Wiser Than Yesterday: Educational Book Reviews and Summaries
Wiser than Yesterday hosts open-ended discussions, breakdowns, and summaries of the world's most thought-provoking and inspiring books. Hosts Nicolas Vereecke and Sam Harris digest non-fiction books from all centuries and genres, discussing philosophical insights and practical lessons for health, wealth, wisdom, and happiness. Each season tackles a new field, reading the best books on topics such as racism, startups, stoicism, or personal finance. The goal is to explore the best ideas and learn new things.
Episodes
The Language Puzzle: How we talked our way out of the Stone Age - Steven Mithen
The relationship between language, thought and culture is of concern to anyone with an interest in what it means to be human.The Language Puzzle by Steven Mithen explains how the invention of words at 1.6 million years ago began the evolution of human language from the ape-like calls of our earliest ancestors to our capabilities of today, with over 6000 languages in the world and each of us k
Bruce Lee: Artist of life - The 6 habits of power and wisdom from a legend
Bruce Lee was an intense man with such sheer concentration of energy that no one who encountered him, on screen or in person, could help but be drawn to him and his enthusiasm for life and knowledge.Bruce Lee: Artist of Life explores the development and fruition of Bruce Lee's thoughts about gung fu (kung fu), philosophy, psychology, poetry, jeet kune do, acting, and self-knowledge.Imagine be
Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human - Richard Wrangham
In this stunningly original book, Richard Wrangham argues that it was cooking that caused the extraordinary transformation of our ancestors from apelike beings to Homo erectus. At the heart of Catching Fire lies an explosive new idea: the habit of eating cooked rather than raw food permitted the digestive tract to shrink and the human brain to grow, helped structure human society, a
Thinking Fast & Slow - Daniel Kahneman
Why is there more chance we'll believe something if it's in a bold type face? Why are judges more likely to deny parole before lunch? Why do we assume a good-looking person will be more competent?The answer lies in the two ways we make choices: fast, intuitive thinking, and slow, rational thinking. This book reveals how our minds are tripped up by error and prejudice (even when we think we are bei
Impact: How to Measure World Change
Is Brexit more important than Bitcoin? How do we rank Buddhism vs TikTok?The world changes, technology advances, but what really matters and how much? Sam explains the Innovation Richter Scale, a framework for understanding impact at every level of technology and what it means to society.In Nate Silver's book "On The Edge", he introduces a Technology Richter scale to determine the impact of AI. Sa
Poor Charlie's Almanac - Charlie Munger
The favourite mental models and timeless lessons from Charlie Munger on how to build worldly wisdom.Charlie Munger was the business partner of Warren Buffet and the cofounder of Berkshire Hathaway. The most successful investing company in history. He was obsessed with how ot make better decisions.His book is full of ways to help you be less wrong and how to find an edge where you can perform at yo
The World Until Yesterday - Jared Diamond - Stone Age Lessons on Innovation
Heard enough lame insights about caveman psychology? Jared Diamond goes hard into what life was really like, how we thought and how it compares to today.A masterclass of a book when it comes to truly understanding our history and humanity and packed full of insights.Sam digests the book from a lens of innovation and what the reality of our life meant for taking risks and trying new ideas and makin
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon - Brad Stone
We share the 10 best mental models about innovation from tech titan Jeff Bezos.This episode covers the story of Amazon and some of the incredible shifts it has created on the planet. From the obvious online shopping wave to things like the e-reading industry and audiobooks, web-servers giving us Uber and Netflix, devices like Alexa. We also learn about their failures like the Fire Phone and other
Morgan Housel - Same As Ever: Timeless lessons on risk, opportunity and living a good life.
