Chen's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 21 Mar 2025 22:51:07 -0700 60 Chen's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell: A True Story of Violence, Corruption, and the Soul of Surfing]]> 17349166
For two months every winter, when Pacific storms make landfall, swarms of mainlanders, Brazilians, Australians, and Europeans flock to Oahu’s paradisiacal North Shore in pursuit of some of the greatest waves on earth for surfing’s Triple Crown competition. Chas Smith reveals how this influx transforms a sleepy, laid-back strip of coast into a lawless, violent, drug-addled, and adrenaline-soaked mecca.

Smith captures this exciting and dangerous place where locals, outsiders, the surf industry, and criminal elements clash in a fascinating look at class, race, power, money, and crime, set within one of the most beautiful places on earth. The result is a breathtaking blend of crime and adventure that captures the allure and wickedness of this idyllic golden world.]]> 247 Chas Smith 0062202529 Chen 0 to-read 3.63 2013 Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell: A True Story of Violence, Corruption, and the Soul of Surfing
author: Chas Smith
name: Chen
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/21
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]]> <![CDATA[Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading]]> 210009
To lead is to live dangerously. It's romantic and exciting to think of leadership as all inspiration, decisive action, and rich rewards, but leading requires taking risks that can jeopardize your career and your personal life. It requires putting yourself on the line, disturbing the status quo, and surfacing hidden conflict. And when people resist and push back, there's a strong temptation to play it safe. Those who choose to lead plunge in, take the risks, and sometimes get burned. But it doesn't have to be that way say renowned leadership authorities Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky. In Leadership on the Line, they show how it's possible to make a difference without getting "taken out" or pushed aside. They present everyday tools that give equal weight to the dangerous work of leading change and the critical importance of personal survival. Through vivid stories from all walks of life, the authors present straightforward strategies for navigating the perilous straits of leadership. Whether parent or politician, CEO or community activist, this practical book shows how you can exercise leadership and survive and thrive to enjoy the fruits of your labor.]]> 252 Ronald A. Heifetz 1578514371 Chen 0 to-read 4.02 2002 Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading
author: Ronald A. Heifetz
name: Chen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/06
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]]> <![CDATA[Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI]]> 204927599 From the author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world.

For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite allour discoveries, inventions, and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI—a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive?

Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism, and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems throughout history have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence.

Information is not the raw material of truth; neither is it a mere weapon. Nexus explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes, and in doing so, rediscovers our shared humanity.]]> 528 Yuval Noah Harari 059373422X Chen 0 to-read 4.14 2024 Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Chen
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers]]> 199532011 368 Ian O'Connor 0063297868 Chen 0 currently-reading 3.75 Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers
author: Ian O'Connor
name: Chen
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/16
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future]]> 18050143
The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.

Thiel begins with the contrarian premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation, even if we’re too distracted by shiny mobile devices to notice. Information technology has improved rapidly, but there is no reason why progress should be limited to computers or Silicon Valley. Progress can be achieved in any industry or area of business. It comes from the most important skill that every leader must master: learning to think for yourself.

Doing what someone else already knows how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But when you do something new, you go from 0 to 1. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. Tomorrow’s champions will not win by competing ruthlessly in today’s marketplace. They will escape competition altogether, because their businesses will be unique.

Zero to One presents at once an optimistic view of the future of progress in America and a new way of thinking about innovation: it starts by learning to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places.]]> 195 Peter Thiel 0804139296 Chen 0 to-read 4.15 2014 Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
author: Peter Thiel
name: Chen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> Carrie Soto Is Back 60435878 Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular.

By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Slam titles. And if you ask her, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach.

But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning, British player named Nicki Chan.

At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the 'Battle-Axe' anyway. Even if her body doesn't move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.

In spite of it all: Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells a story about the cost of greatness and a legendary athlete attempting a comeback.]]> 384 Taylor Jenkins Reid 0593158687 Chen 3 4.19 2022 Carrie Soto Is Back
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Chen
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/19
date added: 2024/08/19
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]]> Open 6480781
Agassi’s incredibly rigorous training begins when he is just a child. By the age of thirteen, he is banished to a Florida tennis camp that feels like a prison camp. Lonely, scared, a ninth-grade dropout, he rebels in ways that will soon make him a 1980s icon. He dyes his hair, pierces his ears, dresses like a punk rocker. By the time he turns pro at sixteen, his new look promises to change tennis forever, as does his lightning-fast return.

And yet, despite his raw talent, he struggles early on. We feel his confusion as he loses to the world’s best, his greater confusion as he starts to win. After stumbling in three Grand Slam finals, Agassi shocks the world, and himself, by capturing the 1992 Wimbledon. Overnight he becomes a fan favorite and a media target.

Agassi brings a near-photographic memory to every pivotal match and every relationship. Never before has the inner game of tennis and the outer game of fame been so precisely limned. Alongside vivid portraits of rivals from several generations—Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer—Agassi gives unstinting accounts of his brief time with Barbra Streisand and his doomed marriage to Brooke Shields. He reveals a shattering loss of confidence. And he recounts his spectacular resurrection, a comeback climaxing with his epic run at the 1999 French Open and his march to become the oldest man ever ranked number one.

In clear, taut prose, Agassi evokes his loyal brother, his wise coach, his gentle trainer, all the people who help him regain his balance and find love at last with Stefanie Graf. Inspired by her quiet strength, he fights through crippling pain from a deteriorating spine to remain a dangerous opponent in the twenty-first and final year of his career. Entering his last tournament in 2006, he’s hailed for completing a stunning metamorphosis, from nonconformist to elder statesman, from dropout to education advocate. And still he’s not done. At a U.S. Open for the ages, he makes a courageous last stand, then delivers one of the most stirring farewells ever heard in a sporting arena.

With its breakneck tempo and raw candor, Open will be read and cherished for years. A treat for ardent fans, it will also captivate readers who know nothing about tennis. Like Agassi’s game, it sets a new standard for grace, style, speed, and power.]]> 388 Andre Agassi 0307268195 Chen 4 4.29 2009 Open
author: Andre Agassi
name: Chen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/03
date added: 2024/07/03
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]]> Principles: Life and Work 34536488 Ray Dalio, one of the world’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he’s developed, refined, and used over the past forty years to create unique results in both life and business—and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.

In 1975, Ray Dalio founded an investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Forty years later, Bridgewater has made more money for its clients than any other hedge fund in history and grown into the fifth most important private company in the United States, according to Fortune magazine. Dalio himself has been named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Along the way, Dalio discovered a set of unique principles that have led to Bridgewater’s exceptionally effective culture, which he describes as “an idea meritocracy that strives to achieve meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical transparency.� It is these principles, and not anything special about Dalio—who grew up an ordinary kid in a middle-class Long Island neighborhood—that he believes are the reason behind his success.

In Principles, Dalio shares what he’s learned over the course of his remarkable career. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules and understood like machines. The book’s hundreds of practical lessons, which are built around his cornerstones of “radical truth� and “radical transparency,� include Dalio laying out the most effective ways for individuals and organizations to make decisions, approach challenges, and build strong teams. He also describes the innovative tools the firm uses to bring an idea meritocracy to life, such as creating “baseball cards� for all employees that distill their strengths and weaknesses, and employing computerized decision-making systems to make believability-weighted decisions. While the book brims with novel ideas for organizations and institutions, Principles also offers a clear, straightforward approach to decision-making that Dalio believes anyone can apply, no matter what they’re seeking to achieve.

Here is a rare opportunity to gain proven advice unlike anything you’ll find in the conventional business press.]]> 16 Ray Dalio 1508243247 Chen 4 4.09 2017 Principles: Life and Work
author: Ray Dalio
name: Chen
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/20
date added: 2024/06/20
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]]> Unstoppable: My Life So Far 34884398 From Maria Sharapova, one of our fiercest female athletes, the captivating—and candid—story of her rise from nowhere to tennis stardom, and the unending fight to stay on top.

In 2004, in a stunning upset against the two-time defending champion Serena Williams, seventeen-year-old Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon, becoming an overnight sensation. Out of virtual anonymity, she launched herself onto the international stage. “Maria Mania� was born. Sharapova became a name and face recognizable worldwide. Her success would last: she went on to hold the number-one WTA ranking multiple times, to win four more Grand Slam tournaments, and to become one of the highest-grossing female athletes in the world.

And then—at perhaps the peak of her career—Sharapova came up against the toughest challenge yet: during the 2016 Australian Open, she was charged by the ITF with taking the banned substance meldonium, only recently added to the ITF’s list. The resulting suspension would keep her off the professional courts for fifteen months—a frighteningly long time for any athlete. The media suggested it might be fateful.

But ł§łó˛ą°ů˛ą±č´Ç±ą˛ąâ€™s career has always been driven by her determination and by her dedication to hard work. Her story doesn’t begin with the 2004 Wimbledon championship, but years before, in a small Russian town, where as a five-year-old she played on drab neighborhood courts with precocious concentration. It begins when her father, convinced his daughter could be a star, risked everything to get them to Florida, that sacred land of tennis academies. It begins when the two arrived with only seven hundred dollars and knowing only a few words of English. From that, Sharapova scraped together one of the most influential sports careers in history.

Here, for the first time, is the whole story, and in her own words. ł§łó˛ą°ů˛ą±č´Ç±ą˛ąâ€™s is an unforgettable saga of dedication and fortune. She brings us inside her pivotal matches and illuminates the relationships that have shaped her—with coaches, best friends, boyfriends, and Yuri, her coach, manager, father, and most dedicated fan, describing with honesty and affection their oft-scrutinized relationship. She writes frankly about the suspension. As Sharapova returns to the professional circuit, one thing is clear: the ambition to win that drove her from the public courts of Russia to the manicured lawns of Wimbledon has not diminished.

ł§łó˛ą°ů˛ą±č´Ç±ą˛ąâ€™s Unstoppable is a powerful memoir, resonant in its depiction of the will to win—whatever the odds.]]> 304 Maria Sharapova 0374715319 Chen 0 to-read 4.01 2017 Unstoppable: My Life So Far
author: Maria Sharapova
name: Chen
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/09
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics]]> 36613747 Could psychedelic drugs change our worldview? One of America's most admired writers takes us on a mind-altering journey to the frontiers of human consciousness

When LSD was first discovered in the 1940s, it seemed to researchers, scientists and doctors as if the world might be on the cusp of psychological revolution. It promised to shed light on the deep mysteries of consciousness, as well as offer relief to addicts and the mentally ill. But in the 1960s, with the vicious backlash against the counter-culture, all further research was banned. In recent years, however, work has quietly begun again on the amazing potential of LSD, psilocybin and DMT. Could these drugs in fact improve the lives of many people? Diving deep into this extraordinary world and putting himself forward as a guinea-pig, Michael Pollan has written a remarkable history of psychedelics and a compelling portrait of the new generation of scientists fascinated by the implications of these drugs. How to Change Your Mind is a report from what could very well be the future of human consciousness.]]> 480 Michael Pollan 0241294223 Chen 0 to-read 4.25 2018 How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics
author: Michael Pollan
name: Chen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/02
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]]> <![CDATA[A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)]]> 50659467
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.]]> 419 Sarah J. Maas 1635575567 Chen 4 4.16 2015 A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Chen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/29
date added: 2024/05/29
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier]]> 62919856
Called “one of the most disruptive brands in beauty� by Forbes , Glossier revolutionized the beauty industry with its sophisticated branding and unique approach to influencer marketing, almost-instantly making the company a juggernaut with rabid fans lining up for a chance to buy its coveted products. It also taught a generation of business leaders how to talk to Millennial and Gen Z customers and build a cult following online.

