Book Notes
12 books in this category.
Shane Parrish & Rhiannon Beaubien
Shane Parrish and Rhiannon Beaubien's argument that better decisions come from carrying a latticework of nine general-purpose thinking tools — drawn from many disciplines — rather than viewing every problem through a single specialty.
Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho's fable about Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd who follows a recurring dream across the desert in search of treasure and learns that pursuing your Personal Legend matters more than the destination it leads to.
Susan Cain
Susan Cain's argument that Western culture systematically overvalues extroversion, and that introverts — with their gifts for deep focus, listening, and solitary creativity — are a quiet, underrated half of the population we'd be wise to stop trying to fix.
Stephen R. Covey
Stephen Covey's argument that lasting effectiveness comes from building character around seven principle-based habits that move you from dependence to independence to interdependence.
Mitch Albom
A memoir about the fourteen Tuesdays Mitch Albom spent with his dying former professor, Morrie Schwartz, who used his final months with ALS to teach one last class on how to live.
David D. Burns
David Burns's popular guide to cognitive behavioral therapy, built on the idea that your thoughts cause your feelings, so changing distorted thinking can change how you feel.
Don Miguel Ruiz
Don Miguel Ruiz's distillation of Toltec wisdom into four simple agreements to make with yourself — be impeccable with your word, don't take anything personally, don't make assumptions, and always do your best — as a way to escape the limiting beliefs we absorb unconsciously and reclaim personal freedom.
Gary Keller & Jay Papasan
Gary Keller and Jay Papasan's argument that extraordinary results come from narrowing your focus to a single highest-leverage task and protecting time for it, instead of trying to do everything at once.
Angela Duckworth
Angela Duckworth's argument that long-term achievement comes less from raw talent than from grit, the combination of passion and perseverance toward a goal you care about for years.
Gary Chapman
Gary Chapman's argument that people express and receive love in five different "languages," and that most relationship friction comes from speaking a language your partner doesn't.
Carol S. Dweck
Carol Dweck's argument that whether you believe ability is fixed or can grow shapes how you handle effort, failure, and challenge, and changing that belief changes outcomes.
Admiral William H. McRaven
A short book built from Admiral McRaven's viral 2014 commencement speech, laying out 10 lessons from Navy SEAL training that scale from making your bed each morning to getting through the hardest days without quitting.
One short summary every time I add a new note to the library. About once a week.
Get my weekly newsletter — one idea + the best of what I read.
Join 25,000+ readers. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.