Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck cover

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

by Carol S. Dweck

Cultural Resurgence
$9.25 on AmazonRead our full review

At a glance

Pages320
First published2006
Reading time~7h
AudienceAdult
Carol S. Dweck

About the Author

Carol S. Dweck

1 book reviewed

View author →

Mindset

The New Psychology of Success

by Carol S. Dweck

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for: Curious general readers — whether in education, business, sport, or parenting — who want a research-grounded introduction to how beliefs about ability shape achievement across virtually every life domain.

Worth it? Skip it? Read the full verdict →

Look inside the book

Preview the actual pages, via Google Books

Ask LuvemBooks

Was this helpful?

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck is a landmark popular-psychology book rooted in decades of Stanford University research, arguing that whether people hold a fixed or growth mindset about their own abilities shapes outcomes across school, work, sports, relationships, and parenting. It is ideal for general readers who want an empirically grounded, accessibly written framework for understanding motivation and achievement. The key caveat is that it is written for a broad popular audience, not as a practitioner's manual, so those seeking detailed implementation protocols for classrooms or organizations will need to look beyond it.
Is it worth reading?
For general readers curious about the psychology of achievement and motivation, Mindset is widely considered essential reading — it has sold over a million copies and earned endorsements from figures such as Bill Gates, who wrote that Dweck's work illuminates 'how our beliefs about our capabilities exert tremendous influence on how we learn and which paths we take in life.' Its unusual breadth — applying the same coherent framework to sports, leadership, relationships, and parenting — makes it more broadly useful than most self-help titles. Those already steeped in the academic literature on self-theories may find the popular-audience format too simplified, and readers seeking step-by-step implementation protocols will need to supplement it with more technical resources.
Who should read this?
Mindset is well-suited to a remarkably wide range of readers: educators, parents, coaches, managers, athletes, and anyone interested in the psychology of learning and achievement. Because Dweck applies the same framework to school, sports, leadership, relationships, and parenting, readers across very different life stages and professional contexts have found it actionable — which helps account for its sustained bestseller presence long after its 2006 publication. Readers who want a rigorous but accessible entry point into motivation psychology will find it an ideal starting place; those seeking highly technical or protocol-driven guidance should treat it as a foundation and look to additional resources.
Similar books
Readers who connect with Mindset often find natural next reads in several directions. Angela Duckworth's Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance explores the related idea that sustained passion and perseverance — not innate talent — drive achievement, making it a direct companion to Dweck's work. Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow is a deeper dive into the cognitive systems that drive human decision-making and belief, while Daniel H. Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us examines the science of intrinsic motivation. James Clear's Atomic Habits offers a practical, habit-based framework for behavioral change that complements the mindset shift Dweck describes. For readers interested in applying similar psychological insights to parenting and child development, The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson is a natural follow-on.
About Carol S. Dweck
Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., is an American psychologist and author best known for her research on mindset, motivation, and success. She coined the term "growth mindset" and brought it mainstream with her 2006 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. She has held professorships at Columbia and Harvard Universities, has lectured worldwide, and is married to David Goldman, a national theatre director.
What are the main themes?
The central theme of Mindset is the power of belief about ability: Dweck argues that whether a person holds a fixed mindset (talents are static and must be proven) or a growth mindset (abilities can be developed through effort) shapes outcomes across virtually every life domain. Related themes include the psychology of achievement and failure, how praise and feedback from parents, teachers, and coaches can reinforce either orientation, and the role of effort and resilience in reaching potential. The book also explores how mindset manifests in organizational leadership — using figures such as Jack Welch and Lee Iacocca as contrasting examples — and in intimate relationships, examining whether people seek partners who shore up their self-esteem or partners who challenge and help them grow.
How scientifically credible is it?
Mindset stands out among popular-psychology titles for its grounding in Dweck's own original research, conducted over decades at Stanford University in personality, social, and developmental psychology. The book draws on structured academic studies — including well-documented research involving elementary-school children and puzzle difficulty — rather than relying on anecdote-driven self-help. That said, the popular-audience format necessarily simplifies a research base that has accumulated significant nuance and debate since the book's original publication, and some readers in social science and education who have followed subsequent discussions about replication and implementation of growth-mindset interventions have noted that translating the concept from lab to classroom is more complex than the book can fully capture.
Summarize this book

Summarize this book

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success introduces Carol S. Dweck's central distinction between two psychological orientations: a fixed mindset, in which people believe their talents and intelligence are static traits to be proven, and a growth mindset, in which people believe their abilities can be developed through effort and learning. Dweck, a Stanford University psychologist, argues that this orientation — not raw talent — dramatically shapes outcomes across school, work, sports, the arts, and personal relationships. The book moves from its foundational theory through chapters on competitive sports, organizational leadership, intimate relationships, and parenting, before closing with a section on how readers can actively work to shift their own mindset. Drawing on structured research studies and real-world figures such as Jackie Joyner-Kersee, John McEnroe, Jack Welch, and Lee Iacocca, it bridges academic psychology and practical application for a general audience.

Follow up

What exactly is a growth mindset?
Is it based on real research?
How is the book organized?

Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review

Press Enter to ask. Answers come from our editorial Q&A — start typing to see related questions.

Age & Reading Level

Recommended age

Adult

Reading level

Adult

Skip if you're looking for a detailed, step-by-step implementation guide for applying growth-mindset principles in classrooms or organizations.

Editorial Review

Carol S. Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success is a landmark work of popular psychology from a Stanford University researcher that has sold over a million copies, introducing a generation of readers to the distinction between fixed and growth mindsets and arguing that how people think about their abilities shapes nearly every domain of their lives — from school and work to sports, leadership, and relationships.

Read the Full Review

Books like Mindset

Curated picks for readers who enjoyed Mindset, with our reasoning for each match.

If you liked Mindset

Why It’s Trending

Mindset by Carol Dweck Is Having a Moment Again — Here's Why Readers Are Returning to It

Carol Dweck's classic book on fixed vs. growth mindset keeps finding new audiences, and mid-2026 is no exception. With economic uncertainty and career pivots top of mind for a lot of people, readers are gravitating toward books that help them rethink how they approach challenges and setbacks.

Mindset has been a steady bestseller for years, but it keeps cycling back into the conversation — and right now is one of those moments. With no single news hook driving it, the book is benefiting from something more organic: readers sharing it with each other as a go-to resource when life feels uncertain or stalled. Whether it's a job change, a career pivot, or just the general pressure of trying to keep up, people are looking for frameworks that actually help — and Dweck's fixed vs. growth mindset distinction is one of the most practically useful ideas in popular psychology. The book's core argument — that believing your abilities can grow and change leads to better outcomes than thinking they're fixed at birth — is simple enough to remember and specific enough to actually apply. That's a rare combination, and it's a big reason the book has lasted. It gets recommended by coaches, managers, teachers, and therapists alike, which means it's always being discovered by someone new. If you haven't read it yet, this is a solid time to pick it up. It's the kind of book that tends to stick with you, and the ideas are genuinely useful across a lot of areas — work, relationships, parenting, sports. Worth noting: the news results available don't point to a specific event driving attention right now, so take this as a general resurgence rather than a single-moment trend.