Book Insights Podcast
167 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 year ago -Check us out at podcast.memod.com for our entire library of podcast episodes!
Each week we do a deep dive into a nonfiction bestseller. Self-Help. Psychology. Business. Philosophy. In around 30 minutes we cover the major themes and ideas of a recent hit, an important work, or an ancient classic.
The result: concentrated wisdom that goes beyond the headlines, makes you think and helps you succeed in relationships, career, or business.
The podcast builds on the work of Tom Butler-Bowdon, author of the “50 Classics series”.
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Episodes
Melinda Gates on Breaking Barriers: Book Insight on The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates
August 19, 2020 14:00 - 33 minutes - 46 MBSince co-founding the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, Melinda Gates has worked on initiatives to improve healthcare and educational opportunities and reduce poverty around the world. The foundation’s mission has taken her across Africa, India and Southeast Asia, as well as closer to home in the US. Throughout her travels, she has met inspiring and courageous women struggling with extreme poverty, outmoded practices or lack of opportunities. Their stories are recorded here, al...
Sheryl Sandberg says "Lean in!" Book Insight on Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
August 12, 2020 14:00 - 24 minutes - 33.7 MBLean In continues the conversation that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg started back in 2010 with her unmissable TED talk. She encourages women to make their voices heard, to lean in and “sit at the table”, take risks and strive to reach their potential. No organization can be truly effective, Sandberg argues, if it does not purposefully try to represent all of society. You end up with a one-dimensional workplace that is not fit to create products and services that cater to 100 percent o...
Marie Kondo's Life-Changing Magic: Book Insight on The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
August 05, 2020 14:00 - 30 minutes - 41.6 MB*There are fundamental truths about tidying – an optimum method can really make a dramatic difference in our lives. *Judging by the reception that Marie Kondo has received globally, her system works. *Tidying is a habit, and the power to change it for a new and more effective habit is completely in our hands. *It’s rare that an item in your home will be ‘just an object’. Everything in it either means something, and so should be kept and treasured, or means very little, in which case it...
Are you an original? Book Insight on Originals by Adam Grant
July 29, 2020 11:00 - 32 minutes - 45 MB*Organizational psychologist Adam Grant believes it’s possible to be an innovator without having many of the downsides associated with creativity, such as isolation and anxiety. * If you’ve had enough of hearing about ‘superpeople’ who have changed the world through their ideas and inventions, it may be daunting to ever think you could also be an ‘original’ in this way. * Recent research illuminates the concrete steps we can all follow to become more innovative and creative, and to chall...
Turning Purpose Into Payoff: Book Insight on Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
July 22, 2020 20:06 - 33 minutes - 46.1 MB*Napoleon Hill wrote Think and Grow Rich as America was still clawing itself out of the Great Depression, when most citizens were focused on avoiding poverty rather than getting rich. *The promise of the book’s title stood out though, and made people wonder just what was possible. *It contained not simply Hill’s own ideas, but the distilled secrets of hundreds of America’s most successful figures, gathered over 25 years of research. *Hill’s mission was simply to know “how the wealthy b...
Can thoughts heal you? Book Insight on The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy
July 15, 2020 14:00 - 33 minutes - 45.6 MBYour thoughts shape your beliefs. Your beliefs shape your actions. Your actions shape your reality. This is the basics of The Law of Attraction, and similarly physician and author Joseph Murphy believed that mental visualizations and affirmations begin to change us and affect the world around us. Whatever you fixate on, you will attract more of the same into your life. Through a refusal to dwell on negative thoughts, and a daily practice of noticing and focusing on the positive, you can st...
What small changes make the biggest impact? Book Insight on The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
July 08, 2020 14:00 - 26 minutes - 36.9 MB* Success is simple: it involves hard work and habits that compounds our value over time. *In this global bestseller, entrepreneur and success coach Darren Hardy shows that it’s the small, incremental changes that – when made consistently – will make a difference in your life. *With consistent effort, the compound effect will naturally take hold, allowing you to reach the success that you’ve always dreamed of. But there are no magic bullets. *Hardy’s book is a welcome alternative to fa...
Are you a David or a Goliath? Book Insight on David & Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
July 01, 2020 14:00 - 34 minutes - 47.5 MBGladwell revisits the ancient tale of the underdog to break down history’s secrets. David’s small size, lack of armor, and sling shot are really advantages, and Goliath’s immense size and power only work against him. Gladwell revisits a dozen or so stories, ranging from Biblical battles to the London Blitz, to redefine how we look at history’s underdogs and industry giants. The ‘little guys’ are often considered weak due to their outlier status or their disadvantageous upbringing. But...
Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman
June 24, 2020 14:00 - 35 minutes - 48.7 MBLearned Optimism is a classic of positive psychology from the father of the field. Martin Seligman is the most distinguished researcher of learned helplessness, pessimism, optimism and flourishing. His book explains the differences between optimistic and pessimistic thinking and how the latter can lead to depression. Learned Optimism recounts studies and stories on the benefits that optimism can bring to all major areas of your life. An epidemic in depression globally has made the ...
The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
June 17, 2020 14:00 - 37 minutes - 51.2 MBIn The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor proves that success follows happiness and not the other way around. He distills various findings in the field of positive psychology to provide practical advice on how to improve your well-being, achieve goals, and develop stronger relationships – all by adopting a more positive mindset. Theme 1: Simple Ways to Boost Happiness - 4:16 Theme 2: How To Develop a Happier Mindset - 14:33 Theme 3: Utilize Your Greatest Asset - 27:27 Like what you hear...
Behave by Robert M. Sapolsky
June 10, 2020 14:00 - 25 minutes - 35.7 MBHuman action has multiple layers of causation. Our behavior is complicated. It can’t be explained by biology and genes alone – as evolutionary biologists tend to do. And it can’t be explained by environment alone, as a sociologist might. How we act and think depends on a subtle interplay between ancient urges and fears, social and cultural influences, and reasoning. Sometimes, as Sapolsky explains in comprehensive detail, this can lead to the very worst actions in history – the blight...
An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison
June 03, 2020 14:00 - 29 minutes - 41.2 MB* Dr Kay Redfield Jamison, one of the leading authorities on manic depression (or bipolar disorder), has written extensively about the often perplexing psychiatric illness, and also about its links with creativity. * In An Unquiet Mind she unites these strands in a courageous and gripping memoir, revealing her own experiences of living with manic depression. * Jamison details the incredible highs and the devastating lows. * The complex relationship with the lithium medication she is ...
How to Be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci
May 27, 2020 14:00 - 27 minutes - 37.9 MB* Stoicism was a school of ancient philosophy which survived for several centuries, and is going through a major revival today. * Massimo Pigliucci provides an essential guide to applying the wisdom of the Stoics to 21st-century life, making the sometimes difficult subject of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy accessible and relevant to the modern world. * The book is based around several key quotes from the famous Stoic Epictetus, explaining their meaning in terms of everyday events and ...
Happiness at Work by Srikumar Rao
May 20, 2020 14:00 - 24 minutes - 33.7 MBThis work of philosophy will get you thinking about much more than your average personal development or business book. Srikumar Rao applies ancient Eastern spiritual wisdom to the high-stress present-day work setting. Lessons include: managing yourself, not time; leaving behind a me-centered world; and the power of not judging. Focusing on helping others will also make you happier, and Rao is keen to remind us that people who are happy tend to be better at their work. 2:37 Part...
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
May 13, 2020 14:00 - 24 minutes - 33.9 MBPsychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says it is best to think about the universe in terms of order and chaos (entropy) The best way to have an ordered mind, and a life of meaning, is to engage in many ‘flow’ activities. A flow activity is one undertaken for its own sake rather than an end result – running a marathon for the joy of it, say, rather than in desperation to win the race. In a nutshell, flow makes life more meaningful, and a meaningful life, argues Csikszentmihalyi, is...
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker
May 09, 2020 17:41 - 32 minutes - 45.2 MB* Is humanity really heading towards an abyss? * Or have we forgotten how to acknowledge progress? * Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker argues that statistically people are happier, wealthier and healthier than ever before * Our progress over the past 300 years is due to the ideals set out by Enlightenment thinkers in the 18th century: science, reason and humanism HEAR THE FULL INTERVIEWS MENTIONED IN TODAY'S EPISODE HERE: "Steven Pinker | The Case For Reason, Science, Humani...
Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz
April 27, 2020 18:28 - 18 minutes - 25.5 MBWe can’t all be right, all of the time. Much as we might hate to admit it, Kathryn Schulz argues that being wrong has its advantages, and recognising this could do us the world of good. Drawing on science, philosophy, psychology, literature and personal experience, she unpicks our difficult relationship with being wrong. Everyone slips up, but it’s in our nature to downplay, cover up, deny, or to blame others. Shouldn’t we have better mechanisms for confronting the mistakes we make in everyd...