Book Summaries Archives - Page 14 of 19

#1 Book Summary + PDF: Man’s Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl

What is the meaning of life? This question has both plagued and motivated humans for centuries, and it’s probably crossed your mind once or twice. But how do we answer this question, and how can we ensure our lives have meaning?

Man’s Search for Meaning recounts Viktor Frankl’s experiences in the concentration camps of WWII and the school of therapy he invented to help us confront this very question.

In this Man’s Search for Meaning summary, learn:

The three psychological phases that concentration camp prisoners went through
The psychological defenses that supported prisoners who survived
What all that suggests for how to find meaning in your life

#1 Book Summary + PDF: The Magic of Thinking Big, by David Schwartz

We are surrounded by people who seem more successful than us and who earn more money than we do. We may think, “What do they have that I haven’t got? Are they just smarter?”

In The Magic of Thinking Big, author David J. Schwartz says it’s a matter of mindset. Successful people “think bigger” — they believe in themselves, have a grander scale of imagination, and see bigger possibilities. This mindset then affects their behavior — they have magnetic attitudes, prefer action to waiting, and learn from every setback.

The Magic of Thinking Big is a wide-ranging book because it essentially tries to describe everything about what makes people successful. There are tons of details and lists, and it covers psychology, ambition, social behavior, goal-setting, and leadership. Therefore, this The Magic of Thinking Big summary is quite long, but it’s a useful checklist to figure out where you’re weak.

In this The Magic of Thinking Big summary, learn:

Common excuses you might be using to stifle your own ambition, and how to get over them
How to build a “first-class environment” to improve your thinking
How to be likable
Specific ways to set concrete goals

#1 Book Summary + PDF: Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything applies the tools of economics to explain real-world phenomena that are not conventionally thought of as “economic.” Authored by economist Steven D. Levitt and journliast Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics argues that data analysis and incentives can explain a lot about human behavior, and that a great deal of what experts and conventional wisdom tell us is wrong.

As they explore these themes, Freakonomics give us some powerful—and highly counterintuitive—insights into why the world is the way it is.

Best Summary+PDF: Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill

Think and Grow Rich was first published in 1937 following the Great Depression. It was immediately welcomed as an antidote to hard times and remained a bestseller for decades. Today, many still find its philosophy of positive thinking and its actionables both relevant and life-changing.

The main point: our thoughts become our reality. Think success by default if you want to succeed. But there are a lot of implementation details. Think and Grow Rich also offers a slew of principles for transforming thoughts into riches, including visualization, affirmation, creating a Master Mind group, becoming more decisive, persistence through difficulties, and avoiding negative influences.

Think and Grow Rich is classic self-help, in the sense that its evidence is anecdotal, not experimental (unlike many modern books which try to be grounded in science). It uses rhetoric to make you feel uplifted and energized. But if it works and you’re more likely to succeed as a result – does it matter?

In this Think and Grow Rich summary, learn:

Why you need a single, all-consuming desire to reach breakthrough success
How to develop faith in yourself that you’ll succeed, no matter the difficulties you run into
How to develop your Master Mind group of people who will contribute ideas and advice to your success
The major causes of failure for people trying to succeed, and how to get around them

Best Summary + PDF: The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Four Agreements is a classic self-improvement book. Published in 1997, it stayed on the NYTimes bestseller list for over a decade and has sold over 7 million copies.

The basic point of the book: you’ve unknowingly adopted beliefs about yourself and the world that are limiting your happiness.

For instance, you may feel continuous guilt for outcomes you didn’t have much control over. You may constantly put yourself down, with internal monologues about how you’re not good enough. You may be quick to jump to assumptions about other people, then fester in resentment while misunderstanding the situation.

The Four Agreements coaxes you to upend your self-limiting beliefs, and to adopt four new agreements:

Be impeccable with your word. (Speak with integrity.)
Don’t take anything personally. (Other people’s anger is about them, not about you)
Don’t make assumptions. (Clarify the situation before acting on it.)
Always do your best. (Do the best of your ability, moment to moment, and be satisfied with that.)

To learn more about how to apply these four agreements, read more in this The Four Agreements summary.

Best Summary + PDF: Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

We all experience change in our lives. We lose job opportunities, experience changes in health, lose valued relationships, and face major barriers to experiencing our full well-being.

Depending on our approach, changes can be distressing or rewarding.

Who Moved My Cheese?, by Spencer Johnson, is a parable that demonstrates in practical terms how to handle change better and avoid pitfalls. It spent 5 years on the New York Times bestseller list and has sold over 26 million copies.

