Acknowledgments

The decision to write this book can be traced back to a series of posts on the passion hypothesis that I first published on my blog, Study Hacks. The reaction from my readers was immediate and voluminous. Their feedback helped shape and focus my thinking on this topic and convinced me that this was a discussion worth sharing with a wider audience. As such, I thank them for spurring me into starting this project.

It was at this point that my publishing team entered the picture. My longtime agent and mentor, Laurie Abkemeier, worked her magic and helped me transform my diverse thoughts into a cohesive book proposal. The book ended up with Rick Wolff at Grand Central/Business Plus, and I couldn’t be happier about this turn of events. Rick is the type of editor authors hope for. He understood my idea at a gut level, and his enthusiasm for it never waned. He helped me find the right voice for expressing these provocative arguments in a way that people would accept. The book is indisputably better due to his efforts.

Finally, my wife, Julie, was indispensable in the writing process. She not only read drafts of my work in progress but also listened through endless iterations of my thinking, always offering honest and clear feedback. She was joined in these efforts by my friend Ben Casnocha, who conceived, sold, and wrote a career-advice book concurrently with my own, allowing us to share numerous useful conversations at all stages of the process.