Showing results by author "Swift Reads" in All Categories

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (2001) explains how humans routinely underestimate the role luck plays in determining outcomes. This failure to account for uncertainty can lead someone to attribute meaning to a result where none exists, or to overlook the probability of a rare but cataclysmic event....

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst (2017) explains the numerous biological, cultural, and evolutionary factors that shape human behavior. Neurobiologist Robert M. Sapolsky uses studies from various scientific disciplines, including neurology, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, to explore why humans exhibit variable responses to both provocative and mundane situations.... (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

In The Laws of Human Nature (2018), best-selling author Robert Greene dissects the elaborate lies that people tell themselves. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

This is a summary of Say Good Night to Insomnia (1998) by sleep doctor Gregg D. Jacobs. It is a primer on sleeplessness and how to correct it. Insomnia is a widespread problem that’s often treated with dangerous prescription drugs, if it’s treated at all....

Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time (originally published in 2002, and revised in 2017) is a self-help guide about the importance of frank, empathetic communication. Author Susan Scott believes that, too often, personal and professional conversations are unproductive, or even counter-productive. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

The Good Gut: The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-Term Health (2015) by Justin Sonnenburg and Erica Sonnenburg explores the fascinating machinations of the human gut. Also known as the microbiome, the gut is teeming with live bacteria that help make or break one’s physical and mental health.

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion (2014) by neuroscientist and atheist Sam Harris explores how to develop a spiritual practice that is not based on outmoded religious beliefs about how the world works. Harris draws upon personal experience, neuroscience, psychology, and Buddhist conceptions of the mind to explore the nature of consciousness and how it is possible to embrace spirituality and remain secular....

The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation (2011) shows companies how assertive sales representatives can increase profits and create repeat customers. Authors and entrepreneurs Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson use the results of interviews with more than 5,000 sales representatives to outline five different profiles most employees fit into. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

Work Rules! Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead (2015) by Laszlo Bock describes the unorthodox methods Google uses to hire and retain the most talented employees. Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, knew they wanted to create the world’s best search engine.... Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection by best-selling author Michael A. Singer, is a spiritual memoir that chronicles Singer’s quest to embrace whatever the universe presented to him at any given moment. Singer’s experiment with surrender began in 1970, when he was enrolled in a graduate-level economics program at the University of Florida and realized there was a voice inside his head, often critical and judgmental.... (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

The Fifth Risk, by Michael Lewis, is a journalistic account of how broad swaths of the US government are being ignored or dismantled under Donald Trump’s administration. After shunning the conventions of a presidential transition, Trump and his tiny team assumed stewardship of the government without ever bothering to learn how it works. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers is an expansive account of the days, months, and years leading up to World War I. Clark’s central contention is that scholars’ continuous preoccupation with the question of who was responsible for starting the war stems from an erroneous understanding of the events....

In Becoming (2018), Michelle Obama recounts the familial, educational, romantic, and political experiences that culminated in her tenure as first lady of the United States. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), by Harper Lee, is a coming-of-age novel that traces young Scout Finch’s growing awareness of racism in her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama. Watching her father, a lawyer, represent a Black man who has been falsely accused of rape, Scout comes to understand some difficult truths about her neighbors and, by extension, about the world. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Undo It! How Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Diseases (2019), outlines a wellness system that can help listeners prevent, manage, or even recover from common chronic health conditions. Preventative medicine specialist Dean Ornish and his wife, Anne, a yoga and meditation expert, have used the Ornish program to treat thousands of patients suffering from diseases that usually require lifelong medication or surgery.

This is a summary of Michael E. Gerber's The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It (2001), which explores the question of why so many small businesses don’t survive. The answer is simple, yet profound: because they don’t understand the work of running a business....

Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World (2018) examines the exploits of Jho Low, a Malaysian money launderer who organized the theft of at least $5 billion from a government fund meant to create jobs in the Southeast Asian country. Low used some of the money to forge connections with notable politicians in the Middle East, North America, and Asia. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

This is a summary of The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning, Elevate Your Life (2018) by leadership guru Robin Sharma. It is an inspirational work of fiction. Sharma uses the narrative of a fictional artist, entrepreneur, and tycoon to extol the virtues of rising early every morning.

The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less (first published in 1997, and updated most recently in 2017) by Richard Koch is a self-help book about how to achieve maximal results from minimal input. The 80/20 Principle states that the universe is imbalanced in such a way that 20 percent of causes lead to 80 percent of results....

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (2008) by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein explores how "nudges", or subtle prompts, can help people make better decisions about spending and saving. Applying significant findings from the fields of business, psychology, law, and economics to some of the most controversial issues and problems in the United States, they propose strategies that can help anyone make a good choice, whether it’s on a personal or governmental level....