At the center of the story lies Emily Weiss, the elusive former Teen Vogue “superintern� on the reality show The Hills turned Into the Gloss beauty blogger who had the vision, guts, and searing ambition needed to launch Glossier. She cannily turned every experience, every meeting into an opportunity to fuel her own personal success. Together with her expensive, signature style and singular vision for the future of consumerism, she could not be stopped. Just how did a girl from suburban Connecticut with no real job experience work her way into the bathrooms and boudoirs of the most influential names in the world and build that access into a 1.9-billion-dollar business? Is she solely responsible for its success? And why, eight years later, at the height of Glossier mania, did she step down?

In Glossy , journalist and author Marisa Meltzer combines in-depth interviews with former Glossier employees, investors, and Weiss herself to bring you inside the walls of this fascinating and secretive company. From fundraising to product launches and unconventional hiring practices, Meltzer exposes the inner workings of Glossier’s culture, culminating in the story of Weiss herself. The Devil Wears Prada for the Bad Blood generation, Glossy is a gripping portrait of not just one of the most important business leaders of her generation, but also a chronicle of an era.]]> 304 Marisa Meltzer 1982190604 Chen 5 3.29 2023 Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier
author: Marisa Meltzer
name: Chen
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/28
date added: 2024/05/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It]]> 45166937 204 April Dunford 1999023013 Chen 5 4.26 Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It
author: April Dunford
name: Chen
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/23
date added: 2024/05/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade]]> 29238799 The acclaimed New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller from Robert Cialdini—“the foremost expert on effective persuasion� (Harvard Business Review)—explains how it’s not necessarily the message itself that changes minds, but the key moment before you deliver that message.

What separates effective communicators from truly successful persuaders? With the same rigorous scientific research and accessibility that made his Influence an iconic bestseller, Robert Cialdini explains how to prepare people to be receptive to a message before they experience it. Optimal persuasion is achieved only through optimal pre-suasion. In other words, to change “minds� a pre-suader must also change “states of mind.�

Named a “Best Business Books of 2016� by the Financial Times, and “compelling� by The Wall Street Journal, Cialdini’s Pre-Suasion draws on his extensive experience as the most cited social psychologist of our time and explains the techniques a person should implement to become a master persuader. Altering a listener’s attitudes, beliefs, or experiences isn’t necessary, says Cialdini—all that’s required is for a communicator to redirect the audience’s focus of attention before a relevant action.

From studies on advertising imagery to treating opiate addiction, from the annual letters of Berkshire Hathaway to the annals of history, Cialdini outlines the specific techniques you can use on online marketing campaigns and even effective wartime propaganda. He illustrates how the artful diversion of attention leads to successful pre-suasion and gets your targeted audience primed and ready to say, “Yes.� His book is “an essential tool for anyone serious about science based business strategies…and is destined to be an instant classic. It belongs on the shelf of anyone in business, from the CEO to the newest salesperson� (Forbes).]]> 432 Robert B. Cialdini 1501109790 Chen 0 to-read 3.98 2016 Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade
author: Robert B. Cialdini
name: Chen
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd]]> 41943000
To build a successful business, you need to stop doing random acts of marketing and start following a reliable plan for rapid business growth. Traditionally, creating a marketing plan has been a difficult and time-consuming process, which is why it often doesn't get done.

In The 1-Page Marketing Plan, serial entrepreneur and rebellious marketer Allan Dib reveals a marketing implementation breakthrough that makes creating a marketing plan simple and fast. It's literally a single page, divided up into nine squares. With it you'll be able to map out your own sophisticated marketing plan and go from zero to marketing hero.

Whether you're just starting out or are an experienced entrepreneur, The 1-Page Marketing Plan is the easiest and fastest way to create a marketing plan that will propel your business growth.

In this groundbreaking new book you'll

� How to get new customers, clients, or patients and how make more profit from existing ones.
� Why “big business� style marketing could kill your business and strategies that actually work for small and medium-sized businesses.
� How to close sales without being pushy, needy, or obnoxious while turning the tables and having prospects begging you to take their money.
� A simple step-by-step process for creating your own personalized marketing plan that is literally one page. Simply follow along and fill in each of the nine squares that make up your own 1-Page Marketing Plan.
� How to annihilate competitors and make yourself the only logical choice.
� How to get amazing results on a small budget using the secrets of direct response marketing.
� How to charge high prices for your products and services and have customers actually thank you for it.]]> 224 Allan Dib 1941142982 Chen 0 to-read 4.27 2016 The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd
author: Allan Dib
name: Chen
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference]]> 2612 The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.]]> 301 Malcolm Gladwell 0316346624 Chen 0 4.01 2002 The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Chen
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable]]> 641604
You're either a Purple Cow or you're not. You're either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice.

What do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple and DutchBoy and Kensington and Zespri and Hard Candy have that you don't? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried-and true brands to gasp their last?

Face it, the checklist of tired 'P's marketers have used for decades to get their product noticed - Pricing, Promotion, Publicity, to name a few - aren't working anymore. There's an exceptionally important 'P' that has to be added to the list. It's Purple Cow.

Cows, after you've seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though...now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows - but you can bet they won't forget a Purple Cow. And it's not a marketing function that you can slap on to your product or service. Purple Cow is inherent. It's built right in, or it's not there. Period.

In Purple Cow, Seth Godin urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you build, and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable. It's a manifesto for marketers who want to help create products that are worth marketing in the first place.

Description from Amazon.com]]> 145 Seth Godin 159184021X Chen 0 to-read 3.78 Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
author: Seth Godin
name: Chen
average rating: 3.78
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk]]> 33449 143 Al Ries 0887306667 Chen 0 to-read 4.05 1993 The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk
author: Al Ries
name: Chen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Jobs To Be Done Playbook: Align Your Markets, Organization, and Strategy Around Customer Needs]]> 52105688 These days, consumers have real power: they can research companies, compare ratings, and find alternatives with a simple tap. Focusing on customer needs isn't a nice–to–have, it's a strategic imperative.

The Jobs To Be Done Playbook (JTBD) helps organizations turn market insight into action. This book shows you techniques to make offerings people want, as well as make people want your offering.

]]> 323 Jim Kalbach 1933820527 Chen 0 to-read 4.08 The Jobs To Be Done Playbook: Align Your Markets, Organization, and Strategy Around Customer Needs
author: Jim Kalbach
name: Chen
average rating: 4.08
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love]]> 35249663 Đвтор делитŃŃŹ ŃобŃтвенным опытом и техниками, иŃпользŃемыми в работе Ń Ńамыми извеŃтными компаниями в облаŃти выŃоких технологий. Đ’Ń‹ Ńзнаете, как ведŃщие мировые корпорации Ńоздают Ńвои Đ»ŃчŃие продŃкты и каким образом можно иŃпользовать их опыт.
Книга помогает ŃŃвоить главное: как бы хороŃĐ° ни была ваŃĐ° команда разработчиков - ŃŤŃ‚Đľ не имеет значения, еŃли ей не Đ´Đ°ŃŽŃ‚ работать над тем, что Đ´ĐľŃтойно разработки. СовŃем недоŃтаточно проŃŃ‚Đľ хороŃĐľ Ń‚Ń€ŃдитьŃŃŹ, проектирŃŃŹ продŃкт. Важно ŃбедитьŃŃŹ в том, что этот продŃкт полезен, Ńдобен в иŃпользовании, и его можно воплотить в жизнь.
Книга адреŃована Ń€Ńководителям и ŃобŃтвенникам компаний, ведŃщим инженерам и дизайнерам, разработчикам программных продŃктов - вŃем, кто принимает ŃчаŃтие в процеŃŃе Ńправления продŃктом и Ńоздания того, в чем люди дейŃтвительно бŃĐ´ŃŃ‚ Đ˝ŃждатьŃŃŹ.
Благодаря информации, Ńобранной в книге, менеджеры по ĐĽĐ°Ń€ĐşĐµŃ‚Đ¸Đ˝ĐłŃ ĐżŃ€ĐľĐ´Ńкта и Ń€Ńководители проектов различных отделов производŃтвенной организации наŃчатŃŃŹ правильно определять, что именно хотят полŃчить покŃпатели.
Đздание Ńтанет полезным для команд разработчиков, занимающихŃŃŹ Đ·Đ°ĐżŃŃком новых проектов. Методы, предŃтавленные в книге, позволят вам Ńоздавать абŃолютно новые продŃкты-хиты или ŃоверŃенŃтвовать Ńже ŃŃщеŃтвŃющие товары.]]> 349 Marty Cagan 1119387507 Chen 0 to-read 4.22 2008 Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
author: Marty Cagan
name: Chen
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2008
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]]> <![CDATA[$100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No]]> 58612786 How To Charge a Lot More Than You Currently Are�
a- The Tiny Market Big Money Process we use to laser focus on niche markets overflowing with cash
b- The “Unfair� Pricing formula�.how we 100x’d our pricing (and got more people to say yes�.for real)
c- The Value Flip...so you never get price compared again (that’s a promise)
d- The Virtuous Cycle of Price...use it to outspend your competition (for good) while using your product to attract the best talent.
How To Make Your Product So Good, Prospects Find A Way To Pay For It
a- The Unbeatable Value Equation�.to make what you sell worth more than your prospects have ever received
b- The Delivery Cube�.to make delivering your products and services cost less but provide more
c- The Trim & Stack Hack�.to maximize profit using the absolute best delivery methods. (This has never been shared publicly and was how we made $17M in profit on $28M in revenue in a year when I was 28 years old).
How To Enhance Your Offer So Much, Prospects Buy Without Hesitating
a- The Scarcity Stack�.how to use the three different types of scarcity in every offer you make (without lying) to get people to buy the moment you ask
b- The “Everyday� Urgency Blueprint... to get prospects to buy RIGHT NOW, using everyday life to create real, ethical time pressure
c- Unbeatable Bonuses...and watch your prospects' hesitations melt away as they begin reading their credit cards to you before you even finish!
d- God-mode Guarantees...so good they make anyone say yes (even people who would never normally consider buying). I’ll show you how to stack and layer all 4 types of guarantees together. I even give you my 13 favorite guarantees word-for-word to swipe for yourself.
e- Magic Naming Formula to get the absolute highest response rates and conversion rates from everything you do to get new clients and so much more�

The methods contained within this book are so simple, so instantaneous, and so effective, it’s as if they work by magic. If you implement even one tactic in this book, you’ll see the change in your prospects' demeanor. And you’ll know the $100M Offer method worked when you start hearing “What do I need to do to move forward?� ...before you even ask for the sale.

