The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults (2014) is by American neurologist Frances E. Jensen with journalist Amy Ellis Nutt. A New York Times bestseller, the book was nominated for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing. The Teenage Brain is a guide to the workings of the adolescent brain aimed at parents. Using scientific research data combined with real-life stories and anecdotes, the author explains the changes... Read The Teenage Brain Summary

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, originally published in 1992, is a book written by Sogyal Rinpoche (1947-2019), a Tibetan lama of the Nyingma tradition. The book is a synthesis of teachings from Eastern and Western sources. In an elaborate rhetorical style rich with metaphors, analogies, direct and indirect speech, and other figures of style, Rinpoche imparts the essential concepts of the practices of Tibetan Buddhism concerning death, dying, and rebirth. Some of the... Read The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying Summary

Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point (2000) is an interdisciplinary work of popular sociology and psychology that explores the concept of the tipping point, a moment of sudden change that occurs in social epidemics. Gladwell explores how social epidemics work and offers many case studies and illustrative research to bolster his novel arguments about how epidemics “tip.” The book began as an article for The New Yorker. This guide refers to the first edition of the... Read The Tipping Point Summary

The Total Money Makeover is a nonfiction personal finance book authored by the American radio personality Dave Ramsey and originally published in 2003. In the book, Ramsey offers a practical plan—called the Total Money Makeover—for personal financial recovery that emphasizes escaping debt and making long-term investments through the “Seven Baby Steps.” The Total Money Makeover is the successor to Ramsey’s book Financial Peace, self-published in 1992. Both books express Ramsey’s financial philosophy as conveyed elsewhere... Read The Total Money Makeover Summary

The Ultimate Gift (2000) by Jim Stovall is an inspirational self-help novel about a young man who can receive his inheritance only when he completes 12 tasks that teach him the important values of life. The book, illustrated by Elise Peterson, became a bestseller and spawned two sequels. All three works have been adapted for film. Author Stovall lost his sight to a degenerative disease in his late 20s. A champion weightlifter, he cofounded the... Read The Ultimate Gift Summary

Michael A. Singer’s The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself, originally published in 2007, is a spiritual self-help book about living life from the point of view of centered consciousness. Identifying with the nonstop chaos of thinking, emotion, and stimulus in our minds causes most of our problems, and Singer offers insight about how to identify as pure awareness and simply notice our experiences pass by without identifying with them. He discusses how our levels... Read The Untethered Soul Summary

In his book The War for Kindness (2019), Jamil Zaki works to upend assumptions about human nature and humans’ inability to develop empathy. A psychologist and empathy researcher, Zaki examines studies from psychology (including some from his own lab), the narrative arts, current events, and modern pop culture references to document both obstacles to empathy as well as strategies for building empathy. He vehemently rejects the idea that humans must give up empathy to save... Read The War for Kindness Summary

The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle (2002) is a self-help book by American author and screenplay writer Steven Pressfield. This work aims to motivate the reader to overcome their “Resistance” to creative work, and to develop their relationship with their craft with discipline and confidence. With a colloquial tone and tough-love attitude, Pressfield examines the different manifestations that “Resistance” can take in artists’ lives, such as self-doubt and procrastination, and urges the... Read The War of Art Summary

The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self is a 2021 self-help book by Martha Beck, a noted author and professional life coach. Beck holds a PhD in sociology from Harvard University and has written several bestselling books, including two influential memoirs, Expecting Adam and Leaving the Saints. She is a longstanding contributor to O: The Oprah Magazine, serves as a regular speaker at conferences, and maintains an active practice as a... Read The Way of Integrity Summary

The essay begins as Poor Richard addresses his audience, “Courteous Reader,” and admits that few “other learned authors” have quoted him, despite his being “an eminent author of almanacs annually now a full quarter of a century” (1). Poor Richard does take solace in the fact that “[his] writings produce [him] some solid pudding” (1) thanks to the people who buy his work, whom he describes as “the best judges of [his] merit” (2). Because... Read The Way To Wealth Summary

