although stodgy in parts, it is more than competently written. It may well be an ideal read for young, prideful hopefuls yearning to make an impact on Wall Street, Silicon Valley, or some of the undervalued places in between.

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Burn Zones
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[Use2alone]

The book seems to give me a value of being strong and patient, also how to rise again from the falls. I will ensure by myself by reading this book.

[Hussein21]

I enjoy your review as it was captioning from the beginning. Burn zone sounds like a self development and encouraging book and I love me some of those!