If you want to get more prospects to reply to your ads for less advertising dollars and get them to say YES to breathtaking prices... then ADD TO CART, use its contents, and see for yourself.]]> 258 Alex Hormozi 1737475707 Chen 0 to-read 4.58 $100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No
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]]> <![CDATA[Skin in the Game: The Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life]]> 36064445 New York Times bestselling author of The Black Swan, a bold new work that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility

In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one’s own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life.

As always both accessible and iconoclastic, Taleb challenges long-held beliefs about the values of those who spearhead military interventions, make financial investments, and propagate religious faiths. Among his insights:

â€� For social justice,Ěýfocus on symmetry and risk sharing. You cannot make profits and transfer the risks to others, as bankers and large corporations do. You cannot get rich without owning your own risk and paying for your own losses. Forcing skin in the game corrects this asymmetry better than thousands of laws and regulations.
� Ethical rules aren’t universal. You’re part of a group larger than you, but it’s still smaller than humanity in general.
� Minorities, not majorities, run the world. The world is not run by consensus but by stubborn minorities imposing their tastes and ethics on others.
� You can be an intellectual yet still be an idiot. “Educated philistines� have been wrong on everything from Stalinism to Iraq to low-carb diets.
� Beware of complicated solutions (that someone was paid to find). A simple barbell can build muscle better than expensive new machines.
� True religion is commitment, not just faith. How much you believe in something is manifested only by what you’re willing to risk for it.

The phrase “skin in the game� is one we have often heard but rarely stopped to truly dissect. It is the backbone of risk management, but it’s also an astonishingly rich worldview that, as Taleb shows in this book, applies to all aspects of our lives. As Taleb says, “The symmetry of skin in the game is a simple rule that’s necessary for fairness and justice, and the ultimate BS-buster,� and “Never trust anyone who doesn’t have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them.”]]> 272 Nassim Nicholas Taleb 0241300657 Chen 0 to-read 3.88 2018 Skin in the Game: The Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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average rating: 3.88
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]]> <![CDATA[Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion]]> 28815
You'll learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader—and how to defend yourself against them. Perfect for people in all walks of life, the principles of Influence will move you toward profound personal change and act as a driving force for your success.]]> 320 Robert B. Cialdini 006124189X Chen 0 to-read 4.21 1984 Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
author: Robert B. Cialdini
name: Chen
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1984
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[$100M Leads: How to Get Strangers To Want To Buy Your Stuff (Acquisition.com $100M Series)]]> 196239284 You can get 2x, 10x, or 100x more leads than you currently are without changing anything about what you sell�
This book contains the playbooks that took me from sleeping on my gym floor to owning a portfolio of companies that generate $200,000,000 per year in under a decade. Wanna know the biggest difference between those two time periods? How many leads I was getting.

The problem is - most business owners don’t know how to get leads.

I wrote this book to solve your LEADS problem.
Today, our companies generate 20,000+ new leads per day across sixteen different industries. And, they do it using the eight “never-go-hungry� playbooks inside. Once you see them, you can’t unsee them. They’re so powerful, they work without your permission.

Inside you will find�

…Tłó±đ easiest way to get another five customers tomorrow

…Tłó±đ hook-retain-reward system to transform content into leads

…Tłó±đ 6-part ad framework that gets more people - especially strangers - to want what you sell

…Tłó±đ one question that immediately turns any stranger (no matter how cold) into a hot lead

…Tłó±đ 7 direct referral methods responsible for 30% of my sales

…Tłó±đ affiliate playbook that gets hundreds of other businesses to advertise your stuff for free

…Tłó±đ agency agreement that gets them to teach you their lead-getting secrets at no cost

…Tłó±đ how-to-get-people-off-the-streets-and-getting-you-leads in under 2 weeks framework

…and everything else that got our companies boatloads of leads…fast.



And the best part is…you can use these playbooks to get more leads within an hour of reading this book. You just have to know where to look…and the first place is inside.

If you want to get more leads for your business...then ADD TO CART, use its contents, and see for yourself.]]> 280 Alex Hormozi Chen 0 to-read 4.57 $100M Leads: How to Get Strangers To Want To Buy Your Stuff (Acquisition.com $100M Series)
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]]> <![CDATA[Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen]]> 34460583 New York TimesĚýbestselling author Donald Miller uses the seven universal elements of powerful stories to teach readers how to dramatically improve how they connect with customers and grow their businesses.

Donald Miller’s StoryBrand process is a proven solution to the struggle business leaders face when talking about their businesses. This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides readers with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Building a StoryBrand does this by teaching readers the seven universal story points all humans respond to; the real reason customers make purchases; how to simplify a brand message so people understand it; and how to create the most effective messaging for websites, brochures, and social media. Whether you are the marketing director of a multibillion dollar company, the owner of a small business, a politician running for office, or the lead singer of a rock band, Building a StoryBrand will forever transform the way you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you bring to your customers.]]> 228 Donald Miller 0718033329 Chen 0 to-read 4.25 2017 Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
author: Donald Miller
name: Chen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2017
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]]> <![CDATA[Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger (Abridged)]]> 418816 512 Charles T. Munger 1578643031 Chen 0 to-read 4.46 2005 Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger (Abridged)
author: Charles T. Munger
name: Chen
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2005
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]]> <![CDATA[When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them]]> 60321433
Julia Boorstin was thirteen when her mother told her that, by the time she grew up, women could be just as powerful as men, “captains of industry, running the biggest companies!� A decade later, working at a top business publication and seeing the dearth of women in positions of leadership, Boorstin assumed her mom had been wrong. But over the following two decades as a TV reporter and creator of CNBC’s Disruptor 50 franchise, interviewing, and studying thousands of executives, she realized that a gender-equity utopia shouldn’t be a pipe dream. Yes, women faced massive social and institutional headwinds, and struggled with double standards and what psychologists call “pattern matching.� Yet those who thrived, Boorstin found, shared key commonalities that made them uniquely equipped to lead, grow businesses, and navigate crises. They were highly adaptive to change, deeply empathetic in their management style, and much more likely to integrate diverse points of view into their business strategies, filling voids that their male counterparts had overlooked for generations. By utilizing those strengths, they had invented new business models, disrupted industries, and made massive profits along the way.

Here, in When Women Lead , Boorstin brings together the stories of over sixty of those female CEOs and leaders, and provides “critical insights into how women-founded companies begin, operate, and prosper� ( Kirkus Reviews , starred review). Her combination of narrative and research reveals how once-underestimated characteristics, from vulnerability and gratitude to divergent thinking, can be vital superpowers—and that anyone can work these approaches to their advantage. Featuring new interviews with Katrina Lake, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jenn Hyman, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Lena Waithe, Shivani Siroya, Julia Collins, and more, Boorstein’s revelatory book “lays out a new, inclusive vision for leadership and our world at large that we all will benefit from� (Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO, Thrive).]]> 432 Julia Boorstin 1982168218 Chen 3 4.00 When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them
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name: Chen
average rating: 4.00
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]]> <![CDATA[The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness]]> 54898389 244 Eric Jorgenson Chen 5 favorites 4.40 2020 The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
author: Eric Jorgenson
name: Chen
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels]]> 15824358 The First 90 Days has become the bestselling globally acknowledged bible of leadership and career transitions. In this updated and expanded 10th anniversary edition, internationally known leadership transition expert Michael D. Watkins gives you the keys to successfully negotiating your next move—whether you’re onboarding into a new company, being promoted internally, or embarking on an international assignment.

In The First 90 Days, Watkins outlines proven strategies that will dramatically shorten the time it takes to reach what he calls the "breakeven point" when your organization needs you as much as you need the job. This new edition includes a substantial new preface by the author on the new definition of a career as a series of transitions; and notes the growing need for effective and repeatable skills for moving through these changes. As well, updated statistics and new tools make this book more reader-friendly and useful than ever.

As hundreds of thousands of readers already know, The First 90 Days is a road map for taking charge quickly and effectively during critical career transition periods—whether you are a first-time manager, a mid-career professional on your way up, or a newly minted CEO.]]> 304 Michael D. Watkins 1422188612 Chen 4 3.84 2003 The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels
author: Michael D. Watkins
name: Chen
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2003
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know]]> 9128288 228 Byron Sharp 0195573560 Chen 0 to-read 4.15 2010 How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know
author: Byron Sharp
name: Chen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> Ogilvy on Advertising 641601
Told with brutal candor and prodigal generosity, David Ogilvy

•ĚýHow to get a job in advertising
•ĚýHow to choose an agency for your product
•ĚýThe secrets behind advertising that works
•ĚýHow to write successful copy—and get people to read it
•ĚýEighteen miracles of research
•ĚýWhat advertising can do for charities

And much, much more.]]> 224 David Ogilvy 039472903X Chen 0 to-read 4.14 1983 Ogilvy on Advertising
author: David Ogilvy
name: Chen
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1983
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari Chen 5 favorites 4.34 2011 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Chen
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2019/05/20
date added: 2024/05/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Loved: How to Market Tech Products Customers Adore]]> 57342960 Martina Lauchengco 1119704391 Chen 0 to-read 3.79 Loved: How to Market Tech Products Customers Adore
author: Martina Lauchengco
name: Chen
average rating: 3.79
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]]> <![CDATA[Product Marketing, Simplified: A Customer-Centric Approach to Take a Product to Market]]> 54587023 � Jeevan Patil, Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Meraki

"Whether you'reĚýstarting out or are a product marketing leader already, this book will really help you [..] make an impact."â€� Anuneet Kumar, VP of Product Marketing, Salesforce



Launch Products the Right Way.ĚýA comprehensive guide to product marketing â€� from messaging to influencing the product roadmap. Learn how to launch products, deliver value to the right customer, and grow your business.Whether you're looking to become a product marketer, a product manager, or an entrepreneur, this is the handbook you need to learn how to deliver value and take a product to market the right way.Product Marketing, Simplified

