The World's Best Book Summaries
What are the most common hillbilly stereotypes? Are they accurate? According to JD Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy, many hillbilly stereotypes are true (although many in Vance’s home region dispute his representation). We’ll cover the common hillbilly stereotypes and Vance’s interpretation of them.
What is game theory? What’s a good game theory example? Game theory is the study of outcomes in negotiation and conflict that aren’t actually intended by the individuals involved in that negotiation or conflict. In these situations, the outcome is determined not by an individual’s choices, but by the way an individual’s choices interact with the choices of other “players.” We’ll look at a game theory example and explore other theories that explore the idea that we’re serving cultures, not the other way around.
What is postmodernism’s view on culture? How does postmodernism on culture affect the way we view history? Postmodernism on culture says that humans exist to serve culture, and not the other way around. In a sense, according to the postmodernist view, cultures are plagues of society, not entities that serve us. We’ll cover postmodernism on culture and look at other ways scholars view our relationship with culture.
What was Van Halen’s problem with brown M&Ms? And what do brown M&Ms have to do with safety? We’ll cover why David Lee Roth of Van Halen insisted on a “brown M&M clause” in Van Halen’s contract, and why this clause was actually really important.
Walmart’s Hurricane Katrina response is legendary. The large company did something the government wasn’t able to do at the time–provide help on the ground. We’ll discuss what made Walmart’s Hurricane Katrina response so successful and why it depended on the empowerment of employees.
Is there truth in fiction? How do we identify the truth of fiction? In what ways is fiction actually truer than nonfiction? We’ll look at Tim O’Brien’s treatment of the theme of truth in fiction in his classic The Things They Carried to see how in war depictions, what’s true may not be best represented by a series of facts.
How does your social context, the people around you, affect your behavior? Could your social context be influencing you without you even knowing it? The social context is the immediate setting of a person and the people in that setting. Your social context is made up of the people you interact with. We tend to think of ourselves as products of nature and nurture, meaning the greatest influences on who we are and how we behave are our genetics and our upbringings. However, social context is so powerful that certain situations can eclipse our natural dispositions. Learn how.
How is the power of storytelling depicted in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried? How can the power of storytelling help assuage the wounds of war? We’ll cover how Tim O’Brien uses semi-fictional stories of the Vietnam War to demonstrate how powerful storytelling can be in conveying the brutality of war and reviving those long gone.
In the 21st century, we can do things that were unthinkable not long ago. Yet highly trained, experienced, and capable people regularly make avoidable mistakes. You may be wondering, Why do I make so many mistakes? After experiencing his own mistakes and observing those of colleagues, Boston surgeon Atul Gawande set out to learn why smart people make avoidable errors and, more importantly, to find a way to prevent them. The result is The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, in which Gawande proposes a simple solution: a checklist. Learn how to use it to prevent yourself from making avoidable
What was Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam like? How did Tim O’Brien’s depiction of the Vietnam War in The Things They Carried demonstrate wider themes of the brutality of war and the power of storytelling? We’ll cover how Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam depicts wider themes of war and discuss the main themes of The Things They Carried.