Post: #501

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

My mother gave me a copy of this book years ago and I read the first few chapters but never finished. Decided a few weeks ago to read this book (due to it being on Scott Adam's persuasion reading list) in its entirety and it turned out to be great. Tons of practical examples of how to be more persuasive in your life via social proof, liking, reciprocity, etc. I feel like I should revisit this every so often to make sure to incorporate the examples.

The Case for Discrimination by Walter Block

This is a collection of essays, speeches, book reviews and academic writings by libertarian economist Walter Block essentially arguing against anti discrimination laws, equality of outcome and arguing in favor of the market to correct discrimination against minorities. He argues that many of these anti discrimination laws hurt the minorities that they claim to help. I thought the book was excellent and if you are interested in labor economics, it is well worth a read.

Post: #502

(10-27-2016 05:49 PM)therealpoder Wrote:  Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

My mother gave me a copy of this book years ago and I read the first few chapters but never finished. Decided a few weeks ago to read this book (due to it being on Scott Adam's persuasion reading list) in its entirety and it turned out to be great. Tons of practical examples of how to be more persuasive in your life via social proof, liking, reciprocity, etc. I feel like I should revisit this every so often to make sure to incorporate the examples.

Sounds excellent. I will be adding this one to my list.

Post: #503

"Models" by Mark Manson. Hard to summarize in one sentence but it's focusing on improving your inner game and building a lifestyle that's conducive to swooping girls.

Batman: The Long Halloween. There's a serial killer in Gotham murdering mafioso and using props related to major holidays and everyone(Bats, the cops, the mob, and even super-villains) want to know who it is. Best Batman story I've read since "The Dark Knight Returns". Ending is great too.

Pick it up if you liked the film Dark Knight; its obvious that Nolan's film was heavily influenced by it especially in regards to Harvey Dent.

(10-27-2016 10:10 PM)MajorStyles Wrote:  [quote='therealpoder' pid='1428085' dateline='1477608544']
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
Sounds excellent. I will be adding this one to my list.

I've read it three times. A pua called Swinggcat recommended it to players since it can be applicable to game(and business also). If you're interested in psychology I highly recommend it.

Post: #504

(10-29-2016 10:56 AM)Goldin Boy Wrote:  "Models" by Mark Manson. Hard to summarize in one sentence but it's focusing on improving your inner game and building a lifestyle that's conducive to swooping girls.

Would you recommend it?

_____

Books I've recently finished:

Free Speech Isn't Free by Roosh V
Inspiring story of Roosh's recent world tour and the chaos that ensued. I wouldn't call it his best piece but I like the direction his work is moving. Highly recommended.

The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson
Extremely well written self-help book that details how true success is brought on by small daily choices. Very motivating - I just bought my little brother a copy for Christmas. A must-read.

The Abundance Book by John Randolph Price
A very 'God-centric' self-help book that I found especially tough and almost cringeworthy to read. I am trying to reconnect with my faith... but I found this whole book very overbearing and lacking in depth. Don't waste your time.

Post: #505

Speak Fluent Man by Von Decarlo

I was initially skeptical about buying this book because it's written by a woman, and what the fuck do women know about relationships. Well, turns out I was wrong. If you guys are familiar with Patrice O'Neal's "The Black Phillip Show," then you'll remember that he occasionally had his girl, Von, there. He always referred to her as his "top trained soldier" because she made the cut out of all of the other girls he was seeing. Anyways, the book is written primarily for women, which I find ironic, because a lot of women definitely won't agree with it. Nonetheless, there are still some nuggets here and there for men as well. I recommend it, not necessarily for her advice per se, but for a better understanding of Patrice's philosophy on women and relationships.

Post: #506

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard.

I'm an avid reader of history-related books, and I haven't found one that covers Rome as well as SPQR, by Mary Beard.

She clearly, and concisely writes about Rome's rise to greatness, covering roughly 1000 years of Roman history - from the mythos of remus/romulus, to accounts from Cicero, Tacitus, Plutarchus, Caeser, Nero, Hannibal and more.

Highly recommend, and again, by far the best book I've read on a sweeping description of Rome's rise.

Post: #507

Willpower by Roy Baumeister & John Tierney

Overall, one of the better books I've written by a NYT Journalist. He spaces out the lessons by overly long examples however the many of lessons are worthwhile so its worth the time. Bit of a choppy read and doesn't flow well but thats to be expected when you read this type of genre. Compared to "The power of habit" much better in its effectiveness and amount of actionable/useful info disseminated.

