Life-Changing Books

Every week, I ask my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances that are part of my social networks (Twitter and LinkedIn) a simple question:

“What is the book that changed your life? (not novels or religious texts)”

I think it’s a wonderful way to connect in a less superficial way and learn a little more about each other. It’s also a wonderful way to discover new books worth reading.

These are the 3 titles I received most recently. To see the full list of 148 books, keep scrolling.

Latest
Mastery
Robert Greene

From Amazon:

In this book, Robert Greene demonstrates that the ultimate form of power is mastery itself. By analyzing the lives of such past masters as Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and Leonard da Vinci, as well as by interviewing nine contemporary masters, including tech guru Paul Graham and animal rights advocate Temple Grandin, Greene debunks our culture’s many myths about genius and distills the wisdom of the ages to reveal the secret to greatness. With this seminal text as a guide, readers will learn how to unlock the passion within and become masters.

Goodreads reviews

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping
Paco Underhill

From Amazon:

Is there a method to our madness when it comes to shopping? Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "a Sherlock Holmes for retailers," author and research company CEO Paco Underhill answers with a definitive "yes" in this witty, eye-opening report on our ever-evolving consumer culture. Why We Buy is based on hard data gleaned from thousands of hours of field research -- in shopping malls, department stores, and supermarkets across America. With his team of sleuths tracking our every move, from sweater displays at the mall to the beverage cooler at the drugstore, Paco Underhill lays bare the struggle among merchants, marketers, and increasingly knowledgeable consumers for control. In his quest to discover what makes the contemporary consumer tick, Underhill explains the shopping phenomena that often go unnoticed by retailers and shoppers alike, including: How a well-placed shopping basket can turn a small purchase into a significant sale What the "butt-brush factor" is and how it can make sales plummet How working women have altered the way supermarkets are designed How the "boomerang effect" makes product placement ever more challenging What kinds of signage and packaging turn browsers into buyers For those in retailing and marketing, Why We Buy is a remarkably fresh guide, offering creative and insightful tips on how to adapt to the changing customer. For the general public, Why We Buy is a funny and sometimes disconcerting look at our favorite pastime.

Goodreads reviews

The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary
Eric S. Raymond

From Amazon:

Open source provides the competitive advantage in the Internet Age. According to the August Forrester Report, 56 percent of IT managers interviewed at Global 2,500 companies are already using some type of open source software in their infrastructure and another 6 percent will install it in the next two years. This revolutionary model for collaborative software development is being embraced and studied by many of the biggest players in the high-tech industry, from Sun Microsystems to IBM to Intel.The Cathedral & the Bazaar is a must for anyone who cares about the future of the computer industry or the dynamics of the information economy. Already, billions of dollars have been made and lost based on the ideas in this book. Its conclusions will be studied, debated, and implemented for years to come. According to Bob Young, "This is Eric Raymond's great contribution to the success of the open source revolution, to the adoption of Linux-based operating systems, and to the success of open source users and the companies that supply them."The interest in open source software development has grown enormously in the past year. This revised and expanded paperback edition includes new material on open source developments in 1999 and 2000. Raymond's clear and effective writing style accurately describing the benefits of open source software has been key to its success. With major vendors creating acceptance for open source within companies, independent vendors will become the open source story in 2001.

Goodreads reviews

These are all 148 titles I received so far, grouped by type, and in chronological order:

Biographies
Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom

From Amazon:

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying of ALS - or motor neurone disease - Mitch visited Morrie in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final 'class': lessons in how to live.

Goodreads reviews

Men of Mathematics
Eric Temple Bell

From Amazon:

Here is the classic, much-read introduction to the craft and history of mathematics by E.T. Bell, a leading figure in mathematics in America for half a century. Men of Mathematics accessibly explains the major mathematics, from the geometry of the Greeks through Newton's calculus and on to the laws of probability, symbolic logic, and the fourth dimension. In addition, the book goes beyond pure mathematics to present a series of engrossing biographies of the great mathematicians -- an extraordinary number of whom lived bizarre or unusual lives. Finally, Men of Mathematics is also a history of ideas, tracing the majestic development of mathematical thought from ancient times to the twentieth century. This enduring work's clear, often humorous way of dealing with complex ideas makes it an ideal book for the non-mathematician.

Goodreads reviews

Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary
Linus Torvalds

From Amazon:

Once upon a time Linus Torvalds was a skinny unknown, just another nerdy Helsinki techie who had been fooling around with computers since childhood. Then he wrote a groundbreaking operating system and distributed it via the Internet -- for free. Today Torvalds is an international folk hero. And his creation LINUX is used by over 12 million people as well as by companies such as IBM. Now, in a narrative that zips along with the speed of e-mail, Torvalds gives a history of his renegade software while candidly revealing the quirky mind of a genius. The result is an engrossing portrayal of a man with a revolutionary vision, who challenges our values and may change our world.

Goodreads reviews

Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener, The Father of Cybernetics
Flo Conway

From Amazon:

Child prodigy and brilliant MIT mathematician, Norbert Wiener founded the revolutionary science of cybernetics and ignited the information-age explosion of computers, automation, and global telecommunications. His best-selling book, Cybernetics, catapulted him into the public spotlight, as did his chilling visions of the future and his ardent social activism. Based on a wealth of primary sources and exclusive access to Wiener's closest family members, friends, and colleagues, Dark Hero of the Information Age reveals this eccentric genius as an extraordinarily complex figure. No one interested in the intersection of technology and culture will want to miss this epic story of one of the twentieth century's most brilliant and colorful figures.

Goodreads reviews

"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character
Richard P. Feynman

From Amazon:

Richard P. Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, thrived on outrageous adventures. In this lively work that "can shatter the stereotype of the stuffy scientist" (Detroit Free Press), Feynman recounts his experiences trading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and cracking the uncrackable safes guarding the most deeply held nuclear secrets-and much more of an eyebrow-raising nature. In his stories, Feynman's life shines through in all its eccentric glory-a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and raging chutzpah. Included for this edition is a new introduction by Bill Gates.

Goodreads reviews

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Haruki Murakami

From Amazon:

In a revealing memoir, the award-winning Japanese writer recalls his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City marathon, interweaving his reflections on the meaning of running in his life, his thoughts on the writing process and career, his greatest triumphs and disappointments, and his experiences as an author and as an athlete.

Goodreads reviews

Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds
David Goggins

From Amazon:

For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare — poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him “The Fittest (Real) Man in America.” In Can't Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this The 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential.

Goodreads reviews

Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love
Dava Sobel

From Amazon:

Inspired by the remarkable surviving letters of Galileo's eldest child, the cloistered nun Suor Maria Celeste, this compelling biography of the man Albert Einstein called ‘the father of modern physics—indeed of modern science altogether’ is unlike any other. Dava Sobel dramatically revives the personality and accomplishment of a mythic figure whose seventeenth-century clash with Catholic doctrine continues to define the schism between science and religion. Moving between Galileo's grand public life and Maria Celeste's sequestered world, Sobel illuminates the Florence of the Medicis and the papal court in Rome during the pivotal era when humanity's perception of its place in the cosmos was being overturned and when one man sought to reconcile the Heaven he revered as a good Catholic with the heavens he revealed through his telescope.

Goodreads reviews

Business
Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping
Paco Underhill

From Amazon:

Is there a method to our madness when it comes to shopping? Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "a Sherlock Holmes for retailers," author and research company CEO Paco Underhill answers with a definitive "yes" in this witty, eye-opening report on our ever-evolving consumer culture. Why We Buy is based on hard data gleaned from thousands of hours of field research -- in shopping malls, department stores, and supermarkets across America. With his team of sleuths tracking our every move, from sweater displays at the mall to the beverage cooler at the drugstore, Paco Underhill lays bare the struggle among merchants, marketers, and increasingly knowledgeable consumers for control. In his quest to discover what makes the contemporary consumer tick, Underhill explains the shopping phenomena that often go unnoticed by retailers and shoppers alike, including: How a well-placed shopping basket can turn a small purchase into a significant sale What the "butt-brush factor" is and how it can make sales plummet How working women have altered the way supermarkets are designed How the "boomerang effect" makes product placement ever more challenging What kinds of signage and packaging turn browsers into buyers For those in retailing and marketing, Why We Buy is a remarkably fresh guide, offering creative and insightful tips on how to adapt to the changing customer. For the general public, Why We Buy is a funny and sometimes disconcerting look at our favorite pastime.

Goodreads reviews

The Start-up of You: Adapt, Take Risks, Grow Your Network, and Transform Your Life
Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha

From Amazon:

From the co-founder and chairman of LinkedIn and author Ben Casnocha comes a revolutionary new book on how to apply the strategies of successful entrepreneurship to your career: in other words, how to run the 'start-up of you'. In a world where wages are virtually stagnant, creative disruption is rocking every industry, global competition for jobs is fierce, and job security is a thing of the past, we're all on our own when it comes to our careers. In the face of such uncertainty, the key to success is to think and act like an entrepreneur: to be nimble and self-reliant, to be innovative, and to know how to network and stand out from the crowd. And this is precisely what Hoffman and Casnocha show you how to do in a book that is both inspirational and supremely practical. Just as LinkedIn is the one online community that no professional can afford not to belong to, this is the book that no professional can afford to be without.

Goodreads reviews

Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions
John P. Kotter

From Amazon:

Most of the denizens of the Antarctic penguin coony sneer at Fred, the quiet but observant scout who detects worrying signs that their home, an iceberg, is melting. Fred must cleverly convince and enlist key players, such as Louis, the head penguin; Alice, the number two bird; the intractable NoNo the weather expert; and a passle of school-age penguins if he is to save the colony. Their delightfully told journey illuminates in an unforgettable way how to manage the necessary change that surrounds us all. Simple explanatory material following the fable enhances the lasting value of these lessons.

Goodreads reviews

Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling
Edgar H. Schein

From Amazon:

Communication is essential in a healthy organization. But all too often when we interact with people especially those who report to us we simply tell them what we think they need to know. This shuts them down. To generate bold new ideas, to avoid disastrous mistakes, to develop agility and flexibility, we need to practice Humble Inquiry. Ed Schein defines Humble Inquiry as the fine art of drawing someone out, of asking questions to which you do not know the answer, of building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person. In this seminal work, Schein contrasts Humble Inquiry with other kinds of inquiry, shows the benefits Humble Inquiry provides in many different settings, and offers advice on overcoming the cultural, organizational, and psychological barriers that keep us from practicing it.

Goodreads reviews

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
Seth Godin

From Amazon:

Few authors have had the kind of lasting impact and global reach that Seth Godin has had. In a series of now-classic books that have been translated into 36 languages and reached millions of readers around the world, he has taught generations of readers how to make remarkable products and spread powerful ideas. In Linchpin, he turns his attention to the individual, and explains how anyone can make a significant impact within their organization. There used to be two teams in every workplace: management and labor. Now there's a third team, the linchpins. These people figure out what to do when there's no rule book. They delight and challenge their customers and peers. They love their work, pour their best selves into it, and turn each day into a kind of art. Have you ever found a shortcut that others missed? Seen a new way to resolve a conflict? Made a connection with someone others couldn't reach? Even once? Then you have what it takes to become indispensable, by overcoming the resistance that holds people back. Linchpin will show you how to join the likes of... - Keith Johnson, who scours flea markets across the country to fill Anthropologie stores with unique pieces. - Jason Zimdars, a graphic designer who got his dream job at 37signals without a résumé. - David, who works at Dean and Deluca coffee shop in New York. He sees every customer interaction as a chance to give a gift and is cherished in return. As Godin writes, Every day I meet people who have so much to give but have been bullied enough or frightened enough to hold it back. It's time to stop complying with the system and draw your own map. You have brilliance in you, your contribution is essential, and the art you create is precious. Only you can do it, and you must.

