Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life

This new book by Luke Burgis could actually change your life for the better. No hype. Just a rare, wonderful fact. In two days, it’s given me new ways of looking at pretty much everything and everyone around me, as well as myself. It may be my favorite book since a guy named Arrian jotted down what his Stoic teacher Epictetus was saying, or at least since an unknown poet wrote the story of Beowulf. The opening pages and chapters are a master class in grabbing and holding a reader’s attention for a topic whose importance may be in an inverse relation to its commonality of discussion in our time. We get to go with the author into PayPal founder Peter Thiel's home for a great conversation, hang out with Luke when the CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, was trying to buy his own startup business, and then stand behind him as he opened the door to a hit man who came to visit about an unpaid bill. We learn about how Lamborghini was created and why the founder decided to walk away from the ultimate form of competition that he would surely have won. And why a Michelin 3 star chef, so ranked for 19 years in a row, asked to be left out of their famous guide. And on and on. There are so many great stories in this book that all shed light on our own lives in really new ways. They are such good stories, you have to run and tell someone right away. The topic of the book is the importance of two things in our lives: Desire and Imitation, or when the two are combined like they always are in our experience, Imitative Desire, or to use a word from the book’s subtitle, Mimetic Desire. From the moment we’re born, we come into the world as masterful imitators of others. It’s the way we get our bearings and begin to enter the adventures to come. And we also enter the world with needs that express themselves as yowling wants. But then the story takes a twist, and our wants begin to greatly outnumber our needs and play an even bigger role that those basic necessities in shaping our thoughts and actions and paths in the world. Socrates long ago urged us all to engage in self examination. The command was “Know Yourself!” We’ve long interpreted that as being about our own beliefs, emotions, and attitudes. Luke lets us know how importantly it’s about our desires—what they are, how we got them, and where they’re taking us. Ultimately, this is a book about inner metamorphosis, a sort of spiritual alchemy in transforming the desire engines of our lives into a more positive configuration and direction. It’s a book of great power and has been desperately needed in our time. Luke: What took you so long? Just kidding. No masterpiece happens quickly, and that’s as true of this book as it is of our best lived lives. I’ve been writing books of practical philosophy for about thirty years, and as I seek to be of help to people, I also try to read all the best current books that promise us new wisdom, great insights, and positive transformation. Most fall far, far short of their hype. Some are simply cons, bereft of usefulness and actually both misleading and dangerous. A few are very good, and rarely, now and then, one is actually great. This book occupies the outer reaches of that last category and is truly exceptional. Please do yourself and everyone around you a huge favor. Get this book and read it as soon as you can, and then read it again. It’s that good. Luke Burgis may have elevated himself with this book into the mantle of “The Most Interesting Man in the World.” I hope a Dos Equis Deal is in the works for him. But I'm equally sure he doesn't even want one, which is the real magic of transcendence to which he guides us in the end.

I am very happy to have read this book. It has an amazing insight into what drives us to behave/want/do things that we do. It's a force of mimesis, seeking of models, of someone or something to copy and strive to be. Once you learn about it, you realize how much it has impacted your life, and how much it is all around us. It's a dangerous force where if left unrecognized, it can lead to personal and societal hardships. I would give this book five stars but it felt like some conclusions reached were a bit far fetched, or at least not tied up well together to make sense. It almost feels like it was rushed to get finished, or perhaps that's the result of the editorial process? Either way, I would recommend it to anyone to pick it up and explore what this book says.

Are you searching for a groundbreaking toolkit to learn why we want what we want and tactics on how we can free ourselves from chasing unfulfilling desires? If you answered with a loud YES, then keep reading! 4x Founder/CEO, Professor, and now the bestselling author of WANTING, Luke Burgis has given us a wildly interesting book. Luke dives deep into the concept of mimetic, the powerful force in relation to gravity, but how it is different, is it affects our psychology rather than our physical self. He draws on the work of French polymath, René Girard to bring light to this hidden force and connects it extremely well to our lives on an everyday basis. Do you know why you want things that other people want? Do you know why we are all constantly striving to “keep up with the Joneses?” WANTING is an amazing piece of work sharing the details behind mimetic desire and how it directly affects those closest to us as well as our daily lives and choices. Luckily, Luke shares 15 tactics on how the reader can steer clear of falling victim to this psychological force and harness the desire to follow suit towards others, by gaining independence and shape their lives with their own desires. If you are sick of following others and have an interest to dive deep into the motivation behind the actions of humans. Or perhaps feel that we live in a grey, robotic world, pick up this book! You will be glad you did. Take control of your life, create independence, and live a life unique to you, not your Aunt Sally or the next-door neighbor with the pool.

