Self-Help Books

How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery (2015) is a nonfiction book by Kevin Ashton about creativity. Ashton has led three start-ups and was a pioneer in the use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) in inventory systems, underscoring his business credibility in this area. His thesis extends into the creative process involved in any field, including art and medicine. Ashton’s main point strikes an open and democratic tone: Being creative is... Read How to Fly a Horse Summary

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Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines is a nonfiction book that aims to teach readers how to improve their reading skills. Foster, a longtime university professor, focuses on techniques that enable readers to puzzle out some of the deeper meanings of a story that exist below the surface level of the plot. Harper published the book in 2003, and the 2014... Read How To Read Literature Like A Professor Summary

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... Read How to Stop Worrying and Start Living Summary

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First published in 1936, Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends and Influence People launched the American self-help industry, sold over 30 million copies, and became a template for the thousands of self-improvement books that followed. It asserts that success with others depends on listening, showing appreciation, and empathizing with them. The book was revised in 1981; the 2020 eBook re-issue of that edition is the basis for this study guide. The book is divided... Read How to Win Friends and Influence People Summary

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Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah was written in 1977 by American writer Richard Bach and is a philosophical novel that questions the nature of reality. This novel was a follow-up to Bach’s bestseller Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970), which has similar themes and imagery. Illusions suggests that all of reality is a construct of the imagination and can facilitate or hinder a person on their path to having the life that they want. One... Read Illusions Summary

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Gabor Maté’s In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addictions is an unconventional nonfiction book on how to treat addiction, how addicts can better assimilate into society, and how society can dispel many of the myths that surround addiction. Maté works as an addiction specialist at the Portland Hotel in Vancouver, Canada.  Much of the book, published in 2010, focuses on Maté’s evidence that childhood stressors increase the likelihood that one will become... Read In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts Summary

Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart is a work of nonfiction by neurosurgeon and philanthropist Dr. James R. Doty. It is at once a memoir, a self-help book, and a work of popular science; Doty draws on his professional knowledge to explain the scientific underpinnings of meditative practices like visualization, while also exploring the transformative effect these practices can have on... Read Into the Magic Shop Summary

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