Every investment plan under the sun is, at best, an informed speculation of what may happen in the future, based on a systematic extrapolation from the known past.Same as Ever reverses the process, inviting us to identify the many things that never, ever change.Morgan Housel wrote this to be a master class on optimizing risk, seizing opportunity, and living your best life. But does he ac
The Dark Forest - Liu Cixin [Three Body Problem pt.2]
A philosophical discussion on part 2 of the Three-Body Problem series, The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin.We ponder different answers to Fermi's paradox and how we'd deal with different levels of intelligence in the Universe. This of course requires pondering how different levels of intelligent beings might deal with us.We also ponder at large adaptions of books into screenplays, why writers change the
No Offence, But... by Gina Martin
How to have difficult conversations, for meaningful change.We break down Gina Martin's book addressing how to navigate some of the worst conversation-stoppers and poor thinking in our culture today.It also features chapters from other widely recognized speakers on the topics of equality and diversity.Labeled as "An empowering guide to navigating difficult conversations from climate naysayers to th
The Signal and The Noise - Nate Silver
Making good predictions is tough. We think we know more than we do and let emotions and biases creep in. How do some forecasters beat the odds? Our hosts, Nico and Sam, chat about the book "The Signal and the Noise" by Nate Silver exploring why predictions fail and uncovering practical insights.A little statistical training can go a long way! We geek out on Bayes' Theorem, discuss why poker develo
The 48 Laws of Power - Robert Greene
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene are described as amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive. This multi-million-copy New York Times bestselling book brands itself as the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.50 Cent loved the book so much that he reached out to the author to work with him.But what can we learn from
The changing world order - Ray Dalio
From legendary investor Ray Dalio, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Principles, who has spent half a century studying global economies and markets, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order examines history’s most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes—and to offer
The Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu
Review of the Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, one of the most impactful hard-science fiction books this century.Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start formi
False Alarm - Bjorn Lomborg - The cost of climate change panic
In False Alarm, Bjorn Lomborg examines how climate change panic costs us trillions, hurts the poor, and fails to fix the planet. This is a divisive book and even had us as hosts disagreeing on subjects.Bjorn Lomborg proposes to debunk the myths and hype surrounding climate change, revealing the true costs and benefits of our response to this global challenge. Lomborg argues that our current approa
The Culture Code: Secrets of Highly Successful Groups - Daniel Coyle
Teamwork is renowned for being the key to success. The practicalities of making it happen to rely on building a brilliant culture. But what does that mean?This book breaks down some memorable and thought-provoking examples leading to some actionable lessons.In our view, it is a perfect book for anyone in management or trying to bring out the most in their teams.- - -Wiser Than YesterdayNico and Sa
4000 weeks: Time management for mortals - Oliver Burkeman
4000 weeks is a productivity book that is anti-productivity. We are all going to die and optimising our day for every last morsel of work is not the way to be happy or effective.We break down the biggest lessons from the book which are practical to adopt in your life. We also discuss what the opportunities are economically and philosophically.- - -Wiser Than YesterdayNico and Sam set out to read t
The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch
What we do if most of civilization collapsed to survive as a species? What human knowledge is most important to preserve and use to rebuild society as quickly as possible? Lewis Dartnell assesses the most important actions to take during an apocalypse to survive. He then cherry-picks the most important inventions to teach us how to rebuild everything we need from modern society to survive and
How To Change Your Mind - Michael Pollan
What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. We break down our main lessons from the book and open our own minds to a new way of thinking. About Could psychedelic drugs change our worldview? One of America's most admired writers takes us on a mind-altering journey to the frontiers of human consciousness When LSD was first
Body Keeps the score
Body Keeps the score is a book that you keep hearing about especially as mental health and trauma become more and more relevant.Bessel Van Der Kock explains what we experience in the brain, mind and body whilst healing from trauma.Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoho
We're back - A quick update
We had a long hiatus since the summer of 2022. The mind series rather dragged and we realised we needed to sort out a better system for things.We also had a few big life updates as Sam went on a long cycling trip and Nico's job became a little overwhelming along with launching his own podcast on the Future of Gaming.Back on track with a schedule and if you're intrigued you can hear about some of S
NEURODIVERSITY: The Man Who Mistook His Wife and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
In this book, neurologist Oliver Sacks, describes the case histories of some of his patients. Sacks chose the title of the book from the case study of one of his patients who has visual agnosia, a neurological condition that leaves him unable to recognize faces and objects. Sacks wrote the stories of 24 patients and their neurological conditions which was split into four sections – ‘Losses’, ‘Exce
NEURODIVERSITY - PSYCHOPATHS: The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success by Kevin Dutton
The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a scale of "madness" along which we all sit. Incorporating the latest advances in brain scanning and neuroscience, Dutton demonstrates that the b
NEURODIVERSITY - AUTISM: NeuroTribes; The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman
NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of NeurodiversityBy Steve SilbermanWhat is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more—and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppres
NEURODIVERSITY - ADHD: Faster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain by Peter Shankman
Faster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain By Peter ShankmanIn Faster Than Normal, Shankman shares his hard-won insights and daily hacks for making ADHD a secret weapon for living a full and deeply satisfying life. Both inspiring and practical, the book presents life rules, best practices, and simple but powerful ways to: Harness your c
Investing Recap
Thoughts and Learnings in Investing Everyone should be thinking about investing. Every money decision you make is an investment decision. All investments are broadly equal on the risk/reward spectrum. Only actively make investment decisions when you have an edge. Your investment strategy will depend on your situation (your age, tolerance for downturns, goals, etc.) Compounding is key in investing
Investing: Art of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market by Noah Horowitz
Art of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market By Noah Horowitz Art today is defined by its relationship to money as never before. Prices of living artists' works have been driven to unprecedented heights, conventional boundaries within the art world have collapsed, and artists now think ever more strategically about how to advance their careers. Artists no longer simply make art,
Investing: What is Decentralized Finance or DeFi
Decentralized Finance or DeFi Decentralized Finance offers financial instruments without relying on intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks. Instead, it uses smart contracts on a blockchain. DeFi platforms allow people to lend or borrow funds from others, speculate on price movements on assets using derivatives, trade cryptocurrencies, insure against risks, and earn interest in savi
Investing: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness by Eric Jorgenson
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness By Eric Jorgenson Getting rich is not just about luck; happiness is not just a trait we are born with. These aspirations may seem out of reach, but building wealth and being happy are skills we can learn. So what are these skills, and how do we learn them? What are the principles that should guide our efforts? What does progress reall
Investing: The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel
The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness By Morgan Housel Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. Money―investing, personal finance, and business decisions―is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in t
Investing: The Education of a Value Investor: My Transformative Quest for Wealth, Wisdom, and Enlightenment by Guy Spier
The Education of a Value Investor: My Transformative Quest for Wealth, Wisdom, and Enlightenment By Guy Spier What happens when a young Wall Street investment banker spends a small fortune to have lunch with Warren Buffett? He becomes a real value investor. In this fascinating inside story, Guy Spier details his career from Harvard MBA to hedge fund manager. But the path was not so straightforward
Investing: Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups—Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 Into $100,000,000 by Jason Calacanis
Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups—Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 Into $100,000,000By Jason CalacanisOne of Silicon Valley’s most successful angel investors shares his rules for investing in startups.There are two ways to make money in startups: create something valuable—or invest in the people that are creating valuable things.Over the past twenty-five years,