Goodreads reviews

Software for Your Head: Core Protocols for Creating and Maintaining Shared Vision
Jim McCarthy

From Amazon:

Most people have experienced--at least once in their lives--the incomparable thrill of being part of a great team effort. They can remember the unity of purpose they experienced, the powerful passion that inspired them, and the incredible results they achieved. People who have been on a great team can attest that the difference between being on a team with a shared vision and being on a team without one is the difference between joy and misery. In 1996, Jim and Michele McCarthy, after successful careers leading software development teams at Microsoft and elsewhere, set out to discover a set of repeatable group behaviors that would always lead to the formation of a state of shared vision for any team. They hoped for a practical, communicable, and reliable process that could be used to create the best possible teams every time it was applied. They established a hands-on laboratory for the study and teaching of high-performance teamwork. In a controlled simulation environment, their principle research and teaching effort--the McCarthy Software Development BootCamp--challenged dozens of real-world, high-tech teams to produce and deliver a product. Teams were given a product development assignment, and instructed to form a team, envision the product, agree on how to make it, then design, build, and ship it on time. By repeating these simulations time after time, with the new teams building on the learning from previous teams, core practices emerged that were repeatedly successful. These were encoded as patterns and protocols. Software for Your Head is the first publication of the most significant results of the authors' unprecedented five-year investigation into the dynamics of contemporary teams. The information in this book will provide a means for any team to create for itself a compelling state of shared vision.

Goodreads reviews

The Circle of Innovation: You Can't Shrink Your Way to Greatness
Tom Peters

From Amazon:

In 1982, business guru Tom Peters co-authored In Search of Excellence, one of the most influential business guides of all time. More recently, through 400 seminars in 47 states and 22 countries, Peters reexamined, refined and reinvented his views on innovation--the #1 survival strategy, he asserts, for businesses of the next millennium. The Circle of Innovation brings these seminars--and Peters' contagious passion--to the reader in a landmark book. Through bold graphics, astounding facts and figures, and quotes whose sources range from Émile Zola to Steve Jobs, Peters blows the lid off accepted management styles. Here is a book that will open your eyes to new ways of envisioning the challenges of today's world. Here, too, is a practical guide that will teach you how to: - reverse the rising tide of product and service "commoditization" and foster uniqueness - capitalize on the skyrocketing purchasing power of women - convert sluggish staff into vital centers of intellectual capital accumulation - build systems of elegance and beauty - liberate your creativity and individual leadership style Whether you manage a six-person department or a 60,000-body behemoth, The Circle of Innovation empowers you to transform your organization, your career, yourself. Inspiring, timely, this blueprint for success is pure Peters--a handbook as energetic as it is profound.

Goodreads reviews

Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customer
Geoffrey A. Moore

From Amazon:

In Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey A. Moore shows that in the Technology Adoption Life Cycle--which begins with innovators and moves to early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards--there is a vast chasm between the early adopters and the early majority. While early adopters are willing to sacrifice for the advantage of being first, the early majority waits until they know that the technology actually offers improvements in productivity. The challenge for innovators and marketers is to narrow this chasm and ultimately accelerate adoption across every segment.

Goodreads reviews

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
Patrick Lencioni

From Amazon:

In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Patrick Lencioni once again offers a leadership fable that is as enthralling and instructive as his first two best-selling books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive. This time, he turns his keen intellect and storytelling power to the fascinating, complex world of teams. Kathryn Petersen, Decision Tech's CEO, faces the ultimate leadership crisis: Uniting a team in such disarray that it threatens to bring down the entire company. Will she succeed? Will she be fired? Will the company fail? Lencioni's utterly gripping tale serves as a timeless reminder that leadership requires as much courage as it does insight. Throughout the story, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams even the best ones-often struggle. He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team. Just as with his other books, Lencioni has written a compelling fable with a powerful yet deceptively simple message for all those who strive to be exceptional team leaders.

Goodreads reviews

Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends Upon It
Al Ries

From Amazon:

Marketing guru Al Ries, co-author of the acclaimed The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing and Marketing Warfare, uses real company profiles to prove that in today's rapidly evolving business environment, the most successful companies are those that remain focused on their core business.aIn plain and effective language, internationally known marketing expert Al Ries explains why IBM, PepsiCo, and other revenue-rich companies often fail to perform on the balance sheet. His commonsense approach to business management focuses on keeping a business doing what it does best, eschewing the temptation of diversification into unrelated enterprises.aUsing real-world examples, Al Ries shows that in industry after industry, it is the companies that resist diversification and instead focus on owning a category in consumers' minds that dominate their markets. He offers solid guidance to get companies back on target, explaining how to get focused and how to stay focused. His no-nonsense advice lays out a workable blueprint for any company's evolution that can increase market share and shareholder

Goodreads reviews

How to Castrate a Bull: Unexpected Lessons on Risk, Growth, and Success in Business
Dave Hitz

From Amazon:

Dave Hitz likes to solve fun problems. He didn’t set out to be a Silicon Valley icon, a business visionary, or even a billionaire. But he became all three. It turns out that business is a mosaic of interesting puzzles like managing risk, developing and reversing strategies, and looking into the future by deconstructing the past. As a founder of NetApp, a data storage firm that began as an idea scribbled on a placemat and now takes in $4 billion a year, Hitz has seen his company go through every major cycle in business—from the Jack-of-All-Trades mentality of a start-up, through the tumultuous period of the IPO and the dot-com bust, and finally to a mature enterprise company. NetApp is one of the fastest-growing computer companies ever, and for six years in a row it has been on Fortune magazine’s list of Best Companies to Work For. Not bad for a high school dropout who began his business career selling his blood for money and typing the names of diseases onto index cards. With colorful examples and anecdotes, How to Castrate a Bull is a story for everyone interested in understanding business, the reasons why companies succeed and fail, and how powerful lessons often come from strange and unexpected places. Dave Hitz co-founded NetApp in 1992 with James Lau and Michael Malcolm. He served as a programmer, marketing evangelist, technical architect, and vice president of engineering. Presently, he is responsible for future strategy and direction for the company. Before his career in Silicon Valley, Dave worked as a cowboy, where he got valuable management experience by herding, branding, and castrating cattle.

Goodreads reviews

The Republic of Tea: The Story of the Creation of a Business, as Told Through the Personal Letters of Its Founders
Mel Ziegler

From Amazon:

Almost all of us have at some point dreamed of starting our own business but have not been able to get past our fear, anxiety, and uncertainty about pursuing those dreams. Through a 20-month exchange of faxes, The Republic Of Tea chronicles the feelings and emotions of three partners as they confront their fears and dreams to create an enormously successful start-up company. The book shows the budding entrepreneur how to start a successful business that embodies his or her own soul and economic realities. The insightful correspondence between Mel Ziegler and Patricia Ziegler, co-founders of The Banana Republic chain, and their new partner Bill Rosenzweig provides a map for the entrepreneur. It tells of the day-to-day breakthroughs and breakdowns of the creative process--inventing a product, developing a plan, and structuring a business partnership--and even provides the actual business plan used to raise money for the venture. As part of the new Currency paperback line, the book includes a "User's Guide"--an introduction and discussion guide created for the paperback by the authors to help readers make practical use of the book's ideas.

Goodreads reviews

The Pursuit of Wow!: Every Person's Guide to Topsy-Turvy Times
Tom Peters

From Amazon:

Organized into more than 200 thought- and action-provoking elements--from the importance of clean trucks and bathrooms to conversations with entrepreneurs creating new markets--Tom Peters, bestselling management guru offers a practical guide to impractical times. In The Pursuit of Wow!, Tom Peters offers readers the words, the tools, to survive in tumultuous business environments. In his groundbreaking book, In Search of Excellence changed the way business does business. Now it's time to take the next leap into the cyberstage era. Getting to a place called excellence is no longer the idea. You've got to take that leap, then leap again--catapult their imaginations, blow their mindsets--in a word, wow! them. Once more the unconventional Peters stimulates corporate thought processes. Along with the best of his columns, Peters includes questions and rebuttals that come from readers and listeners, as well as his own candid responses. A must-read for every business person.

Goodreads reviews

Only the Paranoid Survive. Lessons from the CEO of INTEL Corporation
Andrew S. Grove

From Amazon:

The President and CEO of Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, reveals how to identify and exploit the key moments of change in any industry that generates either drastic failure or incredible success. Under Andrew Grove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest computer chipmaker, the 5th most admired company in America, and the 7th most profitable company among the Fortune 500. Few CEOs can claim this level of success. Grove attributes much of it to the philosophy and strategy he has learned the hard way as he steered Intel through a series of potential major disasters. There are moments in any business when massive change occurs, when all the rules of business shift fast, furiously and forever. Grove calls such moments strategic inflection points (SIPs), and he has lived through several. They can be set off by almost anything - by mega competition, an arcane change in regulations, or by a seemingly modest change in technology. They are not always easy to spot - but you can't hide from them. Intel's first SIP was when the Japanese started producing better-quality, lower-cost memory chips. It took Grove three years and huge losses to recognize that he had to rethink and reposition the company to become, once again, leader in its field.Grove extrapolates the lessons he has learned from this and other SIPs - for instance the drama of the Pentium flaw, and the SIP brought on by the Internet - to reveal a unique insight into the management of change. He recounts strategies from other companies and examines his own record of success and failure. Only the Paranoid Survive is a classic lesson in leadership skills that every manager in every industry will benefit from. Every manager must assume that something will change - very soon.

Goodreads reviews

Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense
Rory Sutherland

From Amazon:

We think we are rational creatures. Economics and business rely on the assumption that we make logical decisions based on evidence. But we aren’t, and we don’t. In many crucial areas of our lives, reason plays a vanishingly small part. Instead we are driven by unconscious desires, which is why placebos are so powerful. We are drawn to the beautiful, the extravagant and the absurd – from lavish wedding invitations to tiny bottles of the latest fragrance. So if you want to influence people’s choices you have to bypass reason. The best ideas don’t make rational sense: they make you feel more than they make you think. Rory Sutherland is the Ogilvy advertising legend whose TED Talks have been viewed nearly 7 million times. In his first book he blends cutting-edge behavioural science, jaw-dropping stories and a touch of branding magic, on his mission to turn us all into idea alchemists. The big problems we face every day, whether as an individual or in society, could very well be solved by letting go of logic and embracing the irrational.

Goodreads reviews

Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do!
Robert H. Schuller

From Amazon:

Dr. Schuller shows you how to build a positive self-image, no matter what your problem. Whether it's unemployment, poor health, loneliness, fear or anything else that blocks your success, you can turn your negative into a positive. No matter how tough times get, you have the potential to achieve the best of life. Through Dr. Schuller's dynamic principles, you can learn:
  • 4 ways to evaluate a new idea
  • 10 commandments of possibility thinking
  • 5 principles for putting problems in a proper perspective
  • 18 principles of leadership
  • 5 phases necessary for the faith to move mountains
  • 5 ways to overcome a 'brownout' and prevent a burnout
  • 25 action words to get you started and never let you quit

Goodreads reviews

The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business
Clayton M. Christensen

From Amazon:

A thought-provoking analysis of the new business paradigm shows how firms that do "everything right" can nevertheless fail because of new technologies and disruptions in the market structure.

Goodreads reviews

Design
Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design
Kat Holmes

From Amazon:

How inclusive methods can build elegant design solutions that work for all. Sometimes designed objects reject their users: a computer mouse that doesn't work for left-handed people, for example, or a touchscreen payment system that only works for people who read English phrases, have 20/20 vision, and use a credit card. Something as simple as color choices can render a product unusable for millions. These mismatches are the building blocks of exclusion. In Mismatch, Kat Holmes describes how design can lead to exclusion, and how design can also remedy exclusion. Inclusive design methods-designing objects with rather than for excluded users-can create elegant solutions that work well and benefit all. Holmes tells stories of pioneers of inclusive design, many of whom were drawn to work on inclusion because of their own experiences of exclusion. A gamer and designer who depends on voice recognition shows Holmes his "Wall of Exclusion," which displays dozens of game controllers that require two hands to operate; an architect shares her firsthand knowledge of how design can fail communities, gleaned from growing up in Detroit's housing projects; an astronomer who began to lose her eyesight adapts a technique called "sonification" so she can "listen" to the stars. Designing for inclusion is not a feel-good sideline. Holmes shows how inclusion can be a source of innovation and growth, especially for digital technologies. It can be a catalyst for creativity and a boost for the bottom line as a customer base expands. And each time we remedy a mismatched interaction, we create an opportunity for more people to contribute to society in meaningful ways.

