Which books can teach you how to be the best you?
at will teach you how to be the best you? There's been an explosion in social psychology and neuroscience books. That's great -- but many of them are too focused on theory, trivia, or are too general to be useful. And many that are legitimate just aren't an easy read for the average person. Which books can really teach you how to be the best you? What if you're an introvert? What to read: Quiet by Susan Cain What…
2 minutes
Does nearly being murdered change your life forever?
being stabbed in the throat doesn't change your life forever, what will? The knife sunk in two millimeters from his carotid artery -- which he describes as the difference between being "flown home in the cargo hold instead of in coach." Writer and cartoonist Tim Kreider had been stabbed in the throat. What is life like after it comes so close to ending? It's wonderful. Via We Learn Nothing: Essays: Except for the ten or fifteen minutes during which it…
4 minutes
5 second summaries of 5 psychology books you need to read:
hat are the best psychology books to read?" Everyone asks me that. But then they don't read the books. It's hard to blame them - no one has time these days. In the past I've done recommendations with quick takeaways and fun videos (here and here.) Time to do it again with five more great books. 1) Where Good Ideas Come From What is it? Steven Berlin Johnson's book about the history of creativity and innovation. What did I learn from…
2 minutes
Can believing “life is a game” make you happier and more successful?
it true that "life is a game"? Saying "life is a game" seems to encourage you to take life less seriously. But it can also make you take it more seriously by getting you more invested and interested -- the way any good game does. "Scoring points" of any kind has an interesting effect. As Pete Drucker is famous for saying, "What gets measured gets managed." Kids do better in school when it's treated as a game and scored: Via…
6 minutes
Top Experts Always Recommend These 4 Books
far I've done interviews with 22 experts on various fields from happiness, to expertise, to influence and irrationality. I've asked most of them which books they highly recommend. Which ones got mentioned most often? The Top Books Experts Recommend: Robert Cialdini’s Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion (3 times) Dan Pink's To Sell is Human (2 times) Adam Grant’s Give and Take (2 times) Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow (2 times) Books Experts Recommend - By Topic Leadership Gautam Mukunda, professor at Harvard Business School and…
3 minutes
How to easily increase willpower and improve self-control:
at's it take to increase willpower? Roy F. Baumeister is the Frances Eppes Professor of Psychology at Florida State University and author of the New York Times bestseller Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. I spoke with him about how self-control works, what makes New Year's resolutions succeed and how to increase willpower. My conversation with Roy was over an hour long, so for brevity’s sake I’m only going to post edited highlights here. If you want the extended interview…
6 minutes
What Playboy Playmates can teach you about making accurate predictions
2006 ten Playboy Playmates were asked to make stock picks. Half the Playmates beat the S&P 500 while less than a third of professional money managers were able to. Via The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing: In 2006, Tradingmarkets, a company that helps people trade stocks, asked ten Playboy Playmates to select five stocks each. The idea was to see if they could beat the market. The winner was Deanna Brooks, Playmate of the…
3 minutes
Best of the month: What good stuff have you been missing out on?
bsp; In case you missed them, here are the best of the month: Brainstorming: 3 reasons why everything you know is wrong. "Don't be critical", "Generate lots of ideas" -- it all goes against the research. Here's what works. Read it here. How to network: 5 methods by top experts Everybody knows you're supposed to do it. Now learn the right way -- and how to get started. Read it here. "Nice guys finish last." Really? What…
1 min read