Investing: NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), explained
NFTs (Non-Fungible Token), explainedA non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a digital ledger (blockchain). NFTs can be associated with easily-reproducible items such as photos, videos, 3D models, audio, and other types of digital files as unique items (analogous to a certificate of authenticity). NFTs use blockchain technology to provide a public proof
Investing: The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous
The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central BankingBy Saifedean AmmousThe Bitcoin Standard analyzes the historical context to the rise of bitcoin, the economic properties that have allowed it to grow quickly, and its likely economic, political, and social implications. While Bitcoin is a new invention of the digital age, the problem it purports to solve is as old as human societ
Investing: The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
The Intelligent InvestorBy Benjamin GrahamThe Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, first published in 1949, is a widely acclaimed book on value investing. The book provides strategies on how to successfully use value investing in the stock market. Historically, the book has been one of the most popular books on investing and Graham’s legacy remains. Key TakeawaysInvestment is not gambling or s
Investing: Talking To My Daughter About The Economy by Yanis Varoufakis
Talking To My Daughter About The Economy: A Brief istory of CapitalismBy Yanis VaroufakisIn this letter to his teenage daughter, one of the world's most famous economists uses vivid stories to explain what economics is and why it is so dangerous. What is money and why does debt exist? Where do wealth and inequality come from? How come economics has the power to shape and destroy our lives? Economi
Investing: Introduction to Investing
Introduction to InvestingWe live in a capitalistic society, where everything revolves around adding value. Adding value can be anything: farmers, bakers, architects, artists, teachers, athletes. When you go to school, you are being trained to bring value to society. After you finish school and start working, you are being paid for creating value. In this episode, we will lay down the groundwork fo
Body Recap
Recap of the human body books that we have readIf Our Bodies Could Talk: A Guide to Operating and Maintaining a Human Body - James HamblinWhy We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams - Matthew WalkerBreath: The New Science of a Lost Art - James NestorLifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don't Have To - David SinclairGut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ - Giulia EndersBur
Body: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never SeenBy Christopher McDougallInspiration for reading this book came when Nico's friend came for dinner wearing these weird-ass shoes. Naturally - he asked him about it, cause Nico love weird stuff, and told him that humans have evolved to walk and run barefoot, and that cushioned shoes are the reason why so many p
Body: Death by Food Pyramid - Denise Minger
Death by Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our HealthBy Denis MingerDenise Minger shares her personal story about how she got convinced to go all-out raw vegan at a pretty young age. She initially saw tremendous health improvements, but after a while she started losing a lot of weight. She decided to stop eating vegan after her dentist told
Body: Burn by Herman Pontzer
Burn: The Misunderstood Science of MetabolismBy Herman PontzerWe burn 2,000 calories a day. And if we exercise and cut carbs, we'll lose more weight. Right? Wrong.the Hadza, who every day move around for ~4 hours and 15,000 steps, use the same amount of energy as couch-potato North Americans.Exercise doesn't increase our metabolism. Instead, we burn calories within a very narrow range: nearly 3,00
Body: Gut by Giulia Enders
Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organby Giulia EndersFor too long, the gut has been the body’s most ignored and least appreciated organ, but it turns out that it’s responsible for more than just dirty work: our gut is (literally and figuratively) at the core of who we are. The book starts with a voyage through our full digestive tract, discussing the pain-killing powers of our
Body: Lifespan by Dr. Savid Sinclair
Lifespan: why we age - and why we don’t have toBy Dr. Savid Sinclair#1: Aging is a disease: We must move away from treating age-related diseases and focus on their root. Reclassifying aging as a disease is a critical first step in this shift in approach.Sinclair believes we’re wasting money and time on what he calls “whack-a-mole” medic“There is nothing more dangerous to us than age. Yet we have c
Body: Breath by James Nestor
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James NestorNo matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you're not breathing properly.The missing pillar in health is breath, it all starts thereNestor finds that the science of breathing really is a lost art, and discovers more in ancient burial sites and secret Soviet facilities than in modern