Heres my note if you care to review

WillPower

Chapter 1.
• Willpower is finite
• Focus on one goal at a time.
o If making a big change, allow yourself ample time to complete the change.

Chapter 2.
• Willpower reserves and capacity comes from glucose. Stick with low glycemic index foods.
• Sleep quality is directly related to willpower ability.

Chapter 3.
• Actionable items, not goals.
• Follow the next actionable item approach.
• One mess at a time is your most creative state. Two messes at a time, meaning your juggling attention and priorities isn’t creative time. (phones on your body rob you of your creative ability)

Chapter 4.
• Decision fatigue is real.
• There are two types of processes, automatic and controlled. Controlled requires much more mental exertion to be completed.
• The less emotionally invested we are in an outcome, the easier the decision is.
• Many retail environments are designed specifically to exploit decision fatigue.
• Decision fatigue is a large factor in future orientation. When run down, you are more likely to spring for immediate gratification. When you are rested and focused, sacrificing short term for long term accomplishments is easy.

Chapter 5.
• Self awareness makes you far more honest.
• All self wareness is is comparing yourself/performance to standards.
• Self awareness evolved as regulatory instinct to keep ourselves out net negative situations.
• Mirror reinforce self awareness and value alignment as it highlights your self image so you want to maintain that congruity.

Chapter 6.
• Regulation of emotions has no impact on willpower.
• Wheras posture control has shown significant corralations to improve willpower.
• Avoid abbreviations, broken sentences, and cursing can potentially improve willpower.
• Exercise is shown to increase your focus and ability to resist stimuli which can undermine your willpower. Any form of deliberately putting yourself through taxing situations increases your ability to cognitively endure distractions. This type of “self induced training strain” is a keystone habit which improves every area of your life.
• When you have a clear and present goal, your willpower increases. Without goals, your willpower diminishes.

Chapter 7.
• Habits strengthen willpower and reinforce positive developments.
• Having an ideal to aspire to can distract those in times of peril to anguish through the slog and come out on the other side. Divert your attention to a positive idea allows you to conserve willpower while going through trial and tribulation.
• They why question leads to abstract, high level thinking on a visionary scale where the how question leads to mechanical, low level nuts and bolts thinking.

Chapter 8

• You must keep sight of the celestial city in the distance to avoid stopping off at the pub.
• Support groups work. Religious people live longer. Nothing to see here.
• Establishing bright lines and hyperbolic discounting means we can resist temptation that is distant but put the cigarette in front of the former smoker and the challenge becomes far greater. The brightline is a bulwark against hyperbolic discounting if you cross it, you immediately lose.

Chapter 9.
• Consistent, immediately doled out discipline reinforces structure for children. Harsh Punishment is toxic.
• Asians are fantastic at coaxing better results out of their kids by consistently delaying gratification and positioning big rewards far down the road.
• Authorative parenting is far more effective than authoritarian.
• Children with a father in the home are more likely to practice delayed gratification. Partially genetic (parent ran off and has accountability issues) and partially environmental (less eyes watching them to reinforce good behavior and punish bad).
• Gamification works by setting clear and attainable goals, giving instantaneous feedback, and offering enough encouragement for people o keep practicing and improving.

Chapter 10
• Dieting tactics, not much to cover
• Saying “I’ll have this later as opposed to never again will I go near this” is a positive way to deal with an urge while maintaining sanity by ignoring absolutes. (The body immediately wants what it can’t have)

Conclusion
• The best way to reduce stress in your life is to stop screwing up. This means setting your life up with the least friction and best chance to succeed. You play offense proactively as to reactively defend.
• Procrastination is death.
• Watch for symptoms of depletion and avoid making decisions when your energy is down.
• Pick your battles as to what you will focus on and strike when there is a low stress demand.
• Quick transformations never happen and usually backfire.
• Keep track and reward often.
• Many times to induce positive results practicing “x or nothing” in isolation will yield a positive result.

Post: #508

"The Bell Curve" by Charles A. Murray and Richard Herrnstein.

This book dives deep into the controversial subject of IQ, and its impact on society. It spares the rod for no one, as it discusses the IQ of different segments of the population (White, Hispanic, Black, Asian), the ramifications of intellectual stratification, why having a low IQ translates into a difficult life, and so forth. It's one of the most controversial books for a reason, and reading it has left me with a new perspective and appreciation for intelligence as a whole.

I high recommend it for those who are looking for a thought-provoking read.

