The World's Best Book Summaries
Do people with similar personalities get along? Why is it a bad idea to date someone similar to you in every way? Dating someone just like you may seem like a good idea, but it’s not. A relationship between similar personalities has no room for growth. Instead, you should look for someone who has a complementary personality—similar enough to get along yet different enough to challenge you. Here’s why dating your like is a bad idea.
Are humans monogamous? And if we aren’t biologically monogamous, why is modern society structured as though we are? According to Richard Cooper, monogamy is a toxic lie that we’ve been led to believe. Both men and women are highly promiscuous, but this promiscuity manifests differently in the sexes due to their different biological goals. Here’s why monogamy is a lie, according to Richard Cooper.
Can you regulate your nervous system through respiration? How can breathwork help you calm down—or stimulate—your mind? The respiratory system is an opening through which we can consciously influence other autonomic functions. In computer terms, the lungs provide an exploit that we can use to control parts of our bodies that we wouldn’t otherwise have access to, such as the nervous system. Here’s how you can hack your nervous system by breathing.
What’s the best virtue? What’s the worst sin? Why? According to C. S. Lewis, humility is the most important Christian virtue. Its opposite—pride—is the greatest sin. In his classic book, Mere Christianity, Lewis explains why pride is so dangerous. Keep reading for a brief discussion of humility and pride from Lewis’s perspective, along with an explanation of the difference between pride and self-esteem, as understood by psychologists.
What are your goals in life? How do you keep pushing forward toward your most ambitious goals in spite of the setbacks that get in the way? The first step to reaching your goals is to know what you actually want: You can’t reach a destination if you don’t know where you are heading. From there, it’s all about riding the momentum. With this in mind, here’s how to reach your goals in four simple (but not so easy) steps.
How do you find the right person to date? What are some things you should keep in mind when looking for a serious partner? Finding the right person for a serious relationship is no easy feat. People take years, sometimes decades, to find a successful long-term relationship. But it doesn’t have to take decades of your life if you know how to date effectively. With this in mind, here are three tips for maximizing your chances of finding the right person to spend your life with from dating coach Logan Ury.
What was life in a gulag like? What was the worst part? How effective were the attempts to fight back? Throughout The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn emphasizes that the worst aspect of imprisonment was not the brutal conditions or mistreatment—but its inherent hopelessness. The only thing prisoners could focus on was survival, and this, again, often required them to steal from and abuse others. Continue reading to learn about life in a gulag from Solzhenitsyn’s perspective.
Do you believe you have what it takes to achieve success in life? How do you get rid of self-limiting beliefs? Everyone has self-limiting beliefs that they’ve built—largely without realizing it—based on their upbringing, personal experiences, and knowledge. These self-limiting beliefs prevent you from setting ambitious goals and living up to your potential. Here’s Tony Robbins’s advice for overcoming self-limiting beliefs.
Do you try to avoid stress, or do you intentionally seek it out? How does your mindset influence your stress response? Everybody gets stressed, but the effect stress has on your life depends on your mindset about it. Because your stress mindset influences your thoughts, goals, and actions related to stress, it determines the consequences of stress in your life. In this article, you’ll learn what a mindset is, why it’s important for transforming stress, and how to change it.
What is your approach to dating? Are you the kind of person who is easily swept off your feet? Or do you approach dating strategically, trying to keep a cool head? According to dating coach Logan Ury, there are three “dating tendencies” or patterns people have: maximizers, romanticizers, and hesitaters. In her book How to Not Die Alone, she explains how each pattern leads to unhappiness—and how to prevent your own pattern from sabotaging your dating life. Keep reading to learn about the three unhealthy dating patterns that people fall into when looking for love.