Body: Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
Why we sleepWritten by Matthew WalkerAmazing breakthrough - science has discovered a new treatmentLive longerEnhances memoryMore creativeLook more attractiveMakes slimLowers food cravingsProtects cancer and dementiaWards off colds and the fluLowers risk of heart attacks and stroke and diabetesYoull even feel happier, less depressed and less anxiousNeglecting sleep undercuts your creativity, proble
Body: If Our Bodies Could Talk by James Hamblin
If Our Bodies Could Talk: A Guide to Operating and Maintaining a Human Bodyby James HamblinDoctor turned journalistLaunched a series of videos for the atlantic in 2014explores the human stories behind health questions that never seem to go away—and which tend to be mischaracterized and oversimplified by marketing and news media.He covers topics like:DietSleepAging• Can I “boost” my immune system?•
Business Recap
Recap of the business books that we have readShoedog: Autobiography of Phil Knight, founder of NikeThe lean startup, Eric Ries:How to build a startup, the antifragile wayBen Horowits The Hard thing about hard things helps throw light at the challenges a CEO goes through.The Messy Middle - Scott Belsky: Talks about stuff between the most romantic parts of a venture, from starting in a garage or col
Business: Good Strategy, Bad Strategy - Richard Rumelt
Good strategy, bad strategy: The difference, and why it mattersBy Richard RumeltKey insightsStrategy =/= ambitious goal setting, vision, charismaAround the 60’s, many authors started ascribing leader’s success to their vision, combined with their charisma. This has resulted in a lot of bad strategy, based on ambitious goal setting. Example: 20/20 plan - 20% growth with 20% profit margin. Often a g
Business: Venture Deals - Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson
Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason MendelsonEver thought about getting investments for your startup? Ever thought about investing in a startup?Whether you are an entrepreneur, an investor, a lawyer or just a stakeholder in the venture capital market, this book is for you!In it, renowned investor Brad Feld addresses some topics within the Venture Capital ecosystem, explaining in a practical and d
Business: Hooked - Nir Eyal
Hooked - how to build habit-forming products by Nir EyalHow do successful companies create products people can't put down?Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the "Hook Model" - a four st
Business: Obviously Awesome - April Dunford
Obviously AwesomeApril Dunford extracts from her own 20+ years of real-world tech marketing experience a basic positioning framework that actually works, because she sees that positioning is often misunderstood, and can be really powerful, especially for saas startupsDefinition: Positioning is the act of deliberately defining how you are the best at something that a defined market cares a lot abou
Business: The High Growth Handbook
The High Growth HandbookGlobal technology executive, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor Elad Gil has worked with high-growth, tech companies like Airbnb, Twitter, Google, Stripe, and Square as they've grown from small companies to global enterprises.Across all of these breakout companies, a set of common patterns has evolved into a repeatable playbook that Gil has now codified in High Growth
Business: The Messy Middle - Scott Belsky
The Messy middle by Scott BelskyMost startup stories describe the most romantic parts of a venture, from starting in a garage or college dorm to successfully doing a multi-billion dollar IPO. Scott Belsky, who is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, Chief Product Officer at Adobe, and product advisor to many of today's top start-ups, goes about it differently. He dedicates this book to the messy mi
Business: The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz
The Hard thing about hard thingsA valuable book for tech entrepreneurs, The Hard thing about hard things helps throw light at the challenges a CEO goes through. Ben Horowitz launched Loudcloud in 1999, just before the dotcom bubble. Their company offers enterprise SaaS to tech clients. Then the trouble began* Because of the dotcom bubble, many of their customers went out of business* Had to IPO to
Business: The Lean Startup - Eric Ries
The Lean Startup by Eric RiesA startup is a grand experiment = "a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty"Too many startups begin with an idea for a product that they think people want. They then spend months, sometimes years, perfecting that product without ever showing the product, even in a very rudimentary form, to the prospective c
Business: Shoe Dog - Phil Knight - The story of Nike
Shoe Dog is a memoir by Nike co-founder Phil Knight. The memoir chronicles the history of Nike from its early struggles to its evolution into one of the world's most recognized and profitable companies. It also highlights certain parts of Phil Knight's life.This book is a great insight into the world of business and how a huge company and brand is made from humble begginings. It highlights the ama
