Books

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

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29 summaries, page 1 of 2

Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson

Altered Traits

A science journalist and a neuroscientist sort the hype from the hard evidence to show how meditation can lastingly change who we are.

Neuroscience
Stress
9 min read
James Nestor

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

A journalist plugs his own nose for ten days to show why breathing slowly and through the nose may be one of the most overlooked foundations of health.

Breathwork
Sleep
8 min read
Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski

Burnout

Twin sisters explain why stress stays stuck in the body, why women burn out in a rigged game, and the simple, shared ways to recover.

Stress
Mental Health
8 min read
Emily Nagoski

Come As You Are

Sex educator Emily Nagoski uses the science of accelerators, brakes and context to show women that their sexuality is not broken, only theirs.

Relationships
8 min read
Shanna H. Swan

Count Down

A leading reproductive epidemiologist explains why sperm counts in the West have halved in forty years, what everyday chemicals have to do with it, and what you can change at home.

Hormones
Fertility
9 min read
Anna Lembke

Dopamine Nation

Stanford psychiatrist Anna Lembke explains why chasing pleasure leaves us in pain, and how abstinence, self-binding and honesty restore balance.

Dopamine and Motivation
Mental Health
6 min read
Susan David

Emotional Agility

A Harvard psychologist shows how to face hard feelings, step back from them and act on your values through small, deliberate changes.

Psychology
Mental Health
8 min read
Gregg D. Jacobs

Goodnight Insomnia

Gregg D. Jacobs's six-week, drug-free CBT program retrains thoughts and habits to end chronic insomnia.

Sleep
Mental Health
6 min read
Michael Pollan

How to Change Your Mind

A skeptical journalist explores the science, history and first-hand experience of psychedelics, and what they reveal about the mind, the ego and healing.

Consciousness
Mental Health
8 min read
Sandra Kahn and Paul Ehrlich

Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic

An orthodontist and an evolutionary biologist argue that modern life is shrinking our jaws, crowding our teeth and narrowing our airways, and that parents can do something about it early.

Sleep
Parenting
9 min read
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
Viktor Frankl

Man's Search for Meaning

A Viennese psychiatrist's account of surviving the Nazi camps, and the idea he carried out of them: people can bear almost anything if they have a reason to.

Psychology
Mental Health
6 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
Andrew Huberman

Protocols: An Operating Manual for the Human Body

Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman's 47-protocol field manual for sleep, exercise, stress, food, light, focus and personal growth, built on one rule: behavior first, molecules second.

Sleep
Fitness
8 min read
Alex Berenson

Tell Your Children

A former New York Times reporter argues that marijuana causes psychosis and violence and that legalization has outrun the science, a case many experts dispute.

Mental Health
Psychology
8 min read
Jonathan Haidt

The Anxious Generation

Jonathan Haidt argues that smartphones, social media and overprotective parenting have rewired childhood since about 2010, and lays out a collective plan to give kids back a play-based childhood.

Mental Health
Parenting
9 min read
Satchin Panda

The Circadian Code

Salk Institute scientist Satchin Panda argues that when you eat, sleep, see light and move matters as much as what you do, and shows how to reset the body's internal clocks.

Sleep
Nutrition
10 min read
Jonathan Haidt

The Coddling of the American Mind

Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt argue that three bad ideas and a culture of overprotection are leaving a generation of students more fragile, more anxious and more divided.

Psychology
Education
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
Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long

The Molecule of More

A psychiatrist and a writer show how dopamine, the brain's chemical of anticipation, drives our love lives, ambitions, addictions, creativity and politics, and why lasting happiness means balancing it with the chemicals of the present.

Dopamine and Motivation
Neuroscience
11 min read
Dr. Jason Fung

The Obesity Code

A kidney specialist argues that obesity is driven by insulin, not calories, and that eating real food less often, with regular fasting, is the lasting fix.

Nutrition
Hormones
8 min read
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The Real Anthony Fauci

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s heavily footnoted and widely disputed case that Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates and the drug industry put profit and power ahead of public health, from AIDS to COVID-19.

Politics and History
Public Health
8 min read