Goodreads reviews

Economics
The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
John Perkins

From Amazon:

The previous edition of this now-classic book revealed the existence and subversive manipulations of ""economic hit men.” John Perkins wrote that they “are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder.” In Perkins’s case the tool was debt―convincing strategically important countries to borrow huge amounts of money for enormous, “development “ projects that served the very rich while driving the country deeper into poverty and debt. And once indebted, these countries could be controlled. In this latest edition, Perkins provides revealing new details about how he and others did their work. But more importantly, in an explosive new section he describes how the EHM tools are being used around the world more widely than ever―even in the U. S. itself. The cancer has metastasized, yet most people still aren’t aware of it. Fear and debt drive the EHM system. We are hammered with messages that terrify us into believing that we must pay any price, assume any debt, to stop the enemies who, we are told, lurk at our doorsteps. The EHM system―employing false economics, bribes, surveillance, deception, debt, coups, assassinations, unbridled military power―has become the dominant system of economics, government, and society today. It has created what Perkins calls a “Death Economy.” But Perkins offers hope: he concludes with dozens of specific, concrete suggestions for actions all of us can take to wrest control of our world away from the economic hit men, and help give birth to a Life Economy.

Goodreads reviews

The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve
G. Edward Griffin

From Amazon:

The quintessential treatise on economics. Cussed and discussed by all from notable politicians to academicians to laypersons. Do you want to know the truth about money? Creature from Jekyll Island will give you the answers to these, and other, questions: Where does money come from? Where does it go? Who makes it? The money magicians' secrets are unveiled. We get a close look at their mirrors and smoke machines, their pulleys, cogs, and wheels that create the grand illusion called money. A dry and boring subject? Just wait! You'll be hooked in five minutes. Creature from Jekyll Island Reads like a detective story which it really is. But it's all true. This book is about the most blatant scam of all history. It's all here: the cause of wars, boom-bust cycles, inflation, depression, prosperity. Creature from Jekyll Island is a "must read." Your world view will definitely change. You'll never trust a politician again or a banker.

Goodreads reviews

The Richest Man In Babylon: The Success Secrets of the Ancients
George S. Clason

From Amazon:

Countless readers have been helped by the famous "Babylonian parables," hailed as the greatest of all inspirational works on the subject of thrift, financial planning, and personal wealth. In language as simple as that found in the Bible, these fascinating and informative stories set you on a sure path to prosperity and its accompanying joys. Acclaimed as a modern-day classic, this celebrated bestseller offers an understanding of--and a solution to--your personal financial problems that will guide you through a lifetime. This is the business book that holds the secrets to keeping your money--and making more. May they prove for you, as they have proven for millions of others, a sure key to gratifying financial progress.

Goodreads reviews

Guns, Germs, and Steel: A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years
Jared Diamond

From Amazon:

Jared Diamond puts the case that geography and biogeography, not race, moulded the contrasting fates of Europeans, Asians, Native Americans, sub-Saharan Africans, and aboriginal Australians. An ambitious synthesis of history, biology, ecology and linguistics, Guns, Germs and Steel is a ground-breaking and humane work of popular science that can provide expert insight into our modern world.

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The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil
Daniel Yergin

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Follows the historic role of oil from the first oil well in Pennsylvania to the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War and comments on how the natural resource shaped the entire world economy and international politics in the last century.

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History
The Drowned and the Saved
Primo Levi

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The author tries to understand the rationale behind Auschwitz, Treblinka, Bergen-Belsen. Dismissing stereotyped images of brutal Nazi torturers and helpless victims, Levi draws extensively on his own experiences to delve into the minds and motives of oppressors and oppressed alike. Describing the difficulty and shame of remembering, the limited forms of collaboration between inmates and SS goalers, the exploitation of useless violence and the plight of the intellectual, Levi writes about the issue of power, mercy and guilt, and their effects on the lives of the ordinary people who suffered so incomprehendingly.

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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Walter Isaacson

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Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin’s life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Walter Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the runaway apprentice who became, over the course of his eighty-four-year life, America’s best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders. He explores the wit behind Poor Richard’s Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nation’s alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution. In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin’s amazing life, showing how he helped to forge the American national identity and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century.

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The Emergence Of A Scientific Culture: Science And The Shaping Of Modernity, 1210-1685
Stephen Gaukroger

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Why did science emerge in the West and how did scientific values come to be regarded as the yardstick for all other forms of knowledge? Stephen Gaukroger shows just how bitterly the cognitive and cultural standing of science was contested in its early development. Rejecting the traditional picture of secularization, he argues that science in the seventeenth century emerged not in opposition to religion but rather was in many respects driven by it. Moreover, science did not present a unified picture of nature but was an unstable field of different, often locally successful but just as often incompatible, programmes. To complicate matters, much depended on attempts to reshape the persona of the natural philosopher, and distinctive new notions of objectivity and impartiality were imported into natural philosophy, changing its character radically by redefining the qualities of its practitioners. The West's sense of itself, its relation to its past, and its sense of its future, have been profoundly altered since the seventeenth century, as cognitive values generally have gradually come to be shaped around scientific ones. Science has not merely brought a new set of such values to the task of understanding the world and our place in it, but rather has completely transformed the task, redefining the goals of enquiry. This distinctive feature of the development of a scientific culture in the West marks it out from other scientifically productive cultures. In The Emergence of a Scientific Culture, Stephen Gaukroger offers a detailed and comprehensive account of the formative stages of this development―-and one which challenges the received wisdom that science was seen to be self-evidently the correct path to knowledge and that the benefits of science were immediately obvious to the disinterested observer.

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The Federalist Papers
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay

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Hailed by Thomas Jefferson as “the best commentary on the principles of government which was ever written,” The Federalist Papers is a collection of eighty-five essays published by Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay from 1787 to 1788, as a means to persuade the public to ratify the Constitution of the United States.

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The Soul of A New Machine
Tracy Kidder

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Computers have changed since 1981, when Tracy Kidder memorably recorded the drama, comedy, and excitement of one companys efforts to bring a new microcomputer to market. What has not changed is the feverish pace of the high-tech industry, the go-for-broke approach to business that has caused so many computer companies to win big (or go belly up), and the cult of pursuing mind-bending technological innovations. The Soul of a New Machine is an essential chapter in the history of the machine that revolutionized the world in the twentieth century.

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Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl

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A prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that both he and others in Auschwitz coped (or didn't) with the experience. He noticed that it was the men who comforted others and who gave away their last piece of bread who survived the longest - and who offered proof that everything can be taken away from us except the ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances. The sort of person the concentration camp prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not of camp influences alone. Frankl came to believe man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. This outstanding work offers us all a way to transcend suffering and find significance in the art of living.

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They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45
Milton Sanford Mayer

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Interviews with ten former Nazis comprise the core of this penetrating study of the psychological causes of Nazism and their implications for modern Germany.

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Philosophy
The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism
Ayn Rand

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Ayn Rand here sets forth the moral principles of Objectivism, the philosophy that holds human life--the life proper to a rational being--as the standard of moral values and regards altruism as incompatible with man's nature, with the creative requirements of his survival, and with a free society.

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On the Heights of Despair
Emil M. Cioran

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On the Heights of Despair shows Cioran's first grappling with themes he would return to in his mature works: despair and decay, absurdity and alienation, futility and the irrationality of existence. It also presents Cioran as a connoisseur of apocalypse, a theoretician of despair, for whom writing and philosophy both share the "lyrical virtues" that alone lead to a metaphysical revelation.

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Outlines of Pyrrhonism
Sextus Empiricus

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Throughout history philosophers have sought to define, understand, and delineate concepts important to human well-being. One such concept is "knowledge." Many philosophers believed that absolute, certain knowledge, is possible—that the physical world and ideas formulated about it could be given solid foundation unaffected by the varieties of mere opinion. Sextus Empiricus stands as an example of the "skeptic" school of thought whose members believed that knowledge was either unattainable or, if a genuine possibility, the conditions necessary to achieve it were next to impossible to satisfy. In other words, in the absence of complete knowledge, one must make do with the information provided by an imperfect world and conveyed to the mind through sense impressions that can often deceive us. Throughout his life Sextus Empiricus entered into intellectual combat with those who confidently claimed to possess indubitable knowledge. For skeptics, the best one can hope to achieve is a reasonable suspension of judgment—remaining ever mindful that claims to knowledge require careful scrutiny, thoughtful analysis, and critical review if we are to prevent ourselves and others from plunging headlong into mistaken notions.

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The Socratic Dialogues
Plato

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The Greek philosopher Socrates lived by the tenet that the path to truth was built on questions. When conversing with his students and followers he sought to reach the foundations of their views, asking questions until he found contradictions that exposed faults in their logic. This process became known as the Socratic Method. An enigmatic figure in history, Socrates left no writings. Much of what we know about his life and work comes from the accounts of his disciple Plato. Plato described Socrates as the ultimate teacher as well as the creator of modern argument and rhetoric. The Socratic Dialogues contain Plato's most important writings on Socrates, including commentaries on the virtues of friendship, courage, and temperance that display the Socratic Method at its highest degree. Plato's account of Socrates' stunning self-defense during his trial for corrupting the minds of his followers is also included.

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Animal Liberation
Peter Singer

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An updated edition of the groundbreaking study of animal rights describes the shocking abuse of animals--including laboratory experimentation, the fur industry, and product testing procedures--and argues that those who oppose human suffering must also oppose inflicting suffering on animals.

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Violence: Six Sideways Reflections
Slavoj Žižek

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Using history, philosophy, books, movies, Lacanian psychiatry, and jokes, Slavoj Zizek examines the ways we perceive and misperceive violence. Drawing from his unique cultural vision, Zizek brings new light to the Paris riots of 2005; he questions the permissiveness of violence in philanthropy; in daring terms, he reflects on the powerful image and determination of contemporary terrorists. Violence, Zizek states, takes three forms--subjective (crime, terror), objective (racism, hate-speech, discrimination), and systemic (the catastrophic effects of economic and political systems)--and often one form of violence blunts our ability to see the others, raising complicated questions. Does the advent of capitalism and, indeed, civilization cause more violence than it prevents? Is there violence in the simple idea of the neighbour? And could the appropriate form of action against violence today simply be to contemplate, to think? Beginning with these and other equally contemplative questions, Zizek discusses the inherent violence of globalization, capitalism, fundamentalism, and language, in a work that will confirm his standing as one of our most erudite and incendiary modern thinkers.

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On the Social Contract
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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"Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains." Thus begins Rousseau's influential 1762 work, in which he argues that all government is fundamentally flawed and that modern society is based on a system of inequality. The philosopher proposes an alternative system for the development of self-governing, self-disciplined citizens.

