Episodes

This book contains general rules of learning that 11 cognitive psychologists have spent a decade working on. Let’s uncover the mistakes of our current learning habits, and adopt the most straightforward and scientific strategies for the current "era of complexity”. We can do this by applying these advanced research findings in psychology and neuroscience. Since its publication, this book has topped the Amazon educational psychology category list for four consecutive years.

This book is called, “the concept that has the greatest impact on American marketing”. It is even comparable to Taylor’s scientific management and Peter Drucker’s management theories. It has changed people’s understanding on the previous marketing concept of “meeting demands”. It clarifies that the key for companies to win in increasingly competitive markets, is to let your customers remember your products firmly.

The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind is a classic book in the field of social psychology. Since its publication in 1895, it has been translated into about 20 languages. In this book, the author examines the unique psychology of crowds, and in particular makes a penetrating comparative analysis of the different psychological characteristics between individuals and crowds. The problems discussed in this book, written a hundred years ago, are still relevant to a lot of people today. Why is the “i...

Parent talk is more meaningful than expensive early childhood education classes. The gap of 30 million words, which refers to the difference between the number of words children from different backgrounds are exposed to when young, greatly affects children physically and psychologically. Through this book, you will see how important parent talk is. You will also learn “the Three Ts” to communicate with children scientifically: tune in, talk more, and take turns. This is a primer on language educ...

When someone cuts in line in front of you at the supermarket and you feel furious, do you get angry at the person or say nothing at all? When your boss promises you a pay raise but soon regrets and denies it, do you just accept it or fight for what you want? So many confrontations test our social relationships, and so many of us are overwhelmed by them. Given this situation, the five authors of Crucial Confrontations looked into various industries and have found out how to turn interpersonal cri...

During World War II, many ancient and picturesque cities were reduced to piles of ruins under a "scorched-earth policy." "Is Paris burning?" was a question that Hitler bitterly put to his Chief of the General Staff on the day of the liberation of Paris in 1944. Facing the great danger that the city’s glorious architecture and art treasures might be burnt to the ground, how did resistance groups and the Allies react? This book will give you a real and vivid description of the history of Paris's f...

Can you imagine a city like this: For more than three thousand years, it has been given countless titles. It is a temple of god, the capital of two states, and the Holy Land for three major religions. It is also known as the place where news happens every hour, every day. It is the Holy Land, but also a cemetery. Flaubert called it a "morgue," and Huxley called it a "religious slaughterhouse." This city perfectly combines contradictions like holiness and cruelty. This is Jerusalem, a city that m...

In this information explosion era, people's attention span is dwindling. Whoever catches public attention also catches the business opportunity. However, seizing attention is not something that only happens in contemporary society. The battle for public attention has already begun a century ago. How did merchants benefit from the battle for attention? What changes has the media undergone as a result? How have advertisements evolved over time? How has marketing encroached on every area of our liv...

What kind of children can be happy for their whole lives? Is it going to be the rich kid or the well-behaved kid? Well, The Optimistic Child will tell you that optimism, interest, and good habits are the most precious qualities. If there is no interest, there will be no motive for self-development, and if there are no good habits, then there is nothing to secure self-development. And what is the foundation of enthusiasm and good habits? Optimism. Optimism is the mark of a successful education.

This book is a classic in social science with worldwide popularity. It enjoys a similar reputation with two other books, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, and Idols of the Tribe: Group Identity and Political Change. This book essentially explores the answers to some questions about the “active phase” of mass movements, such as who will be the true believers? Why are they so fanatical? and What are the characteristics of the leader during different stages of the mass movement?. The author E...

Pixar, the producer of WALL·E, had a difficult path to development. Pixar’s glory is similar to the outcome of colliding “tectonic plates”. One of the plates symbolizes artistic pursuit resulting from the pressure of innovation. The other plate symbolizes the pressures of trying to survive in the real world and dealing with aspects like financing, the box office, and production speed. How did a talented and artistic team, but also being one ridden with heavy debt, quickly develop into a creative...

Why do children from different social classes have different starting lines? Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life tells us that parents of different social classes differ in parenting styles due to differences in family economic levels, educational backgrounds, and work experience. Middle-class families tend to employ a pattern of concerted cultivation, while working-class and poor families tend to allow children to grow naturally. Different parenting styles have different effects on...

