From the category archives:

Book Reviews

The Idea Factory–A Review

by Stephen Mills March 14, 2012

loved this book. It’s amazing to think about what the people at Bell Labs accomplished in this corporate American lab in the mid-twentieth century. I knew it was important, but I didn’t realize the extent of the innovations and inventions that came out of Bell Labs. We owe much of our modern information and connected world to work that was done in those labs and funded by AT&T.

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Some Books Worth Reading

by Stephen Mills January 8, 2012

Here are some books I have read recently that I think are worth checking out.

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Situations Matter – Review

by Stephen Mills October 11, 2011

In Situations Matter: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World, Sam Sommers argues persuasively that everyday situations matter much more for how we behave than we generally like to believe. According to the author, we tend to believe character (inborn or acquired) is much more important than it really is.

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How Letting Go of Control Brings You Freedom and Contentment

by Stephen Mills April 7, 2011

Trying to control people and events harms us and everyone around us. It blinds us to options and choices we can make that would greatly improve our lives emotionally, spiritually, creatively and financially. Instead we worry incessantly and become imprisoned by our fears, anger and anxiety, all of which consume inordinate amounts of needless time and energy. This time and energy could instead be devoted to pursuing our passions—if we are willing to lose some control in our lives.

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Books You Should Read

by Stephen Mills February 6, 2011

I’ve been struggling with inspiration on article topics so I thought this would be a good time to recommend some books.  I’ve read a number of really good books lately and here are my favorites. Tabloid Medicine: How the Internet is Being Used to Hijack Medical Science for Fear and Profit -  As I said [...]

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Thought Provoking Books

by Stephen Mills October 31, 2010
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Here is a selection of thought provoking books I’ve read in the last few weeks. These are not “practical” books in the sense that they give you a formula for how to do something better, but they are more philosophical in nature. Big picture, philosophical ideas are important and to the degree that they educate you and help you understand the world around you, they are critical to your long-term intellectual growth. I give an enthusiastic thumbs up to all of these books.

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The Skinny On Series

by Stephen Mills October 9, 2010

There is a wonderful series of books called “The Skinny On” that I recommend you check out. The idea behind the books is to distill the very best information possible about various topics into a compact and easy to read format. The author, Jim Randel and his team, study the very best books and research in the topic area and create a fun and easy to read book. They are structured and organized for easy future reference

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The Courage to Be Free – A Review

by Stephen Mills September 9, 2010

Guy Finley has a new book out called The Courage to Be Free: Discover Your Original Fearless Self. When I looked today it was on Amazon’s overall best seller list at #9. It’s a wonderful book full of insights, that I believe, if fully absorbed can do a great deal towards helping you live a much better life. It’s not a “success” book; it’s a book that teaches you understand you have the power within yourself to be free and happy.

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Odds and Ends

by Stephen Mills September 1, 2010

Roy Baumeister is a well known and respected academic psychologist who has done a lot of researched and published a large number of journal articles. I am familiar with him from reading some of his work on willpower. He has published a brilliant new book called Is There Anything Good About Men?: How Cultures Flourish by Exploiting Men. I read a lot of the same old rehashed stuff, but every once in a while I come across something truly original; it is so refreshing to encounter something new. Dr. Baumeister has developed what he calls a radical theory on why men and women are different. Whether you agree with him or not, and I found his work persuasive, you have to love an original and in this case courageous thinker. Highly recommended.

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Books to Consider

by Stephen Mills August 24, 2010
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Hamlet’s BlackBerry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age – This is a really good book about what it means to make use of the advantages of the connected digital world without suffering all the disadvantages.  I highly recommend it as probably the most balanced treatment of the good and [...]

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