Generations of readers have been intrigued by Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s memoir because of its tales of life in Nazi death camps and its teachings for spiritual survival. Frankl contends that while we cannot avoid suffering, we can choose how to deal with it, interpret information in it, and push forward with fresh purpose. He bases this claim on his own experience as well as the accounts of his patients. His logotherapy idea is based on the conviction that the quest for meaning rather than pleasure is what drives people most. One of the most well-known novels in America is Man’s Search for Meaning, which continues to motivate us all to discover meaning in life itself.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.”
“But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.”
“An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.”
In the much-awaited, “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, Daniel Kahneman takes us on a revolutionary journey through the mind and elucidates the two systems that govern our thinking. While System 2 is slower, more deliberate, and more rational, System 1 is quick, intuitive, and emotive. Fast thinking has exceptional talents, but it also has flaws and biases, as Kahneman demonstrates, and he also demonstrates the widespread effect of gut perceptions on our thoughts and conduct.
Understanding how the two systems interact to influence our judgments and decisions is essential to understanding the effects of cognitive bias and complacency on corporate strategies, the challenges of forecasting what will make us satisfied in the future, the difficulties of framing risks appropriately at work and at home, and the profound impact of cognitive biases on everything from trading stocks to making travel plans.
In a vibrant discussion of how we think, Kahneman draws the reader in and explains when and how we should trust our intuitions as well as how to take advantage of sluggish thinking. He provides insightful advice on how to make decisions in both our professional and personal lives.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact.”
“Nothing in life is as important as you think it is, while you are thinking about it”
“Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.”
“If you care about being thought credible and intelligent, do not use complex language where simpler language will do.”
“Intelligence is not only the ability to reason; it is also the ability to find relevant material in memory and to deploy attention when needed.”
You can pursue the job you want and succeed in getting it. You can make improvements to the job you now have! Any circumstance you find yourself in can be made to work in your favor. More than 15 million copies of How to Win Friends and Influence People have been sold since its 1936 publication. The first book by Dale Carnegie is a classic bestseller that has helped thousands of now-famous people climb the success ladder in both their personal and professional life. It is jam-packed with sound advice.
Dale Carnegie’s teachings are still applicable today and will aid you in realizing your full potential in the challenging and competitive modern world. Learn the six ways to win people around to your point of view, the twelve ways to convert people, and the nine ways to influence people without offending them.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”
“Don’t be afraid of enemies who attack you. Be afraid of the friends who flatter you.”
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
“Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemn—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.”
“Everybody in the world is seeking happiness—and there is one sure way to find it. That is by controlling your thoughts. Happiness doesn’t depend on outward conditions. It depends on inner conditions.”
According to our “thirty-is-the-new-twenty” mentality, the years spent in your 20s are unimportant. Some people describe them as protracted adolescence. Others refer to them as young adults. The new twenty is not thirty, though. Dr. Meg Jay demonstrates in this insightful book how many twentysomethings have been caught in a whirlwind of hype and disinformation that has trivialized what are truly the most formative years of life. Dr. Jay interweaves the science of the twentysomething years with engrossing, behind-the-scenes experiences from twentysomethings themselves, drawing on more than 10 years of work with hundreds of twenty-something customers and students. She discusses what experts in psychology, sociology, neurology, reproductive science, human resources management, and economics know about the distinctive influence of our twenties and how they affect how our lives change. The end result is a thought-provoking and occasionally moving read that demonstrates why our twenties do matter. The decisions we make in our twenties will have a significant impact on the years and possibly even future generations.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“Forget about having an identity crisis and get some identity capital. … Do something that adds value to who you are. Do something that’s an investment in who you might want to be next.”
“Twentysomethings who don’t feel anxious and incompetent at work are usually overconfident or underemployed.”
“It’s the people we hardly know, and not our closest friends, who will improve our lives most dramatically”
“The future isn’t written in the stars. There are no guarantees. So claim your adulthood. Be intentional. Get to work. Pick your family. Do the math. Make your own certainty. Don’t be defined by what you didn’t know or didn’t do. You are deciding your life right now.”
