Book Insights Podcast

Lean In continues the conversation that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg started back in 2010 with her unmissable TED talk.  She encourages women to make their voices heard, to lean in and “sit at the table”, take risks and strive to reach their potential.  No organization can be truly effective, Sandberg argues, if it does not purposefully try to represent all of society.  You end up w...

*There are fundamental truths about tidying – an optimum method can really make a dramatic difference in our lives.  *Judging by the reception that Marie Kondo has received globally, her system works.  *Tidying is a habit, and the power to change it for a new and more effective habit is completely in our hands.  *It’s rare that an item in your home will be ‘just an object’. Everythi...

*Organizational psychologist Adam Grant believes it’s possible to be an innovator without having many of the downsides associated with creativity, such as isolation and anxiety.   * If you’ve had enough of hearing about ‘superpeople’ who have changed the world through their ideas and inventions, it may be daunting to ever think you could also be an ‘original’ in this way.   * R...

*Napoleon Hill wrote Think and Grow Rich as America was still clawing itself out of the Great Depression, when most citizens were focused on avoiding poverty rather than getting rich.  *The promise of the book’s title stood out though, and made people wonder just what was possible.  *It contained not simply Hill’s own ideas, but the distilled secrets of hundreds of America’s most success...

Your thoughts shape your beliefs. Your beliefs shape your actions. Your actions shape your reality. This is the basics of The Law of Attraction, and similarly physician and author Joseph Murphy believed that mental visualizations and affirmations begin to change us and affect the world around us. Whatever you fixate on, you will attract more of the same into your life. Through a refusal to dw...

* Success is simple: it involves hard work and habits that compounds our value over time.  *In this global bestseller, entrepreneur and success coach Darren Hardy shows that it’s the small, incremental changes that – when made consistently – will make a difference in your life.  *With consistent effort, the compound effect will naturally take hold, allowing you to reach the success that...

Gladwell revisits the ancient tale of the underdog to break down history’s secrets.  David’s small size, lack of armor, and sling shot are really advantages, and Goliath’s immense size and power only work against him.  Gladwell revisits a dozen or so stories, ranging from Biblical battles to the London Blitz, to redefine how we look at history’s underdogs and industry giants.  The ‘...

Learned Optimism is a classic of positive psychology from the father of the field.   Martin Seligman is the most distinguished researcher of learned helplessness, pessimism, optimism and flourishing.  His book explains the differences between optimistic and pessimistic thinking and how the latter can lead to depression.  Learned Optimism recounts studies and stories on the benefits...

In The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor proves that success follows happiness and not the other way around.  He distills various findings in the field of positive psychology to provide practical advice on how to improve your well-being, achieve goals, and develop stronger relationships – all by adopting a more positive mindset. Theme 1: Simple Ways to Boost Happiness - 4:16 Theme 2: How To De...

Human action has multiple layers of causation. Our behavior is complicated .  It can’t be explained by biology and genes alone – as evolutionary biologists tend to do. And it can’t be explained by environment alone, as a sociologist might.  How we act and think depends on a subtle interplay between ancient urges and fears, social and cultural influences, and reasoning.  Sometimes, a...

* Dr Kay Redfield Jamison, one of the leading authorities on manic depression (or bipolar disorder),  has written extensively about the often perplexing psychiatric illness, and also about its links with creativity.  * In An Unquiet Mind she unites these strands in a courageous and gripping memoir, revealing her own experiences of living with manic depression.   * Jamison details th...

* Stoicism was a school of ancient philosophy which survived for several centuries, and is going through a major revival today.  * Massimo Pigliucci provides an essential guide to applying the wisdom of the Stoics to 21st-century life, making the sometimes difficult subject of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy accessible and relevant to the modern world. * The book is based around several ke...

This work of philosophy will get you thinking about much more than your average personal development or business book.   Srikumar Rao applies ancient Eastern spiritual wisdom to the high-stress present-day work setting.   Lessons include: managing yourself, not time; leaving behind a me-centered world; and the power of not judging.   Focusing on helping others will also make you hap...

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says it is best to think about the universe in terms of order and chaos (entropy)   The best way to have an ordered mind, and a life of meaning, is to engage in many ‘flow’ activities.    A flow activity is one undertaken for its own sake rather than an end result – running a marathon for the joy of it, say, rather than in desperation to win the...

* Is humanity really heading towards an abyss?    * Or have we forgotten how to acknowledge progress?    * Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker argues that statistically people are happier, wealthier and healthier than ever before   * Our progress over the past 300 years is due to the ideals set out by Enlightenment thinkers in the 18th century: science, reason and humanism...

We can’t all be right, all of the time. Much as we might hate to admit it, Kathryn Schulz argues that being wrong has its advantages, and recognising this could do us the world of good. Drawing on science, philosophy, psychology, literature and personal experience, she unpicks our difficult relationship with being wrong. Everyone slips up, but it’s in our nature to downplay, cover up, deny, or to...