The World's Best Book Summaries
How has marketing changed over time? What accounts for these changes? Seth Godin argues that traditional advertising doesn’t work anymore. He gives three reasons for this and goes on to describe the new age of marketing that we’ve entered. Keep reading to learn more about the end of traditional advertising.
Do you have a purpose in life but struggle to stay on track? What strategies can you use to focus on your purpose every day? Having a purpose in life that you’re working towards will make you feel more fulfilled and overall happier. However, it can be easy to lose sight of your purpose when you get caught up in the everyday routine. That’s why self-help guru Robin Sharma put together this list of strategies to help you maintain focus on your purpose. Continue below for Sharma’s six tips for focusing on your purpose.
Is Donald Trump a threat to democracy? How does Trump contribute to the erosion of democratic norms in the United States? According to Ziblatt and Levitsky, the authors of How Democracies Die, Donald Trump exhibits clear authoritarian tendencies that threaten American democracy. His impingement on democratic norms was evident from the first year of his presidency. In this article, we’ll consider a couple of examples of Trump’s violation of democratic norms.
Does thinking of and handling money make you nervous? Why do people fear money, fear spending it, or fear not having enough? The fear of money haunts many people. After all, money is core to survival, impacts virtually every part of our lives, and is the difference between freedom and freefall. So, the fear of money makes sense. But if you want to change your financial situation, you need to overcome your fear of money and develop a healthy relationship with it. Here is how the fear of money impairs your financial progress.
What causes constitutional hardball? What happens when one side of a political system breaks the unwritten democratic norms to secure a partisan advantage over its opponent side? In their book How Democracies Die, authors Levitsky and Ziblatt argue that when one party secures a short-term partisan advantage by breaking unwritten democratic norms, the other party is likely to retaliate. These tit-for-tat dynamics create a so-called constitutional hardball that erodes democratic values of mutual toleration and institutional forbearance. Here is how breaking the unwritten democratic norms to secure a partisan advantage jeopardizes democracy.
Have you read A Mind for Numbers? What do you know about the book’s author and publication? Because the world is increasingly dependent on technology, being competent in technical subjects such as math and science is beneficial both for your career and life in general. A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley aims to help you learn math and science well enough that they become intuitive. Keep reading to learn about the book’s author, publication, context, and more.
Does committing to one relationship make you happier—or more anxious? Why do relationships require so much time commitment? In the book The Paradox of Choice, author Barry Schwartz explores the connection between commitment and relationships. He argues that, just like in other areas of your life, you will be happier with limited choices rather than seeking the freedom to be with whomever you want, whenever you want. Here’s an overview of Schwartz’s ideas about relationships.
Why do we remember certain things but forget others? What makes an experience memorable? According to Chip and Dan Heath, the authors of The Power of Moments, there are two psychological factors that make an experience memorable: 1) the peak-end rule and 2) novelty and unexpectedness. Once you understand the psychology behind memorable moments, you can engineer small, everyday moments to stand out in your memory just as much as special moments. In this article, we’ll explore what makes a moment memorable, and how you can engineer memorable moments on demand.
What determines a person’s sexual responsiveness? Why are some people more sensitive to sexual stimuli than others? We all have different levels of sexual sensitivity: some people are more responsive to sexual stimuli than others. How sensitive a person is to stimuli in the environment determines their sexual needs. According to sex researcher Emily Nagoski, this boils down to the sensitivity of the Sexual Excitation System (SES) vs. the Sexual Inhibition System (SIS). Keep reading to learn about the two systems’ role in sexual sensitivity.
What does the future hold in store for the representative government in the United States? Do you think democracy will recover or will the country inevitably slide into authoritarianism? According to Levitsky and Ziblatt, the authors of How Democracies Die, there are three possible scenarios for the future of democracy in the United States: 1) recovery, 2) authoritarian takeover, and 3) worsening party polarization. In this article, we’ll explore what they believe might lie ahead for American democracy.