Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America is a 2001 nonfiction book written by Barbara Ehrenreich. This book is considered a classic of investigative journalism and was ranked #13 in The Guardian’s list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. Ehrenreich takes a series of low-paying, entry-level jobs in three cities (Key West, Florida; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota) to answer the question of whether one can survive on these wages and... Read Nickel and Dimed Summary

Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment is a 2021 New York Times bestselling nonfiction book that explores the concept of noise or unwanted divergences in decision-making. It is researched and written by Israeli American Nobel Prize-winning psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman, American legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein, and French business professor Olivier Sibony. While the authors point out that bias which causes people to make inconsistent discriminations is acknowledged by companies, the problem of noise... Read Noise Summary

First published in 2000, No Logo is Naomi Klein’s classic examination of globalization and its discontents at the close of the 20th century. What started as a journalistic “hunch” about growing anticorporate sentiment on university campuses evolved into a full-scale exposé of the subterranean social and economic system lurking behind our logo-driven consumption.  The stated hypothesis of the book is that “as more people discover the brand-name secrets of the global logo web, their outrage... Read No Logo Summary

Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder is a critically acclaimed work of travel nonfiction and literary reportage that was first published in 2017. The book braids together the stories of several people Bruder follows over three years while incorporating historical and social context for their decision to live out of a mobile home.Bruder, an award-winning journalist and professor at Columbia University, chronicles the lives van dwelling “nomads,” mostly older Americans, who... Read Nomadland Summary

Marshall B. Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life (1999) is a work of nonfiction that explores the importance of compassion and empathy in human relationships. Rosenberg’s own model of communication, Nonviolent Communication, prioritizes the recognition and expression of needs and feelings; it condemns the normalized practice of judging and blaming others, which disconnects us from our own compassion and therefore disconnects us from human connection. Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life has won a... Read Nonviolent Communication Summary

In 2021 the behavioral economists Richard H. Thaler and the legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein released an updated, “final” version of their 2008 book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Drawing on research from psychology, economics, sociology, and elsewhere, Thaler and Sunstein make the case for the importance of “nudges.” Nudges, according to these authors, are “aspects of choice architecture” that predictably alter behavior without forbidding or commanding anything (8). Choice architecture refers... Read Nudge Summary

One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society (1964) is an academic monograph written by philosopher Herbert Marcuse. Marcuse was a German philosopher, social critic, and political theorist who studied at Humboldt University in Berlin and then at the University of Freiburg, where he received his PhD. He was a leading scholar in the Institute for Social Research, based in Frankfurt, Germany, which later became known as the influential Frankfurt School. One-Dimensional Man... Read One-Dimensional Man Summary

One Up on Wall Street (1989) is a classic investment guide by Peter Lynch, a former mutual fund manager who worked at Fidelity Investments, a large investment management firm. In this book, Lynch demystifies stock market investing for a broad audience. He draws from his experience managing the Magellan Fund, which under his leadership became one of the best-performing mutual funds in the world. The book combines personal anecdotes with practical advice. Some of the... Read One Up On Wall Street Summary

On Liberty is a philosophical essay on ethics, society, and politics published in 1859 by the English philosopher John Stuart Mill. His work on the subject matter extended back several years, through an illustrious career as a politician and philosopher. Mill’s ideas center on the concept of utilitarianism, which emphasizes efficiency and collective well-being. The book remains in print in the 21st century.SummaryOn Liberty is divided into five chapters: an introduction; “On the liberty of... Read On Liberty Summary

On Photography is a 1977 collection of seven essays by American scholar, activist, and philosopher Susan Sontag. The essays were published in the New York Review of Books from 1973 to 1977 before publication in a single volume. Sontag explores the history of photography and its relationship to reality, the fine arts, and sociopolitical power structures. Individual essays explore these various relationships between photography and the world through a different lens before the culminating exploration... Read On Photography Summary

Open Veins of Latin America (1997) by Uruguayan journalist, writer, and poet Eduardo Galeano is a historical nonfiction book about the political and economic development of Latin America. The book celebrated its 25th year anniversary in 1997 by issuing a new edition; it features additional writing from Galeano reflecting on the book and the state of Latin American politics seven years after the book’s first release. This study guide refers to the 25th year anniversary... Read Open Veins of Latin America Summary

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World was written by organizational psychologist Adam Grant and published in 2016. It is a nonfiction book that focuses on business psychology. Adam Grant specializes in studying the relationship between creativity and success—and how wielding this relationship can make businesses successful. Grant wrote several books, with Originals seeking to break down everyday misconceptions that hold people back and help them realize their full potential—and in the process, unleash their originality.This... Read Originals Summary

Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions is a business fable about penguins who learn to work together to deal with a dangerous change to their environment, a lesson that also applies to people in the workplace and in organizations. Written by award-winning management consultant John Kotter with co-author Holger Rathgeber, the book was first published in 2006 and became a New York Times bestseller. It’s noted for its eight-step process for... Read Our Iceberg Is Melting Summary

In Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis (2015), author Robert D. Putnam describes how unattainable upward social mobility, or the American Dream, is for most young people. Putnam examines the factors that encourage or discourage upward mobility and how they have changed over time. The book was well-received by critics for its honest and timely commentary on important social issues. Putnam currently works as both a political scientist and a professor of public policy... Read Our Kids Summary

The nonfiction book Outliers: The Story of Success is Malcolm Gladwell’s third book, published in 2008. Gladwell is a prolific writer for the New Yorker, where he has been on staff since 1996. His writing often incorporates research from the social sciences, as in Outliers, in which he makes the case that the way we understand and portray success is wrong. Before joining the staff of the New Yorker, Gladwell was a reporter for the... Read Outliers Summary

Planet of Slums is a non-fiction book published in 2006 by American author and urban theorist Mike Davis. It chronicles the spread of poverty in cities around the world at a time when more than a billion people live in what the United Nations (UN) classifies as "slums."SummaryIn 1950, only 86 cities around the world had populations of one million people or more. When Davis wrote this book in 2005, he predicted that by 2015... Read Planet of Slums Summary

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape our Decisions is a nonfiction book written by Dan Ariely, a professor and author. Through scientific experiments and anecdotes, Ariely illustrates how humans are predictably irrational, a key tenet of behavioral economics. Ariely became interested in studying human behavior after an accident left him unable to participate in the same activities as family, friends, and society. From his position of temporary social alienation, he observed others as an... Read Predictably Irrational Summary

Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges by Dr. Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist, was published in 2015 by Little, Brown, & Co. The book expands upon ideas Cuddy first shared with lay audiences in her 2012 TED Talk, “Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are,” which has garnered over 69.7 million views. Presence is a personal development book that focuses on how body posture and nonverbal communication influence success in difficult... Read Presence Summary

Principles is a 2017 nonfiction book by Ray Dalio, a hedge fund manager and founder of Bridgewater Associates. The book describes guiding principles that Dalio has developed over the course of his professional career. Some of the principles are intended to help individuals in their life in general, while others are focused on the workplace. Dalio claims that his principles will help individuals and organizations set goals and make decisions to increase their chances of... Read Principles Summary

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World, by Tim Marshall, was published in 2015 and became a New York Times bestseller and a Sunday Times #1 bestseller. The book describes how geography—mountains, plains, rivers, coastlines, climate, and natural resources—shape the fate of nations. Each chapter explains geography’s effects on a particular country or region. The book also considers how other influences—religion, culture, language, ethnicity—interact with local geography.Chapter 1 explores Russia, where... Read Prisoners of Geography Summary