Shortform Books

Climate Change & Energy Consumption: What’s the Solution?

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.

How to Maintain Mental Health: 3 Tips From Michelle Obama

Why is it important to take care of your mental health? What are some things you can do to maintain a healthy state of mind? If your mental health is not in order, you’ll struggle to make meaningful progress toward your goals. As a result, you’ll feel like a failure, initiating a vicious cycle. To achieve success in any endeavor, you must take care of your mental health by minimizing stress and doing activities that make you feel fulfilled. Here are some of Michelle Obama’s tips on how to maintain mental health.

Why Spend Money on Experiences? The Long-Term Benefits

Why should you spend money on experiences? What are the long-term benefits? Hedge-fund manager Bill Perkins thinks that people tend to over-save and under-experience, but you should aim to die with zero dollars in your bank account. In Die With Zero, Perkins proposes a strategy for maximizing enriching experiences throughout your life and minimizing unspent funds. Read on to learn why you should spend money on experiences, according to Perkins.

How Many Teens Have Depression & Why Is It Happening?

How many teens have depression in the US? What are the causes of teen depression? Teenage depression is on the rise in the United States. According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2021, up from 28% in 2011. Read on to learn how many teens have depression, which groups are at high risk, and some of the causes.

The Psychology of Triggers: What They Are & How They Affect Us

What are behavioral triggers? Why do certain stimuli or situations push us to act in ways that sabotage our best efforts? Every day, we encounter triggers that prompt us to behave in certain ways. A trigger can be positive or negative, pleasant or unpleasant, productive or unproductive. Similarly, some triggers push us toward our goals while others pull us away from them. Keep reading to learn about the psychology of triggers.

5 Common Innovation Failures and How to Solve Them

Why do so many innovation projects fail? What are the solutions that will fix all of your innovative problems? In Ten Types of Innovation, Larry Keeley and his co-authors identify a number of reasons that innovation projects fail. Just a few specific reasons they pinpoint are: A project can fail because it doesn’t incorporate enough types of innovation, tries to incorporate too many types at once, or focuses on the wrong types. Keep reading to learn why innovation failures happen and how to prevent them.

How to Appear Powerful: Robert Greene’s 3 Strategies

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.

The Slow Hunch: How Small Inklings Become Novel Inventions

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 to Optimize Sleep: Tips for Getting More Rest in Less Time

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.

What Is the Purpose of Earth Day? (+ Why It Still Matters)

Why was Earth Day first created? What’s the purpose of Earth Day? This weekend the world celebrates the 53rd annual Earth Day. The theme, “Invest in Our Planet,” focuses on the responsibility of governments, businesses, and other social institutions to act sustainably. It’s drawing particular attention to the harms of fossil fuels. Below, we’ll take a look at the history of Earth Day and why it still matters today.