Showing results by author "Swift Reads" in All Categories

This is a summary of Say Good Night to Insomnia (1998) by sleep doctor Gregg D. Jacobs. It is a primer on sleeplessness and how to correct it. Insomnia is a widespread problem that’s often treated with dangerous prescription drugs, if it’s treated at all....

One Up on Wall Street: How to Use What You Already Know to Make Money in the Market (1989) guides fledgling investors through the process of how to pick stocks and build a winning investment portfolio. Author and investor Peter Lynch, with the help of author John Rothchild, explains that investors do not have to work at high-profile finance firms to be successful....

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst (2017) explains the numerous biological, cultural, and evolutionary factors that shape human behavior. Neurobiologist Robert M. Sapolsky uses studies from various scientific disciplines, including neurology, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, to explore why humans exhibit variable responses to both provocative and mundane situations.... (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Lost Connections explores the physical, psychological, and cultural factors that lead to depression, as well as the tactics communities can employ to overcome it. British journalist Johann Hari argues that while depression can have a biological cause, it’s largely an involuntary reaction to the social ills that plague modern society. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

Brief Answers to the Big Questions (2018) presents the thoughts of theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking on 10 major scientific and philosophical debates, including whether a deity exists, whether intelligent life exists in space, and whether humans should seek out a new home outside of Earth.

No-Drama Discipline by psychotherapists Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson explains how parents can diminish disorder while strengthening their child’s brain. The authors’ approach to discipline, based on the latest in neuroscience at the time of publication, enables parents to turn meltdowns, temper tantrums, and everyday frustrations into teachable moments that strengthen the parent-child relationship. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

This is a summary of The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century (2005), in which Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Thomas L. Friedman explains how globalization and improvements in technology have facilitated an economic environment where anyone, no matter where they are from, can excel. The title refers to the idea that the world has been “flattened” now that companies, entrepreneurs, and workers can collaborate and compete with one another on a global scale....

The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation (2011) shows companies how assertive sales representatives can increase profits and create repeat customers. Authors and entrepreneurs Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson use the results of interviews with more than 5,000 sales representatives to outline five different profiles most employees fit into. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future (2018) introduces a simple, effective organizational method that uses only a pen and notebook to improve productivity and enhance introspection. Author and Bullet Journal creator Ryder Carroll explains how readers can lead a more meaningful life, vanquish challenging tasks, and streamline their workflow by creating a custom planner using the book’s journaling system. Listen to this in-depth summary by Swift Reads to learn more.

Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships (2010) details how the courtship habits of humanity’s closest primate relatives, the lives of early humans, and the sexual rituals of nomadic tribes all shed light on the true urges underlying human sexuality. Many anthropologists assert that monogamy comes naturally to humans; to support their thesis, they point toward relationship customs that have existed in various civilizations for centuries. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy (2009) traces the lives of six North Korean defectors from Chongjin, a city in northeastern North Korea in North Hamgyong Province. The narrative examines their daily lives and occupations. Listen to this in-depth summary by Swift Reads to learn more.

This is a summary of The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning, Elevate Your Life (2018) by leadership guru Robin Sharma. It is an inspirational work of fiction. Sharma uses the narrative of a fictional artist, entrepreneur, and tycoon to extol the virtues of rising early every morning.

The Hidden Brain (2009) by Shankar Vedantam explores the unconscious inclinations and pre-formed judgments that shape human behaviors. In public policy and in other disciplines that attempt to explain and predict how and why people act, the common assumption is that people make decisions consciously, referring to the facts they know and privileging reason over their emotions. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less (first published in 1997, and updated most recently in 2017) by Richard Koch is a self-help book about how to achieve maximal results from minimal input. The 80/20 Principle states that the universe is imbalanced in such a way that 20 percent of causes lead to 80 percent of results....

This is a summary of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World (2018), which explores how animals developed on earth before the Paleogene period, when mammals emerged as the dominant life form. The narrative begins by describing the dinosaur’s ancestor: a small, unimportant creature struggling for survival in the Permian period, more than 250 million years ago....

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (1994) by Barack Obama chronicles his quest to understand how the varied threads of his upbringing, including his father’s absence and his multiracial and multinational roots, shaped him and his understanding of his place in the world. Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961 to Stanley Ann Dunham, a white woman, and Barack Obama Sr., a black economist from Kenya. Obama Sr. and Dunham met while studying at the University of Hawaii....

This is the audio summary of The Little Book of Common Sense Investing which demonstrates why index funds should make up the majority of the average investment portfolio.

On Liberty (1859) by John Stuart Mill is an influential philosophical treatise that argues societies can be free only when they celebrate diversity and promote individual freedom. Mill believed that conformity is a blight on human happiness, creativity, and social progress....

This is a summary of The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery (2010) by Miguel Ruiz and Jose Ruiz with Janet Mills. The Fifth Agreement explores how people can harness their innate personal power to create a life that is rich in peace, happiness, and love - or, the equivalent of heaven on earth. The Fifth Agreement is the follow-up to Miguel Ruiz’s best seller The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (1997).

Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself (2011) by Kristen Neff is a self-help book rooted in evidence-based psychology. Too often, people suffer from the tendency to critique themselves too harshly....