The best books of 2020
We (Sam and Nico) look back at what we read on the show in 2020.We both choose our top three books from the year that we discussed on the show and share what the biggest lessons were that really stuck with us. Looking back with hindsight at the most powerful lessons was a great tool to really show what the absolute best books were which can be less obvious in the moment.We also had one wildcard bo
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
Written in Greek by the only Roman emperor who was also a philosopher, without any intention of publication, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius offer a remarkable series of challenging spiritual reflections and exercises developed as the emperor struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe.While the Meditations were composed to provide personal consolation and encouragement, Marc
Seneca - On the Shortness of Life
The Stoic writings of the philosopher Seneca offer powerful insights into the art of living, the importance of reason and morality, and continue to provide profound guidance to many through their eloquence, lucidity and timeless wisdom.Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves—and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and re
The Republic - Plato
The RepublicWhere Plato lays down his ideas of an ideal state and its rulers. Plato's Utopian state is one which is just and his ideal rulers are philosophers. Presented as a series of dialogue between Socrates and Plato's brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon, in eleven parts Plato step by step forms his ideal state (Part I and II), its rulers (Part IV and Part VII), their education, women's position (
Epicurus
EpicurusEpicureanism is powerfully and refreshingly relevant, offering a straightforward way of dealing with the issues of life and death. The chapters in this book provide a changeable of contemporary opinions about Epicurus' teachings.Key to happiness:Don't fear godDon't fear deathWhat is good is easy to getWhat is bad is easy to endureThis doesn't mean Epicururs pleaded for overindulgenceHe mad
Enchiridion by Epictetus
EnchiridionEnchiridion means handbook: practical guide for lifeStarts with the dichotomy of control;* Some things are in our absolute control, our thoughts, decisions, actions, likes/dislikes* Some things are not in our control; our body, what others think, our position in life, property …Only things that are in our control are good or bad, everything outside of our control is indiffeerent. We sho
The Confessions by Saint Augustine of Hippo
The Confessions of Saint AugustineThe book starts off with his early childhood, where he reflects on the inherent violence of children, caused by original sin (chrisitan belief that man is sinful). There’s a parallel with other philosophies. Most philosophies/religions realize that on this basis, humans are flawed. These flaws seem to follow from how we evolved. And so a big part of what these phi
The final days of Socrates - Plato
The Last Days of SocratesA Philosophy book by Plato that is divided between 4 partsEuthyphroTakes place just before Socrate's trial is about to beginThe ApologyPlato uses his dialogues to tell the story of the trial of Socrates as he energetically defends himself against the charges of heresy and corruption of youthCrito - Socrates friendCrito, has come to help him escape and Socrates counters cri
Season Recap: Racism and Inequality
We are very grateful for the chance to read and discuss the books this season on the show.As a hot topic we also listened and read a lot of other content we didn't have time to do a full show on but felt it was worth discussing other sources of information and discussing our learnings from a step back.Racism and inequality in the modern world is a hard to understand topic and reading one book is n
Nonviolent Communication - Marshall Rosenberg
Nonviolent Communication is based on the assumption that all human beings have capacity for compassion and empathy and that people only resort to violence or behavior harmful to others when they do not recognize more effective strategies for meeting needs.The purpose of Nonviolent Communication is to help us connect to ourselves and others in a way that makes being compassionate natural. It is not
Discrimination and Disparities - Thomas Sowell
A searching re-examination of the assumptions, and the evidence for and against, current approaches to issues of economic and other disparitiesDiscrimination and Disparities challenges believers in such one-factor explanations of economic outcome differences as discrimination, exploitation or genetics. It is readable enough for people with no prior knowledge of economics. Yet the empirical evidenc
How to be an antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi
How to Be an Antiracist is a 2019 non-fiction book by American author and historian Ibram X. Kendi. The book discusses concepts of racism and Kendi's proposals for anti-racist individual actions and systemic changes. AuthorAt the time of authorship, Ibram X. Kendi was an assistant professor of African-American History at the University of Florida. He previously worked at the American University, w
