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 our emotions. [...]
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 that the [...]
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 great task [...]
Author: James Allen ISBN: 978-1530875269 This is one of the first self-help books ever written (1903!). It's nice to see how things evolve. EXCERPTS Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, [...]
Author: Benedict Carey ISBN: 978-0812993899 I wish I read this book before (or at least) during law school! A book about optimizing learning with hands-on advice. EXCERPTS Part One: Basic Theory Memory improved in the first few days without any further study, and only began to taper off after day four or so, on average. The brain doesn’t hold on to nonsense syllables for long, then, because they are nonsense. [...]
Author: Neil Strauss ISBN: 978-0062336958 A hilariously funny book about serious relationship questions. How a world famous pick-up artist (Neil Strauss, the author himself) went from picking up women into a commited relationship, escaped it to pursue various relationship styles and ended back in a commited monogamous relationship. A page turner! I want more! [SPOILER ALERT: The author concluded that commited monogamous relationship is bad but still the best relatinship [...]
Author: Timothy Ferriss ISBN:978-0091929114 Funny, this was one one of the first books that I've read voluntarily. I was approaching the end of my student yeas and I had a giant lump in my throat. The job at a prestiguous corporate law frim was just behing the corner. In a couple of months my relatively worry-free life was about to be replaced by the 40-year 9-9 grind. More than anything [...]
Author: Daniel Kahneman ISBN: 978-0141033570 Daniel Kahneman is a psychologist, who together with Amos Tversky began studying the way we make decisions. This book is a collection of his career findings and presentention of findings for which he was awarded a Nobel prize in economics. A quite lengthy book and not the easiest to read, but well worthy of your time. The sad thing is that even though you'll familiarize [...]
Author: Robert B. Cialdini ISBN: 978-0061241895 Great book about how we can become more persuasitve. If you're interested in the way our brains make decisions, make sure to read Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. EXCERPTS When we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. The word “because” triggers an automatic compliance response. Instead of stacking all the odds [...]
Author: W. Anton ISBN: 978-1456494551 This is the best "game" book out there (Better than Myster Method). BUT, before you decide to act on advice in this book, read Mark Manson's Models (or excerpts on this blog!). EXCERPTS I've read the book before I had a Kindle eReader so saddly I haven't made any excerpts. But I can tell you that I've practically underlined half the book. That's how good [...]