Showing results by author "Swift Reads" in All Categories

Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds (2009) by professional communications expert Carmine Gallo offers essential guidance for delivering an effective, original, and moving presentation. Gallo’s book incorporates discussions of the psychology behind compelling keynote speeches, interviews with TED presenters, and insights gleaned from analyzing more than 150 hours of TED talks, representing approximately 500 speakers.... Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

Work Rules! Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead (2015) by Laszlo Bock describes the unorthodox methods Google uses to hire and retain the most talented employees. Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, knew they wanted to create the world’s best search engine.... Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

In The Big Short (2010), journalist Michael Lewis traces the stories of a handful of misfit investors who predicted the 2008 financial crisis. In the parlance of Wall Street, to “short” something is to bet against an investment or company through the purchase of a complex high-finance product.... (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

In Becoming (2018), Michelle Obama recounts the familial, educational, romantic, and political experiences that culminated in her tenure as first lady of the United States. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers is an expansive account of the days, months, and years leading up to World War I. Clark’s central contention is that scholars’ continuous preoccupation with the question of who was responsible for starting the war stems from an erroneous understanding of the events....

Full Disclosure (2018) by Stormy Daniels is the adult film star’s tell-all memoir, with special emphasis on her relationship with Donald Trump. While her association with Trump was brief, its aftermath has been long and painful, with no end in sight.... (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

In Leading Change (2012), long-time Harvard business professor John P. Kotter outlines his influential process to establish and secure permanent changes that will make any organization more efficient, successful, and competitive. Bringing change to an organization often entails high stakes. Success can revitalize a business and unlock new potential, but failure can doom a firm to years of stagnation. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work (2018) teaches companies and entrepreneurs how to increase productivity and improve work performance by setting reasonable boundaries on the hours spent completing tasks. Authors Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson use their web application company, Basecamp, as an example of a tranquil work environment where calm, steady progress is favored over breakneck speed.... Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

The 6 Keys: Unlock Your Genetic Potential for Ageless Strength, Health, and Beauty (2018) by fitness guru Jillian Michaels, with Myatt Murphy, is a guide to aging gracefully. Michaels researched the latest in scientific breakthroughs on living a healthy life and learned that most scientists and physicians focus on singular areas of health.... Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

Almost Everything: Notes on Hope (2018) by best-selling author Anne Lamott is a collection of essays on finding glimmers of optimism even amid great turbulence. Just before her sixty-first birthday, Lamott wrote these essays to share the wisdom she has gleaned from her many decades of living with her grandson and niece. Listen to this in-depth summary by Swift Reads to learn more.

Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts (2018) by social researcher and best-selling author Brené Brown explains how to create an organizational culture built upon principles of vulnerability, connection, and meaning. For 20 years, Brown has researched vulnerability, and Dare to Lead incorporates her extensive data around shame and its cure, empathy; in addition, she interweaves the results of a seven-year education project on vulnerability and leadership, which Brown designed and implemented…

In The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win (2018), authors Jocko Willink and Leif Babin show how key military principles apply to leaders who work in corporate settings. As former Navy SEALs, Willink and Babin have extensive experience guiding their fellow warriors through life-or-death situations in combat.... (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? (2010) shows entrepreneurs and everyday workers alike how to become vital members of their professional fields. Author Seth Godin argues that the business world no longer profits by filling its rosters with cookie-cutter employees who meet minimum production levels…(Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Accessory to War by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Avis Lang is a meditation on the history of space research and its interdependence on military research and warfare. The narrative contextualizes discoveries such as the compass and adaptive optics in order to evaluate the present global state of space diplomacy. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

Creative Selection: Inside Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs (2018) explores how Apple creates its products through the perspective of a programmer who worked at the corporation for more than a decade. Author and software engineer Ken Kocienda uses stories from his time at Apple to demonstrate how the company pushes its employees to solve seemingly impossible programming problems...(Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Chris Beat Cancer: A Comprehensive Plan for Healing Naturally (2018), by cancer survivor and wellness advocate Chris Wark, offers alternative treatment therapies to cancer patients. In 2002, Wark, who was 26 years old, was diagnosed with stage-three colon cancer. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), by Harper Lee, is a coming-of-age novel that traces young Scout Finch’s growing awareness of racism in her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama. Watching her father, a lawyer, represent a Black man who has been falsely accused of rape, Scout comes to understand some difficult truths about her neighbors and, by extension, about the world. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Astroball: The New Way to Win it All, by Ben Reiter, tells the dramatic story of how the Houston Astros transformed from being the worst team in professional baseball to the best. Reiter first made the bold prediction that the Astros would win a World Series in a Sports Illustrated cover story in June 2014. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies, by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh, explains how start-up businesses can quickly expand into global corporations with industry-altering products and services. Blitzscaling, a term for a group of tactics used to rapidly grow businesses, has been employed by technology companies such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Amazon to reach more customers, capture more of a given market, and improve overall profits. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

The Fifth Risk, by Michael Lewis, is a journalistic account of how broad swaths of the US government are being ignored or dismantled under Donald Trump’s administration. After shunning the conventions of a presidential transition, Trump and his tiny team assumed stewardship of the government without ever bothering to learn how it works. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)