Post: #509

(11-06-2016 04:18 PM)greekgod Wrote:  Willpower by Roy Baumeister & John Tierney

Overall, one of the better books I've written by a NYT Journalist. He spaces out the lessons by overly long examples however the many of lessons are worthwhile so its worth the time. Bit of a choppy read and doesn't flow well but thats to be expected when you read this type of genre. Compared to "The power of habit" much better in its effectiveness and amount of actionable/useful info disseminated.

Great read... interesting, well-articulated and 'actionable' - like you mentioned. "The Power of Habit" is a fun read also, but probably more of the pop-psychology ilk than "Willpower".

Post: #510

Finished a few more books in the past week or so:

The Power of No by James Altucher
Very banal personal development/ pop-psychology book. Altucher should of exercised his own 'Power of No' and said no to his wife co-authoring half the book (taking turns in chapters). Reading about some spinster's failed love life isn't really up my alley. Avoid this one.

Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard
This was my first step into Christian existentialism. It was thought-provoking piece if a bit meandering at times. I found several parts of the book difficult to read but his message on the importance of faith rings through. Recommended.

MAGA Mindset by Mike Cernovich
Mike Cernovich's writing is addictive. His succinct style tends to absorb easily and pack a punch - 'Maga Mindset' being no different. His breakdown on Trump's success and how to apply it to your own life is clever and timely. A must-read.

Post: #511

(11-03-2016 07:17 AM)WeekendCasanova Wrote:  SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard.

I'm an avid reader of history-related books, and I haven't found one that covers Rome as well as SPQR, by Mary Beard.

She clearly, and concisely writes about Rome's rise to greatness, covering roughly 1000 years of Roman history - from the mythos of remus/romulus, to accounts from Cicero, Tacitus, Plutarchus, Caeser, Nero, Hannibal and more.

Highly recommend, and again, by far the best book I've read on a sweeping description of Rome's rise.

I too am an avid reader of history books and I tried to start this book but I couldn't get past the first couple of chapters because I really disliked the style of her writing and how she was banging on all the time about how disadvantaged women were in Roman society blah blah blah. I wanted a history book not an essay on feminism. Does the book get better?

Post: #512

The Millionaires by Brad Meltzer.

Very compelling story about two brothers who attempt to steal three million dollars from a dead man's abandoned account, and end up on the run from the Secret Service in the process.

This man is a great writer. Once I picked his books up, they're very hard to put down. Definitely recommend checking out his work if you haven't already.

Post: #513

Red Alert by Peter George.

No bullshit in this 166-page 1950s Cold War novel. A dying Air Force general sees the perils of communism and figures we gotta nuke the Russians before they do it to us. He's wrong and the book is about the mess created, but there's no liberal commiesplaining or pacifist hatred of our servicemen in this work (one review complains that all the characters are upstanding white male professionals before admitting that the book is good stuff). Everyone, even the Russians, is just doing their job the best they can in very unfortunate circumstances. There's enough realism to make it seem believable, but the George doesn't bog the reader down with unnecessary details or context.

Recommended if you played and liked the 1996 computer game of the same name.

Post: #514

Debunking Utopia by Nima Sanandaji

This book debunks the idea of Nordic socialism, which is really just capitalism with large welfare states. It is similar to his previous that I read, Scandavian Unexceptionalism, but this book is less academic.

He noted that the Nordic countries became rich due to capitalism, Protestant work ethic and homogenous society/culture. Only after achieving success did the Nordics switch to the welfare state with the belief that only people who really needed it would use it.

He notes the declining moral with more people preferring to live off government than work a job.

He also that the generous welfare state and open immigration policies have caused radically different cultures to move in that cause crime and live off the welfare state.

If anything, this book (perhaps unintentionally) promotes the alt right idea that racially/culturally homogeneous societies are ideal and too much immigration, especially poor, culturally different immigrants lead to crime and welfare abuses.

I recommend this book.

Post: #515

Memoirs of a Misogynist - Chad T. Cocker
Here is my amazon review, it is no longer on amazon because my name isn't private.

"The book has the same effect on the reader as it does Melinda when she starts her training; somewhat repulsed, but a longing to proceed. Memoirs of a Misogynist is one of those books the you will either love or hate. If you have heard of the 'red pill', or return of kings, then it is likely that this book will be for you.

I look forward to reading more or Mr.Cocker's work and I do hope that he continues to write a couple spin-off's from this book."