“I wasn’t scared of losing my past. i was scared of losing my future.”
A famous blogger cuts through the BS in this generation-defining self-help book to teach us how to quit striving to be “positive” all the time so that we may actually improve and be happier. Positive thinking is the secret to leading a happy, fulfilling life, we’ve been told for decades. Mark Manson says, “F**k positivity.” Let’s face it, sh*t is f**ked, and we must accept that. Manson doesn’t mince words or use ambiguity in his enormously well-read Internet blog. He says it like it is, giving today’s world a much-needed dose of unvarnished, energizing honesty.
His response to the coddling, make everyone feel good mentality that has invaded American society and spoilt a generation by giving them gold medals merely for showing up is The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k. Manson makes the case that enhancing our lives depends less on our capacity to convert lemons into lemonade and more on developing a better stomach for lemons, a claim supported by both academic data and well-timed poop humor. Because of their flaws and limitations, humans cannot be perfect; there are victors and losers in society, and sometimes it’s your responsibility. Manson counsels us to recognize and accept our limitations.
We can start to develop the courage, persistence, honesty, obligation, curiosity, and reconciliation we seek once we embrace our fears, flaws, and doubts, once we stop fleeing from and avoiding hard facts, and instead start facing them head-on. Manson makes it plain that there are only many things we can care about, so we need to decide which ones actually important. Money is good, but it’s preferable to care about what you do with your life because real wealth comes from experience. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a welcome slap for a generation to help them lead happy, grounded lives. It is a much-needed moment of real discussion that will grab you by the shoulders and look you in the eye.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“Who you are is defined by what you’re willing to struggle for.”
“You and everyone you know are going to be dead soon. And in the short amount of time between here and there, you have a limited amount of fucks to give. Very few, in fact. And if you go around giving a fuck about everything and everyone without conscious thought or choice—well, then you’re going to get fucked.”
“Unhealthy love is based on two people trying to escape their problems through their emotions for each other—in other words, they’re using each other as an escape. Healthy love is based on two people acknowledging and addressing their own problems with each other’s support.”
“Being wrong opens us up to the possibility of change. Being wrong brings the opportunity for growth.”
“Because when we give too many fucks, when we choose to give a fuck about everything, then we feel as though we are perpetually entitled to feel comfortable and happy at all times, that’s when life fucks us.”
At least six different human species lived on the planet 100,000 years ago. There is only one now. Us. Human species. How did our species prevail in the struggle for supremacy? Why did our nomadic foragers get together to build towns and kingdoms? How did we come to trust money, literature, and laws; to believe in gods, nations, and human rights; and to be ruled by bureaucracy, deadlines, and consumerism? What will the future millennia bring for our world?
Dr. Yuval Noah Harari covers the entirety of human history in Sapiens, from the very first creatures to walk the planet through the revolutionary – and occasionally life-changing – discoveries of the Cognitive, Agricultural, and Scientific Revolutions.
He investigates how the currents of history have influenced our human societies, the plants and animals surrounding us, and even our personalities. He draws on concepts from biology, anthropology, paleontology, and economics. Has history made us happy as a result? Can we ever break away from the influences of our ancestors on how we act? And if anything, what can we do to shape the future of the centuries? Sapiens challenge everything we believed to be true about being human, including our thoughts, deeds, power, and future. It is audacious, all-encompassing, and controversial.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.”
“How do you cause people to believe in an imagined order such as Christianity, democracy or capitalism? First, you never admit that the order is imagined.”
“Culture tends to argue that it forbids only that which is unnatural. But from a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural. A truly unnatural behaviour, one that goes against the laws of nature, simply cannot exist, so it would need no prohibition.”
“One of history’s few iron laws is that luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations.”
“History is something that very few people have been doing while everyone else was ploughing fields and carrying water buckets.”
Malcolm Gladwell guides us intellectually through the world of “outliers”—the smartest and most accomplished people—in this breathtaking book. What differentiates exceptional achievers, he wonders?
