A Technique for Producing Ideas
by James Webb Young
This concise booklet was first published in the 1940s by James Webb Young, who became vice president of the advertising firm J. Walter Thompson and the first chairman of The Advertising Council. He wrote it in response to the question, “How do you get ideas?”
Before explaining the process, Young presents two principles.
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Be Nobody
by Lama Marut
Lama Marut, aka Brian K. Smith, was a professor of comparative religion, he studied Hinduism and Sanskrit in India, he was a Buddhist monk, and he is the son of a Baptist preacher. So he presents a well-informed viewpoint rather than a myopic dogma. Fortunately, you don’t need to climb a mountain to be enlightened by this wise man; he imparts wisdom in his book, Be Nobody.
Marut writes about living in the iEra. “Our contemporary culture of consumerism, materialism, narcissism, and the worship of fame encourages the idea that we will be happy only when we become exceptional. But maybe we’ve got it wrong—exactly wrong. Maybe our deepest and most authentic happiness will be found only when we finally lay down this heavy burden of trying to be a somebody… Maybe true fulfillment in life requires an emptying, not a filling.”
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101 Souls Facing Forward
by John M. Crowther (1939-2018)
When we think about history, especially ancient history, the vast spans of time can become a blur. In his book 101 Souls, John Crowther provides a new framework which puts history in the context of lifetimes. “Imagine a line of people stretching back through time to the beginnings of what we think of as civilization… 6000 years ago. Consider that each individual was born the year that the preceding individual dies, and that each lived to be 60 years old.” Simple math reveals that there would be only 100 lifetimes separating us from the beginning of civilization.
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Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences
by John Allen Paulos
Innumeracy refers to mathematical incompetence. Given the frequency of misleading social media memes that simply don’t add up, I’d say the book is as relevant today as it was when published in 1988.
“If the headline reads that unemployment declined from 7.1 percent to 6.8 percent and doesn’t say that the confidence interval is plus or minus 1 percent, one might get the mistaken impression that something good happened. Given the sampling error, however, the ‘decline’ may be nonexistent, or there may even be an increase.”
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Water 4.0: The Past, Present, and Future of the World’s Most Vital Resource
by David Sedlak
David Sedlak is a professor of environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. In this book he explains the history, science, engineering, and political aspects of water and sewer systems. First, it may be helpful to decode the title:
I will focus on some of the more contemporary topics in this summary.
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The B Corp Handbook: How to Use Business as a Force for Good
by Ryan Honeyman
What is a B Corp? B Corporations are for-profit organizations which serve a variety of stakeholders rather than to enrich shareholders exclusively. Stakeholders include employees, the community, the environment, as well as the firm’s owners. B stands for benefit.
The term applies in two contexts: Certified B Corps and a form of incorporation offered by several U.S. states. The majority of this book is about the former. The latter is addressed at the end of this summary.
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Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
by Austin Kleon
Austin Kleon writes, “All advice in autobiographical… This book is me talking to a previous version of myself… These ideas apply to anyone who’s trying to inject some creativity into their life and their work. (That should describe all of us.)” The book is thoughtfully written and designed in a creative six-inch by six-inch format.
The idea behind stealing like an artist is that “nothing is completely original… All creative work builds on what came before… If we’re free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it.”
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TED Talks Storytelling: 23 Storytelling Techniques from the Best TED Talks
by Akash Karia
The premise of this book is that “the best speakers on the TED stage were the ones who had mastered the art of storytelling.”
The first 30 seconds are critical. “Opening with a story is a tested and proven method for grabbing audience attention and keeping your audience mentally engaged.”
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The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas
by David Burkus
“Creativity is the starting point for all innovation, and most organizations rely on innovation to create a competitive advantage.” In this interesting book, management professor David Burkus debunks 10 myths of creativity, citing academic research and examples from business.
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I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar: A Collection of Egregious Errors, Disconcerting Bloopers, and Other Linguistic Slip-Ups
by Sharon Eliza Nichols
This collection of linguistically impaired signs includes dangling modifiers, apostrophe errors, misspellings, and other amusing misadventures. As a coffee table book, it is sure to get a few laughs.
Here are some examples:
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The Key Point 