Short Studies

Marcus Aurelius is most known for his philosophical musings, especially one brand of philosophical thought called stoicism. This philosophy has as much application in today's world as it did in his age. Marcus put his philosophical musings to paper; this work is now famously known as the Meditations. This is an analysis and review of Meditations.

In The Big Short, Micheal Lewis chronicles the looming housing market crash of 2008-2009 through the eyes of a select few who saw it coming and positioned themselves to make a substantial amount of money from the folly of bankers. Follow the unapologetic analyst Steve Eisman; the value investor-savant Michael Burry; the two "event-driven" investors with no hedge fund chops; and the sleazy Grep Lippmann, who did his best to spread the idea and make money off investors wanting in and out of subprime.

Despite Brazil being part of the BRIC nations, those with the most potential for growth in the global economy, Brazil is considered economically backwards in many ways. You get an idea of this when you look deeper into its politics and economic policies. In this edition of Summary Shorts, we will analyze and summarize the ideas put forth in Brazillionaires, a book that truly exposes the dark side of Brazil's rise and arguably its inexorable fall.

Leonardo da Vinci was one of those geniuses that could do anything: he was an architect, a sculptor, a painter, amongst other things. He didn't really specialize in one particular field. Back in his day that was not an issue; it was encouraged to have your hand in a little bit of everything. Today, we have become increasingly more specialized. In his book, The Da Vinci Curse, Leonardo Lospennato gives clues and tips as to how a person with multiple talents can live in an increasingly specialized world. We will review and summarize these points here.

For the most part, most of us are of average health and fitness. We may not run marathons that often, but we are pretty healthy and that might be just fine. But what if you could make your body into a super-fit machine? In Ben Greenfield's book 30 Ways to Reboot Your Body, he goes into some detail as to how to get you from just average to super fit, super strong, and having staggeringly great health. In this summary, we will discuss the core concepts in his book. You will learn what needs to be done to be super healthy and fit.

We all know that the mind is an incredible place. Despite this, the mind itself is not programmed to maximize our happiness. It is a repetition-loving mechanism and will often keep us stuck in old outdated patterns that may not serve us. These patterns often pass on from generation to generation. In the Code of the Extraordinary Mind, Vishen Lakhiani teaches us how to break through this outdated and generationally acquired programming to achieve the life we have always wanted. We will review and analyze Lakhiani's book.

When one thinks about Berkshire Hathaway, the business giant, we often tend to think of Warren Buffet. We know that Buffet is known to be a legendary investor, of that we cannot deny. Little do people know that the vice-president of Berkshire Hathaway is also a legendary investor in his own right. In this book we will summarize and discuss Tren Griffin's book Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor and learn more about Charlie himself. We will also discuss the concepts of value investing and other investment ideas from this icon of investing.

In today's diet-crazed society, we are on a seemingly endless search for the perfect diet. In Dave Asprey's The Bulletproof Diet he explains what the perfect diet should look like: one that can help achieve peak health. In this edition of Summary Shorts, we will analyze and summarize the principles in The Bulletproof Diet and see how we can apply them into our daily diet and overall nutrition regimen. Enjoy!

When we think about viruses, we think about diseases such as the flu. For the most part, the flu comes and goes—the body is able to fight it. For some, it can be deadly. There are of course more dangerous viruses out there such as Ebola that in some cases kills 90 percent of those infected. In today's world, viruses can spread very quickly and it's for this reason we must be vigilant. Carl Zimmer in his book A Planet of Viruses discusses what viruses are and why they are so hard to eradicate. He also explains how not all viruses are bad and are, in fact, vital to our survival. Enjoy!

Robert Greene, in his book Mastery, lays out exactly what we all need to do to gain mastery in any given field. In this book, we will analyze, discuss, and summarize Robert Greene's Mastery and see if we too can become masters in whatever endeavor we want to embark upon.

Sonia Shah, in her wonderful book Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond, goes into some depth as to how we need to prepare for a future pandemic. In this review, we will analyze, discuss, and summarize the key points in Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond. Enjoy!

The Internet changed everything. Alec Ross, in his book The Industries of the Future, discusses how technology has completely changed several industries both for the better and for the worse. In this volume of Summary Shorts, we will analyze, discuss, and summarize the core concepts of The Industries of the Future by Alec Ross.

We may not think of our brain as being a computer, but in many ways it very much is like a computer. It is just far more complex than even the most advanced computer out there that we know of. In light of this fact, it is possible to program our minds to change how we react and behave. One effective program we can use is called neuro-linguistic programming or NLP as we will call it going forward. Millions of people around the world have used NLP to change their lives.

Despite the availability of "stuff", our lives are often not very fulfilling. As we pursue one shiny object after another we come to the realization that none of it is making us happy. And worse still, it estranges us from our true purpose in life. There must be another way. Alan Watts, in his book The Wisdom of Insecurity, proposes a solution. In this edition of Summary Shorts, we will analyze and summarize the ideas put forth in The Wisdom of Insecurity and learn how to truly experience life when consumerism fails us.