His response is that we focus too much on what successful individuals are like and not enough on where they come from, which includes their culture, family, generation, and unique experiences growing up. Along the way, he explains how software billionaires get their money, what it needs to be a good soccer player, why Asians are brilliant at math, and why the Beatles are the best music band ever. Outliers is a remarkable work that is both brilliant and amusing and will delight and enlighten.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”
“Who we are cannot be separated from where we’re from.”
“Achievement is talent plus preparation”
“In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.”
“Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities.”
Composed by Brazilian creator Paulo Coelho in 1988. The story is about a Shepherd kid from Spain whose name is Santiago. He continues to get the very dream about treasures that are covered in the Pyramids of Egypt. He sets out on an excursion to follow his fantasy in the wake of meeting an old lord who offers him enchantment stones and counsel. Santiago crosses the Mediterranean and Sahara to track down his fortunes in Egypt and furthermore achieve his own legend, which is his motivation throughout everyday life. The book subtleties his excursion and the different experiences that he has encountered while following his fantasy. All through the excursion, Santiago meets many new individuals and has a ton of challenges, which at last assist him with learning and developing the whole way.
The Alchemist is a phenomenal book and the narrating is lovely. The selection of words is faultless, brimming with insight and reasoning. I completely cherished it. The story is exceptionally charming and overflows with confidence which I believe is vital in our lives. The book shows that the excursion to your fate is all around as significant as the actual predetermination. I love the way the book underscores the significance of confidence, trust, and otherworldliness through the tale of a conventional kid. I think this book requests to everybody since we as a whole have dreams and once in a while we simply believe somebody should let us know that they might work out. Overall,”The Alchemist” is an exceptionally interesting fiction novel and it merits space on everybody’s shelf.
We must leave our intelligent mind and its fabricated self, the ego, behind in order to travel into the Now. We quickly go to a much higher altitude where the air is lighter as soon as we turn the first page of Eckhart Tolle’s wonderful book. The unbreakable core of who we are, “The eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the various life forms that are subject to birth and death,” becomes a part of us. Eckhart Tolle employs straightforward language and a straightforward question-and-answer structure to lead us even when the path is difficult. The Power of Now is one of those uncommon books having the capacity to inspire readers to have an experience that can profoundly alter their life for the better. It has become a word-of-mouth phenomenon since its initial release.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“Form is emptiness, emptiness is form” states the Heart Sutra, one of the best known ancient Buddhist texts. The essence of all things is emptiness.”
“The moment you realize you are not present, you are present. Whenever you are able to observe your mind, you are no longer trapped in it. Another factor has come in, something that is not of the mind: the witnessing presence.”
“The light is too painful for someone who wants to remain in darkness.”
“You attract and manifest whatever corresponds to your inner state.”
“Emotions arise in the place where your mind and body meet”
This famous work on military strategy by Sun Tzu, based on Chinese battle and military doctrine, was written 250 years ago. Since then, all ranks of the military have applied Sun Tzu’s precepts to battle, and civilization has modified these teachings for application in business, politics, and daily life. One should use The Art of War to their advantage both on the battlefield and in business meetings.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
“Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”
The first non-fiction book by New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner and University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt is titled Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. The book, which was released on April 12 by William Morrow, has been characterized as fusing pop culture and economics.
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime? Freakonomics will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.
Childhood for David Goggins was a nightmare filled with deprivation, discrimination, and physical abuse. However, Goggins changed himself from a hopeless, obese young man into one of the best endurance athletes in the world via self-control, mental fortitude, and hard training. He was the only man in history to successfully complete the rigorous training required to become a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller. He then broke records in a number of endurance competitions, earning him the title of “The Fittest (Real) Man in America” from Outside magazine.
He discusses his incredible life experience in Can’t Hurt Me and demonstrates that most people only use 40% of their potential. This is what Goggins refers to as The 40% Rule, and his life narrative shows how anyone can use it to overcome sorrow, face fear, and realize their full potential.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
“In the military we always say we don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training,”
“No one is going to come help you. No one’s coming to save you.”
“I thought I’d solved a problem when really I was creating new ones by taking the path of least resistance.”
“It’s a lot more than mind over matter. It takes relentless self discipline to schedule suffering into your day, every day.”
