Shortform Books

The Big Short: The Real Story Behind the Film

The movie The Big Short, starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt, among others, is based on the 2010 book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. Do you know the real story behind the movie? The Big Short explores the origins of and fallout from the 2007-2008 financial crisis through the eyes of a handful of eccentric and oddball investors who saw that the U.S. housing market—and, by extension, the entire financial system—was built on a foundation of sand.

Planning Fallacy: Why You Didn’t Meet Your Deadline

What is the planning fallacy? How can I avoid it? And what are some examples of the planning fallacy? The planning fallacy is the phenomenon of habitually underestimating the amount of time and resources required to finish a project. When estimating for a project, you tend to give “best-case scenario,” which rarely happens. We’ll look at a planning fallacy example that fleshes out the above definition, and cover how the planning fallacy works and how to avoid it.

How to Delay Labor: How It’s Done Medically

If you go into labor early, you may need to medically delay labor to delay the risks of premature birth.

How to Detect Ovulation: 3 Proven Methods

Trying to conceive around the day of ovulation is critical to increasing your chances of getting pregnant. But how do you know when you’re ovulating? What are the best ways to detect ovulation? We cover three of the most common and accurate ways.

No Bad Teams, Only Bad Leaders (From Jocko Willink)

While many leadership books and training courses focus on developing individual habits and traits, leadership is inextricably tied to the team’s performance. There are only two types of leaders — effective and ineffective — and the only way to measure a leader’s effectiveness is based on whether her team succeeds or fails. As the person at the top of the chain of command, everything ultimately reflects back on you. You must make decisions quickly and definitively, and accept their consequences, good or bad. As a leader, you determine the team’s performance. This gives rise to the phrase, “no bad teams,

Can Hot Baths Cause Miscarriages?

Do hot baths really cause miscarriage? Learn the risks of hot baths and high temperatures when you’re pregnant.

What Is a CDO? If You’re Confused, You’re Not Alone

What is a CDO, or collateralized debt obligation? Why are CDOs so confusing, even for people in the financial world, and how did they contribute to the 2008 financial crisis? A CDO (collateralized debt obligation) is a financial instrument that bundles together low-quality bonds into a new product. Learn why CDOs were developed and how they contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.

Greg Lippmann (Big Short): The $1 Billion Bet

Who is Greg Lippmann of The Big Short fame? How was he involved in shorting the housing market leading up to the 2007-2008 financial crisis? Greg Lippmann is a hedge fund manager and the former head of asset-backed securities trading at Deutsche Bank. He’s known for his involvement in shorting the housing market in the early 2000s. In the film The Big Short, Ryan Gosling’s character is based on Greg Lippmann. We’ll cover how Greg Lippmann orchestrated much of the activity surrounding shorting the housing market leading up to the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis.

Best Fish for Pregnancy: Ranked Best to Worst

You’ve heard that fish is good during pregnancy. But are all fish created equal? Which are the best fish for pregnancy? Is tuna good, or is it harmful? Learn all about eating fish while pregnancy here.

Household Finance Corporation: Billions of Profit for Fraud

What happened to Household Finance Corporation? Why did it have to pay a $484 million fine, and how did the scandal serve as a harbinger of the coming greed and deception of the subprime loan market? Household Finance Corporation was a leading corporation providing mortgage loans. It was merged with HSBC in 2004 after a loan fraud scandal. Learn how the Household Finance Corporation scandal affected customers and what the attitudes of the corporation’s leader and those tasked with protecting consumers say about the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.