“Amusing Ourselves to Death” is part of Neil Postman’s series of books criticizing the contemporary media. The book suggests that we are unknowingly living in a metaphorical world created by the media, which is redefining the way we live. The Washington Post described the book as a scathing indictment by Postman, and praised the book as being talented, powerful and significant. As one of Postman’s most important and representative works, ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’ has been translated into mult...

Compared with front-line employees or high-level leaders, managers often face excessive workloads and deal with never-ending problems. Their roles and effects are often underestimated. This book teaches how middle managers, as the mainstay of an organization, can achieve maximum output with effective input such as output-orientation, one-on-one meetings, performance appraisal and so on. Andy Grove was one of the founders and a former CEO of Intel. As a scientist, Grove participated in bringing a...

When it comes to the mind, the first thing most people think of is the “brain”. This is because scientific evidence shows us that the brain is the center of thinking and consciousness. There are also people who believe that our thoughts are controlled by the soul. This book tells us that the mind is a system of organs of computation. It is the result of “natural selection”, produced as our ancestors went through the process of overcoming the challenges to survival. In other words, the mind is no...

‘Never Eat Alone’ was published in 2005 and has been a top seller ever since it became known to the public. It has spread widely to 16 nations and regions, reaching tens of millions of people, and has been on the Top. 1 ranking position in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the United States’ Amazon list. The book offers a number of lifelong social rules that break down the way people think about social behavior. It can help people change their casual behaviors in life, build more ...

What is ugliness? Is it merely the opposite of beauty? What are the categories of ugliness? With rich written and illustrative material and unique insights, the book On Ugliness scrutinizes our biases against ugliness. It overturns traditional aesthetics and presents a fascinating history of the “aesthetics” of ugliness. The book draws closely on the visual arts, combining these with key literary works from across the ages. It discusses how ugliness has been portrayed in the Western tradition, f...

Many people believe that the most reliable way to acquire wealth must be a slow-paced process. It requires factors such as good grades, working hard, salary rises, getting promotions, fixed deposits, making investments with 10% of your capital, as well as pension plans. The Millionaire Fastlane, on the contrary, demonstrates the vital deficiencies of this commonly known as “Get Rich Slow” concept, and proposes a new theory called the Fastlane. What is the Fastlane? What are the strategies behind...

If someone asks you: how did America win the Second World War? Your answer might certainly be: through their superior military strength. However, did you know that books also played a decisive role? Soldiers read armed services editions of books while waiting to land in Normandy; in the hellish trenches of battlefields in the Pacific; in field hospitals; and on warships. Books, as key ideological weapons, led America to the final victory of World War II. This is precisely the story “When Books W...

Artificial intelligence has already entered our lives. While we enjoy the convenience it brings us, we are also worried that it might take our jobs, access our data, and make decisions for us. Given the numerous challenges we will be facing in the future, how do we make sure we can stay at the forefront of time and survive? Following Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, as the finale of the trilogy, the book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century will bring ...

This book is a classic in the advertising world. If people in the advertising industry were to know only one person and one book, it would no doubt be David Ogilvy and his book Confessions of an Advertising Man. Even if you’re not in the industry, the book will still help you learn about the industry and the people in it. In this book, David Ogilvy, the “pope of modern advertising”, illustrated his distinctive advertising philosophy and business principles.

Peter F Drucker said, “just as management has become the specific organ of all contemporary institutions, and the integrating organ of our society of organizations, so innovation and entrepreneurship have to become an integral life-sustaining activity in our organizations, our economy, our society.” This requires managers of all institutions to treat innovation and entrepreneurship as a normal and uninterrupted daily behavior and practice, both within their enterprise, and in their own work. The...

At one point or another, we all experience rejection, loneliness, frustration, and low self-esteem. These are psychological injuries that we should not ignore. As such, we’d better use a mental health medical kit to cure ourselves. The book we are going to talk about today claims that with just a few simple steps, we can alleviate mental pain, cheer ourselves up, and hit the road again. The author of this book is Dr. Guy Winch, a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from New York University. He has comp...

Reality is broken. Gamers are abandoning reality in droves and migrating into the virtual world. Countless numbers of people detach themselves from society and indulge in games. Some worry that, sooner or later, gamers who escape from the real world and normal life will cause a total social disaster. Is this true? The book "Reality Is Broken" tells us that games won't bring a disaster; on the contrary, it argues that they are the key to the future, and that they can make the world a better place...