Eran Dror's Blog

Intrepid Radio Interview (18 minutes)

This short and sweet interview on the Intrepid Radio podcast dives into the idea behind the Book of Hard Truths.

Join me for a conversation that will very likely change how you look at your life. Today, joined by author Eran Dror, author of The Book of Hard Truths.

These “hard truths” are widely known and explored in religion & spirituality books, self-help books, psychology books, philosophy books, TED talks, etc. As Dror explains, he simply collected them, wrote them out as clearly as he coul...

Knowledge for Men Interview (52 minutes)

My longest interview yet, this interview on the Knowledge for Men Podcast is an exploration of The Book of Hard Truths.

Israeli born journalist, author and designer, Eran Dror has worked at various startups in NYC for nearly 10 years. Eran is the author of “The Book of Hard Truths” a book that brings into the light several hard, uncomfortable and unavoidable facts about life that we must all learn to accept.

Eran has recently taken an interest in Buddhist psychology and the ways we can apply it...

Enterprise Radio Interview (9m)

My short interview with Enterprise Radio is out. Check it out below.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Eran Dror discuss the following:

– What are the hard truths?

– Why do hard truths matter and for whom are they most applicable?

– What is the common reaction people have to the hard truths?

– What specific truths are hard for entrepreneurs to recognize?

– What can anyone going into a new business or launching a product do to help them accept some of the hard truths that will help them get on th...

My First Radio Interview!

This interview on the Michael Dresser Show was my first ever. I was extremely nervous the whole day before the interview, and if you listen carefully I think you’ll hear it. Still, once the conversation started I calmed down and I think I managed to make a couple of good points. What do you think?

Avoiding Hard Truths = Professional Agida?

Alexandra Levit of Intuit wrote this nice summary of some of the truths in The Book of Hard Truths that is getting tweeted around a bit.

Many tough life lessons are first explained to us in childhood but seem to go in one ear and out the other. Our failure to master these often results in professional agida.

As human beings, we tend to hold on to irrational ideas and fight against the inevitable. Based on Eran Dror’s new book, here are 10 difficult truths we all must recognize and then take st...

Why I Wrote Hard Truths

Ever since I launched The Book of Hard Truths on April 23rd, I’ve had lots of people ask me why I wrote it. I usually mumble a few words about the importance of facing up to difficult truths, I mention Brené Brown’s excellent talk about The Power of Vulnerability, which shows why not shying away from unpleasant truths is so important. I also mention Alain de Botton’s excellent bookand TED talk, in which he claims that we have “secularized badly”, and that we have abandoned the great redeeming...

How to Tell News from Propaganda

(I first wrote this post as a Quora answer a couple of days ago. I’m reposting here for your benefit.)



I’ve never lived in a country without freedom of speech, so I’m used to judging news outlets based on what I assume the owner’s editorial policy and agenda is, and it’s easy to compare different sources to get the full picture.

I have, however, studied the effects of censorship and state-control on speech during my history studies and later for my writing. I think these principles could help p...

Hard Truths Links

The Book of Hard Truths contains multiple links to recommended books and talks that will help you explore the truths further. If you have a version that doesn’t allow hyperlinks, please use the links below.

Talks

The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch

In Search of the Man Who Broke My Neck, by Joshua Prager

On Being Wrong, by Kathryn Schulz

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, by JK Rowling

Letting Go of God, by Julia Sweeney

The Power of Vulnerability, by Brené Brown


Books

The Art of Happiness in a Troubled Wo...

What is the meaning of life?

(Originally published on Quora on March 16th, 2012)

I used to think that “What is the meaning of life?” is a misguided question, because it assumed the existence of a creator with an intention or a plan, which I never thought was warranted.







But I’ve come to realize that there’s a different way to think of meaning. I think when we ask “what is the meaning of life?” most of us really mean “How should I interpret life in the grand scheme of things? And what value should I assign it?” I think those...

What are some big ideas western societies should learn from Buddhism?

(Originally published on Quora on June 28th, 2012)


I’m very new to Buddhist ideas, and have only read a couple of books, so take this as a layman’s description of what I found valuable in certain Buddhist texts.







I can’t tell yet if those are universal to all Buddhist traditions or if they only represent some traditions or teachers, or maybe just the books I’ve been reading. All I can say is that I found these ideas extremely beneficial:

Dependent Origination -

Everything we see and experience aro...