James B. Stewart’s book, “DisneyWar,” is an exposé of Michael Eisner’s 20 years as chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. The dramatic inside tale of Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner’s fall from grace and the controversies that nearly tore the most well-known entertainment business in America apart.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“You don’t do something because it’s a sure thing. You don’t do something for the bank. That’s the one that flops. That’s a riskier proposition than doing something completely original. It’s risky to be safe.”
Your parents, coaches, instructors, friends, and mentors have all encouraged you to rise above your justifications and conquer your fears throughout your life. What if understanding how to push yourself is all it takes to have the bravery and confidence to improve your life and work?
Mel Robbins will illustrate the power of a “push moment” using the science of habits, captivating tales, and unexpected details from some of the most renowned moments in history, art, and business. She will then provide you with one straightforward technique you may utilize to develop into your best self. Using this program only takes five seconds, and each time you do, you’ll have wonderful company. Mel’s TEDx Talk has had more than 8 million views, and executives from the biggest brands in the world are adopting the tool to boost engagement, productivity, and teamwork.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“Hesitation is the kiss of death. You might hesitate for a just nanosecond, but that’s all it takes. That one small hesitation triggers a mental system that’s designed to stop you. And it happens in less than—you guessed it—five seconds.”
“Your feelings don’t matter. The only thing that matters is what you DO.”
“You have been assigned this mountain so that you can show others it can be moved.”
“There’s one thing that is guaranteed to increase your feelings of control over your life: a bias toward action.”
“I was the problem and in five seconds, I could push myself and become the solution.”
In contrast to other military branches, the Marine Corps in Vietnam mandated that combat pilots spend time performing forward air control duty with the infantry on the front lines. It was a brutal and horrifying lesson in the harsh reality of jungle warfare for Sam Brantley. The battle had always seemed far away as it passed by woods and rice farms at great altitudes. Now when the war was in his face during the Tet Offensive in the summer, what he saw and did turn his perspective forever.
This endearing classic, which was initially released in 1970, compiles 20 years of letters between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer who resides in New York City, and a used book trader in London. Even though they have never met and are geographically and culturally apart, they have developed a warm, heartfelt bond through the years that is built on their shared love of books. These letters’ piercing depictions of their relationship will capture your heart and refuse to let go.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“I do love secondhand books that open to the page some previous owner read oftenest. The day Hazlitt came he opened to “I hate to read new books,” and I hollered “Comrade!” to whoever owned it before me.”
“I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages someone long gone has called my attention to.”
“If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me. I owe it so much.”
“Why is it that people who wouldn’t dream of stealing anything else think it’s perfectly all right to steal books?”
“It looks too new and pristine ever to have been read by anyone else, but it has been: it keeps falling open at the most delightful places as the ghost of its former owner points me to things I’ve never read before.”
The trek to the stunning Tibetan plateau of Dolpo in the high Himalayas is described in this travelogue. A 250-mile journey to Dolpo was performed by Matthiessen in 1973 as part of an investigation into the wild blue sheep. It was a strenuous, occasionally risky physical endeavor that involved exhaustion, blisters, blizzards, protracted discussions with sherpas, and shivering cold. But it was also a “tour of the emotions” because Matthiessen was looking for comfort among the majestic mountains’ aloofness. He was also hoping to catch a glimpse of a snow leopard, an animal that is so uncommonly seen that it is practically mythological.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“And only the enlightened can recall their former lives; for the rest of us, the memories of past existences are but glints of light, twinges of longing, passing shadows, disturbingly familiar, that are gone before they can be grasped, like the passage of that silver bird on Dhaulagiri.”
“We have outsmarted ourselves, like greedy monkeys, and now we are full of dread.”
“Figures dark beneath their loads pass down the far bank of the river, rendered immortal by the streak of sunset upon their shoulders”
“The sun is roaring, it fills to bursting each crystal of snow. I flush with feeling, moved beyond my comprehension, and once again, the warm tears freeze upon my face. These rocks and mountains, all this matter, the snow itself, the air- the earth is ringing. All is moving, full of power, full of light.”