Understanding the customer journeyCreating personasBuilding positioning statementsWriting compelling messagingBuilding a go-to-market strategyDetermining pricing and packagingLaunching productsWorking with analysts and the pressEnabling sales and creating demandInfluencing the product roadmap]]> 205 Srini Sekaran Chen 0 to-read 4.05 Product Marketing, Simplified: A Customer-Centric Approach to Take a Product to Market
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name: Chen
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]]> <![CDATA[Your First 100: How to Get Your First 100 Repeat Customers (and Loyal, Raving Fans) Buying Your Digital Products Without Sleazy Marketing or Selling Your Soul]]> 39679713 151 Meera Kothand Chen 0 to-read 4.01 Your First 100: How to Get Your First 100 Repeat Customers (and Loyal, Raving Fans) Buying Your Digital Products Without Sleazy Marketing or Selling Your Soul
author: Meera Kothand
name: Chen
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]]> <![CDATA[Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential]]> 16158501 How People Judge You—And How To Come Out Looking Good

Required Reading at Harvard Business School

Everyone wants to know how to be more influential. But most of us don’t really think we can have the kind of magnetism or charisma that we associate with someone like Bill Clinton or Oprah Winfrey unless it comes naturally. Ěý

Now, in Compelling People, which is already being taught at Harvard and Columbia Business Schools, John Neffinger and Matthew Kohut show that this isn’t something we have to be born with—it’s something we can learn. Expanding on the themes in their co-authored Harvard Business Review cover story “Connect, Then Lead,â€� they trace the path to influence through a balance of strength (the root of respect) and warmth (the root of affection). Each seems simple, but only a few of us figure out the tricky task of projecting both at once. The ability to master this dynamic is so rare that we celebrate and elevate those people who have managed to do it.Ěý

Drawing on cutting-edge social science research as well as their own work with Fortune 500 executives, members of Congress, TED speakers, and Nobel Prize winners, Neffinger and Kohut reveal:
Ěý
The common thread connecting Machiavelli and Martin Luther King The secret technique behind the success of Bill Clinton, Ann Richards and Denzel Washington—one that you can use today How looks affect our career prospects The single best strategy for getting someone to agree with you Compelling People explains how we size each other up—and how we can learn to win the admiration, respect, and affection we desire.]]> 304 John Neffinger 1594631018 Chen 0 to-read 3.70 2013 Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential
author: John Neffinger
name: Chen
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2013
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]]> <![CDATA[The Holy Grail of Investing: The World's Greatest Investors Reveal Their Ultimate Strategies for Financial Freedom]]> 198112392 362 Tony Robbins 1398533173 Chen 0 to-read 3.50 The Holy Grail of Investing: The World's Greatest Investors Reveal Their Ultimate Strategies for Financial Freedom
author: Tony Robbins
name: Chen
average rating: 3.50
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]]> Elon Musk 125277346 From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter.

When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.

His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive.

At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,� he said.

It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.

For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?]]> 670 Walter Isaacson Chen 0 to-read 4.63 2023 Elon Musk
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Chen
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]]> The Weight of Beautiful 122496302 Jackie Goldschneider, star of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, bravely chronicles her decades-long battle with anorexia and public journey to recovery in this unflinching, moving, and ultimately inspiring self-written memoir.

All Jackie Goldschneider ever wanted was to be thin. As a child, she’d stand in front of the mirror, sucking in her stomach and arching her back to feel her ribs, praying to see a model-like figure looking back. As an obese teen, lonely and tormented by her weight, her doctor encouraged her to start dieting, ultimately leading to a prolonged battle with anorexia that nearly took her life.

After decades of hiding her eating disorder from friends, family, and the world, Jackie is ready to expose the realities of her devastating struggle with anorexia, including the harrowing day-to-day tactics she employed to count calories and restrict meals, her struggles with fertility and pregnancy, the effects her eating disorder had on her relationships with her husband and children, and ultimately how, in a twist of fate, becoming a reality TV star saved her life.

The Weight of Beautiful is Jackie’s personal story, but within it are also the stories of millions like her, striving to lead healthy, happy lives despite their eating disorders. In the vein of Unbearable Lightness, Hiding from Reality, and What Remains, The Weight of Beautiful is a moving testament of strength, honesty, and recovery.]]> 239 Jackie Goldschneider 1668023822 Chen 0 to-read 4.40 2023 The Weight of Beautiful
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name: Chen
average rating: 4.40
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]]> <![CDATA[Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control (The Stoic Virtues Series)]]> 60554355 The instant New York Times,ĚýWall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestseller!

In his New York Times bestselling book Courage is Calling, author Ryan Holiday made the Stoic case for a bold and brave life. In this much-anticipated second book of his Stoic Virtue series, Holiday celebrates the awesome power of self-discipline and those who have seized it.

To master anything, one must first master themselves–one’s emotions, one’s thoughts, one’s actions. Eisenhower famously said that freedom is really the opportunity to practice self-discipline. Cicero called the virtue of temperance the polish of life. Without boundaries and restraint, we risk not only failing to meet our full potential and jeopardizing what we have achieved, but we ensure misery and shame. In a world of temptation and excess, this ancient idea is more urgent than ever.

In Discipline is Destiny, Holiday draws on the stories of historical figures we can emulate as pillars of self-discipline, including Lou Gehrig, Queen Elizabeth II, boxer Floyd Patterson, Marcus Aurelius and writer Toni Morrison, as well as the cautionary tales of Napoleon, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Babe Ruth. Through these engaging examples, Holiday teaches readers the power of self-discipline and balance, and cautions against the perils of extravagance and hedonism.

At the heart of Stoicism are four simple courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. Everything else, the Stoics believed, flows from them. Discipline is Destiny will guide readers down the path to self-mastery, upon which all the other virtues depend. Discipline is predictive. You cannot succeed without it. And if you lose it, you cannot help but bring yourself failure and unhappiness.]]> 344 Ryan Holiday 0593191706 Chen 0 to-read 4.45 2022 Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control (The Stoic Virtues Series)
author: Ryan Holiday
name: Chen
average rating: 4.45
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]]> <![CDATA[A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"]]> 845977 A Course in Miracles and her insights on the application of love in the search for inner peace.

Williamson reveals how we each can become a miracle worker by accepting God and by the expression of love in our daily lives. Whether psychic pain is in the area of relationships, career, or health, she shows us how love is a potent force, the key to inner peace, and how by practicing love we can make our own lives more fulfilling while creating a more peaceful and loving world for our children.]]> 300 Marianne Williamson 0060927488 Chen 0 to-read 4.25 1992 A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"
author: Marianne Williamson
name: Chen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1992
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]]> <![CDATA[Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within]]> 63102846 This is not a self-help book. It's a wake-up call!

Can't Hurt Me, David Goggins' smash hit memoir, demonstrated how much untapped ability we all have but was merely an introduction to the power of the mind. In Never Finished, Goggins takes you inside his Mental Lab, where he developed the philosophy, psychology, and strategies that enabled him to learn that what he thought was his limit was only his beginning and that the quest for greatness is unending.

The stories and lessons in this raw, revealing, unflinching memoir offer the reader a blueprint they can use to climb from the bottom of the barrel into a whole new stratosphere that once seemed unattainable. Whether you feel off-course in life, are looking to maximize your potential or drain your soul to break through your so-called glass ceiling, this is the only book you will ever need.]]> 312 David Goggins 1544534086 Chen 0 to-read 4.39 2022 Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within
author: David Goggins
name: Chen
average rating: 4.39
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]]> <![CDATA[Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity]]> 61153739 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � A groundbreaking manifesto on living better and longer that challenges the conventional medical thinking on aging and reveals a new approach to preventing chronic disease and extending long-term health, from a visionary physician and leading longevity expert

Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.

For all its successes, mainstream medicine has failed to make much progress against the diseases of aging that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and type 2 diabetes. Too often, it intervenes with treatments too late to help, prolonging lifespan at the expense of healthspan, or quality of life. Dr. Attia believes we must replace this outdated framework with a personalized, proactive strategy for longevity, one where we take action now, rather than waiting.

This is not “biohacking,� it’s science: a well-founded strategic and tactical approach to extending lifespan while also improving our physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Dr. Attia’s aim is less to tell you what to do and more to help you learn how to think about long-term health, in order to create the best plan for you as an individual. In Outlive, readers will discover:

� Why the cholesterol test at your annual physical doesn’t tell you enough about your actual risk of dying from a heart attack.
� That you may already suffer from an extremely common yet underdiagnosed liver condition that could be a precursor to the chronic diseases of aging.
� Why exercise is the most potent pro-longevity “drug”—and how to begin training for the “Centenarian Decathlon.�
� Why you should forget about diets, and focus instead on nutritional biochemistry, using technology and data to personalize your eating pattern.
� Why striving for physical health and longevity, but ignoring emotional health, could be the ultimate curse of all.

Aging and longevity are far more malleable than we think; our fate is not set in stone. With the right roadmap, you can plot a different path for your life, one that lets you outlive your genes to make each decade better than the one before.]]> 496 Peter Attia 0593236599 Chen 0 to-read 4.33 2023 Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity
author: Peter Attia
name: Chen
average rating: 4.33
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]]> <![CDATA[On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good]]> 63876551 A groundbreaking exploration of the ancient rules women unwittingly follow in order to be considered "good," revealing how the Seven Deadly Sins still control and distort their lives and illuminating a path toward a more balanced, spiritually complete way to live

Women congratulate themselves when they resist the doughnut in the office break-room. They celebrate their restraint when they hold back from sending an e-mail in anger. They feel virtuous when they wake up at dawn to get a jump on the day. They put others' needs ahead of their own and believe this makes them exemplary. In On Our Best Behavior, journalist Elise Loehnen explains that these impulses--often lauded as unselfish, distinctly feminine instincts--are actually ingrained in women by a culture that reaps the benefits, via an extraordinarily effective collection of mores known as the Seven Deadly Sins.

Since being codified by the Christian church in the fourth century, the Seven Deadly Sins--pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth--have exerted insidious power. Even today, in our largely secular, patriarchal society, they continue to circumscribe women's behavior. For example, seeing sloth as sinful leads women to deny themselves rest; a fear of gluttony drives them to ignore their appetites; and an aversion to greed prevents them from negotiating for themselves and contributes to the 55 percent gender wealth gap. Loehnen reveals how women have been programmed to obey the rules represented by these sins and how doing so qualifies them as "good."

This probing analysis of contemporary culture and thoroughly researched history explains how women have internalized the patriarchy, and how they unwittingly reinforce it. By sharing her own story and the spiritual wisdom of other traditions, Loehnen shows how women can break free and discover the integrity and wholeness they seek.]]> 384 Elise Loehnen 059324303X Chen 0 to-read 3.78 2023 On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good
author: Elise Loehnen
name: Chen
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/22
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]]> <![CDATA[8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go]]> 61886251
Nobody sits us down and teaches us how to love. So we’re often thrown into relationships with nothing but romance movies and pop culture to help us muddle through. Until now.