The Art Of The Deal - Donald Trump

I've herd some stuff about this being ghostwritten, is there any truth in that? Regardless, it is a great book and I recommend it to anyone who is or aspires to be an entrepreneur.


I will look through my kindle library and see what else I have. More to come soon.

Post: #516

Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital - Eric Manheimer

I read this book about a year and a half back. As I recall it was one of the best books I have read. It is a stark and cold look at people who grew up in rough places, or who have had a bad run at life. It is a good read that I recommend.


The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good - David J. Lindon

This is a good book overall, however it carries an important, must read message to my no-fap brethren: You're body is addicted to pleasure. This book helps you understand the science behind how pleasure is interpreted in the brain; through the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and some others I do not remember.

Post: #517

Was talking to a member via PM and he brought up the topic of Internal vs. External locust of control. Reminded me of this book, Brian Tracey's Time Management. My condensed notes are below.

Overall, great book. 100 pgs or so and filled with nuggets. When I get out of whack I refer to his ideas to help me refocus.

Cheat sheet for Time Management

Law of control: says that you feel good about yourself to the degree which you feel you are in control of your own life. this law also says that you feel negative about yourself to the degree to which you feel that you are not in control of your own life or work. Psychologists refer to the difference between internal locus of control, where you feel that you are the master of your own destiny, and an external locus of control, where you feel that you are controlled by circumstances outside of yourself.

One of murphy’s laws says that before you do anything, you have to do something else first, its not possible to manage your time properly unless you know exactly what your values are.

Meaning and purpose: each person has a deep need for meaning and purpose in life. one of the major reasons for personal and unhappiness is the feeling that what you are doing has no meaning and purpose as it applies to you and your innermost values and convictions. You must always start off by asking the question “Why?”

When you are living consistent with your values, you seem to experience a continuous flow of energy, enthusiasm, and creativity. Stress comes from working at things that are not consistent with your highest values.

LIFE ONLY BEGINS WHEN YOU WE DECIDE CLEARLY UPON OUR MOST IMPORTANT GOAL IN LIFE

Fast thinking is the type of thinking that we use to deal with short term tasks, responsibilities, activities, problems, and situations. Fast thinking is entirely appropriate for our day to day activities.

Slow thinking is when you take more time to carefully think through the details of the situation before deciding what you are doing to do. An inability to engage in slow thinking when it is required and necessary is the cause of many mistakes that we make in life.

Start with the end in mind; be clear about what outcomes you desire. As Stephen covey said “start with the end in mind.” What is the final result, outcome, or accomplishment

***Look at the activities that you are engaged in today and determine which of them can have greatest impact on your future.
High performances take time to think far into the future, often ten and twenty years, and to develop absolute clarity about where they wanted to be in their lives and work at that time. They then come back to the present and make sure everything they are doing in the moment is consistent with where they want to be in the future

Long term vision improves short term decision making. The habit of developing long time perspective is quite powerful and these compound. Set priorities and acknowledge that 80% of your value will come from 20% of these actions.

*******USE the ABCDE method

The most important word in time management is consequences. A task is important depending on the potential consequences of doing or not doing it. Once priorities are set, you apply this principle to every task, and you always begin with the task that has the greatest consequence.

The only thing you have to sell is your time. Be sure that your time is focusing on the most valuable and important things that you can do to make the most important contribution to your business.

The pareto principle, , review your list and select the top 20% of tasks that can make the greatest contribution to achieving your most important objectives and goals.

Think of yourself as an earning machine, every task that you work n contributes a value of some kind either how or low. Your job is to focus on the high value activities and to discipline yourself to continually work on those few activities that contribute the greatest value to your work and business.

The important vs. the urgent; this is about separating the vital few from the trivial.
There are 4 types of tasks that you are faced with every day; Urgent and Important quadant
Important but not urgent Important and urgent
Not important or urgent Urgent but not important


Follow KRA (Key Result Areas) which can be defined by the three following traits
1. It is something that you absolutely, positively must do to fulfill the responsibilities and demands of your job
2. It is something for which you are 100 percent responsible. If you do not do it yourself, there is no one else who can or will do it for you
3. It is something that is completely under your control. You do not need the assistance of participation of someone else in order to complete this part of your work

Focusing on key result areas is the most direct way to unleash effectiveness, power, persuasion, enthusiasm, and energy. You always get a tremendous feeling of self-confidence and personal power from completing something that is significant and important to both you and your company

Concentration and single handling are essential for all great achievement. This means once you start on a task, you resolve to persevere without diversion or distraction.

