Book summaries
This page contains, in alphabetical order by title, brief book summaries of some of the best books that I have read during my reading and research.
The page gives for each book a brief summary of a few sentences. You can browse the full summary of a book by clicking on “Read the full summary >>”. Each summary is an informal write-up of my understanding of the key messages from the book.
The list contains the following books:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Breath by James Nestor
Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Loving What Is by Byron Katie (with Stephen Mitchell)
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Supercoach by Michael Neill
The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
The Happiness Trap by Dr Russ Harris
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Small changes often don't seem to matter much, because it can take a long time before you notice any results. But improving yourself by one percent every day for a year makes you thirty-seven times better. A decline of one percent every day for one year takes you to almost zero. Adopt daily habits that put you on the road toward success. Focus first on the type of person you want to become so you can build lasting, identity-based habits.
Breath by James Nestor
This book is a scientific adventure into the lost art and science of breathing. Breathe through your nose, all day and all night. The key to optimum breathing is to practice fewer inhales and exhales in a smaller volume. The perfect breath is this: Breathe in for about 5.5 seconds, then exhale for 5.5 seconds. That’s 5.5 breaths a minute for a total of about 5.5 liters of air.
Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans
Life design is about getting more out of your current life. A well-designed life is a life in which who you are, what you believe, and what you do all line up together. Life design is about getting better at living your life by building your way forward. You start with who you are, generate lots of ideas, try things out by doing them, and make the best choice you can. Life designers don’t fight reality. They design and build their way forward, no matter what. When you understand who you are, design your own life, and then go live your life, you cannot fail.
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Humans are not logical beings. They are emotional beings, full of prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity. Instead of condemning people, try to understand them. Try to figure out why they do what they do. Give people kind, sincere, unselfish words of appreciation. The only way to influence others is to talk about what they want, and to show them how to get it. Get the other person’s point of view, and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.
Loving What Is by Byron Katie (with Stephen Mitchell)
Suffering is caused by our attachment to our thoughts. Being attached to thoughts means believing they are true, without inquiry. Investigate your thoughts by writing down your judgments about a painful situation or person in your life. Investigate each of the statements that you wrote down one by one, by answering The Four Questions and doing the Turnaround.
The Four Questions: Is it true? Can you absolutely know that it’s true? How do you react when you think that thought? Who or what would you be without the thought?
The Turnaround: Write each statement as if it were written about you.
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Three important revolutions shaped the course of history: The Cognitive Revolution of about 70,000 years ago, The Agricultural Revolution of around 12,000 years ago, and The Scientific Revolution that started 500 years ago. The ability of our language to transmit information about things that don’t exist, has enabled large numbers of strangers to work together successfully by believing in common myths. This has made Homo sapiens master of the world. The revolutions have enabled Homo sapiens to act in ways that go against the fundamental principles of natural selection.
Supercoach by Michael Neill
Change seems difficult because we try to do it from the outside in – change our behavior on the outside without changing how we see the situation on the inside. The mind works like a projector: we experience what we think, not some kind of objective reality. Thoughts only impact our life when we add our agreement and energy to it. Wellbeing is not the result of something you do; it’s the essence of who you are. There is nothing you need to change, do, be, or have in order to be happy.
The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier
Managers and leaders need to coach their people. You can coach someone in ten minutes or less. Coaching should be a daily, informal act. This book gives you seven questions and the tools to make them an everyday way to work less hard and have more impact. You have to help people do more of the work that has impact and meaning. The change of behaviour that this book is about is: a little more asking people questions and a little less telling people what to do.
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
The first agreement – Be impeccable with your word
The second agreement – Don’t take anything personally
The third agreement – Don’t make assumptions
The fourth agreement – Always do your best
The Happiness Trap by Dr Russ Harris
The happiness trap: to find happiness we try to avoid or dominate our bad feelings, but the harder we try, the more bad feelings we create. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is about creating a meaningful life through accepting our internal experience, being fully engaged in the present moment, and taking actions that are consistent with our values. Making it clear what you value is one of the most important things you will ever do in your life. The bottom line in ACT is always the same: Does this help me create the life I want? If anything helps you create the life you want, then make use of it. Do what you value and engage yourself fully in what you’re doing.
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
The present moment is all you will ever have. Make it the primary focus of your life. Wherever you are, be there totally. Emotional pain is always some form of nonacceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is. The more you are identified with your mind, the more you resist the present moment, and the more you suffer. Always accept the present moment, and if necessary take action. The power of Now is the power of your presence, of your consciousness liberated from thought forms.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
The key to living a good life is to care only about things that align with your personal values. Finding something important and meaningful in your life is the most productive use of your time and energy. What are you choosing to care about? What values are you choosing to base your actions on? To be comfortable with death we need to care about something greater than ourselves. The only truly important question is perhaps: How do I leave the world better than I found it?