More than a million new book titles are published each year. Few people have the time to read even 0.01% of that number each year. Blinkist is a book summary service that has condensed over 3,000 of the most impactful non-fiction books into summaries that take about 15 minutes to read.
I maintain a list of about a thousand books that I want to read. I know I will never read the majority of them. That’s where Blinkist comes in. I use book summary services to “read” the books that I realistically will never find the time to read. These are mostly the longer books that I simply don’t have the enthusiasm to pore through.
Typically when I read a book, I take note of all the helpful and actionable content that I may want to revisit. Here are ten books I’ve read on Blinkist, along with the notes I took from reading the “blinks” (as Blinkist likes to call them). Think of it as a summary of the summary 🙂
Super Thinking, by Gabriel Weinberg: This book will teach you how to use conceptual mental models to solve problems. Critical Mass – once a certain number of people use something, its value starts increasing exponentially as more people use it. Inverse Thinking – turn the problem on its head and think from the inverse point of view. Avoid Unforced Errors – avoid mistakes caused by your own sloppiness rather than your opponent’s brilliance. First Principles – Think from the bottom up, starting with assumptions you’re sure are true. Ockham’s Razor – when confronted with equally plausible and competing assumptions, the simpler is more likely to be true. Fundamental Attribution Error – we explain our own behavior by looking to our intentions and circumstances, but we ascribe other people’s actions to essential characteristics like recklessness or stupidity. Hanlon’s Razor – you should never attribute to malice what can be more easily explained by carelessness. Veil of Ignorance – think from the point of view of each person affected by a decision. Experimental Mindset – test your assumptions and try new things. Avoid making decisions based on anecdotal evidence. Don’t assume that just because two events are correlated, one causes the other. Reciprocity – when you give to someone else beyond the social norm, that person will try to pay you back somehow. Pro-con List – when making a tough decision, list the pros and cons and the degree of each on a scale of 1-10.
Rework, by Jason Fried: Starting a business is much easier today than before, and there are many advantages of running a small business over a large company. When starting out, don’t quit your day job, but schedule a few hours a week to work on your idea and using only resources you can easily afford. Focus on building the core of your business and launch immediately. Make a stand for something you care about to differentiate between you and existing competitors. Make your product inimitable and teach everything you know with blogs, how-to guides, courses, videos, etc. Keep your product lean: consider cutting features and offer fewer, but better features than competitors. Don’t imitate communications of large corporations; instead, take advantage of your smallness by being personal, nimble, and honest. Hire people only when absolutely necessary.
Psycho-Cybernetics, by Maxwell Maltz: We act like the person we believe ourselves to be. You can stimulate creativity by taking a break from working. A successful personality has a sense of direction, understanding, courage, charity, esteem, self-confidence, and self-acceptance. If you notice any traits of failure in yourself— frustration, aggressiveness, insecurity, loneliness, uncertainty, resentment, and emptiness—it’s time to make a change. Stuttering is caused by an excessive tendency to self-monitor. Train yourself to stop responding to unimportant distractions, like the phone ringing. Relax for thirty minutes a day by laying down and imagining that parts of your body are made of concrete and lying in place.
Moonwalking with Einstein, by Joshua Foer: Memory is a skill that you can practice and get good at using various techniques. The phonological loop method is where you repeat things over and over again to remember them. Chunking is where you memorize groups of related information, like memorizing 12242000 as a date, like 12/24/2000. Elaborative encoding is memorizing something as a vivid scene in your mind. You can also memorize lengthy pieces of text by inventing your own “alphabet” of images. The memory palace technique is where you think of a familiar place (and path through it) and, in your mind, place things you want to remember in the place.
Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall: The human body is well-adapted for long-distance running. People are not meant to wear modern shoes, so to run better you should go barefoot or wear flat-soled shoes. To run faster and longer, reduce your protein intake and eat a vegetarian diet. You can improve your long-distance running by taking smaller, quicker steps and staying below your aerobic threshold (the point where you start breathing heavily).
Why We Get Fat, by Gary Taubes: Weight gain is not determined by caloric intake and energy consumption. Laziness or overeating doesn’t make us fat; it’s what we eat that makes us fat. Insulin makes us fat, and carbohydrates control insulin production. Carbohydrates make us fat and sick. Unlimited consumption of meat, eggs, and green vegetables is good for you. To avoid getting fat, we need to give up carbs.
How to Raise an Adult, by Julie Lythcott-Haims: Overparenting is detrimental to children, as it leads to psychological problems and drug abuse. Strive to be an authoritative parent who enforces rules, but also explains the rationale behind them. Great parents allow their children to play and explore independently, but also teach them life skills and to work hard.
Eating Animals, by Jonathan Foer: Almost all of the meat we eat come from factory farms that cause immense suffering for the animals, destroy the environment, harbor diseases, and provide unsafe work environments for people. It’s almost impossible to eat ethically without being vegetarian.
Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser: The goal of fast food companies is to maximize profits. They do that by exploiting labor and serving unhealthy food. If you care about your health, avoid processed foods.
Hacking Darwin, by Jamie Metzl: We are moving toward a future where genetic engineering of humans becomes the norm.
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