Multitasking is actually task shifting; you can only do one thing at a time. And you waste tons of time trying to familiarize yourself with the task as well. Decide to concentrate and focus on completion of your priorities.

Everyone procrastinates but the high produce procrastinates on tasks and activities of low or no value. The low producer procrastinates on tasks that have considerable value to the company and to the individuals own career,. To operate at maximum capacity, you must engage in creative procrastination from this day forward. Consciously and deliberately decide which tasks you are going to put off.

You need a minimum of 60-90 minutes to accomplish anything worthwhile. It takes about 30 minutes just to get your mind into a complex task like preparing a proposal, report, or even planning an important project.

YOU CANNOT MIX CREATIVE TASKS WITH FUNCTIONAL OR ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS.
PEOPLE ARE THE GREATEST TIME WASTERS IN THE WORLD OF WORK.
ANSWER Email ONCE OR TWICE A DAY.

ONE OF THE REASONS WE ARE BECOMING SLAVES TO THE ATTRACTION OF DISTRACTION IS CURIOSITY.

The basic rule with regard to personal development is that you can go no further than you have gone today with your current knowledge and skill.

You have to lean more to earn more.

When you are forced to clean up your work environment so that you have only one task in front of you, your productivity doubles overnight.

Post: #518

The Righteous Mind - Johnathan Haidt.

Just about done with The New Totalitarian Temptation - Todd Huizinga.

Post: #519

(11-16-2016 03:33 PM)Ivanis Wrote:  The Art Of The Deal - Donald Trump

I've herd some stuff about this being ghostwritten, is there any truth in that? Regardless, it is a great book and I recommend it to anyone who is or aspires to be an entrepreneur.

oh yeah, Tony Schwartz ghostwrote Art of the Deal (and flung some shit at the God Emperor this fall, claimed he regretted helping make him famous).

Post: #520

(10-29-2016 10:49 PM)Prof. Ligate Wrote:  

(10-29-2016 10:56 AM)Goldin Boy Wrote:  "Models" by Mark Manson. Hard to summarize in one sentence but it's focusing on improving your inner game and building a lifestyle that's conducive to swooping girls.

Would you recommend it?

Yes I'd highly recommend it for beginners(not saying you are) and intermediate-level players. Its most about internalizing and living outcome independence and an abundance mentality with women...consider it essential reading.

The 48 Laws of Power for the sixth time*.

If you've never read it, do it: it has tips to help people get what want out of life and from other people with historical examples of the law working and what happens when you don't follow it(most of which I've researched for veracity and they seem legit). The majority of the laws do seem applicable to everyday life. Highly recommended. (*In person I publicly denounce this book as training people to be cold and manipulative. In reality I feel all human relationships are transactional: I dissuade people from it because the fewer people who know of it the better: I don't want to create an upstart who could become my rival on my journey to power but on the rvf we're all on the same team).

What Every Body is Saying by Joe Navarro. You should see definite game applications here. Former FBI agent gives you advice on what body language means that you can easily reverse-engineer it to make yourself look more confident, powerful, and dominate in social interactions.

Edit: Four chapters into Vic Pride's New World Ronin which dropped yesterday. It's alot to digest but it pertains to self-discipline, self-reliance, and entrepreneurship will post full impression once I finish it. Also Vic revealed his true identity online too. Pretty crazy.

(11-18-2016 09:40 PM)stugatz Wrote:  oh yeah, Tony Schwartz ghostwrote Art of the Deal (and flung some shit at the God Emperor this fall, claimed he regretted helping make him famous).

If Schwartz regrets it so much, he should return the big, fat check Trump wrote him but we shouldn't hold our breath haha.

Post: #521

(11-20-2016 10:24 AM)Goldin Boy Wrote:  Edit: Four chapters into Vic Pride's New World Ronin which dropped yesterday. It's alot to digest but it pertains to self-discipline, self-reliance, and entrepreneurship will post full impression once I finish it. Also Vic revealed his true identity online too. Pretty crazy.

I'm interested to see where he goes. You could sense everything he was taking on was stale. Rehashed. His voice became meek and off the mark.

I wonder if Cernovich's astronomical rise made him revisit everything.

Clearly a smart guy. You can only play a character for so long before it becomes too taxing.

Authenticity is the USP of an author like him.

Looking forward to your review on Ronin.

Post: #522

Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger

A magisterial 900-page survey of western foreign affairs and diplomacy from the 17th century to the present. One book that's permanently altered the way I view the world.