Instead of presenting love as an ethereal concept or a collection of cliches, Jay Shetty lays out specific, actionable steps to help you develop the skills to practice and nurture love better than ever before. He shares insights on how to win or lose together, how to define love, and why you don’t break in a break-up. Inspired by Vedic wisdom and modern science, he tackles the entire relationship cycle, from first dates to moving in together to breaking up and starting over. And he shows us how to avoid falling for false promises and unfulfilling partners.

By living Jay Shetty’s eight rules, we can all love ourselves, our partner, and the world better than we ever thought possible.]]> 309 Jay Shetty 1982183063 Chen 0 to-read 3.85 2023 8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go
author: Jay Shetty
name: Chen
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/22
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]]> The Book of Doors 156009464
Cassie Andrews works in a New York City bookshop, shelving books, making coffee for customers, and living an unassuming, ordinary life. Until the day one of her favorite customers—a lonely yet charming old man—dies right in front of her. Cassie is devastated. She always loved his stories, and now she has nothing to remember him by. Nothing but the last book he was reading.

But this is no ordinary book�

It is the Book of Doors.

Inscribed with enigmatic words and mysterious drawings, it promises Cassie that any door is every door. You just need to know how to open them.

Then she’s approached by a gaunt stranger in a rumpled black suit with a Scottish brogue who calls himself Drummond Fox. He’s a librarian who keeps watch over a unique set of rare volumes. The tome now in Cassie’s possession is not the only book with great power, but it is the one most coveted by those who collect them.

Now Cassie is being hunted by those few who know of the Special Books. With only her roommate Izzy to confide in, she has to decide if she will help the mysterious and haunted Drummond protect the Book of Doors—and the other books in his secret library’s care—from those who will do evil. Because only Drummond knows where the unique library is and only Cassie’s book can get them there.

But there are those willing to kill to obtain those secrets. And a dark force—in the form of a shadowy, sadistic woman—is at the very top of that list.]]> 404 Gareth Brown 0063323982 Chen 0 to-read 4.00 2024 The Book of Doors
author: Gareth Brown
name: Chen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/22
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]]> Daisy Jones & The Six 40597810 Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n� roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.]]> 368 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1524798622 Chen 5 4.20 2019 Daisy Jones & The Six
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Chen
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/02/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind]]> 760025 224 Al Ries 0071373586 Chen 0 to-read 4.03 1980 Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
author: Al Ries
name: Chen
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1980
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Lean Startup 10127019 Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.

Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business.



The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on "validated learning," rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute.

Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs - in companies of all sizes - a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it's too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in a age when companies need to innovate more than ever.]]> 299 Eric Ries 0307887898 Chen 0 to-read 4.11 2011 The Lean Startup
author: Eric Ries
name: Chen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/17
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]]> <![CDATA[The 38 Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to His Son: Perspectives, Ideology, and Wisdom]]> 55286154 187 G. Ng Chen 0 to-read 4.56 The 38 Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to His Son: Perspectives, Ideology, and Wisdom
author: G. Ng
name: Chen
average rating: 4.56
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[When Life Gives You Lululemons (The Devil Wears Prada, #3)]]> 36373647 New York Times bestselling author Lauren Weisberger returns with a novel starring one of her favorite characters from The Devil Wears Prada—Emily Charlton, first assistant to Miranda Priestly, now a highly successful image consultant who’s just landed the client of a lifetime.

Welcome to Greenwich, CT, where the lawns and the women are perfectly manicured, the Tito’s and sodas are extra strong, and everyone has something to say about the infamous new neighbor.

Let’s be clear: Emily Charlton, Miranda Priestly’s ex-assistant, does not do the suburbs. She’s working in Hollywood as an image consultant to the stars, but recently, Emily’s lost a few clients. She’s hopeless with social media. The new guard is nipping at her heels. She needs a big opportunity, and she needs it now.

Karolina Hartwell is as A-list as they come. She’s the former face of L’Oreal. A mega-supermodel recognized the world over. And now, the gorgeous wife of the newly elected senator from New York, Graham, who also has his eye on the presidency. It’s all very Kennedy-esque, right down to the public philandering and Karolina’s arrest for a DUI—with a Suburban full of other people’s children.

Miriam is the link between them. Until recently she was a partner at one of Manhattan’s most prestigious law firms. But when Miriam moves to Greenwich and takes time off to spend with her children, she never could have predicted that being stay-at-home mom in an uber-wealthy town could have more pitfalls than a stressful legal career.

Emily, Karolina, and Miriam make an unlikely trio, but they desperately need each other. Together, they’ll navigate the social landmines of life in America’s favorite suburb on steroids, revealing the truths—and the lies—that simmer just below the glittering surface. With her signature biting style, Lauren Weisberger offers a dazzling look into another sexy, over-the-top world, where nothing is as it appears.]]> 343 Lauren Weisberger 1476778442 Chen 2 3.72 2018 When Life Gives You Lululemons (The Devil Wears Prada, #3)
author: Lauren Weisberger
name: Chen
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2023/12/06
date added: 2023/12/06
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]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Chen 0 to-read 4.12 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Chen
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/10
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]]> The Measure 58884736
"A story of love and hope as interweaving characters display: how all moments, big and small, can measure a life. If you want joy, love, romance, and hope—read with us." —Jenna Bush Hager
A luminous, spirit-lifting blockbuster that asks: would you choose to find out the length of your life?

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

It seems like any other day. You wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and head out.

But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. The contents of this mysterious box tells you the exact number of years you will live.

From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?

As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?

The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.

Enchanting and deeply uplifting, The Measure is an ambitious, invigorating story about family, friendship, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest.]]> 353 Nikki Erlick 0063204207 Chen 0 to-read 3.96 2022 The Measure
author: Nikki Erlick
name: Chen
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)]]> 136251
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited.]]> 759 J.K. Rowling Chen 0 4.61 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Chen
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/05
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]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo]]> 32620332
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the �80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.]]> 389 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1501139231 Chen 5 4.39 2017 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Chen
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/05
date added: 2023/09/05
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]]> My Story 182230 208 Marilyn Monroe 1589793161 Chen 0 to-read 4.11 1974 My Story
author: Marilyn Monroe
name: Chen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1974
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/04
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review:

]]> Johnny Carson 18634797 A revealing and incisive account of the King of Late Night at the height of his fame and power, by his lawyer, wingman, fixer, and closest confidant

From 1962 until 1992, Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show and permeated the American consciousness. In the �70s and �80s he was the country’s highest-paid entertainer and its most enigmatic. He was notoriously inscrutable, as mercurial (and sometimes cruel) off-camera as he was charming and hilarious onstage. During the apex of his reign, Carson’s longtime lawyer and best friend was Henry Bushkin, who now shows us Johnny Carson with a breathtaking clarity and depth that nobody else could.

From the moment in 1970 when Carson hired Bushkin (who was just twenty-seven) until the moment eighteen years later when they parted ways, the author witnessed and often took part in a string of escapades that still retain their power to surprise and fascinate us. One of Bushkin’s first assignments was helping Carson break into a posh Manhattan apartment to gather evidence of his wife’s infidelity. More than once, Bushkin helped his client avoid entanglements with the mob. Of course, Carson’s adventures weren’t all so sordid. He hosted Ronald Reagan’s inaugural concert as a favor to the new president, and he prevented a drunken Dean Martin from appearing onstage that evening. Carson socialized with Frank Sinatra, Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Stewart, Kirk Douglas, and dozens of other boldface names who populate this atmospheric and propulsive chronicle of the King of Late Night and his world.

But this memoir isn’t just dishy. It is a tautly rendered and remarkably nuanced portrait of Carson, revealing not only how he truly was, but why. Bushkin explains why Carson, a voracious (and very talented) womanizer, felt he always had to be married; why he loathed small talk even as he excelled at it; why he couldn’t visit his son in the hospital and wouldn’t attend his mother’s funeral; and much more. Bushkin’s account is by turns shocking, poignant, and uproarious � written with a novelist’s eye for detail, a screenwriter’s ear for dialogue, and a knack for comic timing that Carson himself would relish. Johnny Carson unveils not only the hidden Carson, but also the raucous, star-studded world he ruled.
]]> 323 Henry Bushkin Chen 0 to-read 3.91 2013 Johnny Carson
author: Henry Bushkin
name: Chen
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/04
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly]]> 61272034 When a runway model in 1940s Hollywood makes a split-second decisionĚýintendedĚýto protect those she loves, she triggers a cascade of secrets that threatens to upend her daughter’s life decades later.

AfterĚýwinning a prestigious fashion design contest in 1948, Aster Kelly flees the world of modeling in New York and arrives in Beverly Hills to claim her a design apprenticeship with Fernando Tivoli. But Fernando has no such job available. He’s busily preparing for the opportunity of a lifetime—proving to Galaxy Studios that he is the perfect couturier for their A-list stars. The moment he meets Aster, though, he knows she’s the missing ingredient he needs and asks her to be his stand-in model for Lauren Bacall. Aster is dismayed to once again have her creative potential sidelined, but when Fernando promises to mentor her if he wins theĚýcontract, she agrees.

Aster and Fernando quickly become romantically entangled with Hollywood insiders—Aster with the head of Galaxy Studios, Fernando with their biggest up-and-coming star, Christopher Page—andĚýAster and Fernando’sĚýfriendship becomes essential as they navigate a glamorous and complicated existence where what’s real must often be hidden, andĚýno one is quite who they seem. As Aster’s ambitions grow and she faces a crisis, and Fernando’s future is threatened by theĚýjudgmentalĚýHollywood machine, Aster makes a decision that changes the trajectory of their lives forever.

Twenty-five years later, despite knowing little of her mother’s time in Hollywood and being raised well outside the reaches of fame, Aster’s daughter Lissy is poised to become a Broadway star. But when the musical gets off to a rocky start, Lissy makes a rash decision of her own in an attempt to save the show. And when long-buried secrets blindside them both, mother and daughter are forced to question everything they thought they knew.

The Hidden Life of Aster KellyĚýis a story about the bonds of chosen family, the cost of fame and the enduring strength of love that will keep you guessing until the last page.]]> 333 Katherine A. Sherbrooke 1639363548 Chen 3 3.90 2023 The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly
author: Katherine A. Sherbrooke
name: Chen
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/08/31
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]]> The Lost Summers of Newport 59445992 From the New York Times bestselling team of Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White--a novel of money and secrets set among the famous summer mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, spanning over a century from the Gilded Age to the present day.

2019: Andie Figuero has just landed her dream job as a producer of Mansion Makeover, a popular reality show about restoring America's most lavish historic houses. Andie has high hopes for her latest project: the once glorious but gently crumbling Sprague Hall in Newport, Rhode Island, summer resort of America's gilded class--famous for the lavish "summer cottages" of Vanderbilts and Belmonts. But Andie runs into trouble: the reclusive heiress who still lives in the mansion, Lucia "Lucky" Sprague, will only allow the show to go forward on two conditions: One, nobody speaks to her. Two, nobody touches the mansion's ruined boathouse.