The core of the book is a a few key principles: Anticipate and prepare for change, overcome fears, envision success, and enjoy change. Simple enough, but hard to execute in the moment.

By depicting simple, memorable characters and scenarios, the parable gives you a framework for responding to change successfully. Read this Who Moved My Cheese? summary to prepare for your next major change.

Best Summary + PDF: Extreme Ownership, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Jocko Willink and Leif Babin are two Navy SEALS who, among other accomplishments in their service, led teams in the Iraq War. After their experiences in battle, they began applying their leadership principles to business as consultants.

Despite the superficial differences between warfare and business, there are strong parallels in effective leadership in both arenas. Extreme Ownership combines classic management principles with Jocko and Leif’s vivid stories of warfare. In these highest of stakes, common management refrains like “own your results” and “keep it simple” take on a gravitas that make everyday corporate concerns seem like petty squabbles.

In this Extreme Ownership book summary, learn:

How to handle failure.
How to get other people to listen to you and disarm their resistance
What prioritizing the result above all else really means
Why you need to take full ownership of everything that occurs in your life

Best Summary + PDF: Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki

Rich Dad, Poor Dad is one of the best-selling financial books in history, selling over 35 million copies since its publication in 1997.

The premise: when growing up, author Robert Kiyosaki had two dads advising him: 1) a Stanford-educated PhD who followed traditional career thinking, was allergic to risk, and was financially illiterate (the Poor Dad, his biological father); 2) a high school dropout who later built a business empire worth many millions and employing thousands (the Rich Dad, his best friend’s father).

The two dads are really a parable for two different approaches to wealth:

the Poor Dad, mired in tradition, recommends getting a secure job with good benefits, following consensus views on money, and retiring with a pension.
the Rich Dad recommends amassing assets that make money for you, becoming financially literate, and practicing independent thinking. He sees the common salary-raise-spend cycle as a cruel rat race.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad doesn’t teach the tactics of getting rich as much as it does the principles: the mindset and high-level strategies that distinguish the wealthy from the hapless.

Despite what you’ve heard about the book, and even if you’re financially literate, I still recommend you read through this Rich Dad, Poor Dad summary. Going in, I thought reading this book would be pointless. And while it is incomplete and flawed (more on this later), I came away with a number of useful insights.

In this Rich Dad, Poor Dad summary, learn:

Why viewing your home as your biggest investment is a terrible idea
A breakdown of Poor Dad vs Rich Dad thinking
The common mental blocks to overcome to become wealthy

Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book: Principles and Summary

Alcoholics Anonymous is likely the most well-known program for sobriety. It has nearly two million members worldwide, and it’s the default treatment for alcoholism in US healthcare.

I’m interested in studying AA because of its profound potential for behavior change. Alcoholism is a notoriously intractable condition. Genetics predisposes some people to alcoholism; changes in alcoholics’ brains put potential for relapse on a hair trigger.

That Alcoholics Anonymous can get a subset of patients to never drink again is impressive. That it does so non-pharmacologically – really, with just words and people – makes it well worth studying. Its practices, structure, and approaches to new alcoholics are a master class in persuasion.

The Big Book is Alcoholic Anonymous’s primary text. (long title: Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism). The Big Book is one of the best-selling books of all times (30 million copies sold). It originated the “twelve-step program” now used widely among addictions outside alcohol. During a time when alcoholism was seen primarily as a character defect, the Big Book spread the paradigm of alcoholism as an illness.

In this summary and analysis of The Big Book, learn:

The principles behind Alcoholics Anonymous, and why they work for alcoholics
Why the “belief in a higher power” is not as problematic as you may think
The powerful persuasive techniques AA use to recruit members and get them onboard

Summary: The Hacker’s Diet, by John Walker

The Hacker’s Diet was written by John Walker, founder of software company Autodesk. This is an engineer’s approach to weight loss, described in terms of control systems, feedback loops, measurement noise reduction, and practical problem-solving.

With so many contradictory theories of weight loss out there, The Hacker’s Diet cuts out the bull – it’s about calories in and calories out, period. If you’re fat, you’re fat because your eating control system is broken. To you, cutting back calories is intensely painful, but there’s little stopping you from overeating well beyond your daily maintenance calories.

It’s simple. But simple doesn’t mean easy. The key is to execute.

The systems and strategies described in The Hacker’s Diet are eminently practical, in that “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before” way. In this Hacker’s Diet summary, learn:

How your internal eating control system is broken, causing you to eat way more than you should
The sane way to track your weight to avoid daily fluctuations of 2-4 pounds
Why the first few days of dieting are the hardest that dieting will ever be
What you have to do to maintain your ideal weight for the rest of your life