Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done from Charlie Gilkey is a work with a wide scope and a tight condensed writing style that boils down a lot of information into a coherent and well structure work. The overriding topic of the book is exploring how we can transfer our plans and ideas into completion by gathering our resources, embracing an effective plan of action, putting it into effect, and avoiding pitfalls along the way that may sway us from our desired goals. Gilkey doesn’t limit his discussion of these issues to the professional world; he makes it clear, time and again, that his principles are valid in everyday life. This recognition expands the impact of Start Finishing and testifies to the book’s comprehensive nature.
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Gilkey includes a number of exercises and questions along the way for readers to engage with and pose to themselves as they move through the text. The book, however, doesn’t need to be a linear experience; Gilkey has designed the work in such a way that you pick it up and begin at any point without ever losing the heart of what Gilkey attempts to convey to his readers. The prose style for the book eschews false eloquence in favor of communicating with readers in a straight forward way and this stance extends, as well, to the aforementioned questions and exercises.
Another important addition to the book comes via the research Gilkey has put into making this book work. Gilkey references secondary sources throughout Start Finishing and they are neatly summarized in a Further Reading section after the text ends. This same commitment to detail extends to the micro level as well – each of the book’s chapters ends with a section entitled “takeaways” that provide uncluttered appraisals of the preceding material. He proves to be quite adept at boiling down relatively complicated subjects to key bullet points.
I am taken, as well, by the personable tone Charles Gilkey takes throughout the book. His ability to relate to readers of all levels, a strength feeding into the book’s aforementioned quality of offering something no matter where you start reading, helps make his roadmap for success all the easier to follow. You never feel lectured or talked down to in any way. His talents for making himself seem every bit as invested in your personal and professional success as you are makes his arguments and advice all the more convincing.
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There are few works on the market like this. Gilkey doesn’t hobble his book with quasi New Age babble, shallow philosophy, or data for wonks that will mean nothing to laymen readers. He, instead, builds the book around practical advice rather than over-intellectualized approaches and it rewards readers because it meets them half way – he reveals something of himself rather than keeping a distance from readers and relating to Start Finishing is one of the key’s to its overall success. You won’t read this book a single time and then shelve it to collect dust.
Clay Burton