1899: Ellen Daniels has been hired to give singing lessons to Miss Maybelle Sprague, a naive young Colorado mining heiress whose stepbrother John has poured their new money into buying a place among Newport's elite. John is determined to see Maybelle married off to a fortune-hunting Italian prince, and Ellen is supposed to polish up the girl for her launch into society. But the deceptively demure Ellen has her own checkered past, and she's hiding in plain sight at Sprague Hall.

1958: Lucia "Lucky" Sprague has always felt like an outsider at Sprague Hall. When she and her grandmother--the American-born Princess di Conti--fled Mussolini's Italy, it seemed natural to go back to the imposing Newport house Nana owned but hadn't seen since her marriage in 1899. Over the years, Lucky's lost her Italian accent and found a place for herself among the yachting set by marrying Stuyvesant Sprague, the alcoholic scion of her Sprague stepfamily. But one fateful night in the mansion's old boathouse will uncover a devastating truth...and change everything she thought she knew about her past.

As the cameras roll on Mansion Makeover, the house begins to yield up the dark secrets the Spragues thought would stay hidden forever....


]]> 393 Beatriz Williams 0063040743 Chen 3 3.64 2022 The Lost Summers of Newport
author: Beatriz Williams
name: Chen
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/07/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty]]> 56382342
When eleven-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt began to work on his father’s small boat ferrying supplies in New York Harbor at the beginning of the nineteenth century, no one could have imagined that one day he would, through ruthlessness, cunning, and a pathological desire for money, build two empires—one in shipping and another in railroads—that would make him the richest man in America. His staggering fortune was fought over by his heirs after his death in 1877, sowing familial discord that would never fully heal. Though his son Billy doubled the money left by “the Commodore,� subsequent generations competed to find new and ever more extraordinary ways of spending it. By 2018, when the last Vanderbilt was forced out of The Breakers—the seventy-room summer estate in Newport, Rhode Island, that Cornelius’s grandson and namesake had built—the family would have been unrecognizable to the tycoon who started it all.

Now, the Commodore’s great-great-great-grandson Anderson Cooper, joins with historian Katherine Howe to explore the story of his legendary family and their outsized influence. Cooper and Howe breathe life into the ancestors who built the family’s empire, basked in the Commodore’s wealth, hosted lavish galas, and became synonymous with unfettered American capitalism and high society. Moving from the hardscrabble wharves of old Manhattan to the lavish drawing rooms of Gilded Age Fifth Avenue, from the ornate summer palaces of Newport to the courts of Europe, and all the way to modern-day New York, Cooper and Howe wryly recount the triumphs and tragedies of an American dynasty unlike any other.

Written with a unique insider’s viewpoint, this is a rollicking, quintessentially American history as remarkable as the family it so vividly captures.]]> 317 Anderson Cooper 0062964615 Chen 5 3.75 2021 Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty
author: Anderson Cooper
name: Chen
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/07/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer, #1)]]> 5821978 276 Jenny Han 1416968237 Chen 0 to-read 3.77 2009 The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer, #1)
author: Jenny Han
name: Chen
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Spare 62296528
For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.]]> 410 Prince Harry 0593593804 Chen 5 3.78 2023 Spare
author: Prince Harry
name: Chen
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/25
date added: 2023/05/25
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]]> Little Fires Everywhere 51704136 Everything I Never Told You, a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives.

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned--from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren--an enigmatic artist and single mother--who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town--and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood--and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

Named a Best Book of the Year by: People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ, Library Reads, Book of the Month, Paste, Kirkus Reviews, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and many more...

Perfect for book clubs! Visit celesteng.com for discussion guides and more. ]]> 368 Celeste Ng 0143135163 Chen 4 4.06 2017 Little Fires Everywhere
author: Celeste Ng
name: Chen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2020/11/27
date added: 2023/02/05
shelves:
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]]> Malibu Rising 55404546 Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.

Malibu: August, 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, Mick Riva.

The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud—because it is long past time to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.

Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there.

And Kit has a couple secrets of her own—including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.

By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come bubbling to the surface.

Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them... and what they will leave behind.]]> 369 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1524798657 Chen 5 4.02 2021 Malibu Rising
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Chen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/05
date added: 2022/08/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Swell: A Sailing Surfer's Voyage of Awakening]]> 26113769
In 2006, Liz Clark decided to follow the path that surfing, sailing and love of the ocean had presented to her. Embarking on an adventure that most only dream of taking, she set sail from Santa Barbara, solo, headed to the South Pacific. Nine years later she is still following her path in search of surf and self and the beauty and inspiration that lies beyond the beaten path.

In stories overflowing with epic waves and at the whim of the weather, Liz captures her voyage in gripping detail, telling tales of self awareness, solitude, connection to the earth, and really great surf spots.]]> 320 Liz Clark 193834054X Chen 0 to-read 4.33 2018 Swell: A Sailing Surfer's Voyage of Awakening
author: Liz Clark
name: Chen
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/07/11
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]]> <![CDATA[JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died & Why It Matters]]> 2834255
Drawing on a vast field of investigations, including many sources available only recently, Douglass lays out a sequence of steps over the last three years of his life that transformed JFK from a traditional "Cold Warrior" to someone determined to pull the world back from the edge of nuclear apocalypse. Beginning with the fiasco of the Bay of Pigs invasion (which left the President wishing to "splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces"), followed by the Cuban Missile Crisis and his secret back-channel dialogues with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, JFK pursued a series of actions - right up to the week of his death - that caused members of his own U.S. military-intelligence establishment to regard him as a virtual traitor who had to be eliminated.

As the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination approaches, the story of why he was killed - his turn toward peace - is not ancient history, and bears crucial lessons for today in the light of a decade of war and continuing revelations of clandestine national security and military activities. Douglass shows convincingly how those who plotted the death of JFK were determined not simply to eliminate a single man but to kill a vision. Douglass's book has all the elements of a political thriller.

But the stakes couldn't be higher. Only by understanding the truth behind the murder of JFK can we grasp his vision and assume the urgent struggle for peace today.

"In JFK and the Unspeakable Jim Douglass has distilled all the best available research into a very well-documented and convincing portrait of President Kennedy's transforming turn to peace, at the cost of his life. Personally, it has made a very big impact on me. After reading it in Dallas, I was moved for the first time to visit Dealey Plaza. I urge all Americans to read this book and come to their own conclusions about why he died and why - after fifty years - it still matters."
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.]]> 510 James W. Douglass 1570757550 Chen 0 to-read 4.34 2008 JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died & Why It Matters
author: James W. Douglass
name: Chen
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/02/25
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]]> Marilyn 99180 182 Gloria Steinem 1567311253 Chen 0 to-read 4.01 1986 Marilyn
author: Gloria Steinem
name: Chen
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)]]> 1 652 J.K. Rowling Chen 0 4.57 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Chen
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at: 2022/01/30
date added: 2022/01/30
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]]> Facebook: The Inside Story 52032133 He has had unprecedented access to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg for three years. And now renowned tech writer Steven Levy delivers the definitive history of one of America's most powerful and controversial companies: Facebook.

In his sophomore year of college, Mark Zuckerberg created a simple website to serve as a campus social network. The site caught on like wildfire, and soon students nationwide were on Facebook.

Today, Facebook is nearly unrecognizable from Zuckerberg's first, modest iteration. It has grown into a tech giant, the largest social media platform and one of the most gargantuan companies in the world, with a valuation of more than $576 billion and almost 3 billion users, including those on its fully owned subsidiaries, Instagram and WhatsApp. There is no denying the power and omnipresence of Facebook in American daily life. And in light of recent controversies surrounding election-influencing "fake news" accounts, the handling of its users' personal data, and growing discontent with the actions of its founder and CEO, never has the company been more central to the national conversation.

Based on hundreds of interviews inside and outside the company, Levy's sweeping narrative digs deep into the whole story of the company that has changed the world and reaped the consequences.]]> 592 Steven Levy 0735213151 Chen 0 to-read 4.06 2020 Facebook: The Inside Story
author: Steven Levy
name: Chen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/20
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]]> <![CDATA[In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives]]> 7841446
Few companies in history have ever been as successful and as admired as Google, the company that has transformed the Internet and become an indispensable part of our lives. How has Google done it? Veteran technology reporter Steven Levy was granted unprecedented access to the company, and in this revelatory book he takes readers inside Google headquarters—the Googleplex—to show how Google works.

While they were still students at Stanford, Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin revolutionized Internet search. They followed this brilliant innovation with another, as two of Google’s earliest employees found a way to do what no one else had: make billions of dollars from Internet advertising. With this cash cow, Google was able to expand dramatically and take on other transformative projects: more efficient data centers, open-source cell phones, free Internet video (YouTube), cloud computing, digitizing books, and much more.

The key to Google’s success in all these businesses, Levy reveals, is its engineering mind-set and adoption of such Internet values as speed, openness, experimentation, and risk taking. After its unapologetically elitist approach to hiring, Google pampers its engineers—free food and dry cleaning, on-site doctors and masseuses—and gives them all the resources they need to succeed. Even today, with a workforce of more than 23,000, Larry Page signs off on every hire.

But has Google lost its innovative edge? With its newest initiative, social networking, Google is chasing a successful competitor for the first time. Some employees are leaving the company for smaller, nimbler start-ups. Can the company that famously decided not to be evil still compete?

No other book has ever turned Google inside out as Levy does with In the Plex.]]> 432 Steven Levy 1416596585 Chen 0 to-read 3.83 2011 In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
author: Steven Levy
name: Chen
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/20
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]]> How Google Works 23158207 How Google Works is the sum of those experiences distilled into a fun, easy-to-read primer on corporate culture, strategy, talent, decision-making, communication, innovation, and dealing with disruption.

The authors explain how the confluence of three seismic changes - the internet, mobile, and cloud computing - has shifted the balance of power from companies to consumers. The companies that will thrive in this ever-changing landscape will be the ones that create superior products and attract a new breed of multifaceted employees whom the authors dub 'smart creatives'. The management maxims ('Consensus requires dissension', 'Exile knaves but fight for divas', 'Think 10X, not 10%') are illustrated with previously unreported anecdotes from Google's corporate history.

'Back in 2010, Eric and I created an internal class for Google managers,' says Rosenberg. 'The class slides all read 'Google confidential' until an employee suggested we uphold the spirit of openness and share them with the world. This book codifies the recipe for our secret sauce: how Google innovates and how it empowers employees to succeed.']]> 286 Eric Schmidt Chen 0 to-read 4.05 2014 How Google Works
author: Eric Schmidt
name: Chen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/20
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]]> Will 58375739
“It's the best memoir I've ever read.� —Oprah Winfrey

“Will Smith isn't holding back in his bravely inspiring new memoir . . . An ultimately heartwarming read, Will provides a humane glimpse of the man behind the actor, producer and musician, as he bares all his insecurities and trauma.� —USA Today

Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Achievement

One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had.

