The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is often cited as one of the best books on investment, most notably by Warren Buffet. Graham lays the foundation for laymen by giving a sound approach to investment, written with simple language that is easy (albeit dated) to understand. You are presented with Graham’s personal investment philosophy and … Read more
Altered Traits by Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson takes a scientific look at the practice of meditation. From the start, we are assured that the authors are not interested in giving us a sales pitch about meditation. They acknowledge that many hucksters try to make money by promoting meditation in a dishonest way, promising benefits … Read more
The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch was published in 1979. Lasch argues that the “me generation” that Tom Wolfe previously celebrated, was in fact, dysfunctional, empty, and worthy of contempt. He bases his argument on Sigmund Freud’s insights, who wrote an important paper on the subject called, On Narcissism. At first, Lasch points out … Read more
Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious Author(s): Gerd Gigerenzer First published: 2007 Gut feelings are the result of unconscious mental processes—processes that apply rules of thumb that we’ve derived from our environment and prior experiences. But gut feelings are not things to run away from, they lead to good practical decisions, and underlie the … Read more
It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy up till now has consisted of — namely, the confession of its originator, and a species of involuntary and unconscious auto-biography; and moreover that the moral (or immoral) purpose in every philosophy has constituted the true vital germ out of which the entire plant … Read more
The central project of Maslow in Motivation and Personality is to study the psychology of healthy minded people. Thus far, psychology has been restricted to the study of mental illnesses but this exclusive focus does not inspire hope or optimism in either the layman or the scientist. The hierarchy of needs has become a common … Read more
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein argues that instead of aiming to hyper specialize, more people should be trying to gain multi-disciplinary experience. Instead of planning and implementing, they should be testing and learning. Specialization is necessary, but only after a sufficient test period. In the past, people had to … Read more
Body By Science by Doug McGuff is a book that contradicts most of the advice that you will find online about strength training. From the perspective of a physician, McGuff explains how building muscle is a biological process that requires sufficient rest as well as intense stimulation, and that more frequent training can impede rather … Read more
In Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life, Kwik argues that the digital world has made us too reliant on the judgment of others rather than on our own. We don’t let other people make decision for us in the real world, but don’t mind doing so through our devices. … Read more
The Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker argues that violence has declined with time. He does this by discussing the threats of violence one by one, going through what the statistical data shows us. Human malevolence is a constant threat to peace and prosperity, but while human beings do have an evil side, … Read more