The 48 Laws of Power is written like a “how to” book, but should not be read as such. If read that way, it’s a terrible book. Not only does it encourage you to be an awful person, it doesn’t give much guidance on how to apply the laws in practice.
A question that The 48 Laws of Power does not address is whether you should even seek power – and what lengths you should go to to seek it. Greene assumes that everyone wants power and that more is better. He’s wrong.
A Mind for Numbers is about learning how to learn. Oakley doesn’t just give study tips (though it certainly does include many). She also explains why those study tips or strategies work, and supports that with evidence.
The premise of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone sucked me in. Unless you’re a therapist, you’ll never know what goes on in the therapy room. Even if you’ve been to therapy, you might wonder what other patients talk about in therapy, and what therapists really think of their patients. The premise piqued my curiosity, and Gottlieb delivered.
We can’t give a fuck about everything, so we have to choose our fucks carefully. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck suggests how we might make those choices.