The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It by Kelly McGonigal, published in 2011, is a science-based guide to understanding and strengthening self-control. McGonigal, a health psychologist at Stanford University, draws from psychology, neuroscience, economics, and medicine to explain why people struggle with willpower and how they can develop more effective strategies for behavioral change. The book is intended for anyone seeking to understand... Read The Willpower Instinct Summary

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by bell hooks explores the ways that patriarchal values damage and oppress both men and women. hooks, who intentionally utilizes a lowercase spelling of her name, was a prolific writer of feminist and antiracist literature and is considered one of the greatest feminist thinkers in American history. The Will to Change advocates for a new definition of masculinity that embraces tenderness and integrity. She argues that feminism... Read The Will to Change Summary

In 1951 Alan Watts published The Wisdom of Insecurity, a short volume on discovering oneself in the present moment. Half critique of modern life in the Western world and half advertisement for keen awareness of one’s present experience, The Wisdom of Insecurity continues to resonate with a wide audience. As its title suggests, the book preaches the value of a life devoid of dogma, strict belief, and moral code. Instead, Watts emphasizes the wisdom that... Read The Wisdom of Insecurity Summary

Matthew Crawford’s The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction (2015) examines the crisis of attention in modern society, arguing that our focus is fragmented by a culture overwhelmed with technology and consumerism. Crawford suggests that engaging in skilled, hands-on practices can help individuals reclaim their focus and autonomy, and he challenges the disconnection fostered by our increasingly mediated environments. Through philosophical exploration and practical examples, he advocates for... Read The World Beyond Your Head Summary

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know is a popular psychology book written by Adam Grant and published in 2021. Grant, an organizational psychology professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a podcast host and entrepreneur, argues for the power of rethinking and unlearning to better understand our world and ourselves. His prior books include Give and Take (2013), Originals (2016), and Option B (2017), cowritten... Read Think Again Summary

Originally published in 1937, Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich is widely acknowledged as a foundational text in the field of self-help literature. The book mainly revolves around the themes of The Mystical Power of Positive Thinking, Setting Goals and Persistence, and Desire and Motivation in Personal and Financial Growth. Through anecdotes and practical strategies that Hill claims came from his intimate knowledge of business luminaries such as Andrew Carnegie, Hill promises to catalyze personal... Read Think and Grow Rich Summary

Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), written by Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman, examines how people exercise judgment and make decisions. It draws from Kahneman’s long career—particularly his collaboration with fellow psychologist Amos Tversky beginning in 1969—identifying the mechanisms, biases, and perspectives that constitute human decision-making. Its 38 chapters provide detailed information affecting disciplines ranging from mathematics to law. The book was named one of the best books of 2011 by The New York Times and The... Read Thinking, Fast and Slow Summary

Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life explains how to win at nearly any competition, from poker and product marketing to politics and warfare, using game theory. Published in 1991 by economics professors Avinash K. Dixit of Princeton University and Barry J. Nalebuff of Yale University, the work became an international bestseller. The eBook version of the 1993 re-issue forms the basis for this study guide. SummaryIn life, people often vie... Read Thinking Strategically Summary

Think Like a Freak is a nonfiction book published in 2014 by Steven D. Levitt, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, and Stephen J. Dubner, a journalist based in New York City. It is a follow-up to the authors’ successful books Freakonomics (2005) and SuperFreakonomics (2009), and ties in with their blog and podcast, which can be found at freakonomics.com. A fourth book in the series, When to Rob a Bank, was... Read Think Like a Freak Summary

Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day by Jay Shetty combines personal anecdote, metaphor, scientific studies, and wisdom from various monastic texts. Shetty’s aim is to help readers embody the monastic mindset. This includes learning to let go of negativity, ego, and fear; embarking on a journey of personal growth; and investing in acts of gratitude and service. Shetty himself spent three years as a practicing monk, living at... Read Think Like a Monk Summary