White fragility - Robin DiAngelo
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism A 2018 book written by Robin DiAngelo about race relations in the United States. An academic with experience in diversity training, DiAngelo coined the term "white fragility" in 2011 to describe any defensive instincts or reactions that a white person experiences when questioned about race or made to consider their own race. I
Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race - Rene Eddo-Lodge
The moment you've all been waiting for.Two white guys read the most talked about book on race and attempt to understand our amazing foolishness in a humble manner. Yes we probably mess things up. But it's better to try, make mistakes, learn, and improve, than to just runaway from our own fragilities.About'Every voice raised against racism chips away at its power. We can't afford to stay silent. Th
Hope in the Dark - Rebecca Solnit
Hope in the Dark was written to counter the despair of radicals at a moment when they were focused on their losses and had turned their back to the victories behind them--and the unimaginable changes soon to come. In it, she makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable.Drawing on her decades of activism and a wide reading of environm
12. Skin in the Game - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life, is a 2018 nonfiction book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a former options trader with a background in the mathematics of probability and statistics.Taleb's thesis is that skin in the game -- i.e., having a measurable risk when taking a major decision -- is necessary for fairness, commercial efficiency, and risk management, as well as being necessary t
11. Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Nassim Nicholas Taleb present a blueprint of how to live in a 'Black Swan' world.He begins the book:"Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty. Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the phenomenon, there is no word for the exact opposite of fragile. Let us call it antifragile. Antifragi
10. The Bed of Procrustes - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote some of his favourite maxims and ways to think in life into a book.This is a great hand book for nuggets of wisdom to ponder upon. Thus ponder we do on some of our favourites.Some examples include* What fools call “wasting time” is most often the best investment.* A man without a heroic bent starts dying at the age of thirty.* The difference between slaves in Roman and
8. Fooled By Randomness - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets is a book that deals with the fallibility of human knowledge.Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains how we delude ourselves into thinking untrue things due to our love of finding a story or reason when none exists.In the episode, we explore the many examples of human behaviour failing us and the isights we can learn form this book.
7. Do You Talk Funny? - David Nihil
Public speaking can be terrifying. For David Nihill, the idea of standing in front of an audience was scarier than cliff jumping into a thorny pit of spiders and mothers-in-law. Without a parachute or advanced weaponry. This book is a part story and part manual. It follows David's story to become an engaging public speaker and the lessons he learnt along the way. It shows how anyone can become fun
6. Finite and Infinite Games - James P. Carse
This book is challenging. Some people hate. Many people love it.It has been described as, "Disturbingly good" for it's ability to shake the concepts of what you think about your approaches to life. It is regarded as a book you need to read, re-read and then read again.We blindly dive into it and attempt to distill it's wisdom for listeners in a usable manner, whilst not making too big a fools of o
5. Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez
This book exposes the gender bias that is in the world around us and affects our daily lives. A brilliant look at the data that shows the facts we need to acknowledge and overcome.Caroline presents a very thourough study into the way the world has been built and how it has been unfair on women. This is a revealing book which was a brilliant read for anyone. As two white guys we really had a lot to
4. The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists - Niel Strauss
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists (also known as The Game: Undercover in the Secret Society of Pickup Artists) is a non-fiction book written by investigative reporter Neil Strauss as a chronicle of his journey and encounters in the seduction community.The book was featured on The New York Times Bestseller List for two months after its release in September 2005, reaching pr
Recommended
The Swerve Podcast: Obscure Topics | Conspiracy Theories
The Bread and Banter Podcast
The Conspiracy Podcast
Cult of Conspiracy
Dispatches from Reality
The Conspiracy Files
TechnoSnobCast
The Young and Called Podcast .
Snoop Dogg - Flash Biográfico
Deadline: White House
Thrilling Threads - Conspiracy Theories, Strange Phenomena, True Crime, Unsolved Mysteries, etc!
The Daily Conspiracy Podcast