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An Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy: The Utmost Endeavor Has Been Made to Avoid Dogmatism
Bertrand Russell

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An unabridged, unaltered printing of the Second Edition (1920), with original format, all footnotes and index: The Series of Natural Numbers - Definition of Number - Finitude and Mathematical Induction - The Definition of Order - Kinds of Relations - Similarity of Relations - Rational, Real, and Complex Numbers - Infinite Cardinal Numbers - Infinite Series and Ordinals - Limits and Continuity - Limits and Continuity of Functions - Selections and the Multiplicative Axiom - The Axiom of Infinity and Logical Types - Incompatibility and the Theory of Deductions - Propositional Functions - Descriptions - Classes - Mathematics and Logic - Index

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The Art of War
Sun Tzu

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Conflict is an inevitable part of life, according to this ancient Chinese classic of strategy, but everything necessary to deal with conflict wisely, honorably, victoriously, is already present within us. Compiled more than two thousand years ago by a mysterious warrior-philosopher, The Art of War is still perhaps the most prestigious and influential book of strategy in the world, as eagerly studied in Asia by modern politicians and executives as it has been by military leaders since ancient times. As a study of the anatomy of organizations in conflict, The Art of War applies to competition and conflict in general, on every level from the interpersonal to the international. Its aim is invincibility, victory without battle, and unassailable strength through understanding the physics, politics, and psychology of conflict.

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I Am a Strange Loop
Douglas R. Hofstadter

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What do we mean when we say "I"? Can thought arise out of matter? Can a self, a soul, a consciousness, an "I" arise out of mere matter? If it cannot, then how can you or I be here? I Am a Strange Loop argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is the "strange loop"--a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. Deep down, a human brain is a chaotic seething soup of particles, on a higher level it is a jungle of neurons, and on a yet higher level it is a network of abstractions that we call "symbols. " The most central and complex symbol in your brain or mine is the one we both call "I. " The "I" is the nexus in our brain where the levels feed back into each other and flip causality upside down, with symbols seeming to have free will and to have gained the paradoxical ability to push particles around, rather than the reverse. For each human being, this "I" seems to be the realest thing in the world. But how can such a mysterious abstraction be real--or is our "I" merely a convenient fiction? Does an "I" exert genuine power over the particles in our brain, or is it helplessly pushed around by the all-powerful laws of physics? These are the mysteries tackled in I Am a Strange Loop, Douglas R. Hofstadter's first book-length journey into philosophy since Godel, Escher, Bach. Compulsively readable and endlessly thought-provoking, this is the book Hofstadter's many readers have long been waiting for.

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The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man
Marshall McLuhan

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Since its first appearance in 1962, the impact of The Gutenberg Galaxy has been felt around the world. It gave us the concept of the global village; that phrase has now been translated, along with the rest of the book, into twelve languages, from Japanese to Serbo-Croat. It helped establish Marshall McLuhan as the original 'media guru.'

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Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times
Jonathan Sacks

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With liberal democracy embattled, public discourse grown toxic, family life breaking down, and drug abuse and depression on the rise, many fear what the future holds. In Morality, respected faith leader and public intellectual Jonathan Sacks traces today's crisis to our loss of a strong, shared moral code and our elevation of self-interest over the common good. We have outsourced morality to the market and the state, but neither is capable of showing us how to live. Sacks leads readers from ancient Greece to the Enlightenment to the present day to show that there is no liberty without morality and no freedom without responsibility, arguing that we all must play our part in rebuilding a common moral foundation. A major work of moral philosophy, Morality is an inspiring vision of a world in which we can all find our place and face the future without fear.

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Science
Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?
Clinton Ober, Stephen T. Sinatra, Martin Zucker

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Earthing' introduces readers to the landmark discovery that living in contact with the Earth's natural surface charge - being grounded - naturally discharges and prevents chronic inflammation in the body. This effect has massive health implications because of the well-established link between chronic inflammation and all chronic diseases, including the diseases of ageing and the ageing process itself.

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Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ
Giulia Enders

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A cheeky up-close and personal guide to the secrets and science of our digestive system For 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 at the core of who we are. Gut: The Inside Story of our Body's Most Underrated Organ gives the alimentary canal its long-overdue moment in the spotlight. With quirky charm, rising science star Giulia Enders explains the gut's magic, answering questions like: Why does acid reflux happen? What's really up with gluten and lactose intolerance? How does the gut affect obesity and mood? Communication between the gut and the brain is one of the fastest-growing areas of medical research--on par with stem-cell research. Our gut reactions, we learn, are intimately connected with our physical and mental well-being. Aided with cheerful illustrations by Enders's sister Jill, this beguiling manifesto will make you finally listen to those butterflies in your stomach: they're trying to tell you something important.

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Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
James Nestor

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No 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.There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat 25,000 times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe. Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is. Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.

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Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Daniel H. Pink

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Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money--the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction-at work, at school, and at home--is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does--and how that affects every aspect of life. He examines the three elements of true motivation--autonomy, mastery, and purpose-and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.

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Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein

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Nudge is about choices-how we make them and how we can make better ones. Authors Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein offer a new perspective on preventing the countless mistakes we make- including ill-advised personal investments, consumption of unhealthy foods, neglect of our natural resources, and other bad decisions. Citing decades of cutting-edge behavioral science research, they demonstrate that sensible "choice architecture"can successfully nudge people towards the best decisions without restricting their freedom of choice. S straightforward, informative, and entertaining, this is a must-read for anyone with interest in our individual and collective well-being.

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Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl

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Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl's theory-known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos ("meaning")-holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful. At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, Man's Search for Meaning had sold more than 10 million copies in twenty-four languages. A 1991 reader survey for the Library of Congress that asked readers to name a "book that made a difference in your life" found Man's Search for Meaning among the ten most influential books in America.

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How Things Work: Unplugged, Unraveled, and Revealed: Discover Secrets and Science Behind Bounce Houses, Hovercraft, Robotics, and Everything in Between
T.J. Resler

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Ever wanted to take apart the microwave to see how it works? Crack open your computer and peak inside? Intrigued by how things work? So are we! That's why we're dissecting all kinds of things from rubber erasers to tractor beams! Read along as National Geographic Kids unplug, unravels, and reveals how things do what they do. Complete with "Tales from the Lab, "true stories, biographies of real scientists and engineers, exciting diagrams and illustrations, accessible explanations, trivia and fun features, this cool book explains it all!

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Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Robin Wall Kimmerer

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An inspired weaving of indigenous knowledge, plant science, and personal narrative from a distinguished professor of science and a Native American whose previous book, Gathering Moss, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing. As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as "the younger brothers of creation." As she explores these themes she circles toward a central argument: the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the world. Once we begin to listen for the languages of other beings, we can begin to understand the innumerable life-giving gifts the world provides us and learn to offer our thanks, our care, and our own gifts in return.

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An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me about Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything
Chris Hadfield

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Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft. The secret to Col. Hadfield's success-and survival-is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst- and enjoy every moment of it. In An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Col. Hadfield takes readers deep into his years of training and space exploration to show how to make the impossible possible. Through eye-opening, entertaining stories filled with the adrenaline of launch, the mesmerizing wonder of spacewalks, and the measured, calm responses mandated by crises, he explains how conventional wisdom can get in the way of achievement-and happiness. His own extraordinary education in space has taught him some counterintuitive lessons: don't visualize success, do care what others think, and always sweat the small stuff. You might never be able to build a robot, pilot a spacecraft, make a music video or perform basic surgery in zero gravity like Col. Hadfield. But his vivid and refreshing insights will teach you how to think like an astronaut, and will change, completely, the way you view life on Earth-especially your own.

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Asimov's Guide to Science
Isaac Asimov

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Asimov tells the stories behind the science: the men and women who made the important discoveries and how they did it. Ranging from Galilei, Achimedes, Newton and Einstein, he takes the most complex concepts and explains it in such a way that a first-time reader on the subject feels confident on his/her understanding.

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No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth
Ken Wilber

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A simple yet comprehensive guide to the types of psychologies and therapies available from Eastern and Western sources. Each chapter includes a specific exercise designed to help the reader understand the nature and practice of the specific therapies. Wilber presents an easy-to-use map of human consciousness against which the various therapies are introduced and explained.

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The Holotropic Mind: The Three Levels of Human Consciousness and How They Shape Our Lives
Stanislav Grof

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Loaded with case studies which present a unified model of human consciousness—a revolutionary map of the mind that explains our evolution, behavior, personality, and the mind-body connection—this work takes readers on a compelling journey into the mind, human behavior, and future of humankind. This mesmerizing, surreal account of the bizarre adventures of Terence McKenna, his brother Dennis, and a small band of their friends, is a wild ride of exotic experience and scientific inquiry. Exploring the Amazon Basin in search of mythical shamanic hallucinogens, they encounter a host of unusual characters—including a mushroom, a flying saucer, pirate Mantids from outer space, an appearance by James and Nora Joyce in the guise of poultry, and translinguistic matter—and discover the missing link in the development of human consciousness and language.

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Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
Hans Rosling

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Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. When asked simple questions about global trends - why the world's population is increasing; how many young women go to school; how many of us live in poverty - we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers. In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and a man who can make data sing, Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens, and reveals the ten instincts that distort our perspective. It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most.

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The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone - Especially Ourselves
Dan Ariely

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From Washington to Wall Street, the classroom to the workplace, an award-winning, best-selling author and behavior economist explores the question of dishonesty to help us understand why cheating is so prevalent and what we can do about it.

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The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution
Richard Dawkins

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The renowned biologist and thinker Richard Dawkins presents his most expansive work yet: a comprehensive look at evolution, ranging from the latest developments in the field to his own provocative views. Loosely based on the form of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Dawkins's Tale takes us modern humans back through four billion years of life on our planet. As the pilgrimage progresses, we join with other organisms at the forty "rendezvous points" where we find a common ancestor. The band of pilgrims swells into a vast crowd as we join first with other primates, then with other mammals, and so on back to the first primordial organism. Dawkins's brilliant, inventive approach allows us to view the connections between ourselves and all other life in a bracingly novel way. It also lets him shed bright new light on the most compelling aspects of evolutionary history and theory: sexual selection, speciation, convergent evolution, extinction, genetics, plate tectonics, geographical dispersal, and more. The Ancestor's Tale is at once a far-reaching survey of the latest, best thinking on biology and a fascinating history of life on Earth. Here Dawkins shows us how remarkable we are, how astonishing our history, and how intimate our relationship with the rest of the living world.

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Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid
Douglas R. Hofstadter

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Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of maps" or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Gödel, Escher, Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more.

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Language in Thought and Action
S.I. Hayakawa

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In this thoroughly revised, updated edition of his classic "Language in Thought and Action, " S.I. Hayakawa discusses the role of language in human life, the many functions of language, and how language - sometimes without our knowing - shapes our thinking. The author writes provocatively about the relationship between language and racial and religious prejudice; about the nature and dangers of advertising, from a linguistic point of view; and, in a completely new chapter called "The Empty Eye, " about the content, form, and hidden message of television, from situation comedies to news coverage to political advertising.

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On Intelligence
Jeff Hawkins

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Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of intelligence itself. Hawkins develops a powerful theory of how the human brain works, explaining why computers are not intelligent and how, based on this new theory, we can finally build intelligent machines. The brain is not a computer, but a memory system that stores experiences in a way that reflects the true structure of the world, remembering sequences of events and their nested relationships and making predictions based on those memories. It is this memory-prediction system that forms the basis of intelligence, perception, creativity, and even consciousness. In an engaging style that will captivate audiences from the merely curious to the professional scientist, Hawkins shows how a clear understanding of how the brain works will make it possible for us to build intelligent machines, in silicon, that will exceed our human ability in surprising ways. Written with acclaimed science writer Sandra Blakeslee, On Intelligence promises to completely transfigure the possibilities of the technology age. It is a landmark book in its scope and clarity.

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In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness
Peter A. Levine

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In this culmination of his life's work, Peter A. Levine draws on his broad experience as a clinician, a student of comparative brain research, a stress scientist and a keen observer of the naturalistic animal world to explain the nature and transformation of trauma in the body, brain and psyche. In an Unspoken Voice is based on the idea that trauma is neither a disease nor a disorder, but rather an injury caused by fright, helplessness and loss that can be healed by engaging our innate capacity to self-regulate high states of arousal and intense emotions. Enriched with a coherent theoretical framework and compelling case examples, the book elegantly blends the latest findings in biology, neuroscience and body-oriented psychotherapy to show that when we bring together animal instinct and reason, we can become more whole human beings.

