The World's Best Book Summaries
What is the Kevin Bacon game? How is it played? Where did the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon come from? Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon) is a game in which you attempt to link any Hollywood actor to Kevin Bacon is six steps or fewer. The game came out of the six degrees of separation theory. We’ll cover how to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and what the game says about how we’re all connected.
Who is DeeDee Gordon? How did she get preppy kids to wear skater shoes, resulting in the epidemic success of the shoe company Airwalk? DeeDee Gordon is a maven able to spot trends that are about to explode. She was responsible for making Airwalk’s skater shoes mainstream, which led to the company’s widespread success. We’ll cover how DeeDee Gordon turned Airwalk’s branding around and how ideas like Gordon’s become epidemics through the diffusion model.
Who was Adolphe Quetelet? Why is he famous, and what was one of his biggest scientific mistakes? Adolphe Quetelet (Quételet) was a Belgian mathematician who developed the idea of the “average human” (l’homme moyen) through the use of “means”—golden averages that represented the ideal human form. He lived from 1796 to 1874. We’ll cover Adolphe Quetelet’s mistake in assuming that all phenomena can be charted on a bell curve and we’ll look at how we understand the world differently today.
No matter what environment we operate in—whether a town, city, family, relationship, workplace, or other setting—change is inevitable. Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson is a parable about a place that changed, and how its inhabitants reacted. Through the characters’ triumphs and travails, Who Moved My Cheese offers lessons and tips for coping successfully with change in our lives by changing our attitudes and behavior.
Who is Nassim Nicholas Taleb? How did he develop his popular “black swan” theory? The Black Swan is the second book in former options trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s five-volume series on uncertainty. This book analyzes so-called “Black Swans”—extremely unpredictable events that have massive impacts on human society. We’ll explore how Nassim Nicholas Taleb became obsessed with probability (or, more accurately, improbability) and how he developed his theory of black swans.
Who is Wing Chau of The Big Short fame? What was his role in the 2008 financial crisis, and why was it controversial? And how did he make an estimated $26 million shuffling papers? Wing Chau is an investment advisor and bond manager whose role as a CDO manager was depicted in The Big Short. Wing Chau wasn’t happy with the way he came across in the book and movie. Learn why his position as a “CDO manager” was, and is, controversial and how he contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.
Who is Greg Lippmann of The Big Short fame? How was he involved in shorting the housing market leading up to the 2007-2008 financial crisis? Greg Lippmann is a hedge fund manager and the former head of asset-backed securities trading at Deutsche Bank. He’s known for his involvement in shorting the housing market in the early 2000s. In the film The Big Short, Ryan Gosling’s character is based on Greg Lippmann. We’ll cover how Greg Lippmann orchestrated much of the activity surrounding shorting the housing market leading up to the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis.
Are the characters in the film The Big Short based on real people? Which characters? We’ll cover the main players in The Big Short that are based on real people. Learn why the real people who shorted the housing market are just as compelling as the characters based on them.
Who is Howie Hubler, of The Big Short fame? Was he a villain of the 2008 financial crisis or just another big shot banker unfortunate enough to get caught? Howie Hubler is the former Morgan Stanely bond trader infamous for his role in the second-largest trading loss in history. We’ll cover how Howie Hubler tried to game the financial system and lost…badly.
Who are Charlie Ledley and Jamie Mai? And how did they turn $110,000 into $80 million? Charlie Ledley and Jamie Mai are the founders of Cornwall Capital, a New York City investment corporation. They shorted the housing market before the 2008 financial crisis and were featured in the book and movie The Big Short. We’ll cover how Charlie Ledley and Jamie Mai got their start in investing and how they went from second-class citizens in the financial world to major Wall Street players.