Learning From Literature

Category: Nonfiction Book Notes

  • Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson

    Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson is a science book published in 2017.  If you’ve ever found yourself gazing up at the night sky and wondering about the vast mysteries of the universe, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is the perfect guide. Tyson breaks down complex cosmic…

  • 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam

    168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam is a self-help book published in 2010. Americans have a cultural narrative of too little time, but that’s statistically false. With the inherent time in American schedules, there is enough time to go back to school, write a novel, or do plenty of…

  • Travel As Transformation by Gregory V. Diehl

    Travel As Transformation: Conquer the Limits of Culture to Discover Your Own Identity by Gregory V. Diehl is a travel / self-help book published in 2016. Travel can have a profound impact on shaping one’s identity. Through travel, we gain the ability to step outside the ideological frameworks we’ve inherited, allowing us to discover new…

  • The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

    The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines Into Massive Success & Happiness by Jeff Olson is a self-help book published in 2005. In a world that often glorifies overnight success and dramatic transformations, Jeff Olson’s The Slight Edge posits that meaningful change is a gradual process. Olson emphasizes that the small, consistent actions we take every…

  • The Art Of Happiness by The Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler

    The Art Of Happiness: A Handbook For Living by His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler is a self-help book published in 1998. The Dalai Lama, revered as “a living Buddha of compassion,” inspired author Cutler to delve into the ideas behind his profound sense of fulfillment. The result is The Art of…

  • The Road Back To You by Ian Morgan Cron & Suzanne Stabile

    The Road Back To You: An Enneagram Journey To Self Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile is a self-help book published in 2016. The Enneagram serves as a navigational tool with a map of nine distinct personality types, leading to a better understanding of one’s true self. By gaining insight into your tendencies,…

  • The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

    The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art Of Decluttering And Organizing by Marie Kondo is a self-help book published in 2010.  When you put your house in order, you put your affairs and past in order, too, positively affecting all other aspects of your life, including work and family. With detailed guidance for…

  • Know Yourself Know Your Money by Rachel Cruze

    Know Yourself, Know Your Money: Discover WHY you handle money the way you do, and WHAT to do about it! by Rachel Cruze is a personal finance book published in 2021. In the game of life, you can’t opt out of financial matters, whether you try to ignore them or not. Therefore, it’s imperative that…

  • In The Time Of The Revolution by Alan Axelrod

    In The Time Of The Revolution: Living The War Of American Independence by Alan Axelrod is a history book published in 2020. The United States was the first country founded on a set of ideas, agreed upon by the people in Congress, and brought to life through the sacrifices of early Americans. Before, nations were…

  • High Conflict by Amanda Ripley

    High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped And How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley is a self-help book published in 2021. Conflict, like fire, is vital – we need some heat to illuminate what we’ve gotten wrong, understand each other, improve our current processes, and ultimately progress as humanity. However, when a disagreement shifts into…

  • The Hidden Habits Of Genius by Craig Wright

    The Hidden Habits Of Genius by Craig Wright is a self-improvement / biography book published in 2020. After examining Einstein, Mozart, and Da Vinci’s brains and genes, scientists haven’t found evidence of anything biologically predicting their future successes. Genius involves the complicated expression of too many hidden personal traits to be reduced to a single…

  • Small Giants by Bo Burlingham

    Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big by Bo Burlingham is a business book published in 2005. Large, publicly-owned companies and fast-growing technology ventures shape the modern-day idea of business. Conventional wisdom is that companies either grow or die — but many small, private companies don’t do either and are quite…

  • A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel

    A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy For Successful Investing by Burton Malkiel is a personal finance book originally published in 1973 and revised most recently in 2023. Combine the urge to “get rich quick” with unethical practitioners, contradictory financial advice, and the sheer abundance of information available, and it’s not surprising that…

  • Turn Right At Machu Picchu by Mark Adams

    Turn Right At Machu Picchu: Rediscovering The Lost City One Step At A Time by Mark Adams is a history / travel book published in 2011. In 1909, Hiram Bingham III was a Yale professor who found himself in Cusco, Peru. While there, the local prefect told him of a centuries-old legend – when the…

  • Your Money Or Your Life by Vicki Robin

    Your Money Or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence by Vicki Robin is a personal finance book originally published in 1992 and revised in 2018. In seminars, the authors collected data from attendees. People in all different income brackets answered, “How much more income would it take…

  • Under The Black Flag by David Cordingly

    Under The Black Flag:The Romance and The Reality Of Life Among The Pirates by David Cordingly is a history book published in 1995. Pirates have always captured our imagination with stories of black schooners, tropical islands, treasure maps, colorful parrots, and buried gold. However, many stories commonly believed are actually a blend of historical facts…

  • The Broke Backpacker by Will Hatton

    How To Travel The World On $10 / Day by Will Hatton is a travel e-book written by the founder of popular travel blog The Broke Backpacker. It all started when Will was 19 years old with no cellphone. He flew to India and ended up staying 18 months hitchhiking, camping, couchsurfing, and working on…

  • Range by David Epstein

    Range: Why Generalists Triumph In A Specialized World by David Epstein is a self-help book published in 2019. We are often told the earlier we start and the more we specialize, the more we will stand out. A commonly cited example is Tiger Woods, who was winning his first golf tournament at 2 years old,…

  • Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki

    Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant: Guide To Financial Freedom by Robert Kiyosaki is a personal finance book originally published in 1998. Sadly, hard work is usually not correlated with making more money; most individuals trade their time and skills for a fixed income – the more you work, the more you earn. However, the key to…

  • Atomic Habits by James Clear

    Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear is a self-help book published in 2018. Success is usually a product of daily actions, not once-in-a-lifetime transformations. Losing weight, building a business, writing a book, or any other goal you have are dreams that cannot be…

  • Financial Freedom by Grant Sabatier

    Financial Freedom: A Proven Path To All The Money You Will Ever Need by Grant Sabatier is a personal finance book published in 2019. One morning, Grant Sabatier woke up in his parent’s house at age 24. He got on his phone and checked his bank account… which had $2.26 left in it. That day,…

  • How To Travel The World On $50 A Day by Matt Kepnes

    How to Travel the World on $50 A Day : Travel Cheaper, Longer, Smarter by Matt Kepnes is a travel book published in 2017 (date of the revised third edition). Travel is consistently the #1 activity on people’s bucket lists (things to do before you die). However, Americans usually leave long-term travel as a dream…

  • Retire Before Mom And Dad by Rob Berger

    Retire Before Mom and Dad: The Simple Numbers Behind A Lifetime of Financial Freedom by Rob Berger is a personal finance book published in 2019. One of the main objectives in life for most people is to appreciate retirement. We don’t want to work until the day we die; we want to enjoy life! Unfortunately,…

  • The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber

    The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber is a small business book published in 1995. Everybody fantasizes about owning their own business. You probably daydream about being your own boss, raking in the money, and receiving other benefits. Despite the attractiveness, about 20%…

  • The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason

    The Richest Man In Babylon by George Clason is a personal finance book published in 1926. The majority of the world’s billionaires / millionaires are self-made. Not all are necessarily smarter than you; they simply observe basic principles surrounding money and use them to their advantage. If you make an effort to learn about money…

  • The Dumb Things Smart People Do With Their Money by Jill Schlesinger

    The Dumb Things Smart People Do With Their Money: Thirteen Ways To Right Your Financial Wrongs by Jill Schlesinger is a personal finance book published in 2019. Smart people still often make dumb financial decisions. Individuals accomplished in other areas of life frequently fear looking foolish when it comes to matters they don’t know much…

  • Essentialism by Greg McKeown

    Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown is a self-help book published in 2014. In today’s society, we are praised for doing more and more, constantly taking on additional tasks for our bosses, customers, and even personal relationships like family and friends. However, an overextended lifestyle doesn’t necessarily mean you will achieve greater…

  • The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday

    The Obstacle Is The Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday is a self-help book published in 2014. In our personal lives, all of us have big dreams. However, we tend to do nothing when something stands in our way. We blame our bosses, economy, politicians, other people – anything…

  • Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

    Vagabonding : An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts is a travel book published in 2002. Vagabonding — (1) The act of leaving behind the orderly world to travel independently for an extended period of time. (2) A privately meaningful manner of travel that emphasizes creativity, adventure, awareness, simplicity,…

  • Ultralearning by Scott Young

    Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career by Scott Young is a productivity book published in 2019. To prove his theory that the standard learning method is ineffective, Scott Young completed a four-year MIT computer science degree in only one year using free online courses; he didn’t even attend MIT! Next,…

  • Take More Vacations by Scott Keyes

    Take More Vacations: How to Search Better, Book Cheaper, and Travel the World by Scott Keyes is a travel book published in 2021. Straight out of college in 2013, Keynes flew nonstop from New York City to Milan on a flight that typically cost $850 round-trip… He paid $130.  At the time of his Milan…

  • Smart Couples Finish Rich by David Bach

    Smart Couples Finish Rich: 9 Steps to Creating a Rich Future for You and Your Partner by David Bach is a personal finance book published in 2001. The number one cause of divorce is money. It is not very surprising, considering most couples rarely talk about money… unless they are fighting about it. Bach’s book…

  • First to a Million by Dan Sheeks

    First to a Million: A Teenager’s Guide to Achieving Early Financial Independence by Dan Sheeks is a personal finance book published in 2021. Since financial literacy is not taught in school, many believe the only available path is to work until you are old, then retire. Sheeks introduces another option; spend your years doing what is…

  • Finance for the People by Paco De Leon

    Finance For The People: Getting a Grip On Your Finances by Paco De Leon is a personal finance book published in 2022. The advice is helpful for all but specifically tailored to individuals not interested in proactively taking control of their finances. The book, which has over 50 diagrams, makes concepts accessible and easier to…

  • The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

    The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons On Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel is a behavioral finance book published in 2020. In 2018, Housel wrote a report on the top 20 flaws, biases, and causes of bad behavior that affect people when dealing with money. It became so popular that he decided to go…

  • How I Invest My Money by Joshua Brown and Brian Portnoy

    How I Invest My Money: Finance Experts Reveal How They Save, Spend, and Invest by Joshua Brown and Brian Portnoy is a personal finance book published in 2020. While people listen all day to financial experts lecture on the best investments right now, nobody thinks to ask them where they invest their PERSONAL money. For…