Ev Boyle

This is a book about human potential. It's fascinating, well-researched, and inspiring. It deftly presents society's most persistent failures as design challenges. By crafting our rules and institutions more thoughtfully, and with an eye toward both the past and the future, Gladwell believes that we can transform the human experience. We'll see if this has as significant a cultural impact as "The Tipping Point" -- I doubt it will in the short term -- but the ideas presented in Outliers are more interesting and enduring than anything Gladwell has written before.

Within the unfortunately titled "self help" genre, you could do a lot worse than Deepak Chopra. In the self-help/success genre, this is even more true. I saw this book as an argument for a more enlightened, more compassionate form of capitalism. It's a very quick read (I finished it in the bookstore). If I were to boil the message of this book down to a sentence, it would be: By practicing awareness, and being kind and open-hearted with everyone around you, you will find success.

Chopra effectively frames the connection between our individual well-being and the well-being of everyone. He advocates giving without the expectation of return, non-judgment, conscious choice-making, and the revolutionary idea that every individual has unique gifts and the seeds of transformation within them.

What I didn't like about this book was the certainty with which Chopra expresses his point of view -- why are these "laws", and who says there are only seven of them? Also, he frames himself as a bridge between philosophy and science, but this book is very short on the latter.

At the end of the day, Chopra is one of the most prominent voices in the world today for peace, awareness, and understanding. So if you or someone you know is looking for "success" under whatever definition, this is absolutely worth reading.

An interesting book when seen through the context of the time it was published. It resurrected the utopian genre and brought some big ideas into the mainstream. But overall, not a very entertaining or challenging read. There are some real insights into human nature and Bellamy is ahead of his time in recognizing the essential dignity of all people. But the "solutions" offered here are disappointingly simplistic. I preferred William Morris' "News from Nowhere", which was written as a response to Bellamy's narrow vision of the future.

I don't read many novels, but this was a good one, especially if you are a writer or reader of fiction. I particularly enjoyed the accounts of the different famous authors that visited the school. Wolff is undoubtedly a great writer, never dull and often quite funny, and there were more than a couple moments of real spiritual insight in this little book.

One of the best books I have ever read. Inspiring, insightful, and relentlessly entertaining. Team of Rivals ignited my passion for history. This should be required reading for every American politician, especially presidents. The first 150 pages are a bit slow due to their desultory treatment of Lincoln's cabinet, and aren't as strong as the rest of the book (600 more pages!), but that's the only critical comment I can think of. Even the copy editing was impeccable.

This is one of the most important and inspiring books I've ever read. It could have used a better editor (the first and last 40 pages are the real meat). And more detail about how to bring these ideas into the real world would have been nice. But I think Yunus knows he can't possibly have all the answers. I saw this book as his attempt to inspire younger generations to pursue change in creative ways, while providing a broad framework (social business) which has a good chance of becoming a driving organizational paradigm of the 21st century.

That such an influential global figure had the courage to dream society-transforming dreams and share them with the world is a rare treat at a time when the "theology of capitalism" is so unquestioned in our mainstream discourse.

Clearly written and provocative. Not as ground-breaking as it was 9 years ago, but still a must-read for anyone interested in the impact of media on the individual. Rushkoff's call for media literacy courses in public schools is as relevant as ever.

If you want to ignite your imagination around the possibilities, and pitfalls, of human life on Earth, THIS is the book.