Will Smith’s transformation from a West Philadelphia kid to one of the biggest rap stars of his era, and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, is an epic tale—but it’s only half the story.

Will Smith thought, with good reason, that he had won at life: not only was his own success unparalleled, his whole family was at the pinnacle of the entertainment world. Only they didn't see it that way: they felt more like star performers in his circus, a seven-days-a-week job they hadn't signed up for. It turned out Will Smith's education wasn't nearly over.

This memoir is the product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind. Written with the help of Mark Manson, author of the multi-million-copy bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Will is the story of how one person mastered his own emotions, written in a way that can help everyone else do the same. Few of us will know the pressure of performing on the world's biggest stages for the highest of stakes, but we can all understand that the fuel that works for one stage of our journey might have to be changed if we want to make it all the way home. The combination of genuine wisdom of universal value and a life story that is preposterously entertaining, even astonishing, puts Will the book, like its author, in a category by itself.]]> 418 Will Smith 1984877925 Chen 5 4.24 2021 Will
author: Will Smith
name: Chen
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/15
date added: 2021/12/15
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]]> Columbine 5632446
What really happened April 20, 1999? The horror left an indelible stamp on the American psyche, but most of what we "know" is wrong. It wasn't about jocks, Goths, or the Trench Coat Mafia. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on scene, and spent ten years on this book-widely recognized as the definitive account. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, he draws on mountains of evidence, insight from the world's leading forensic psychologists, and the killers' own words and drawings-several reproduced in a new appendix. Cullen paints raw portraits of two polar opposite killers. They contrast starkly with the flashes of resilience and redemption among the survivors.]]> 417 Dave Cullen 0446546933 Chen 0 4.28 2009 Columbine
author: Dave Cullen
name: Chen
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/12/02
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]]> Steve Jobs 11084145 630 Walter Isaacson 1451648537 Chen 0 to-read 4.15 2011 Steve Jobs
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Chen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/12/02
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]]> <![CDATA[The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry]]> 12391521
The Psychopath Test is a fascinating journey through the minds of madness. Jon Ronson's exploration of a potential hoax being played on the world's top neurologists takes him, unexpectedly, into the heart of the madness industry. An influential psychologist who is convinced that many important CEOs and politicians are, in fact, psychopaths teaches Ronson how to spot these high-flying individuals by looking out for little telltale verbal and nonverbal clues. And so Ronson, armed with his new psychopath-spotting abilities, enters the corridors of power. He spends time with a death-squad leader institutionalized for mortgage fraud in Coxsackie, New York; a legendary CEO whose psychopathy has been speculated about in the press; and a patient in an asylum for the criminally insane who insists he's sane and certainly not a psychopath.

Ronson not only solves the mystery of the hoax but also discovers, disturbingly, that sometimes the personalities at the helm of the madness industry are, with their drives and obsessions, as mad in their own way as those they study. And that relatively ordinary people are, more and more, defined by their maddest edges.]]> 275 Jon Ronson 1594485755 Chen 0 to-read 3.97 2011 The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
author: Jon Ronson
name: Chen
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/12/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones]]> 40121378 Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving—every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.

Learn how to:
-ĚýMake time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
-ĚýOvercome a lack of motivation and willpower;
- Design your environment to make success easier;
- Get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.

Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.]]> 319 James Clear Chen 0 to-read 4.34 2018 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
author: James Clear
name: Chen
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/12/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> Eat, Pray, Love 19501
Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned thirty, she went through an early-onslaught midlife crisis. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want—a husband, a house, a successful career. But instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief, and confusion. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be.

To recover from all this, Gilbert took a radical step. In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world—all alone. Eat, Pray, Love is the absorbing chronicle of that year. Her aim was to visit three places where she could examine one aspect of her own nature set against the backdrop of a culture that has traditionally done that one thing very well. In Rome, she studied the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and gaining the twenty-three happiest pounds of her life. India was for the art of devotion, and with the help of a native guru and a surprisingly wise cowboy from Texas, she embarked on four uninterrupted months of spiritual exploration. In Bali, she studied the art of balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. She became the pupil of an elderly medicine man and also fell in love the best way—unexpectedly.

An intensely articulate and moving memoir of self-discovery, Eat, Pray, Love is about what can happen when you claim responsibility for your own contentment and stop trying to live in imitation of society’s ideals. It is certain to touch anyone who has ever woken up to the unrelenting need for change.]]> 368 Elizabeth Gilbert 0143038419 Chen 5 3.64 2006 Eat, Pray, Love
author: Elizabeth Gilbert
name: Chen
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2006
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail]]> 12262741 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State � and she would do it alone.

Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.]]> 336 Cheryl Strayed 0307592731 Chen 0 to-read 4.06 2012 Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
author: Cheryl Strayed
name: Chen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/12/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)]]> 2
Harry has had enough. He is beginning to think he must do something, anything, to change his situation, when the summer holidays come to an end in a very dramatic fashion. What Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down...]]> 912 J.K. Rowling Chen 0 4.50 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Chen
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/25
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]]> <![CDATA[The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph]]> 18668059 “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.� � Marcus Aurelius

We are stuck, stymied, frustrated. But it needn’t be this way. There is a formula for success that’s been followed by the icons of history—from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs—a formula that let them turn obstacles into opportunities. Faced with impossible situations, they found the astounding triumphs we all seek.

These men and women were not exceptionally brilliant, lucky, or gifted. Their success came from timeless philosophical principles laid down by a Roman emperor who struggled to articulate a method for excellence in any and all situations.

This book reveals that formula for the first time—and shows us how we can turn our own adversity into advantage.]]> 201 Ryan Holiday 1591846358 Chen 0 to-read 4.13 2014 The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
author: Ryan Holiday
name: Chen
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life]]> 28257707 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062457738

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 American 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.]]> 212 Mark Manson Chen 0 to-read 3.88 2016 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
author: Mark Manson
name: Chen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable (Tim Grover Winning Series)]]> 17354208
Fore more than two decades, legendary trainer Tim Grover has taken the greats—Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and dozens more—and made them greater. Now, for the first time ever, he reveals what it takes to get those results, showing you how to be relentless and achieve whatever you desire.

Direct, blunt, and brutally honest, Grover breaks down what it takes to be unstoppable: you keep going when everyone else is giving up, you thrive under pressure, you never let your emotions make you weak. In “The Relentless 13,� he details the essential traits shared by the most intense competitors and achievers in sports, business, and all walks of life. Relentless shows you how to trust your instincts and get in the Zone; how to control and adapt to any situation; how to find your opponent’s weakness and attack. Grover gives you the same advice he gives his world-class clients—“don’t think”—and shows you that anything is possible. Packed with previously untold stories and unparalleled insight into the psyches of the most successful and accomplished athletes of our time, Relentless shows you how even the best get better . . . and how you can too.]]> 233 Tim S. Grover 1476714207 Chen 0 to-read 3.93 2013 Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable (Tim Grover Winning Series)
author: Tim S. Grover
name: Chen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Managing Oneself (Harvard Business Review Classics)]]> 2477223 72 Peter F. Drucker 142212312X Chen 0 to-read 3.93 2007 Managing Oneself (Harvard Business Review Classics)
author: Peter F. Drucker
name: Chen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/21
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]]> <![CDATA[Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less]]> 29243734 A bold and inspiring memoir and manifesto from a renowned voice in the women's leadership movement who shows women how to cultivate the single skill they really need in order to thrive: the ability to let go.

Once the poster girl for doing it all, after she had her first child, Tiffany Dufu struggled to accomplish everything she thought she needed to in order to succeed. Like so many driven and talented women who have been brought up to believe that to have it all, they must do it all, Dufu began to feel that achieving her career and personal goals was an impossibility. Eventually, she discovered the solution: letting go. In Drop the Ball, Dufu recounts how she learned to reevaluate expectations, shrink her to-do list, and meaningfully engage the assistance of others--freeing the space she needed to flourish at work and to develop deeper, more meaningful relationships at home.

Even though women are half the workforce, they still represent only eighteen per cent of the highest level leaders. The reasons are obvious: just as women reach middle management they are also starting families. Mounting responsibilities at work and home leave them with no bandwidth to do what will most lead to their success. Offering new perspective on why the women's leadership movement has stalled, and packed with actionable advice, Tiffany Dufu's Drop the Ball urges women to embrace imperfection, to expect less of themselves and more from others--only then can they focus on what they truly care about, devote the necessary energy to achieving their real goals, and create the type of rich, rewarding life we all desire.]]> 304 Tiffany Dufu 1250071739 Chen 0 to-read 3.82 2017 Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less
author: Tiffany Dufu
name: Chen
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)]]> 6 734 J.K. Rowling 0439139597 Chen 0 4.56 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Chen
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)]]> 5 435 J.K. Rowling 043965548X Chen 0 4.57 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Chen
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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]]> Honolulu 4618728 The story of a young immigrant bride in a ramshackle town that becomes a great modern city.

"In Korea in those days, newborn girls were not deemed important enough to be graced with formal names, but were instead given nicknames, which often reflected the parents; feelings on the birth of a daughter: I knew a girl named Anger, and another called Pity. As for me, my parents named me Regret."

Honolulu is the rich, unforgettable story of a young "picture bride" who journeys to Hawai'i in 1914 in search of a better life.

Instead of the affluent young husband and chance at an education that she has been promised, she is quickly married off to a poor, embittered laborer who takes his frustrations out on his new wife. Renaming herself Jin, she makes her own way in this strange land, finding both opportunity and prejudice. With the help of three of her fellow picture brides, Jin prospers along with her adopted city, now growing from a small territorial capital into the great multicultural city it is today. But paradise has its dark side, whether it's the daily struggle for survival in Honolulu's tenements, or a crime that will become the most infamous in the islands history...

With its passionate knowledge of people and places in Hawai'i far off the tourist track, Honolulu is most of all the spellbinding tale of four women in a new world, united by dreams, disappointment, sacrifices, and friendship.]]> 360 Alan Brennert 0312360401 Chen 3 4.06 2009 Honolulu
author: Alan Brennert
name: Chen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2009
rating: 3
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date added: 2021/08/17
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]]> Hawaii 12658 An alternate cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Pulitzer Prize–winning author James A. Michener brings Hawaii’s epic history vividly to life in a classic saga that has captivated readers since its initial publication in 1959. As the volcanic Hawaiian Islands sprout from the ocean floor, the land remains untouched for centuries—until, little more than a thousand years ago, Polynesian seafarers make the perilous journey across the Pacific, flourishing in this tropical paradise according to their ancient traditions. Then, in the early nineteenth century, American missionaries arrive, bringing with them a new creed and a new way of life. Based on exhaustive research and told in Michener’s immersive prose, Hawaii is the story of disparate peoples struggling to keep their identity, live in harmony, and, ultimately, join together.]]> 937 James A. Michener 0375760377 Chen 0 to-read 4.21 1959 Hawaii
author: James A. Michener
name: Chen
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1959
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/07/15
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]]> <![CDATA[The Power of Positive Thinking]]> 1134122 "This book is written with the sole objective of helping the reader achieve a happy, satisfying, and worthwhile life."

