What of the book? Permit me to save you the trouble of finding out for yourself: Be Useful is a raw deal, a hollow PR exercise filled with precepts and quips but devoid of self-awareness or humility. You might be swayed by Arnie’s touching faith in bipartisanship and the need to tackle the climate crisis or moved by his tales of heroic procurement of personal protective equipment during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. But as a pitch for Marcus Aurelius status...it’s thoroughly expendable — an overpromoted TED Talk, just another cross-promotional weapon in the Schwarzenegger multimedia arsenal.
Routinely scattershot but reliably charming ... The book is most compelling when Schwarzenegger writes from his own perspective, a voice that valorizes both intellectual curiosity and the thrill of getting absolutely shredded ... It isn’t until the final two chapters, including a grace note of a closing argument, that he flexes some moral clarity that’s strong enough to counterbalance all the bluster and wit.
A hybrid work. Part Jordan Peterson’s bro life-hack manual slash pop philosophy...part Instagram motivational quotes slash Arianna Huffington’s obsession with 'thriving', it is threaded through with relevant memoir ... There’s plenty of humour to offset the more Sandhursty bits ... The triumph of this book is that it’s quite rare in the self-help canon – or what publishers now term personal development – to not make a cynic such as myself roll their eyes, and this one doesn’t. It’s a shame that whoever was responsible for the jacket blurbs takes a shoving-a-finger-in-your chest approach that isn’t replicated by the variable tone inside, which is sometimes dogmatic but often reflects the genuine kindness and enthusiasm of its author. Be Useful, it turns out, is very helpful.
His references to his achievements can seem boastful (a problem that plagued his memoir), although he makes a point of thanking his mentors, Hollywood colleagues, friends, and even his ex-wife, and his accomplishments are hard to deny. Some readers, however, might argue with his view that success is a matter of positive thinking while ignoring structural impediments. In any case, the text is a solid read, and Schwarzenegger does not shy away from using colorful language to get his point across. It might not have all the answers for social recovery, but it is not a bad place to start. Schwarzenegger unpacks the tools for success with a wry sense of humor and broad view of the world.
