An excellent book about how to build long-term trust-based relationships with clients. Although the book is meant mainly for consultants, it is applicable to just about any situation in which people come to you for advice. Very well-structured and solid advice.

A great book about communicating, negotiating, or mediating negotiation. Not an entertaining read, but highly practical. Probably useful for anyone anywhere 5/5 stars.

Of course this book will not teach you how to influence people to get them to do whatever you want… that is simply impossible (and shame on you for wanting to do that in the first place)! However, it is a great survey of automatic human behavior. The book’s claims are backed with oodles of references to behavioral psychology experiments, making it highly credible. My only criticism is that the author was more verbose than necessary and I felt compelled to skim sections to avoid redundant passages. I was certain that at the end of the book, he would reveal that his verbosity was actually a ploy designed to influence the reader to skim, but that was not the case.

Like any ‘weapon’ (the author uses that term to classify influence tactics), it is important to know about it even if your only motive is to defend yourself from it. The author places himself firmly on the defense side of this ethical issue, which is reassuring. The more we know about our automatic psychological behaviors, the more power we have to overcome them. 4/5 stars.

This is a self-help book for people who want a long-term plan for successful change, not just a quick-fix. It is amazing that a book with such a far-reaching goal can actually achieve that goal (giving you a framework for living for becoming a more effective person) but I found so much useful material in here, I think it wins on every level. By “effective” the author means that you can get what you want out of life more often. This involves beginning with your self and examining what kind of person you are (his concept of “centers” is the most effective introspection technique I’ve ever come across)… and then follows with a series of extremely practical suggestions about various “habits” of thinking which you should try to introduce into your life in order to get the most out of it. The ultimate goal is “synergy” with other people: working together to create more than you could individually.

This is an extremely powerful book and a surprisingly enjoyable quick read. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a way to get more out of life. 5/5 stars.

Frank McCourt’s memoir of his 30-year career teaching in New York City public schools was a quick and enjoyable read filled with amusing and memorable anecdotes. That said, I don’t feel like I learned very much from it. Much like Mr. McCourt’s teaching style, the book was loosely structured and did not tell you what to think. I don’t generally mind that, but in this case I just didn’t feel like it was stimulating enough to get away with not having a clear message. The book was fun and very casual, so if that’s what you’re looking for, pick this up for some light inspiration. 3/5 stars.

This is the closest experience I’ve ever had to reading a textbook for fun. While it’s not a textbook, this book is required reading in many business and economics classes, and covers all the fundamentals of investment strategy. It was surprisingly interesting and obviously quite useful for anyone considering investing (even if you don’t mind handing over control of your money to an advisor). As is the case with most economic concepts, it was also interesting to think of how to apply these techniques to things besides money, such as time and effort. To sum up the entire book in one sentence: invest in a diversified index fund. Want to know why? Read the book. 5/5 stars.

Strategy is one of the most inherently useful concepts in everyday life. This book helps bring game theory and economics within reach of laypeople and in a very compelling and engaging manner. Every chapter ends with a brain-teaser case question which requires the application of the concepts covered in the chapter, and the book ends with a chapter full of 24 more. Topics and settings covered include voting strategies, contract negotiation, spy games, auctions, football, cartels, exit strategies, poker, and more. The book’s subtitle puts the focus on competition, but one of the themes in this book is that when society cooperates, things are usually better for everyone. Highly recommended. 5/5 stars.

I had heard lots about this classic Kafka, so I thought I’d check it out. The story is only about 60 pages long, so it was super-fast, and it was interesting. Extremely non-traditional… the story has no build-up to a climax, rather the climax happens at the very beginning and the rest of the story winds down from there. Not an uplifting tale, more of an interesting read for the sake of experimentation. 4/5 stars.

I figured since I’m heading into the business world, I should learn to improve my memory. Wouldn’t it be great to always remember everyone’s name? To remember to do all the things you need to do? This book was written by magician Harry Lorayne and NBA star Jerry Lucas, and proposes to have a system to help you remember just about anything. I read through the whole thing and I tried a bunch of the exercises… I think it helps! How much it helps depends on how much effort you’re willing to put into it. Nothing comes without effort, and this is no exception. When I’ve put the effort in, this system helped me remember things. His system involves picturing absurd images which are based on words which sound like the things you are trying to remember. I don’t want to give away the whole book, and you can probably find the whole thing somewhere on the Internet. The book is not really for entertainment and it is not terribly interesting, so you should think of it as a tool. I don’t even know how I can rate it because it’s not really on the same scale as the books I usually review, so I’ll just give it a 4/5.

The subtitle of this book is “Exposing why the rich are rich, the poor are poor - and why you can never buy a decent used car!” Despite the catchy subtitle, this book will not teach you how to become rich. This book is for “armchair economists” who like to understand why things are the way they are and what we can do to make things better. For example, rush hour traffic, the US healthcare system, corrupt governments, the food quality at tourist traps, coffee pricing, etc… The author, Tim Harford, writes in a very enjoyable style and this book is full of extremely interesting ideas. Anyone who enjoyed Freakonomics should definitely check this out. 5/5 stars.

What an unexpected surprise this book was. It’s a guide to the “puzzle” interviews like those used by Microsoft and other high-tech firms. It has lots of advice and history and info about these types of interviews, which is worth skimming, but the real fun is the puzzles themselves. For example:

How do you think they make M&Ms? (make a specific guess)

If you have a 5-quart bucket, a 3-quart bucket, and an infinite amount of water, how would you measure out exactly 4 quarts of water? (describe the exact procedure)

You have two lengths of fuse. Each will burn for exactly one hour, but the fuses are not necessarily identical and do not burn at a constant rate. There are fast-burning sections and slow-burning sections. How do you measure 45 minutes using only the fuses and a lighter? (describe the exact procedure)

How many piano tuners are there in the world? (estimate)

There are tons of these puzzles on the Internet, so you might be able to skip the book if that’s all you care about, but it was a very enjoyable read nonetheless. 5/5 stars.

I read this book as a sort of self-motivated professional development effort. It is very clearly written and very helpful for anyone looking to develop their communication skills for any kind of relationship: personal or business. This is not a bullshit self-help guide, it is very straightforward and honest. 5/5 stars.

Malcolm Gladwell is such a pleasant read, it’s hard to go wrong with anything of his. The Tipping Point is a very interesting book which attempts to explain patterns and effectiveness in the spread of information and influence. 4/5 stars.

A very entertaining and thoughtful novel. Also very short! This is a great introduction to H.G. Wells (I also read The Invisible Man), so check it out if you like sophistocated classic sci-fi. 4/5 stars.

This Pulitzer Prize winning novel is a real gem of a book. A verbose tale of two young relatives who dream to make it big in the comic book industry… definitely worth a look. 4/5 stars.