Review of The Maestro Monologue

[DERYA AGIS]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Maestro Monologue" by Rob White.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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The author Rob White used to write columns for the Huffington Post, and currently, he is a life coach, a speaker, and a guest lecturer.

Rob White’s book The Maestro Monologue emphasizes the importance of positive thinking by claiming the remembrance of bad experiences and negative emotions as “intruders.” Negative emotions caused by the frequent remembrance of a negative experience may lead to negative consequences, including depression, health issues, and harsh relationships with others. Besides, for the author, the intruder emotion or memory can be the unique enemy of a human being. For this reason, the author recommends several exercises to get rid of negative ideas, thus intruders that insinuate through the nerves and find a place in the long-term memory. Childhood traumas, such as punishments and bullies are the intruders that find a hidden place in the human brain. The first part of the book is a “heartthrob.” The second part reveals why one’s heart may stop beating; the part three is an introduction to “Maestro Monologue.” The author suggests that the ultimate fourth part will bring the readers to a “magic kingdom.”

Positively, the first part intends to make the readers be aware of their successes, talents, and capabilities. They should not accuse themselves of being failures, but they should be resilient: this is the message of the author, trying to make the readers to find their ways in life. The readers may be dreaming of being financially secure, having healthy relationships, being loved, and enjoying their success at work. The author recommends that failures can be lessons, and those who have failed once can prosper in the end by relying upon their talents and resilience as well as by acting on time without any procrastination. The author wants the readers to estimate themselves and aim high.

In the second part, the author proposes that humans have not only a negative self-view, but also a positive self-view: the ones who accept the positive self-view, ignoring that negative self-view become maestros, thus life masters. The maestro concept is a metaphor for people expert in directing their own lives positively; the author resembles the life to a "symphony" and the frequently remembered childhood traumas and negative experiences to "intruders." The ideas of being “a failure,” “unlucky,” and “unlovable” are intruders hindering one’s self-achievement. The author emphasizes that nothing is impossible. Besides, the author gives examples to people who have given up thinking negatively about themselves.

The third part is being a good maestro: if the readers accept that they are talented and lucky, they can dominate their lives. Thus, they should “rebel” against negative ideas, “recognize” their talents, and “reveal” themselves by thinking positively. Besides, the author says that only the readers know about themselves better than others: therefore, they can be their own mentors.

Finally, in the fourth part, the author underlines that people aware of their talents without being discouraged by others will achieve their dreams by thinking positively.

Regarding all these above-mentioned positive points of the book, the author teaches the readers not to be discouraged by others’ negative judgments and bullies. However, regarding the negative points of the book, the author never mentions some examples to challenges which people may encounter during distinct stages of their lives, such as nepotism in a job placement process: although a person is the perfect match for a job, s/he may not be selected since another candidate is the nephew or niece of the university president or a political figure. People may also be challenged by mobbing, peer pressure, or calumnies created by those who wish to replace them. Despite this, the author is good at making the readers focus on their talents ignoring “toxic” views about them. The book asks questions to the readers to which they may answer for improving their resilience skills. The animal metaphors such as a caterpillar that becomes a butterfly and an eagle that must conceive that it is not a chicken, but an eagle can encourage many to realize their own talents. However, some cultures may find these animal metaphors discouraging by separating humans from animals without thinking that both humans and animals belong to the same class of living things. I strongly recommend this book to students or victims of mobbing whose talents are ignored by jealous professors or colleagues. This amazing book shall be suggested as a resilience guide by university and work-place psychologists and life coaches to those seeking help, feeling discouraged by envious people, harsh peer reviews, rejected research proposals, or job rejection letters. This book receives 4 out of 4 as a rating by me.

Book: White, Rob. 2020. The Maestro Monologue. The Mind Adventure Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-578-87570-5 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-578-94164-6 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-0-578-87571-2 (ebook)

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The Maestro Monologue
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