“And as the wary dogs skirt past, we nod, grimace, and resume our paths to separate destinies and graves.”
You must trust in secrets if you want to create a better future. There are still unknown territories to discover and novel inventions to develop, which is our era’s great secret. Peter Thiel, a renowned investor, and entrepreneur demonstrates in his book Zero to One how we might come up with unique strategies to produce those new items.
Thiel starts off with the contrarian notion that, despite being preoccupied with flashy mobile devices, we are living in a time of technological stasis. Although information technology has advanced quickly, Silicon Valley and computers are by no means the only areas of development. In any sector of business or industry, advancement is possible.
It stems from the most crucial ability that each and every leader must develop: the capacity for independent thought. The world goes from 1 to n when we do what someone else currently knows how to do, adding more of what is familiar. However, when you take a new action, you go from 0 to 1. Operating systems won’t be created by the next Bill Gates. A search engine won’t be created by the next Larry Page or Sergey Brin. The winners of tomorrow will not be those who engage in fierce competition in today’s market. They will completely avoid competition because their companies are special.
A new perspective about innovation is presented in Zero to One, which begins by teaching readers how to ask the questions that lead to the discovery of value in unexpected places. It simultaneously offers an upbeat outlook on the future of progress in America.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“ZERO TO ONE EVERY MOMENT IN BUSINESS happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won’t create a social network. If you are copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them.”
“The best entrepreneurs know this: every great business is built around a secret that’s hidden from the outside. A great company is a conspiracy to change the world; when you share your secret, the recipient becomes a fellow conspirator.”
“What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”
“Tolstoy opens Anna Karenina by observing: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Business is the opposite. All happy companies are different: each one earns a monopoly by solving a unique problem. All failed companies are the same: they failed to escape competition.”
“Elite students climb confidently until they reach a level of competition sufficiently intense to beat their dreams out of them. Higher education is the place where people who had big plans in high school get stuck in fierce rivalries with equally smart peers over conventional careers like management consulting and investment banking. For the privilege of being turned into conformists, students (or their families) pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in skyrocketing tuition that continues to outpace inflation. Why are we doing this to ourselves?”
Matthew Walker, a neuroscientist and sleep specialist, offers a ground-breaking analysis of sleep, looking at how it impacts every facet of our mental and physical well-being. Walker explains how we can use sleep to improve learning, mood, and energy levels, restrict hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and lengthen our lives by outlining the most recent scientific advances and drawing on his decades of research and clinical experience. Additionally, he offers doable suggestions for improving each night’s sleep.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep.”
“Practice does not make perfect. It is practice, followed by a night of sleep, that leads to perfection.”
“Inadequate sleep—even moderate reductions for just one week—disrupts blood sugar levels so profoundly that you would be classified as pre-diabetic.”
“Humans are not sleeping the way nature intended. The number of sleep bouts, the duration of sleep, and when sleep occurs have all been comprehensively distorted by modernity.”
“Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day — Mother Nature’s best effort yet at contra-death.”
We consistently get the answers wrong when given simple questions regarding global trends, such as what percentage of the world’s population lives in poverty, why the world’s population is expanding, and how many girls complete high school. So incorrect that a monkey answering questions at random will routinely outperform professors, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers.
In Factfulness, Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon, and his two long-time partners, Anna and Ola, give a startling new explanation for why this occurs. They expose the ten inclinations that distort our perspective, ranging from our proclivity to divide the world into two camps (typically some form of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear reigns supreme) to how we perceive progress.
Our issue is that we don’t know what we don’t know, and our best predictions are influenced by unconscious and foreseeable biases. Factfulness is an urgent and necessary book that will alter the way you can see the world and equip you to respond to future crises and opportunities. It is inspiring and revelatory, full of entertaining anecdotes and emotional stories.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“There’s no room for facts when our minds are occupied by fear.”
“Forming your worldview by relying on the media would be like forming your view about me by looking only at a picture of my foot.”
“The world cannot be understood without numbers. But the world cannot be understood with numbers alone.”
“Remember: things can be bad, and getting better.”
“Look for systems, not heroes.”