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Calculus
P. Abbott

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While Teach Yourself Calculus is perfect for beginners who want to acquire a working knowledge of calculus, at the same time it is an excellent tool for anyone who wants to expand their knowledge beyond the basics. In a progressive, step-by-step fashion, the book builds from the ground up to offer comprehensive coverage of a range of more advanced topics such as multiple integrals. Each chapter features numerous worked examples and graded exercises.

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Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Dan Ariely

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Why do smart people make irrational decisions every day? The answers will surprise you. Predictably Irrational is an intriguing, witty and utterly original look at why we all make illogical decisions. Why can a 50p aspirin do what a 5p aspirin can't? If an item is "free" it must be a bargain, right? Why is everything relative, even when it shouldn't be? How do our expectations influence our actual opinions and decisions? In this astounding book, behavioural economist Dan Ariely cuts to the heart of our strange behaviour, demonstrating how irrationality often supplants rational thought and that the reason for this is embedded in the very structure of our minds. Predicatably Irrational brilliantly blends everyday experiences with a series of illuminating and often surprising experiments, that will change your understanding of human behaviour. And, by recognising these patterns, Ariely shows that we can make better decisions in business, in matters of collective welfare, and in our everyday lives from drinking coffee to losing weight, buying a car to choosing a romantic partner.

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The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
Steven Pinker

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One of the world's leading experts on language and the mind explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits-a doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century-denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts. Injecting calm and rationality into debates that are notorious for ax-grinding and mud-slinging, Pinker shows the importance of an honest acknowledgement of human nature based on science and

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Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It)
William Poundstone

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Prada stores carry a few obscenely expensive items in order to boost sales for everything else (which look like bargains in comparison). People used to download music for free, then Steve Jobs convinced them to pay. How? By charging 99 cents. That price has a hypnotic effect: the profit margin of the 99 Cents Only store is twice that of Wal-Mart. Why do text messages cost money, while e-mails are free? Why do jars of peanut butter keep getting smaller in order to keep the price the “same”? The answer is simple: prices are a collective hallucination. In Priceless, the bestselling author William Poundstone reveals the hidden psychology of value. In psychological experiments, people are unable to estimate “fair” prices accurately and are strongly influenced by the unconscious, irrational, and politically incorrect. It hasn’t taken long for marketers to apply these findings. “Price consultants” advise retailers on how to convince consumers to pay more for less, and negotiation coaches offer similar advice for businesspeople cutting deals. The new psychology of price dictates the design of price tags, menus, rebates, “sale” ads, cell phone plans, supermarket aisles, real estate offers, wage packages, tort demands, and corporate buyouts. Prices are the most pervasive hidden persuaders of all. Rooted in the emerging field of behavioral decision theory, Priceless should prove indispensable to anyone who negotiates.

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Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman

From Amazon:

In the international bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation--each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions. Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives--and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble.

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Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari

From Amazon:

Fire gave us power. Farming made us hungry for more. Money gave us purpose. Science made us deadly. This is the thrilling account of our extraordinary history – from insignificant apes to rulers of the world. Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it: us. In this bold and provocative book, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here and where we’re going.

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The Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins

From Amazon:

Professor Dawkins articulates a gene's eye view of evolution - a view giving centre stage to these persistent units of information, and in which organisms can be seen as vehicles for their replication. This imaginative, powerful, and stylistically brilliant work not only brought the insights of Neo-Darwinism to a wide audience, but galvanized the biology community, generating much debate and stimulating whole new areas of research.

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Self Help
Mastery
Robert Greene

From Amazon:

In this book, Robert Greene demonstrates that the ultimate form of power is mastery itself. By analyzing the lives of such past masters as Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and Leonard da Vinci, as well as by interviewing nine contemporary masters, including tech guru Paul Graham and animal rights advocate Temple Grandin, Greene debunks our culture’s many myths about genius and distills the wisdom of the ages to reveal the secret to greatness. With this seminal text as a guide, readers will learn how to unlock the passion within and become masters.

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Not Nice: Stop People Pleasing, Staying Silent, & Feeling Guilty... And Start Speaking Up, Saying No, Asking Boldly, And Unapologetically Being Yourself
Aziz Gazipura

From Amazon:

Are You Too Nice? If you find it hard to be assertive, directly ask for what you want, or say "no" to others, then you just might be suffering from too much niceness. In this controversial book, world-renowned confidence expert, Dr. Aziz Gazipura, takes an incisive look at the concept of nice. Through his typical style, Dr. Aziz uses engaging stories, humor, and disarming vulnerability to cut through the nice conditioning and liberate the most bold, expressive, authentic version of you. You'll discover how to: => Easily say "no" when you want to and need to. => Confidently and effectively ask for what you want. => Speak up more freely in all your relationships. => Eliminate feelings of guilt, anxiety, and worry about what others will think.

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Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
Oliver Burkeman

From Amazon:

What if you stopped trying to do everything, so that you could finally get round to what counts? We're obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, the struggle against distraction, and the sense that our attention spans are shrivelling. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the question of how best to use our ridiculously brief time on the planet, which amounts on average to about four thousand weeks. Four Thousand Weeks is an uplifting, engrossing and deeply realistic exploration of the challenge. Rejecting the futile modern obsession with 'getting everything done,' it introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing rather than denying their limitations. Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman sets out to realign our relationship with time - and in doing so, to liberate us from its tyranny.

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The Situation Is Hopeless But Not Serious: The Pursuit of Unhappiness
Paul Watzlawick

From Amazon:

Do you see the past through a rosy filter that makes it seem like Paradise Lost? Are you convinced that traffic lights always turn red for you? Do you have to win (so as not to lose)? After extricating yourself from a bad relationship, do you find another partner just like the previous one? If so, congratulations! You have the makings of an unhappiness expert. With the techniques in this book, you can raise yourself to the genius level. A word of warning, however. Along the way you may begin to ask yourself, "How did I manage to turn myself into my own worst enemy?" Fortunately, this tongue-in-cheek (but serious) volume takes a look at that question too. Special attention is given to such topics as "Four Games with the Past," "Self-fulfilling Prophecies," and "Why Would Anybody Love Me?" Those who believe that the search for happiness will eventually lead to happiness will find much to ponder in the section "Beware of Arriving." All readers will be both amused and startled to find themselves in these pages, but there is a special delight and enlightenment for therapists and counselors. Although the author does not officially admit it, the book is one complex "symptom prescription," a therapeutic double bind as described and practiced by him and his colleagues.

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Think and Grow Rich
Napoleon Hill, Ben Holden-Crowther

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Napoleon Hill was an American author in the area of the new thought movement who was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature. He is widely considered to be one of the great writers on success. His most famous work, Think and Grow Rich (1937), is one of the best-selling books of all time (at the time of Hill's death in 1970, Think and Grow Rich had sold 20 million copies). Hill's works examined the power of personal beliefs, and the role they play in personal success. He became an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1936. "What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve" is one of Hill's hallmark expressions. How achievement actually occurs, and a formula for it that puts success in reach of the average person, were the focal points of Hill's books.

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The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
Mark Manson

From Amazon:

In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up. Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek. There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.

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Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence
Ben Carson

From Amazon:

This book is for you if your life is a series of shattered dreams. This book is for you if you have no dreams at all. It's for you if you've bought the lie that you'll never amount to anything. That's not true. Your life is BIG-far bigger than you've imagined. Inside these pages lie the keys to recognizing the full potential of your life. You won't necessarily become a millionaire (though you might), but you will attain a life that is rewarding, significant, and more fruitful than you ever thought possible. The author of this book knows about hardship. Ben Carson grew up in inner-city Detroit. His mother was illiterate. His father had left the family. His grade-school classmates considered Ben stupid. He struggled with a violent temper. In every respect, Ben's harsh circumstances seemed only to point to a harsher future and a bad end. But that's not what happened. By applying the principles in this book, Ben rose from his tough life to one of amazing accomplishments and international renown. He learned that he had potential, he learned how to unleash it, and he did. You can too. Put the principles in this book in motion. Things won't change overnight, but they will change. You can transform your life into one you'll love, bigger than you've ever dreamed.

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Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One
Joe Dispenza

From Amazon:

You are not doomed by your genes and hardwired to be a certain way for the rest of your life. A new science is emerging that empowers all human beings to create the reality they choose. In Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, renowned author, speaker, researcher and chiropractor Dr. Joe Dispenza combines the fields of quantum physics, neuroscience, brain chemistry, biology and genetics to show you what is truly possible. Not only will you be given the necessary knowledge to change any aspect of yourself, you will be taught the step-by-step tools to apply what you learn in order to make measurable changes in any area of your life. Dr. Joe demystifies ancient understandings and bridges the gap between science and spirituality. Through his powerful workshops and lectures, thousands of people in 25 different countries have used these principles to change from the inside out. Once you break the habit of being yourself and truly change your mind, your life will never be the same!

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The Growth Mindset: a Guide to Professional and Personal Growth: Set Your Personal and Professional Growth Goals!
Joshua Moore, Helen Glasgow

From Amazon:

If you’ve ever wanted to experience personal and/or professional development and set you personal and professional growth goals, but haven’t been able to find practical ways to develop and implement this vital knowledge, this book has the inside track information you’ve been searching for! Here are just some insightful areas of professional and personal growth you’ll find in this book: The Balancing Act of Personal Growth Growing your Career to its Maximum Potential Developing professional growth plan How Personality Affects Growth Development Networking vs. Collaboration Social and “Soft” skills Development This book has been carefully designed to give you all the strategies needed to map your own personal and/or professional growth plan of action that will implement all your growth goals. Are you ready to make your dreams of personal and professional growth a reality?

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Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's investigations of "optimal experience" have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. Csikszentmihalyi demonstrates the ways this positive state can be controlled, not just left to chance. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience teaches how, by ordering the information that enters our consciousness, we can discover true happiness, unlock our potential, and greatly improve the quality of our lives.

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The Talent Code: Unlocking the Secret of Skill in Sports, Art, Music, Math, and Just About Everything Else
Daniel Coyle

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What is the secret of talent? How do we unlock it? In this groundbreaking work, journalist and New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle provides parents, teachers, coaches, businesspeople—and everyone else—with tools they can use to maximize potential in themselves and others.

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Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
Susan Cain

From Amazon:

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts--Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak--that we owe many of the great contributions to society. In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts--from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, impeccably researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

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So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love
Cal Newport

From Amazon:

In this highly acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Dr. Robert B. Cialdini—the seminal expert in the field of influence and persuasion—explains the psychology of why people say yes and how to apply these principles ethically in business and everyday situations. You’ll learn the six universal principles of influence and how to use them to become a skilled persuader—and, just as importantly, how to defend yourself against dishonest influence attempts: Reciprocation: The internal pull to repay what another person has provided us. Commitment and Consistency: Once we make a choice or take a stand, we work to behave consistently with that commitment in order to justify our decisions. Social Proof: When we are unsure, we look to similar others to provide us with the correct actions to take. And the more, people undertaking that action, the more we consider that action correct. Liking: The propensity to agree with people we like and, just as important, the propensity for others to agree with us, if we like them. Authority: We are more likely to say “yes” to others who are authorities, who carry greater knowledge, experience or expertise. Scarcity: We want more of what is less available or dwindling in availability. Understanding and applying the six principles ethically is cost-free and deceptively easy. Backed by Dr. Cialdini’s 35 years of evidence-based, peer-reviewed scientific research—as well as by a three-year field study on what moves people to change behavior—Influence is a comprehensive guide to using these principles effectively to amplify your ability to change the behavior of others.