Surprisingly brisk read for a 900-page book- He explains complicated historical scenarios in a very clear, direct way, with a surprisingly captivating amount of urgency. Every chapter on its own has enough to leave you with a new perspective.

Also loaded with nuggets of wisdom on politics, power and society from someone who spent years as America's head diplomat. Highly highly recommended, especially if you regularly follow international news or are interested in history.

---
Brief summary:

Kissinger's philosophy is that of a realist; diplomacy shouldn't be conducted on the basis of human rights or ideology, but purely on the basis of what will be good for your country's people and defense. Although it seems harsh, and many people consider him inhumane, he uses history to show that this approach actually leads to a more peaceful world.

One of the most important themes of his book is the balance of power. In graduate school, Kissinger studied the foreign affairs system of Europe in the mid-1800s, when the competing powers of Russia, Britain, France, Austria-Hungary and Germany who had been fighting eachother for centuries established one of the longest periods of relative calm through a philosophy of balance of power.

For example, Britain knew that it would be safe as long as no one power on the mainland was strong enough to invade it. So whenever war broke out on in Europe they would always support the weaker side to make sure the power balance remained stable. Likewise, the Austria-Hungarian foreign minister knew his state was safe if no other European powers became disproportionately powerful. Together with the Prussians they were able to create a mutually-beneficial arrangement where no one country became so powerful to be a threat to its neighbors, and for about 70 years, major wars were avoided. Kissinger makes the snooze-worthy sections of your high-school history course suddenly fascinating.

He then talks about how the abandonment of this philosophy of balance of power in favor of nationalism, Wilsonian internationalism, and other moral/ideological approaches to international relations led to the disasters of WWI and WWII, and then reflects on his own role during the cold war crises where he tried to reforge a more realist approach to diplomacy, angering both the anti-war movement on the left and the hardcore anti-communists on the right.

(This included the detente policy, reaching out to China as a counterbalance to the Soviet Union, bombing the Viet Cong in Cambodia and Laos to bring them to the negotiating table and creating a successful peace between Egypt and Israel that also vastly diminished the Soviet influence in the Middle East)

He ends by looking at the precarious international situation of today where all the major players, the US, the EU, China, India and Russia are all accustomed to seeing themselves and their own ideology as the center of the world and to avoid a WWIII in our lifetime we have to discard any ideological and moral approach to diplomacy for a more realist one based on a balance of power.

Post: #523

I've got into the habit of reading two books concurrently (one harder, one easier) - alternating between the two to keep me interested. I've read 10 books in around 40 days.

Books I've recently finished:

SEO 2017 by Adam Clarke
Fairly rudimental yet thorough introduction to SEO. I wouldn't look into this unless you are a total newbie to the topic.

Hustle by Patrick Vlaskovitz et al
Generic personal development/ business books. I felt it relied too strongly on buzzwords and cherry picking from other author's ideas without fully explaining them. What I did learn from this book was:

a) Other good books to read
b) By having a lot of projects/ interests in one's life you can "diversify risk". Draw energy from one for use in another
c) Block out a few hours from each day (no phone calls, email etc) so you can be more productive

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams
This is now one of my top five all-time books and something that all men should read. For those unaware, Scott Adams is the creator of the comic-strip Dilbert. Things I learned:

a) Success isn't linear. Be an opportunist

On talking to a CEO on a flight in his 20s: "He said that every time he got a new job, he immediately started looking for a better one. For him, job seeking was not something one did when necessary. It was an ongoing process. This makes perfect sense if you do the math. Chances are the best job for you won’t become available at precisely the time you declare yourself ready"

b) Instead of lofty goals, work through a daily system

"I learned by observation that people who pursued extraordinarily unlikely goals were overly optimistic at best, delusional at worst, and just plain stupid most of the time."

c) There are 3 kinds of people in the world: selfish, stupid - and those who are a burden on society

"The most important form of selfishness involves spending time on your fitness, eating right, pursuing your career, and still spending quality time with your family and friends"
...
"Take care of yourself first, so you can do a better job of being generous in the long run."

__________________

These are just some of his good points. Read the book and find out the rest. A must-read.

Post: #524

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
-Highly recommended
-I'll be reading his other books
-Wrote a book with Trump called Midas Touch
-Basically telling you to buy assets, money generating things, other then liabilities, money sucking things

Post: #525

The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday

I highly recommend this book. You don't necessarily have to read it cover to cover -- it's more of a bedside book that you read upon waking up to motivate yourself. It's chock full of Stoic aphorisms.