"Cialdini has taken the concept of INFLUENCE to another level. In this book, he explained the influence as an interaction we have with the world. He broke the concept into 6 categories, one chapter per category. How the cultural evolution bound us to certain principles of interaction and how we can come out of this mold is the main theme."
"Two things that amazed me. One, as Charlie Munger has mentioned, is the ability of Darwin to think on both sides of his theory which led him to a deep explanation of complex events happening around us. The second is that he wrote this book in 1850. At that time, there was no knowledge of DNA, geological events but Darwin was able to see the phenomena occurring without the details."
"This book will change the perspective of viewing the world. We are nothing but droplets in a waterfall. At any given instant and at a given height, a drop is formed by various other drops. This drop before reaching the bottom will disintegrate into various other drops. The view of world from a gene's eye view is amazing."
"An in-depth analysis of genes in a simple language. The story of Human Genome project in 23 chapters, each dedicated to a chromosome. Each chapter brings out a specific gene on a chromosome to bring out a remarkable history of all living things."
"A good read for those who want to understand today's globalization and how it happened. How different nations reached to the place they occupy in today's world. One needs to keep in mind that we are looking at historical analysis and not about what is coming next."
"Diamond has done an excellent job in laying the foundation of 13000 years of human history. According to Diamond, four factors are responsible for all historical developments: 1) food production, 2) the geographical orientation, 3) transfer of knowledge, and 4) population size. Diamond has been successful in creating a model for people to understand how we(human beings) reached here."
"Frankl shows that people who have been living in the past or present should move their aim towards the future. The passion to reach the model of future, they have in mind will provide the meaning to their lives. Any sufferings in present should not deter one from achieving the future. Things done in past defines a person but things done for future defines the life."
"Once again, Dawkins prove that natural selection is the only means to explain cumulative adaptive evolution. In depth explanation of the fact that complex organs could not have been come about by chance. "Darwinian world-view that slow, gradual, cumulative natural selection is the ultimate explanation for our existence"."
"Diamond's view on the evolution, with human being (the third chimpanzee) is so unique yet there are resemblances with other species on topics such as art, language, to genocide. Diamond makes a thought provoking remarks on how humans, with their penchant for environmental destruction, can make changes to reverse the course."
"Amazing book on linguistics, and how brain processes the language for a person not in the field. It is a work to be read as a door to cognitive linguistics."
"Title says it all. How a small band of Scots became enlightened and influenced the way we live today. Herman portrays that these Scots left a mark wherever they went. These Scots set out to understand the world around them rationally and worked on improving lives by laying foundation through practical ideas."
"50 more examples of social influences, as explained in Psychology of Persuasion. This book should be read by those looking to abstract out more information on social influence. The theory has already been laid out in the other book."
"I think this book should be read as Caro's research on the subject rather than a biography of LBJ. Books shows more about Texas politics of that era than just the life of LBJ. Author seems to have a soft corner for LBJ."
