Book summaries (excerpts)
Instead of summarizing the books in my own words, I gathered the top excerpts. I want the spirit of the books to remain intact and I want you to be able to interpret the crumbs of wisdom on your own.
Date is the date on which I read the book.
Ego is the Enemy: The Fight to Master Our Greatest Opponent
Author: Ryan Holiday ISBN: 978-1781257029 In general I like Ryan's ideas, but I just can't get behind his writing style (in this or any other of his books). EXCERPTS Where Isocrates and Shakespeare wished us to be self-contained, self-motivated, and ruled by principle, most of us have been trained to do the opposite. Our cultural values almost try to make us dependent on validation, entitled, and ruled by [...]
Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships
Author: Christopher Ryan ISBN: 978-0061707803 We, humans are biologically wired to live in monogamous relationships. After we find the "one" a true love emerges and we enjoy an intimate, sexual and deeply fulfilling relationship till death do us part, right? This theory often stemming from romantic definiton of love is certainly predominant in Judeo-Christian worldwiev. What if it's the other way around? EXCERPTS [The book's main premise is [...]
Man’s Search For Meaning: The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust
Author: Viktor E. Frankl ISBN: 978-1846041242 You think a poor internet connection sucks? Then this is a must read book to change your reference frame of mind. EXCERPTS Nietzsche: “He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How.” Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, or a quest for power, as Alfred Adler taught, but a quest for meaning. The [...]
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
Author: Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras ISBN: 978-0060516406 One of the most talked about business books. I was deeply disappointed; I didn't find any original ideas and the book was much too lenghty. So many better books on creating lasting companies. In my opinion; reading the below excerpts more than suffices. EXCERPTS A visionary company exports its core values and purpose to all of its operations in [...]
The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup
Author: Noam Wasserman ISBN:978-0691158303 You've decided to incorporate a company with a partner. Have you already decided how to split shares? EXCERPTS [Seth Godin's Shotgun Clause: Any party can at any time offer to buy the other out. The other has only two options; it can either accept the offer or buy the other out for the same offered price per share.] I felt very disassociated [working for [...]
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
Author: Daron Acemoglu ISBN: 978-1846684302 An interesting theory as to why some nations fail and the others prosper. A very interesting read! EXCERPTS Repression + absence of social justice + denial of channels for peaceful change = a ticking bomb. To Egyptians, the things that have held them back include an ineffective and corrupt state and a society where they cannot use their talent, ambition, ingenuity, and what [...]