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Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Robert B. Cialdini

From Amazon:

In this highly acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Dr. Robert B. Cialdini—the seminal expert in the field of influence and persuasion—explains the psychology of why people say yes and how to apply these principles ethically in business and everyday situations. You’ll learn the six universal principles of influence and how to use them to become a skilled persuader—and, just as importantly, how to defend yourself against dishonest influence attempts: Reciprocation: The internal pull to repay what another person has provided us. Commitment and Consistency: Once we make a choice or take a stand, we work to behave consistently with that commitment in order to justify our decisions. Social Proof: When we are unsure, we look to similar others to provide us with the correct actions to take. And the more, people undertaking that action, the more we consider that action correct. Liking: The propensity to agree with people we like and, just as important, the propensity for others to agree with us, if we like them. Authority: We are more likely to say “yes” to others who are authorities, who carry greater knowledge, experience or expertise. Scarcity: We want more of what is less available or dwindling in availability. Understanding and applying the six principles ethically is cost-free and deceptively easy. Backed by Dr. Cialdini’s 35 years of evidence-based, peer-reviewed scientific research—as well as by a three-year field study on what moves people to change behavior—Influence is a comprehensive guide to using these principles effectively to amplify your ability to change the behavior of others.

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I'm Ok, You're Ok: A practical guide to Transactional Analysis
Thomas A. Harris

From Amazon:

Transactional analysis delineates three ego-states (parent, adult and child) as the basis for the content and quality of interpersonal communication. “Happy childhood” notwithstanding, says Harris, most of us are living out the not ok feelings of a defenseless child wholly dependent on ok others (parents) for stroking and caring. At some stage early in our lives we adopt a “position” about ourselves which very significantly determines how we feel about ourselves, particularly in relation to other people. And for a huge portion of the population, that position is that I’m Not OK-You’re OK. This negative Life Position, shared by successful and unsuccessful people alike, contaminates our rational adult potential, leaving us vulnerable to the inappropriate, emotional reactions of our child and the uncritically learned behavior programmed into our parent. By exploring the four basic “life positions,” we can radically change our lives.

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Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Greg McKeown

From Amazon:

Have you ever: - found yourself stretched too thin? - simultaneously felt overworked and underutilized? - felt busy but not productive? - felt like your time is constantly being hijacked by other people's agendas? If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is the Way of the Essentialist. Essentialism is more than a time-management strategy or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution toward the things that really matter. By forcing us to apply more selective criteria for what is Essential, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers us to reclaim control of our own choices about where to spend our precious time and energy--instead of giving others the implicit permission to choose for us. Essentialism is not one more thing--it's a whole new way of doing everything. It's about doing less, but better, in every area of our lives. Essentialism is a movement whose time has come.

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When I Say No, I Feel Guilty: How to Cope - Using the Skills of Systematic Assertive Therapy
Manuel J. Smith

From Amazon:

The best-seller that helps you say: I just said 'no' and I don't feel guilty! Are you letting your kids get away with murder? Are you allowing your mother-in-law to impose her will on you? Are you embarrassed by praise or crushed by criticism? Are you having trouble coping with people? Learn the answers in When I Say No, I Feel Guilty, the best-seller with revolutionary new techniques for getting your own way.

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Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World
William H. McRaven

From Amazon:

Struggling to find structure? Finding yourself lacking motivation? Start by making your bed. Maintaining routine and structure is more important than ever in the age of home working, flexi-time and the general chaos of life. In Make Your Bed, Admiral William H. McRaven shares 10 life lessons he learned during his Navy Seal training that helped him overcome challenges not only in his long Naval career, but also throughout his life. He will teach you how to . . . · Master the essential daily habits for staying grounded · Learn how to keep your mind calm and ready for the day ahead · Find solace and companionship in the people around you · Cope with setbacks and keep moving forward · Stray beyond your comfort zone and take risks Written with great humility and optimism, this timeless book provides simple and universal wisdom, practical advice, and words of encouragement that will inspire every reader.

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The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich
Timothy Ferriss

From Amazon:

Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan - there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, this book is the blueprint. This step-by step guide to luxury lifestyle design teaches: * How Tim went from $40,000 dollars per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per MONTH and 4 hours per week * How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want * How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs * How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist * How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and frequent 'mini-retirements'.

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The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything
Ken Robinson

From Amazon:

A respected speaker on creativity and self-fulfillment describes the inspiring potential of living in accordance with humanity's talents and passions, drawing on the examples of renowned cultural artists while making recommendations for transforming education, business, and communities. 40,000 first printing.

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A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
Eckhart Tolle

From Amazon:

With his bestselling spiritual guide The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle inspired millions of readers to discover the freedom and joy of a life lived "in the now." In A New Earth, Tolle expands on these powerful ideas to show how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world. Tolle describes how our attachment to the ego creates the dysfunction that leads to anger, jealousy, and unhappiness, and shows readers how to awaken to a new state of consciousness and follow the path to a truly fulfilling existence. The Power of Now was a question-and-answer handbook. A New Earth has been written as a traditional narrative, offering anecdotes and philosophies in a way that is accessible to all. Illuminating, enlightening, and uplifting, A New Earth is a profoundly spiritual manifesto for a better way of life—and for building a better world.

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Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
Chris Voss

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After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a hostage negotiator brought him face-to-face with a range of criminals, including bank robbers and terrorists. Reaching the pinnacle of his profession, he became the FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator. Never Split the Difference takes you inside the world of high-stakes negotiations and into Voss’s head, revealing the skills that helped him and his colleagues to succeed where it mattered most: saving lives. In this practical guide, he shares the nine effective principles—counter-intuitive tactics and strategies—you too can use to become more persuasive in both your professional and personal life. Life is a series of negotiations you should be prepared for: buying a car; negotiating a salary; buying a home; renegotiating rent; deliberating with your partner. Taking emotional intelligence and intuition to the next level, Never Split the Difference gives you the competitive edge in any discussion.

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Parenting with Love and Logic
Foster W. Cline

From Amazon:

This parenting book shows you how to raise self-confident, motivated children who are ready for the real world. Learn how to parent effectively while teaching your children responsibility and growing their character. Establish healthy control through easy-to-implement steps without anger, threats, nagging, or power struggles. Indexed for easy reference.

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Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink

From Amazon:

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, gave birth to a generation of leaders forged not in classrooms through hypothetical training, but on the front lines of war through hands-on experience. U.S. Navy SEAL Teams were at the forefront of this transformation, emerging from the triumphs and tragedies of war with an understanding of leadership in the most challenging environments. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin are just such leaders - highly decorated Navy SEAL officers who served together in some of the toughest combat of the Iraq War. Together, they developed leadership lessons and organizational practices through years of experience, alongside heroes such as sniper Chris Kyle. They took these lessons and helped write doctrine for the next generation of SEALs as BUD/S instructors. Today, Babin and Willink apply these principles in the boardroom via their company Echelon Front. Across the country, they demonstrate how the SEAL approach to leadership that made them successful soldiers can help countless organizations and individuals achieve the highest level of success.With Extreme Ownership, their proven plan is available to everyone, with lessons that include: Extreme Ownership: Take it upon yourself to push harder and improve, Check The Ego: Operate with a high degree of humility by admitting mistakes and taking responsibility, Cover & Move: Have each other's back and work together to accomplish the mission and much more.

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The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy
Thomas J. Stanley

From Amazon:

The incredible national bestseller that is changing people's lives -- and increasing their net worth! CAN YOU SPOT THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR? Who are the rich in this country? What do they do? Where do they shop? What do they drive? How do they invest? Where did their ancestors come from? How did they get rich? Can I ever become one of them? Get the answers in The Millionaire Next Door, the never-before-told story about wealth in America. You'll be surprised at what you find out...

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Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Angela Duckworth

From Amazon:

In this must-read book for anyone striving to succeed, pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth shows parents, educators, students, and business people both seasoned and new that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a focused persistence called grit.

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Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
Kerry Patterson

From Amazon:

When stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong, you have three choices: Avoid a crucial conversation and suffer the consequences; handle the conversation badly and suffer the consequences; or read Crucial Conversations and discover how to communicate best when it matters most. Crucial Conversations gives you the tools you need to step up to life's most difficult and important conversations, say what's on your mind, and achieve the positive resolutions you want. You'll learn how to: Prepare for high-impact situations with a six-minute mastery technique Make it safe to talk about almost anything Be persuasive, not abrasive Keep listening when others blow up or clam up Turn crucial conversations into the action and results you want Whether they take place at work or at home, with your neighbors or your spouse, crucial conversations can have a profound impact on your career, your happiness, and your future. With the skills you learn in this book, you'll never have to worry about the outcome of a crucial conversation again.

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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Robert M. Pirsig

From Amazon:

One of the most important and influential books written in the past half-century, Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful, moving, and penetrating examination of how we live . . . and a breathtaking meditation on how to live better. Here is the book that transformed a generation: an unforgettable narration of a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest, undertaken by a father and his young son. A story of love and fear -- of growth, discovery, and acceptance -- that becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions, this uniquely exhilarating modern classic is both touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence . . . and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward.

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Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money
Daniel Lapin

From Amazon:

Praise for "Thou Shall Prosper": 'Rabbi Daniel Lapin's wisdom has helped untold numbers of people, including me, grow in our business, family, and spiritual lives. In "Thou Shall Prosper", Rabbi Lapin has done it again. This book tells it like it is in a helpful, honest, hopeful, informative way. He offers valid, useful information based on ancient wisdom and modern experience' - Zig Ziglar, author and motivational teacher.'Is it practical to apply spiritual lessons to the hardheaded world of business? In this potentially life-changing book, Rabbi Daniel Lapin proves that it's impractical not to use those lessons-and to bring ancient, timeless wisdom to contemporary problems. This unique approach provides an organized, supremely useful view of the world, combining common sense and unexpected, even startling insight. No matter how successful or sophisticated you may be, this remarkable work will enrich your understanding of the important, exciting process of building wealth' - Michael Medved, nationally syndicated radio host and author of Hollywood vs. America.'Rabbi Daniel Lapin is a light unto the nations. A risk-taking rabbi of immense wisdom, his books have already influenced countless Jews and non-Jews with the eternal truths of the Hebrew Bible. Now, in this highly insightful and controversial new book, Rabbi Lapin unearths the golden nuggets of Jewish business genius. By emphasizing the unique talents of the Jewish way of life, Rabbi Lapin demonstrates how Judaism's spiritual regimen can be translated into tangible material rewards, with the bottom line being directly affected. A thoroughly engaging, enriching, and thought-provoking book' - Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, author of "Kosher Sex and Judaism for Everyone".'Rabbi Lapin is an unorthodox Orthodox rabbi. He understands the Biblical nature of economic freedom as well as he understands the Bible: uniquely well. Prosperity must have a purpose and Rabbi Lapin explores the wellsprings of the Judeo-Christian heritage to elucidate those purposes. In so doing, he also illuminates the road to greater prosperity for all. I really enjoyed this book and I heartily recommend it to people of all faiths' - The Honorable Jack Kemp.

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QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life
John G. Miller

From Amazon:

Who Moved My Cheese? showed readers how to adapt to change. Fish! helped raise flagging morale. QBQ! The Question Behind the Question addresses the most important issue in business and society today: personal accountability. In today's business culture, the lack of personal accountability is a problem that has resulted in an epidemic of blame, complaining and procrastination. Company goals are achieved through individuals asking themselves how they can contribute and make a difference, not through paying lip service to teamwork. Using succinct, light-hearted stories, Miller offers a practical and inspirational method for putting personal accountability into daily action that can bring incredible results: problems get solved, internal barriers come down, service improves, teamwork grows and people adapt to change more quickly.

