Mind Quake

One of the most impactful book's I've read. Stoicism is the guiding philosophy of life, I never knew I was in search of. This ancient philosophy which originated out of Greece, and evangelized by the Roman's has stood the test of time with many principles and relevant pieces of life advice. Irvine summarizes the core…

The story of the human body by Lieberman, explores the transition of our lifestyle, diets and body from an evolutionary perspective. We have undergone a “cultural evolution” that has outpaced our “biological evolution”, resulting multiple “Mismatch diseases”, suffering from ailments and other conditions that were rare…

An incredibly insightful book by a plastic surgeon who explores how our self-image shapes our behavior and success in life. Even if someone changes their outside appearance, real change begins with your changing your internal view and belief of yourself. Many people fail not due to a lack of ability but because their…

Models encourages confidence through vulnerability and non-neediness, opening up yourself to share more while still holding onto your values and being self-reliant. Models is based on good intentions, as opposed to some other opportunities and manipulative dating books, so I resonated much more with Mark's principled…

Stories. It's our social-evolutionary trump card. In Sapiens, Harari takes us on a historical tour of our own story, that of Homo Sapiens, and why we survived compared to other Homo species. Written in a simple, focused and vibrant style, the story takes us through early homo branches and then the age of the solo homo…

The amount of wisdom packed into this small book blew my mind. I immediately knew it was making the list only halfway through. In the practicing mind, the author emphasizes the importance of process over product and results. Most of the anxiety we experience in life, and failure to finish what we start comes from this…

The Inner Game of tennis is about reaching a state of peak mental performance, through the art of relaxed concentration. The author talks about two states within us, Self 1, the teller and Self 2, the doer. The key is improving the relationship between the conscious teller and the natural capabilities of Self 2,…

Wow, what an inspirational read, in spite of all the tragedy. Dr. Frankl's story illustrates that even when one is at their weakest point they have the opportunity and a choice to be at their strongest. Reading this book has greatly impacted my life.

The world is a complex system made up of many smaller systems all interacting, and we can benefit from viewing things from a bigger picture; seeing the connections. With that knowledge, we can design better systems and adapt and influence the systems in our communities and the world as a whole. This book was an…

The Truth is a gritty, excessive, raw and vulnerable self-exploration by Strauss and philosophical discourse on sex, love and relationships. The books progresses to be a sort of Anti-Thesis to his other book, The Game, although the early parts of the book reveal the sex hungry aspects of his life, and his trials going…

Timeliness wisdom. Life is long, if you know how to use it. That is the statement which underlines the essence of these series of letters written by Seneca to his friends and mother. It felt like a was listening to a mentor and friend and the Stoic concepts in this book have impacted my life. This is a character and…

With Antifragile, Taleb gives us a roadmap for thriving in change and chaos. For something to be fragile, it cracks under stress and pressure. Something that isn't fragile but robust has a higher threshold for stresses and pressure. Taleb, presents the concept of Antifragile, something that goes beyond resiliency and…

The Blank Slate, by Dr. Pinker, will have you think about and question how the human identity and intelligence forms at the point of birth going through the experiences of life. The idea of human nature or lack of has been debated throughout history and has had profound implications on laws, religion, politics,…

Sometimes our minds are anchored to thoughts of the past or pulled toward worries of the future. The Power of Now helped me to get to the next level of mindfulness in the present moment. It's been a very influential book and has brought meditation into my life on a more consistent basis.

Clayton M. Christensen, coined the term Disruptive Innovation, where a product or service at the bottom of the market, can rapidly move up and become an industry leader, disrupting the old market leaders core business. The big dilemma is that disruptive innovation, usually comes from new markets targeted towards…

A narrative based tour of the essential physics discoveries that have changed the world and our understanding of it and the universe. The lessons include the general theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, electromagnetic fields and gravitational waves, particle physics, quantum gravity and probability, time and the…

I LOVE books that counter my views or opinions on things and challenge my belief window. This book convincingly argues that fixed objectives and goals don’t lead to greatness as much as we believe. It argues that rigid planning stifles creativity and adaptability, which are essential for truly innovative achievements.…

I felt there was some awesome life impacting gems of wisdom, hidden between random thoughts and rambles. Scott Adams is the creator of Dilbert, popular comic strip known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office. I was still in elementary school during the comic's peak so I couldn't…

I should preface this book remark, by saying that some people may dislike Taleb's style of writing and personality and become dissuaded from finishing the book. Others may be able to look beyond that and focus on the ideas. The idea behind The Black Swan is very important and one core message is that the world is…

A vibrant collection of ideas and images in a condensed format representing some of Marshall McLuhan's core ideas from Understanding Media. Writing in the context of the changing media landscape due to new technologies, this was an interesting view of what a contrarian would think would shake up the media industry. I…