Books

The big ideas from popular books, without giving the whole thing away. Get the GIST, then decide if you want the REST.

FiltersScience & PhilosophyComputers & TechnologyClear

7 summaries

Sam Harris

Lying

Sam Harris argues that even kind white lies cost more than they save, and that simply telling the truth makes life simpler and relationships deeper.

Philosophy
Relationships
8 min read
Tom Campbell

My Big TOE

A NASA physicist's theory of everything: consciousness is the foundation of reality, the physical world is a virtual training ground, and the point of it all is to grow from fear toward love.

Consciousness
Physics
8 min read
Charles Darwin

The Descent of Man

Darwin finally turns his theory on ourselves, arguing that humans share ancestry, mind and even morality with other animals, and that mate choice helped shape us.

Evolutionary Psychology
Genetics
10 min read
Peter Wohlleben

The Hidden Life of Trees

German forester Peter Wohlleben argues that a forest is a cooperative community in which trees communicate, share food and raise their young, and that we should manage it that way.

Nature and Conservation
8 min read
Kenneth Reitz and Tanya Schlusser

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Python

The Python community's opinionated field guide to setting up, writing, reading and shipping great code.

Software Engineering
Open Source
7 min read
Michael J. Sandel

The Tyranny of Merit

Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel argues that our faith in meritocracy has made winners arrogant, made everyone else feel humiliated, and fuelled the populist backlash, and that humility and respect for work are the way back.

Philosophy
Politics and History
10 min read
Erwin Schrödinger

What Is Life?

A quantum physicist asks how atoms can add up to a living thing, and his answers, an aperiodic crystal carrying a code-script and life feeding on negative entropy, help launch molecular biology.

7 min read