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Winning
Jack Welch

From Amazon:

Jack Welch knows how to win. During his forty-year career at General Electric, he led the company to year-after-year success around the globe, in multiple markets, against brutal competition. His honest, be-the-best style of management became the gold standard in business, with his relentless focus on people, teamwork, and profits. Since Welch retired in 2001 as chairman and chief executive officer of GE, he has traveled the world, speaking to more than 250,000 people and answering their questions on dozens of wide-ranging topics. Inspired by his audiences and their hunger for straightforward guidance, Welch has written both a philosophical and pragmatic book, which is destined to become the bible of business for generations to come. It clearly lays out the answers to the most difficult questions people face both on and off the job. Welch's objective is to speak to people at every level of an organization, in companies large and small. His audience is everyone from line workers to MBAs, from project managers to senior executives. His goal is to help everyone who has a passion for success. Welch begins Winning with an introductory section called Underneath It All, which describes his business philosophy. He explores the importance of values, candor, differentiation, and voice and dignity for all. The core of Winning is devoted to the real stuff of work. This main part of the book is split into three sections. The first looks inside the company, from leadership to picking winners to making change happen. The second section looks outside, at the competition, with chapters on strategy, mergers, and Six Sigma, to name just three. The next section of the book is about managing your career--from finding the right job to achieving work-life balance. Welch's optimistic, no excuses, get-it-done mind-set is riveting. Packed with personal anecdotes and written in Jack's distinctive no b.s. voice, Winning offers deep insights, original thinking, and solutions to nuts-and-bolts problems that will change the way people think about work.

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Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions
Brian Christian

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All our lives are constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? What balance of new activities and familiar favorites is the most fulfilling? These may seem like uniquely human quandaries, but they are not: computers, too, face the same constraints, so computer scientists have been grappling with their version of such issues for decades. And the solutions they've found have much to teach us. In a dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, acclaimed author Brian Christian and cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths show how the algorithms used by computers can also untangle very human questions. They explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others. From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living.

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Using Your Brain: For a Change
Richard Bandler

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NLP offers a conceptual understanding that is solidly based on information science and computer programming, yet rooted even more thoroughly in the observation of living human experience. Everything in NLP can be directly verified in your own experience, or by observing others. The new submobility patterns described and taught in this book are even faster and more powerful ways of creating personal change than the earlier NLP methods.

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Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Robert T. Kiyosaki

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Personal finance author and lecturer Robert T. Kiyosaki developed his unique economic perspective from two very different influences - his two fathers. One father (Robert's real father) was a highly educated man but fiscally poor. The other father was the father of Robert's best friend - that Dad was an eighth-grade drop-out who became a self-made multi-millionaire. The lifelong monetary problems experienced by his 'poor dad' pounded home the counterpoint communicated by his 'rich dad'. Taking that message to heart, Kiyosaki was able to retire at 47. RICH DAD, POOR DAD, written with consultant and CPA Sharon L. Lechter, lays out his philosophy behind Kiyosaki's relationship with money and opens readers eyes by: * Exploding the myth that you need to earn a high income to be rich * Challenging the belief that your house is an asset * Showing parents why they can't rely on schools to teach their children about money * Defining once and for all an asset versus a liability ... * Explaining what to teach your children about money for their future financial success

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Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
Cal Newport

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Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep Work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. In short, deep work is like a super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy. And yet, most people have lost the ability to go deep-spending their days instead in a frantic blur of e-mail and social media, not even realizing there's a better way. In Deep Work, author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age. Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four "rules," for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill. 1. Work Deeply 2. Embrace Boredom 3. Quit Social Media 4. Drain the Shallows A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, Deep Work takes the reader on a journey through memorable stories-from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a round-trip business class ticket to Tokyo to write a book free from distraction in the air-and no-nonsense advice, such as the claim that most serious professionals should quit social media and that you should practice being bored. Deep Work is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world.

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The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea
Bob Burg

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A business parable in the tradition of The One Minute Manager explains how to achieve professional success and personal fulfillment by prioritizing the needs of others, in an inspirational tale that introduces a young protagonist to five business principles as imparted by a series of mysterious teachers.

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Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Simon Sinek

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In 2009, Simon Sinek started a movement to help people become more inspired at work, and in turn inspire their colleagues and customers. Since then, millions have been touched by the power of his ideas, including more than 28 million who've watched his TED Talk based on START WITH WHY -- the third most popular TED video of all time. Sinek starts with a fundamental question: Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over? People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers had little in common, but they all started with WHY. They realized that people won't truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it. START WITH WHY shows that the leaders who've had the greatest influence in the world all think, act, and communicate the same way -- and it's the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

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Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life
Byron Katie

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In the midst of a normal life, Katie became increasingly depressed, and over a ten-year period sank further into rage, despair, and thoughts of suicide. Then one morning, she woke up in a state of absolute joy, filled with the realization of how her own suffering had ended. The freedom of that realization has never left her, and now in Loving What Is you can discover the same freedom through The Work. The Work is simply four questions that, when applied to a specific problem, enable you to see what is troubling you in an entirely different light. As Katie says, "It's not the problem that causes our suffering; it's our thinking about the problem." Contrary to popular belief, trying to let go of a painful thought never works; instead, once we have done The Work, the thought lets go of us. At that point, we can truly love what is, just as it is. Loving What Is will show you step-by-step, through clear and vivid examples, exactly how to use this revolutionary process for yourself. You'll see people do The Work with Katie on a broad range of human problems, from a wife ready to leave her husband because he wants more sex, to a Manhattan worker paralyzed by fear of terrorism, to a woman suffering over a death in her family. Many people have discovered The Work's power to solve problems; in addition, they say that through The Work they experience a sense of lasting peace and find the clarity and energy to act, even in situations that had previously seemed impossible. If you continue to do The Work, you may discover, as many people have, that the questioning flows into every aspect of your life, effortlessly undoing the stressful thoughts that keep you from experiencing peace. Loving What Is offers everything you need to learn and live this remarkable process, and to find happiness as what Katie calls "a lover of reality."

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How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie

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Millions of people around the world have - and continue to - improve their lives based on the teachings of Dale Carnegie. In how to win friends and influence people, Carnegie offers practical advice and techniques, in his exuberant and conversational style, for how to get out of a mental rut and make life more rewarding. His advice has stood the test of time and will teach you how to: make friends quickly and easily; increase your popularity; win people to your way of thinking; enable you to win new clients and customers; become a better speaker and a more entertaining conversationalist; and, arouse enthusiasm among your colleagues. This book will turn around your relationships and improve your dealings with all the people in your life.

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How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
Dale Carnegie

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Learn how to break the worry habit -- Now and forever! With Dale Carnegie's timeless advice in hand, more than six million people have learned how to eliminate debilitating fear and worry from their lives and to embrace a worry-free future. In this classic work, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Carnegie offers a set of practical formulas that you can put to work today. It is a book packed with lessons that will last a lifetime and make that lifetime happier! DISCOVER HOW TO: Eliminate fifty percent of business worries immediately Reduce financial worries Avoid fatigue -- and keep looking young Add one hour a day to your waking life Find yourself and be yourself -- remember there is no one else on earth like you! Fascinating to read and easy to apply, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living deals with fundamental emotions and life-changing ideas. There's no need to live with worry and anxiety that keep you from enjoying a full, active life!

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Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!
Tony Robbins

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Wake up and take control of your life! From the bestselling author of Inner Strength, Unlimited Power, and MONEY Master the Game, Anthony Robbins, the nation's leader in the science of peak performance, shows you his most effective strategies and techniques for mastering your emotions, your body, your relationships, your finances, and your life. The acknowledged expert in the psychology of change, Anthony Robbins provides a step-by-step program teaching the fundamental lessons of self-mastery that will enable you to discover your true purpose, take control of your life, and harness the forces that shape your destiny.

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The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
Charles Duhigg

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In The Power of Habit, award-winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble to the sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. As Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

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The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
Miguel Ruiz

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The author uses ancient Toltec wisdom to fashion a personal philosophy around these four principles--be impeccable with your word, don't take anything personally, don't make assumptions, and always do your best. 100,000 first printing. Original.

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The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
Robert I. Sutton

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In a landmark article published in the esteemed Harvard Business Review, Stanford University professor Robert I. Sutton addressed a taboo topic that affects every workplace: employees who are insensitive to their colleagues, corporate bullies, bosses who just don't get it, the kind of people who make you exclaim in exasperation, "What an asshole!" Now, in a definitive book that addresses this growing problem, Sutton shows you how you can work with unsavory people without becoming one of them yourself.

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The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth
M. Scott Peck

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A psychiatrist suggests ways in which confronting and resolving problems, a painful process most people try to avoid, can lead to greater self-understanding and spiritual growth.

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Outliers: The Story of Success
Malcolm Gladwell

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In this stunning book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band. Brilliant and entertaining, Outliers is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.

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Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results
James Clear

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A supremely practical and useful book James Clear distils the most fundamental information about habit formation, so you can accomplish more by focusing on less - Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.

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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Stephen R. Covey

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In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service, and human dignity--principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

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Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy
Mo Gawdat

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Mo Gawdat is a remarkable thinker and the Chief Business Officer at Google's [X], an elite team of engineers that comprise Google's futuristic "dream factory." Applying his superior skills of logic and problem solving to the issue of happiness, he proposes an algorithm based on an understanding of how the brain takes in and processes joy and sadness. Then he solves for happy. In 2001 Mo Gawdat realized that despite his incredible success, he was desperately unhappy. A lifelong learner, he attacked the problem as an engineer would: examining all the provable facts and scrupulously applying logic. Eventually, his countless hours of research and science proved successful, and he discovered the equation for permanent happiness. Thirteen years later, Mo's algorithm would be put to the ultimate test. After the sudden death of his son, Ali, Mo and his family turned to his equation--and it saved them from despair. In dealing with the horrible loss, Mo found his mission: he would pull off the type of "moonshot" goal that he and his colleagues were always aiming for--he would share his equation with the world and help as many people as possible become happier. In Solve for Happy Mo questions some of the most fundamental aspects of our existence, shares the underlying reasons for suffering, and plots out a step-by-step process for achieving lifelong happiness and enduring contentment. He shows us how to view life through a clear lens, teaching us how to dispel the illusions that cloud our thinking; overcome the brain's blind spots; and embrace five ultimate truths. No matter what obstacles we face, what burdens we bear, what trials we've experienced, we can all be content with our present situation and optimistic about the future.

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Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
Spencer Johnson

From Amazon:

It is the amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy. Cheese is a metaphor for what you want to have in life, for example a good job, a loving relationship, money or possessions, health or spiritual peace of mind. The maze is where you look for what you want, perhaps the organisation you work in, or the family or community you live in. The problem is that the cheese keeps moving. In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change in their search for the cheese. One of them eventually deals with change successfully and writes what he has learned on the maze walls for you to discover. You'll learn how to anticipate, adapt to and enjoy change and be ready to change quickly whenever you need to. Discover the secret of the writing on the wall for yourself and enjoy less stress and more success in your work and life. Written for all ages, this story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights will last a lifetime.

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Technology
The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary
Eric S. Raymond

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Open source provides the competitive advantage in the Internet Age. According to the August Forrester Report, 56 percent of IT managers interviewed at Global 2,500 companies are already using some type of open source software in their infrastructure and another 6 percent will install it in the next two years. This revolutionary model for collaborative software development is being embraced and studied by many of the biggest players in the high-tech industry, from Sun Microsystems to IBM to Intel.The Cathedral & the Bazaar is a must for anyone who cares about the future of the computer industry or the dynamics of the information economy. Already, billions of dollars have been made and lost based on the ideas in this book. Its conclusions will be studied, debated, and implemented for years to come. According to Bob Young, "This is Eric Raymond's great contribution to the success of the open source revolution, to the adoption of Linux-based operating systems, and to the success of open source users and the companies that supply them."The interest in open source software development has grown enormously in the past year. This revised and expanded paperback edition includes new material on open source developments in 1999 and 2000. Raymond's clear and effective writing style accurately describing the benefits of open source software has been key to its success. With major vendors creating acceptance for open source within companies, independent vendors will become the open source story in 2001.