Unlike many pop psychology/business books Wanting starts at first principles and provides a useful and thoughtful background to the core insight central to the book—the Girardian theory of mimesis. I particularly enjoyed the introductory discussion of how children learn through the process of watching and copying as compared to animals where it is more often innate instinct and behavior I found it very useful in providing a foundation for the theory. When explaining these ideas to others I have returned often to that example as the bedrock for my explanation. Afterall, if one assumes this copying as a method for learning continues past childhood it is easy to see how somebody like Girard could reach many of the conclusions he does—although I am not sure that is exactly how he came to these conclusions, still you get the point. Luke Burgis also adds onto Girards theory and importantly differentiates himself from Thiel in a number of ways. I found this important as Thiel, who I greatly admire, is the most famous proponent of mimetic theory today and often the first source for which people encounter mimetic theory. People tend to interpret Thiels version of mimetic theory as "The Mimetic Theory". Burgis makes his own interpretation clear and provides an alternative view in a clean layout with interesting anecdotes. I will add that I found the categorization of thick and thin desires less useful than others may have but recognize they are a practical way of recognizing mimetic theory and implementing it within your own life. Overall it's a fun, quick read and an excellent introduction to a difficult philosophical idea which Burgis is clearly intimately familiar with. 5/5

This is a very well written book, and I am so glad I downloaded it on a whim. The question of the internal and external motivation for our wants is something I think we've all pondered (usually as we get home from the thrift store with something like a glass "house hippo" that will sit on your mantel - thanks weird FB finds page), and the author does an excellent job putting together the framework for better understanding of ourselves and others. Though we'll have to work on it. The book is set up well from the beginning and makes for an easy path for readers to walk; almost a slow hike through the wilderness as you contemplate his meaning. I was very excited to read some sections and took some of them more slowly to let the message sink in. Some sections felt very 'meta,' and it reminded me of Italo Calvino's "If on a winter's night a traveler," which I loved, but I know some people hate. The way it grabs your chin and makes you look in a direction you weren't sure you should. But I'm still glad I did. The thoughtfulness and introspection into our inner world reminded me of "Walking in Wonder," by John O'Donohue. I would recommend this book to anyone, and will likely also buy a paper copy to keep on the shelf to revisit. I did notice two small typos in the book; a missing word and a repeated word. They didn't inhibit the meaning or feeling of the text and since there were only two that I saw, I didn't let it affect my review. Really an excellent read. Don't let yourself miss out!

The core premise of the book and many of its recommendations are great. But… * it is largely derivative (openly admitted by the author) of the work of another author * some of the arguments rely on speculative or presumptuous examples * it is repetitive and sometimes overly verbose I feel like this book could hit much harder if it was about 100 pages shorter. Again though, great topic and I do feel like I got value from it.

The author Burgis has good stories of people who succeeded and failed. Most notably Zappo and Lamborghni of people who were successful and on Zappos founder Tony Hsieg who succeeded and fail in his experiments on create a downtown where happiness was the goal. We desire what others want without people realizing it. The scapegoat syndrome through history served it purpose on blaming others for your situation and a way to unite people with a common enemy - the solitary for people to determine what they want and why. I like the example of imagine you on your death bed and you have to make a decision in your mind’s eye when gives you joy and which one doesn’t. The appendix was good with examples on motivation and why you did what you did- it usually involved others approvals. Because of this book , I ordered , Steal like an Artist book by Austin Kleon.. I’ll end it with what Burgis said,: what did we want in the past? what do we want now? and what do we want in the future? and most importantly Why?

‘Wanting’ by Luke Burgis can be seen as a multi-tool book. It’s your intro to René Girard’s thinking, a self-help guide (if you like that kind of thing), kind of a dive into spirituality, and even a resource for entrepreneurs. What sets it apart is how Burgis tackles complex themes like mimetic desire and the scapegoat mechanism, using personal stories and examples to make these intricate concepts accessible and relatable. This book is a mirror - the more you invest in understanding its layers, the more it reveals about our world and ourselves. If you’re looking to decode the forces shaping today’s culture and behavior, this book is great. If you like it, you will go down a transformational and fun girardian rabbit hole.