The World's Best Book Summaries
What led Tony Fadell to a job at General Magic? Why did the smartphones from Philips fail to sell well? In his book Build, entrepreneur Tony Fadell outlines his career trajectory. He talks about how he failed to build a smartphone several times before finally hitting it big with the iPhone. He refers to that time in his career as a “decade of failure.” Read more to learn about Tony Fadell at General Magic and Philips.
What did you enjoy as a child? What makes you different? What do you care about most? In The Daily Laws, Robert Greene argues that we lead our lives guided by false beliefs. He discusses how you can break free from false notions of success and happiness by identifying your unique life purpose and pursuing mastery in your field. Read more for Greene’s advice on how to discover your purpose and an exercise to help you implement Greene’s ideas.
When you network, do you deliberately share and collect new ideas? Do you seek out opportunities for collaboration? According to Steven Johnson, good ideas don’t just appear from nowhere. Rather, they build on existing knowledge and ideas. New ideas proliferate in networks. The more connected you are, the more you’ll find and develop good ideas. Read more to learn how you can plug into and benefit from a network of ideas around you.
Are you a perfectionist? Do you analyze every last detail only to miss the big picture? In Someday Is Today, Matthew Dicks shares tips for accomplishing extraordinary things. He discusses ways to maximize your time, efficiency, and productivity so you can become as successful as possible, as soon as possible. One solution is to stop being a perfectionist and a micro-analyzer and just get on with the task at hand. Continue reading to learn how to stop overanalyzing and start getting things done.
How did world travel inspire the concept of a smart home? Why did Tony Fadell end his relationship with Nest? In Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making, entrepreneur Tony Fadell tells the story of his career. He talks about starting Nest—a smart home device company—and later selling it to Google for billions of dollars. Keep reading to learn about Tony Fadell, Nest, and the start of the smart home revolution.
How can we move toward fuel sources with higher energy density and power density? What difference does that make for the environment, the economy, and society as a whole? The primary driver of climate change, and the most important issue to tackle, is society’s ever-growing energy consumption. In Apocalypse Never, Michael Shellenberger explains the problem and explores our options as we move into the future. Continue reading to learn about climate change and energy consumption.
Would you like people to perceive you as powerful? How can you take better control of the impression you make? People are watching you, and they’re making judgments. That’s a fact you can’t change. But, according to Robert Greene, you can influence their judgments to a higher degree. He offers recommendations in three areas of your professional and social life. Read more to learn how to appear powerful to others.
Do you have any half-baked ideas rattling around in your head? What if you could turn them into fully-baked brilliance? Sometimes hunches lead to full-fledged ideas. If you’re patient and keep working on them, you could end up with something quite usable. In Where Good Ideas Come From, best-selling author and theorist Steven Johnson explains how good ideas grow from minor inklings to groundbreaking inventions. Keep reading to learn how the “slow hunch” can mature into something of great value.
How much time do you waste by getting inefficient sleep? What would you do with more time? To reach your full potential and accomplish extraordinary things, Matthew Dicks says you must first learn how to make the most of your time. You might free up some time if you optimized sleep. Of course, you need good rest, but you might not be sleeping in the most efficient way. Keep reading to learn how to optimize sleep and, thus, waste less time.
Are you just starting out—and wondering where to start? How do you choose a company to work for? How long should you stay there? In Build, entrepreneur Tony Fadell shares his wisdom for succeeding in every stage of your career. When you’re just starting out, he says, you need to figure out what you want to do, work for the right company, pay attention to the broader goals of the company, and know when to quit. Keep reading for Fadell’s advice on how to start your career.