Rich Dad Poor Dad is Robert’s account of growing up with two fathers – his biological father and his best friend’s father, his “rich dad,” and how both men affected his views on money and investing. The book debunks the notion that you need a high income to be wealthy, and it discusses the distinction between working for a living and letting your money work for you.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“In school, we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet, if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.”
“Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.”
“You’re only poor if you give up. The most important thing is that you did something. Most people only talk and dream of getting rich. You’ve done something.”
“If you’re the kind of person who has no guts, you just give up every time life pushes you. If you’re that kind of person, you’ll live all your life playing it safe, doing the right things, and saving yourself for something that never happens. Then, you die a boring old man.”
“The love of money is the root of all evil.”
The majority of startups fail. However, many of these failures are avoidable. The Lean Startup is a revolutionary method that is transforming the way companies are developed and new products are introduced around the world. A startup, according to Eric Ries, is an organization dedicated to producing something new in the face of severe uncertainty. This is true for a single person in a garage as it is for a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they all have in common is a desire to break through the shroud of uncertainty in order to find a viable path to a long-term business.
The Lean Startup methodology creates organizations that are both more capital efficient and more successful at leveraging human innovation. It is based on “validated learning,” quick scientific experimentation, and a number of counter-intuitive approaches that shorten product development cycles, assess actual progress without turning to vanity metrics and discover what customers truly want. It enables a corporation to change course quickly, changing plans inch by inch, minute by minute.
Rather than wasting time developing extensive business plans, The Lean Startup provides entrepreneurs of all sizes with a mechanism to continuously test their vision, adapt, and adjust before it’s too late. In an age when companies need to innovate more than ever, Ries offers a scientific approach to building and managing successful firms.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else.”
“We must learn what customers really want, not what they say they want or what we think they should want.”
“Reading is good, action is better.”
“if you cannot fail, you cannot learn.”
“As you consider building your own minimum viable product, let this simple rule suffice: remove any feature, process, or effort that does not contribute directly to the learning you seek.”
The classic book on persuasion, Influence, explores the psychology behind why people say “yes” and how to use this knowledge. The father of the rapidly developing science of persuasion and influence is Dr. Robert Cialdini. This widely praised book is the culmination of his 35 years of meticulous, evidence-based research and a three-year program of study on what motivates people to alter behavior.
You’ll discover the six universal rules, how to apply them to become a persuasive speaker, and how to counter them. The Influence concepts are ideal for people from all walks of life and will propel you toward significant personal change and achievement.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.”
“Embarrassment is a villain to be crushed.”
“we all fool ourselves from time to time in order to keep our thoughts and beliefs consistent with what we have already done or decided”
“Often we don’t realize that our attitude toward something has been influenced by the number of times we have been exposed to it in the past.”
“persons who go through a great deal of trouble or pain to attain something tend to value it more highly than persons who attain the same thing with a minimum of effort.”
The captivating, frank, and lyrical narrative of a renowned author’s quest for worldly pleasure, commitment to religion, and what she truly desired in life. Elizabeth Gilbert experienced an early-onset midlife crisis about the time she turned 30. She had a spouse, a home, and a fulfilling career—everything an educated, aspirational American woman was meant to want. But instead of experiencing joy and contentment, she was overcome by fear, grief, and perplexity. She experienced a divorce, a crippling depression, another failed relationship, and the destruction of all she had ever imagined herself to be.
Gilbert made a drastic decision in order to move past all of this. She got rid of her possessions, left her work, and started an unaccompanied year-long journey around the globe in order to allow herself the space and time to discover who she truly was and what she truly desired. The captivating history of that year is presented in Eat, Pray, Love. Her goal was to travel to three locations where she could investigate a single feature of her personality against the backdrop of a society that has historically excelled at that particular aspect of personality study. She learned the art of joy in Rome, where she also picked up Italian and put on the happiest 23 pounds of her life.
With the assistance of a local guru and a surprisingly knowledgeable cowboy from Texas, she set off on a four-month spiritual journey to India to learn the art of devotion. She learned the technique of striking a balance between earthly pleasures and heavenly transcendence in Bali. She adopted an ancient medicine man as her teacher and experienced the best kind of love: an unanticipated one.
