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Future stories

David Christian 

With a multidisciplinary approach to time informed by biology, philosophy, and cosmology, Future Stories explains the roots of how we make decisions about the future and illuminates the urgent responsibility of humanity today. Big History Project cofounder Christian examines the science and history of future thinking, sketching what the distant future might look like in this erudite and immersive study. Noting that the mysteries of the future are a fundamental concern for all living organisms, Christian investigates how bacteria, animals, and plants manage the future by setting goals, assessing trends, and acting.

• Future management can help alleviate feelings of distress and lead to better choices.
• Animals have evolved even more sophisticated future-management skills, but they continue to follow the same three steps as cells and plants.

How to stop worrying and start living

Dale Carnegie

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living is a self-help classic that explains why worrying harms your health and what you can do about it. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living can help you worry less today by providing tools and techniques to put into practice, and a wealth of examples and anecdotes to back up its recommendations. Carnegie’s book is a collection of tried-and-true recipes told in a captivating manner, relying on the real-life experiences and successes of famous or unknown people.

• Confusion causes worry: get the facts about your worries and solve the problem.
• Don’t sink energy into hopeless situations or grudges: set a limit for yourself after which you stop worrying about them.

Propaganda 

Edward Bernays

Propaganda is an outspoken and unapologetic defense of political and social manipulation techniques. Far from being a dark art practiced by despots and dictators, Bernays contends that propaganda is essential to the survival of modern democracies. Of course, not everyone agrees, but the enduring influence of Bernays’ arguments is reason enough to engage with them nearly 100 years later. 

• Mass propaganda was first used as a tool to mobilize societies for war.
• There’s no special art of politics – it’s all marketing.

The tipping point 

Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point investigates why certain products, diseases, or ideas spread. Each epidemic has a few characteristics in common that are enough to spark a significant increase in sales, diagnoses, or conversations. Malcolm Gladwell considers the value of context and finer details in our surroundings. Furthermore, he outlines the types of people critical to the spread of an epidemic. As a result, Malcolm provides building blocks for entrepreneurs looking to take their product, service, or idea viral. The solution is to identify the tipping point of your idea and consistently implement it.

• Some people are born with the gift of persuasion and a knack for selling ideas.
• Ideas spread particularly fast with connectors, or people with a vast social network.

Lying 

Sam Harris 

In Lying, Sam Harris investigates the moral, psychological, and behavioral aspects of lying, arguing that it is rarely justified or advisable, even in the most trivial of circumstances. Writing a paragraph, an essay, or, in this case, a brief e-book to tell people what they already know may appear childish now. Lying is unethical. We all know this, and anyone who is not a psychopath believes it, but most adults do it all the time, often without thinking. You could argue that the minor lies people tell in their daily lives are harmless and help to lubricate our social interactions, but Harris makes some compelling counterarguments.

• Lies harm your relationships.
• Lies can cause mental stress.

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