The World's Best Book Summaries
What is Gross Domestic Happiness? How is it measured and what can be done to improve the GDH index? Gross Domestic Happiness is a measure of the overall well-being and life satisfaction of a population. The GDH is measured by collecting ratings of non-economic indicators of well-being (e.g. health, psychological well-being, living standards, etc). Keep reading to learn about Gross Domestic Happiness and how to improve it.
Are we witnessing the death of liberalism? Why is liberalism becoming irrelevant as technology advances? According to Yuval Noah Harari, an Israeli intellectual and the author of Homo Deus, advances in technology might make liberalism a thing of the past. He predicts the death of liberalism to be the result of three potential developments: 1) the loss of military and economic usefulness, 2) the rise of decision-making algorithms, and 3) the creation of the “superhuman.” Read about the projected death of liberalism.
What was the 2009 inauguration like? How did Obama prepare for his presidency and life in the White House? The 2009 inauguration was historic. With it, Barack Obama became the 44th President and the country’s first African-American head of state. Read more about the 2009 inauguration.
What was the role of President Obama in the Iran Nuclear Deal? What was the deal and how did it happen? The Iran Nuclear Deal was when multiple countries, including the U.S., imposed sanctions on Iran in order to stop them from developing nuclear weapons. President Obama lead the negotiations with Iran, Russia, and China. Read more about President Obama, the Iran Nuclear Deal, and what it meant for the U.S. and the world.
How did the Obama administration handle the BP oil spill? How did the disaster in the Gulf affect his presidency? During the Obama administration, the BP oil spill occurred. It was one of the largest maritime disasters in history, and was a substantial crisis for the Obama administration. Read more about the Obama administration and the BP oil spill.
What is the Law of Magnetism? What do you think “magnetism” means in the context of leadership? The Law of Magnetism is the ninth law in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell. The main premise behind the Law of Magnetism is that people tend to gravitate towards and follow people who are similar to them. Keep reading to learn about Maxwell’s Law of Magnetism and learn some real-world examples of its application.
What is the book Homo Deus about? What is the most likely course for the future of humanity? In his book Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari maps out the past, present, and future of humanity, drawing from the interdisciplinary synthesis of history, psychology, economics, and biology. Dissecting the concepts of religion, immortality, and technology, Harari argues that the world of the future may be run by advanced AI algorithms, not human beings. Here is a brief overview of Yuval Noah Harari’s book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow.
Is organized cooperation a uniquely human feature? What is the psychology behind mass human cooperation? Humanity has a much greater ability to communicate and cooperate than any other species. According to Yuval Noah Harari, the ability of humans to cooperate is the result of humanity’s knack for storytelling. Storytelling allowed us to create “imagined orders” which make mass cooperation possible. Keep reading to learn about the psychology of mass human cooperation.
What is price anchoring? Why is our idea of a reasonable price completely arbitrary? How can anchoring affect your future decisions? Price anchoring is the process of establishing a product’s price as “normal” and making it the benchmark by which you judge all other prices. These anchors are irrational and can stack up to more irrational decision-making in the future. Keep reading for more information about price anchoring.
What is dataism? What are the implications of an ideology based on the assumption that everything can be converted into data? The term dataism was first used by David Brooks to refer to the philosophical perspective that the universe consists of data streams and that everything—from music to human emotion—can be quantified. More recently, Yuval Noah Harari expanded the term to describe an ideology in which the value of everything is based on its data-processing capabilities. Keep reading to learn about dataism.