-- Norman Vincent Peale

The precursor to The Secret, The Power of Positive Thinking has helped millions of men and women to achieve fulfillment in their lives. In this phenomenal bestseller, Dr. Peale demonstrates the power of faith in action. With the practical techniques outlined in this book, you can energize your life -- and give yourself the initiative needed to carry out your ambitions and hopes. You'll learn how to:

Expect the best and get it

Believe in yourself and in everything you do

Develop the power to reach your goals

Break the worry habit and achieve a relaxed life

Improve your personal and professional relationships

Assume control over your circumstances

Be kind to yourself

]]> 128 Norman Vincent Peale 1416560610 Chen 0 to-read 4.13 1952 The Power of Positive Thinking
author: Norman Vincent Peale
name: Chen
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1952
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/06/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World]]> 25744928 One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill, you'll achieve extraordinary results.

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.

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.]]> 296 Cal Newport 1455586692 Chen 0 to-read 4.16 2016 Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
author: Cal Newport
name: Chen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2016
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]]> <![CDATA[The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change]]> 36072 372 Stephen R. Covey 0743269519 Chen 0 to-read 4.16 1989 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
author: Stephen R. Covey
name: Chen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1989
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]]> <![CDATA[Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life...]]> 4894
Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry. And two are "Littlepeople" � beings the size of mice who look and act a lot like people. Their names are Hem and Haw.

"Cheese" is a metaphor for what you want to have in life � whether it's a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, health, or spiritual peace of mind.

And the "Maze" is where you look for what you want � the organisation you work in or the family or community you live in.

In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually, one of them deals with it successfully, and writes what he has learned from his experience on the Maze walls.

When you come to see "The Handwriting on the Wall," you can discover for yourself how to deal with change, so that you can enjoy less stress and more success (however you define it) in your work and in your life.

Written for all ages, the story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights can last for a lifetime.]]> 98 Spencer Johnson 0091883768 Chen 0 to-read 3.88 1999 Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life...
author: Spencer Johnson
name: Chen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1999
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]]> <![CDATA[Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (Good to Great, 2)]]> 4122 368 Jim Collins 0060566108 Chen 0 to-read 4.06 1994 Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (Good to Great, 2)
author: Jim Collins
name: Chen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1994
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]]> <![CDATA[Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike]]> 27220736
In 1962, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and created a company with a simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost athletic shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his lime green Plymouth Valiant, Knight grossed $8,000 his first year. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. In an age of startups, Nike is the ne plus ultra of all startups, and the swoosh has become a revolutionary, globe-spanning icon, one of the most ubiquitous and recognizable symbols in the world today.

But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always remained a mystery. Now, for the first time, in a memoir that is candid, humble, gutsy, and wry, he tells his story, beginning with his crossroads moment. At 24, after backpacking around the world, he decided to take the unconventional path, to start his own business—a business that would be dynamic, different.

Knight details the many risks and daunting setbacks that stood between him and his dream—along with his early triumphs. Above all, he recalls the formative relationships with his first partners and employees, a ragtag group of misfits and seekers who became a tight-knit band of brothers. Together, harnessing the transcendent power of a shared mission, and a deep belief in the spirit of sport, they built a brand that changed everything.]]> 400 Phil Knight 1501135910 Chen 0 to-read 4.45 2016 Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
author: Phil Knight
name: Chen
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2016
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]]> Rich Dad, Poor Dad 69571 195 Robert T. Kiyosaki 0751532711 Chen 0 to-read 4.11 1997 Rich Dad, Poor Dad
author: Robert T. Kiyosaki
name: Chen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1997
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]]> Greenlights 52838315 From the Academy Award®–winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.

I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life’s challenges - how to get relative with the inevitable - you can enjoy a state of success I call “catching greenlights.�

So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.

Hopefully, it’s medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot’s license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.

It’s a love letter. To life.

It’s also a guide to catching more greenlights - and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too.

Good luck.]]> 289 Matthew McConaughey 0593139135 Chen 0 to-read 4.21 2020 Greenlights
author: Matthew McConaughey
name: Chen
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2020
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]]> <![CDATA[This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race]]> 49247043 From The New York Times cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth, the untold story of the cyberweapons market-the most secretive, invisible, government-backed market on earth-and a terrifying first look at a new kind of global warfare.

Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices and move around undetected. One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal, a zero day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone, dismantle the safety controls at a chemical plant, alter an election, and shut down the electric grid (just ask Ukraine).

For decades, under cover of classification levels and non-disclosure agreements, the United States government became the world's dominant hoarder of zero days. U.S. government agents paid top dollar-first thousands, and later millions of dollars- to hackers willing to sell their lock-picking code and their silence.

Then the United States lost control of its hoard and the market.

Now those zero days are in the hands of hostile nations and mercenaries who do not care if your vote goes missing, your clean water is contaminated, or our nuclear plants melt down.

Filled with spies, hackers, arms dealers, and a few unsung heroes, written like a thriller and a reference, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is an astonishing feat of journalism. Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, The New York Times reporter Nicole Perlroth lifts the curtain on a market in shadow, revealing the urgent threat faced by us all if we cannot bring the global cyber arms race to heel.]]> 528 Nicole Perlroth 1635576059 Chen 0 to-read 4.31 2021 This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race
author: Nicole Perlroth
name: Chen
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
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]]> <![CDATA[The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest]]> 55288158
“If you’re only going to read one Everest book this decade, make it The Third Pole. . . . AĚýriveting adventure.”â€� Outside

Shivering, exhausted, gasping for oxygen, beyond doubt . . .

A hundred-year mystery lured veteran climber Mark Synnott into an unlikely expedition up Mount Everest during the spring 2019 season that came to be known as “the Year Everest Broke.� What he found was a gripping human story of impassioned characters from around the globe and a mountain that will consume your soul—and your life—if you let it.
Ěý
The mystery? On June 8, 1924, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine set out to stand on the roof of the world, where no one had stood before. They were last seen eight hundred feet shy of Everest’s summit still “going strong� for the top. Could they have succeeded decades before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay? Irvine is believed to have carried a Kodak camera with him to record their attempt, but it, along with his body, had never been found. Did the frozen film in that camera have a photograph of Mallory and Irvine on the summit before they disappeared into the clouds, never to be seen again? Kodak says the film might still be viable. . . .
Ěý
Mark Synnott made his own ascent up the infamous North Face along with his friend Renan Ozturk, a filmmaker using drones higher than any had previously flown. Readers witness first-hand how Synnott’s quest led him from oxygen-deprivation training to archives and museums in England, to Kathmandu, the Tibetan high plateau, and up the North Face into a massive storm. The infamous traffic jams of climbers at the very summit immediately resulted in tragic deaths. Sherpas revolted. Chinese officials turned on Synnott’s team. An Indian woman miraculously crawled her way to frostbitten survival. Synnott himself went off the safety rope—one slip and no one would have been able to save him—committed to solving the mystery.
Ěý
Eleven climbers died on Everest that season, all of them mesmerized by an irresistible magic. The Third Pole is a rapidly accelerating ride to the limitless joy and horror of human obsession.]]> 448 Mark Synnott 152474557X Chen 0 to-read 4.09 2021 The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest
author: Mark Synnott
name: Chen
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
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]]> <![CDATA[Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX]]> 53402132 "This is as important a book on space as has ever been written and it's a riveting page-turner, too." —Homer Hickam, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Rocket Boys

The dramatic inside story of the historic flights that launched SpaceX—and Elon Musk—from a shaky startup into the world's leading-edge rocket company.

SpaceX has enjoyed a miraculous decade. Less than 20 years after its founding, it boasts the largest constellation of commercial satellites in orbit, has pioneered reusable rockets, and in 2020 became the first private company to launch human beings into orbit. Half a century after the space race it is private companies, led by SpaceX, standing alongside NASA pushing forward into the cosmos, and laying the foundation for our exploration of other worlds.

But before it became one of the most powerful players in the aerospace industry, SpaceX was a fledgling startup, scrambling to develop a single workable rocket before the money ran dry. The engineering challenge was immense; numerous other private companies had failed similar attempts. And even if SpaceX succeeded, they would then have to compete for government contracts with titans such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who had tens of thousands of employees and tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. SpaceX had fewer than 200 employees and the relative pittance of $100 million in the bank.

In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company’s first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company’s inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

Filled with never-before-told stories of SpaceX’s turbulent beginning, Liftoff is a saga of cosmic proportions.]]> 288 Eric Berger 0062979973 Chen 0 to-read 4.43 2021 Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX
author: Eric Berger
name: Chen
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2021
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company]]> 44525305 A grand vision defined: The CEO of The Walt Disney Company shares the ideas and values he has used to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world, and inspire the people who bring the magic to life.

In 2005, Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt Disney Company during a difficult time. Morale had deteriorated, competition was more intense, and technology was changing faster than at any time in the company's history. "I knew there was nothing to be gained from arguing over the past," Iger writes. "The only thing that mattered was the future, and I believed I had a clear idea of the direction Disney needed to go." It came down to three clear ideas: 1) Create the highest quality content Disney could produce. 2) Embrace and adopt technology instead of fighting it. And 3) Think bigger--think global--and turn Disney into a stronger brand in international markets.

Twelve years later, Disney is the largest, most respected media company in the world counting Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox among its properties. Its value is nearly five times what it was when Iger took over, and Iger is recognized as one of the most innovative and successful CEOs of our time.

Now, he's sharing the lessons he's learned while running Disney and leading its 200,000 employees--taking big risks in the face of historic disruption; learning to inspire the people who work for you; leading with fairness and communicating principles clearly. This book is about the relentless curiosity that has driven Iger for forty-five years, since the day he started as a studio supervisor at ABC. It's also about thoughtfulness and respect, and a decency-over-dollars approach that has become the bedrock of every project and partnership Iger pursues, from a deep friendship with Steve Jobs in his final years to an abiding love of the evolving Star Wars myth.

"Over the past fourteen years, I think I've learned so much about what real leadership is," Iger writes. "But I couldn't have articulated all of this until I lived it. You can't fake it--and that's one of the key lessons in this book."

Librarian Note: This is an Advance Reader Copy issued with ISBN 9780399592096. That ISBN has been moved to the final published copy, found here]]> 272 Robert Iger Chen 0 to-read 4.37 2019 The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company
author: Robert Iger
name: Chen
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2019
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]]>