The World's Best Book Summaries
Can cancer be a social issue? What are the social implications of treating cancer? According to Siddhartha Mukherjee, the author of The Emperor of All Maladies, battling cancer isn’t just an interesting puzzle to solve—it is about helping people. We mustn’t focus so much on the disease that we lose sight of the people. Read about the social aspects of fighting cancer.
Does humanitarian military intervention actually work? Should the West be intervening in foreign military affairs? Military aid is a dicey topic. Some believe it works, while others are strictly against it. Economist Paul Collier, the author of The Bottom Billion, believes that it’s necessary for restoring order, keeping the peace, and protecting against coups. Here’s why Collier thinks military intervention is crucial in helping developing nations grow.
How can foreign trade policies help poor countries develop? How can fair trade practices backfire? Economist Paul Collier says in his book The Bottom Billion that trade can help poverty, but it can also make things worse. He outlines practices the West can use that will actually help poor nations grow rather than trapping them in poverty. Here’s how trade fights poverty.
Why are PlayStation 5s so hard to get right now? How are online scalpers contributing to the PS5 problem? The PS5 was released in November 2020. However, a large portion of the gaming community has yet to get their hands on one. This is due to a number of factors: COVID, the microchip shortage, and most frustratingly, scalpers. Here’s how PS5 scalpers are contributing to the console shortage.
Does learning through practice drive innovation? Which institutions learn through trial and error and which are too afraid of failure? Learning through practice is one of the main concepts in the book Black Box Thinking. By recognizing which institutions are learning-oriented and which are failure averse, you can explore why some industries improve by building on mistakes. Keep reading to find out why learning through practice drives progress, although only some organizations do it.
What is the meaning of Jim Crow? How is it affiliated with racial segregation in America? Jim Crow means a collection of segregation laws that were active around the post-Civil War era (the 1860s-70s) until 1968. Even after the efforts to abolish slavery and give Black people more power after the Civil War, the Jim Crow laws were formed to prevent Black people from having equal rights. Jim Crow laws don’t exist today, but their fundamental meaning is still a part of the systematic racism seen in contemporary America. Continue reading to learn more about the meaning of Jim Crow
What is rational thought? Where did the concept of rational thought come from? Black Box Thinking answers the question: what is rational thought? The book talks about rational thought and how the Greeks embraced mistakes as crucial to learning. Before this period, worldwide views came from the gods and weren’t challenged. Keep reading to answer the question: what is rational thought?
What is a scapegoat? How does scapegoating at work create a culture of fear? A scapegoat is someone who throws you under the bus when things go wrong, often making you fear mistakes. According to the book Black Box Thinking, scapegoating at work can be avoided by coming up with proper punishments for making mistakes. Keep reading to learn why scapegoating at work is instinctive and how scapegoating at work creates a culture of fear.
What are the dangers of poor parenting? Do the children really outgrow the effects of poor parenting when they become adults and learn to think for themselves? Most parents mean well, but their parenting practices don’t always align with those well-meaning intentions. According to Jordan Peterson, the effects of poor parenting are wide-ranging and can last throughout a child’s lifetime. Continue reading to better understand Peterson’s argument.
Is healthcare culture failure-averse? When mistakes and failures occur, should they be acknowledged and treated as learning opportunities? In Black Box Thinking, the author talks about how certain industries progress from failures. For example, the airline industries carefully track and learn from their mistakes while our healthcare culture has an aversion to failure. Keep reading to learn why failure aversion in healthcare culture stunts growth in the healthcare system.