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Programming Perl
Tom Christiansen, Jon Orwant, Larry Wall

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Adopted as the undisputed Perl bible soon after the first edition appeared in 1991, Programming Perl is still the go-to guide for this highly practical language. Perl began life as a super-fueled text processing utility, but quickly evolved into a general purpose programming language that’s helped hundreds of thousands of programmers, system administrators, and enthusiasts, like you, get your job done.

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The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win
Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford

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Bill is an IT manager at Parts Unlimited. It's Tuesday morning and on his drive into the office, Bill gets a call from the CEO. The company's new IT initiative, code named Phoenix Project, is critical to the future of Parts Unlimited, but the project is massively over budget and very late. The CEO wants Bill to report directly to him and fix the mess in ninety days or else Bill's entire department will be outsourced. With the help of a prospective board member and his mysterious philosophy of The Three Ways, Bill starts to see that IT work has more in common with manufacturing plant work than he ever imagined. With the clock ticking, Bill must organize work flow streamline interdepartmental communications, and effectively serve the other business functions at Parts Unlimited. In a fast-paced and entertaining style, three luminaries of the DevOps movement deliver a story that anyone who works in IT will recognize. Readers will not only learn how to improve their own IT organizations, they'll never view IT the same way again.

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A Seat at the Table
Mark Schwartz

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A Seat at the Table is a must read for IT managers and CIOs who are looking to integrate IT practices as a dynamic actor for their business, which in today's digital world is needed more than ever before. This book looks at the impact of agile and lean thinking, DevOps, Lean Startup, and other contemporary management ideas to define the new role of IT leadership and how it fits into the business organisation. Organised in three parts: 'Finding a Seat at the Table', 'Earning a Seat at the Table', and 'Sitting at the Table' ― A Seat at the Table looks at the impact of contemporary management ideas for IT organisations within enterprises. Using humour and a deep knowledge of what it takes to get a seat at the table, Mark Schwartz shows readers how to define the new role of IT, where CIOs fit within the bigger picture of a business organisation, and how to get C-level leadership to enrol in a new vision for IT leadership.

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Network Programmability and Automation: Skills for the Next-Generation Network Engineer
Jason Edelman, Scott S. Lowe, Matt Oswalt

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Automation is the new skillset that network engineers need to pick up. Much like sysadmins have had to learn how to use new tools like Chef and Puppet, network engineers are learning that they just can't do things manually anymore. With examples in each chapter, this practical book provides you with baseline skills in network programmability and automation, using a range of technologies including Linux, Python, JSON, and XML. No previous knowledge of software development, programming, automation, or DevOps is required.

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Programming Windows 3.1
Charles Petzold

From Amazon:

This foundation guide to Windows programming covers the enhancements of Windows 3.1. These include the new Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) protocol, the printing and TrueType font application programming interface (API) and more. As useful to owners of the current edition as the new Windows programmers, this book is packed with explanations, insights, tried and tested programming techniques and scores of sample programs written in C.

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C++ in Plain English
Brian Overland

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Two Books for the Price of One––both an interactive reference & tutorial! C++ In Plain English, 3rd Edition, gives instant access to the C++ language through a detailed reference section of key C++ components and a dense tutorial that describes the essentials of C++ programming. Extensive cross–references with live page numbers make this is the perfect book to prop next to your computer while programming in C++.

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A Fortran Programming Course
Edward T. James

From Amazon:

Not available

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Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design
Terry Winograd

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This volume is a theoretical and practical approach to the design of computer technology.

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Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
Erich Gamma

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Capturing a wealth of experience about the design of object-oriented software, four top-notch designers present a catalog of simple and succinct solutions to commonly occurring design problems. Previously undocumented, these 23 patterns allow designers to create more flexible, elegant, and ultimately reusable designs without having to rediscover the design solutions themselves. The authors begin by describing what patterns are and how they can help you design object-oriented software. They then go on to systematically name, explain, evaluate, and catalog recurring designs in object-oriented systems. With Design Patterns as your guide, you will learn how these important patterns fit into the software development process, and how you can leverage them to solve your own design problems most efficiently.

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Understanding the Linux Kernel
Daniel P. Bovet

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In order to thoroughly understand what makes Linux tick and why it works so well on a wide variety of systems, you need to delve deep into the heart of the kernel. The kernel handles all interactions between the CPU and the external world, and determines which programs will share processor time, in what order. It manages limited memory so well that hundreds of processes can share the system efficiently, and expertly organizes data transfers so that the CPU isn't kept waiting any longer than necessary for the relatively slow disks. The third edition of Understanding the Linux Kernel takes you on a guided tour of the most significant data structures, algorithms, and programming tricks used in the kernel. Probing beyond superficial features, the authors offer valuable insights to people who want to know how things really work inside their machine. Important Intel-specific features are discussed. Relevant segments of code are dissected line by line. But the book covers more than just the functioning of the code; it explains the theoretical underpinnings of why Linux does things the way it does.

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UNIX for Dummies
John R. Levine

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UNIX For Dummies has been the standard for beginning UNIX references for nearly ten years, and this latest edition continues that tradition of success. This unparalled resource is updated to cover the latest applications of UNIX technology, including Linux and Mac desktops as well as how UNIX works with Microsoft server software Thorough coverage of how to handle: UNIX installation file management software utilities networks Internet access ther basic tasks A great guide for the first-time UNIX desktop user growing accustomed to the ins and outs of the OS, as well as the beginning administrators who needs to get a handle on UNIX networking basics.

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The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 1: Fundamental Algorithms
Donald Ervin Knuth

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This first volume in the series begins with basic programming concepts and techniques, then focuses more particularly on information structures–the representation of information inside a computer, the structural relationships between data elements and how to deal with them efficiently. Elementary applications are given to simulation, numerical methods, symbolic computing, software and system design. Dozens of simple and important algorithms and techniques have been added to those of the previous edition. The section on mathematical preliminaries has been extensively revised to match present trends in research.

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The C Programming Language
Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie

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The authors present the complete guide to ANSI standard C language programming. Written by the developers of C, this new version helps readers keep up with the finalized ANSI standard for C while showing how to take advantage of C's rich set of operators, economy of expression, improved control flow, and data structures. The 2/E has been completely rewritten with additional examples and problem sets to clarify the implementation of difficult language constructs. For years, C programmers have let K&R guide them to building well-structured and efficient programs. Now this same help is available to those working with ANSI compilers. Includes detailed coverage of the C language plus the official C language reference manual for at-a-glance help with syntax notation, declarations, ANSI changes, scope rules, and the list goes on and on.

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TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols
W. Richard Stevens

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For students writing applications that run over TCP/IP, or for those responsible for managing and maintaining a TCP/IP internet, this book's innovative approach helps readers at all levels to truly understand how TCP/IP really works. Rather than just describing the protocols from an abstract, standards-related point of view-describing what the standards say the protocol suite should do-TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1 actually shows the protocols in action. Stevens also recognizes that readers deal with multiple TCP/IP implementations on heterogeneous platforms. Therefore, the examples in this book show how current, popular TCP/IP implementations operate-SunOS 4.1.3, Solaris 2.2, System V Release 4, BSD/386, AIX 3.2.2, and 4.4 BSD-and they relate these real-world implementations to the RFC standards.

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Zen of Code Optimization
Michael Abrash

From Amazon:

Provides unique coverage of Intel's Pentium chip. Explores hardware programming aspects that affect code performance. Features innovative optimization techniques not found in any other book. Includes the useful Zen timer-a hands-on software tool for measuring code performance. Presents creative "right-brain" Zen approaches to the art of writing PC

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Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions
Stuart Mcclure

From Amazon:

“Our new reality is zero-day, APT, and state-sponsored attacks. Today, more than ever, security professionals need to get into the hacker’s mind, methods, and toolbox to successfully deter such relentless assaults. This edition brings readers abreast with the latest attack vectors and arms them for these continually evolving threats.” --Brett Wahlin, CSO, Sony Network Entertainment “Stop taking punches--let’s change the game; it’s time for a paradigm shift in the way we secure our networks, and Hacking Exposed 7 is the playbook for bringing pain to our adversaries.” --Shawn Henry, former Executive Assistant Director, FBI Bolster your system’s security and defeat the tools and tactics of cyber-criminals with expert advice and defense strategies from the world-renowned Hacking Exposed team. Case studies expose the hacker’s latest devious methods and illustrate field-tested remedies. Find out how to block infrastructure hacks, minimize advanced persistent threats, neutralize malicious code, secure web and database applications, and fortify UNIX networks. Hacking Exposed 7: Network Security Secrets & Solutions contains all-new visual maps and a comprehensive “countermeasures cookbook.” Obstruct APTs and web-based meta-exploits Defend against UNIX-based root access and buffer overflow hacks Block SQL injection, spear phishing, and embedded-code attacks Detect and terminate rootkits, Trojans, bots, worms, and malware Lock down remote access using smartcards and hardware tokens Protect 802.11 WLANs with multilayered encryption and gateways Plug holes in VoIP, social networking, cloud, and Web 2.0 services Learn about the latest iPhone and Android attacks and how to protect yourself

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Signals and Systems
Alan V. Oppenheim

From Amazon:

For undergraduate-level courses in Signals and Systems. This comprehensive exploration of signals and systems develops continuous-time and discrete-time concepts/methods in parallel -- highlighting the similarities and differences -- and features introductory treatments of the applications of these basic methods in such areas as filtering, communication, sampling, discrete-time processing of continuous-time signals, and feedback. Relatively self-contained, the text assumes no prior experience with system analysis, convolution, Fourier analysis, or Laplace and z-transforms.

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Unix Network Programming
W. Richard Stevens

From Amazon:

Written for programmers using a UNIX…<194> operating system, this guidebook develops the basic framework of a UNIX process, including how they are created and how they interact with an operating system.

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In Search Of Clusters: The Battle in Lowly Parallel Computing
Gregory Pfister

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As Microsoft's much-touted "Wolfpack" Cluster Server shows, clustering technology has arrived in the marketplace. Clustering is now a strategic direction for Microsoft, Compaq, IBM, Sun, DEC, Novell, and every other large computer company – and their products are rolling out now. This comprehensive, highly-readable guide helps you make sense of clustering in all its forms, not just a single company's offering. Gregory Pfister – one of the world's most respected experts on clustering technology – delivers all the information you need to make critical strategic decisions. He introduces the primary hardware and software technologies involved in clusters, and shows why they have become popular – and will become increasingly important. He presents the background that system planners, purchasers, designers and architects need to make effective use of clustering. He compares different types of clusters and the workloads they are best used for. He presents a detailed comparison of clusters with symmetric multiprocessing -- demonstrating major differences that are often "papered over." The book contains extensive new coverage of availability issues, as well as detailed coverage of Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA), the technology at the heart of new offerings from Sequent, HP, Pyramid, NCR and others. "Pfister is a prophet with an attitude..." – Norris Parker Smith, HPCWire.

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Circuits, Signals, and Systems
William M. Siebert

From Amazon:

These twenty lectures have been developed and refined by Professor Siebert during the more than two decades he has been teaching introductory Signals and Systems courses at MIT. The lectures are designed to pursue a variety of goals in parallel: to familiarize students with the properties of a fundamental set of analytical tools; to show how these tools can be applied to help understand many important concepts and devices in modern communication and control engineering practice; to explore some of the mathematical issues behind the powers and limitations of these tools; and to begin the development of the vocabulary and grammar, common images and metaphors, of a general language of signal and system theory. Although broadly organized as a series of lectures, many more topics and examples (as well as a large set of unusual problems and laboratory exercises) are included in the book than would be presented orally. Extensive use is made throughout of knowledge acquired in early courses in elementary electrical and electronic circuits and differential equations.

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Programming the 6502
Rodnay Zaks

From Amazon:

Learn how to program in 6502 assembly language.

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