The World's Best Book Summaries
Why do hurt people, hurt people? Can hurtful people change course by healing their own pain? James O’Brien would have counted himself among the “hurt people hurting people.” He started his own journey by exploring his childhood trauma in therapy. O’Brien claims that only by getting to the root of our pain can we learn to have empathy for others. Keep reading to learn O’Brien’s story of awareness and healing.
Should Critical Race Theory be taught in schools? Is the scholarship sound? What are the potential consequences? Mark Levin believes that teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) in American schools is a bad idea. He explains his reasons for opposing CRT in general—and The 1619 Project specifically—in his book American Marxism. Continue reading to learn Levin’s argument.
What does “hit refresh” mean in relation to Microsoft? Is it just about Microsoft, or can the principles be applied more broadly? Hit Refresh is Satya Nadella’s account of how he took over as Microsoft’s CEO in 2014 and sought to rejuvenate the company after a long period of stagnation and decline. He describes how he reinvigorated the company by rediscovering its “soul.” Keep reading for our Hit Refresh book review.
What’s Max Weber’s theory about the origins of capitalism? How does it compare to Karl Marx’s theory? According to Max Weber, capitalism became a global economy because of the work ethic of Protestants in America and western Europe. This is the argument he presents in his classic work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Keep reading to learn more about Weber’s theory about the rise of capitalism.
Do you try to control the world around you? What can you truly control, and how? Stoics view life in a certain way. At the center of their philosophy is recognizing what you can and can’t control. They contend that the only thing you can control is your way of thinking. Continue reading for advice from the Stoic philosophers on how to control what you can control.
What prejudices do you have? Do you know why you have them? Can you get rid of them? In How Not to Be Wrong: The Art of Changing Your Mind, James O’Brien examines his own misguided beliefs and ways of relating to others, concluding that life’s not all about winning the argument. It’s about recognizing our own vulnerabilities, so we can learn to have more empathy for others. Take a look at our overview of the book and discover O’Brien’s way of changing your mind.
Is the media involved in silencing the opposition? If so, how? What’s the harm of cancel culture? Mark Levin argues that leftists have built a system that teaches young Americans to hate the nation and rebel to achieve justice. Part of this machine is censorship and cancel culture, which scares them into submission and uniformity. Read more to understand Levin’s argument regarding censorship in America.
Are you looking for The Daily Stoic quotes? Do you want to get a quick snapshot of the book’s principles? In The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman share insights from the ancient Stoic philosophers on how you can live a good life. At the core of Stoicism is the belief that the cardinal virtues—self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom—are the source of internal stability and the measure of a good life. Keep reading for a few quotes from the book that are sure to provoke thought and perhaps even action.
How often do people from different teams in your company work together? Do they communicate effectively? When Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, he discovered why the company had fallen behind the pack in terms of innovation. One of the barriers he identified was the lack of collaboration and communication among the various teams in the company. Continue reading to find out how Nadella cultivated cross-team collaboration at Microsoft and to learn seven tips for better cross-team communication.
How did capitalism take hold as a major world economy? How much of an influence did religion have? Max Weber argued in his 1905 classic that the early Protestants in western Europe and America pioneered the way of life that became the modern capitalist’s lifestyle. And, in doing so, they provided the cultural and financial impetus for capitalism to become a full-fledged economic system. Continue reading to learn how the spirit of capitalism arose from the Protestant ethic.