A powerfully written and heartfelt tale of self-discovery, Eat, Pray, Love explores what might happen when you take ownership of your own happiness and stop attempting to live up to social norms. Those who have become aware of the relentless need for change will undoubtedly be moved by it.
The grand enigma of the cosmos was disclosed in 2006 by the ground-breaking feature film The Secret, and Rhonda Byrne soon after published a book that has become a global blockbuster. Over the years, fragments of a Great Secret have been discovered in literature, oral traditions, religions, and philosophical systems. The Secret’s components finally come together in an amazing revelation that will change everyone who experiences it for the better.
You’ll discover how to apply The Secret to every area of your life in this book, including finances, well-being, interpersonal relationships, happiness, and all of your interactions with other people. Your realization of the innate, untapped power you possess will help you live more joyfully in all areas of your life.
Modern teachers who have used it to gain wellness, wealth, and happiness have shared their knowledge in The Secret. By putting The Secret’s principles to use, they share inspiring tales of eliminating disease, amassing an enormous fortune, surmounting challenges, and accomplishing things that most people would consider impossible.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“There is no such thing as a hopeless situation. Every single circumstances of your life can change! ”
“There is a truth deep down inside of you that has been waiting for you to discover it, and that truth is this: you deserve all good things life has to offer.”
“Your power is in your thoughts, so stay awake. In other words, remember to remember.”
“Your thoughts become things!”
“If you are feeling good , it is because you are thinking good thoughts .”
The Greatest Salesman in the World is a book that tells the tale of Hafid, an impoverished camel boy who leads an abundant life and acts as a manual for a salesmanship and success philosophy. To read the book in Mandino’s recommended reading order would take roughly ten months.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“Wealth, my son, should never be your goal in life. Your words are eloquent but they are mere words. True wealth is of the heart, not of the purse.”
“No, my son, do not aspire for wealth and labor not only to be rich. Strive instead for happiness, to be loved and to love, and most important to acquire peace of mind and serenity.”
“Never feel shame for trying and failing for he who has never failed is he who has never tried.”
“Only a habit can subdue another habit.”
“I will greet this day with love in my heart.”
A remarkable true story from one of the most inspirational lawyers of our time on the power of mercy to transform us and a call to halt mass incarceration in America. Young attorney Bryan Stevenson established the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit law firm in Montgomery, Alabama, with the mission of representing the underprivileged, the imprisoned, and the wrongfully convicted.
In Just Mercy, the history of EJI is told, from the early years with a small staff dealing with the highest death sentences and execution rates in the country, through a successful campaign to end the cruel practice of sending children to die in prison, to revolutionary projects intended to confront Americans with our history of racial injustice. Walter McMillian, a young Black man who was given a death sentence for the murder of a teenage white woman that he didn’t commit, was one of EJI’s initial clients. The case serves as an example of how capital punishment in America is a straight offshoot of lynching, a system that rewards the guilty and wealthy over the innocent and impoverished.
Best Quotes from this Book:
“Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”
― Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
“Proximity has taught me some basic and humbling truths, including this vital lesson: Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. Finally, I’ve come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.”
― Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
“There is a strength, a power even, in understanding brokenness, because embracing our brokenness creates a need and desire for mercy, and perhaps a corresponding need to show mercy. When you experience mercy, you learn things that are hard to learn otherwise. You see things you can’t otherwise see; you hear things you can’t otherwise hear. You begin to recognize the humanity that resides in each of us.”
― Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
“We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, or a nation. Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much as we victimize others. The closer we get to mass incarceration and extreme levels of punishment, the more I believe it’s necessary to recognize that we all need mercy, we all need justice, and-perhaps-we all need some measure of unmerited grace.”
― Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
“The power of just mercy is that it belongs to the undeserving. It’s when mercy is least expected that it’s most potent—strong enough to break the cycle of victimization and victimhood, retribution, and suffering. It has the power to heal the psychic harm and injuries that lead to aggression and violence, abuse of power, mass incarceration.”
― Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption