The World's Best Book Summaries
What is the Rule of 150? What does it say about how we function and cooperate in large and small groups? The Rule of 150 is a concept in sociology that says that social structures function best at or under 150 people. Groups bigger than 150 people tend to break into smaller groups in order to function. We’ll look at an example of the Rule of 150 to see how it functions in business organizations.
Does the bell curve accurately describe the world? When does the bell curve work, and when does it fail? How can we make better predictions and more accurately describe the phenomena of real life? We’ll cover the situations in which the normal bell curve distribution is a good predictor of the real world, the situations where it’s not, and better ways to represent randomness in an uncertain world.
What is the narrative fallacy? How does our natural tendency to tell stories get in our way? The narrative fallacy is the cognitive bias that puts us in danger of ascribing meaning or cause to random events. Humans are evolutionarily conditioned—by the development of the left hemisphere of our brains—to reduce the complexity of the world’s information; and the most efficient way of simplifying that complexity is through storytelling. We’ll cover the narrative fallacy, look at narrative fallacy examples, and suggest two ways to counter it.
What is scalability? How does scalability affect our lives? When is scalability a good thing? When is it a negative thing? Scalability is the characteristic or ability of a company or process to grow and adapt to changing demands. In the scalable parts of our lives, physical limits don’t apply and effects tend toward incredible extremes. We’ll further explore the scalability definition above, cover how scalability affects our lives, and cover which areas of our lives are most impacted by scalability.
Who is Malcolm Gladwell’s “maven”? How are mavens crucial to the spread of ideas and important for business? Mavens are information specialists. They are the kinds of people who are endlessly curious and adept at gathering and retaining information on a wide variety of (sometimes obscure) topics. The term comes from Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point. We’ll cover the role of Malcolm Gladwell’s mavens in business and why they’re crucial to the spread of ideas, services, and products.
What is the superstar effect? How does it work? Who does it benefit? How does it contribute to inequality? The superstar effect is the tendency of the most talented people to benefit disproportionately from their talent. It was coined by economist Sherwin Rosen to describe the unequal distributions of income and prestige in Extremistan sectors like stand-up comedy, classical music, and research scholarship. We’ll cover how the superstar effect works, where it accurately describes the world, and how it fails to take luck into account.
What is the Broken Window Theory in criminology? How has Wilson and Kelling’s broken windows theory been used to reduce crime in places like New York City? The Broken Window Theory is a sociological theory that says that smaller signs of disorder — like broken windows left in disrepair on a building — send the message that anything goes. This subtle message leads to greater crime and public disorder. It was developed by James Wilson and George Kelling. We’ll look at how the broken window theory in sociology has been used to reduce crime.
What is the cosmological argument? Is it sound? What are the arguments against the cosmological argument? The anthropic cosmological argument is the statement that human existence cannot be a random occurrence because of the specificity and number of factors that provide for that existence. This argument is touted by not only religious scholars but also physicists and philosophers. We’ll cover the basics of the cosmological argument and explore the concept of “silent evidence,” the broader term for the lack of evidence in an argument.
What was Friedrich Hayek’s economic theory? Why did he spend so much of his career railing against socialism? Economist Friedrich Hayek argued that a dynamical system like the economy was simply too complex for a single entity to master. This was in contrast to the prevailing rational choice theory. We’ll cover the basic elements of Hayek’s libertarian economic theory and explore why uncertainty makes prediction impossible.
Who are connectors, mavens, and salesmen? Where do these distinctions come from, and how are these three types of people crucial to the spread of ideas and important for business? Connectors are sociable, gregarious, and naturally skilled at making friends and acquaintances. Mavens are endlessly curious and adept at gathering and retaining information on a wide variety of topics. Salesmen are the people who pitch the idea or message behind an epidemic and persuade people to jump on board. The terms comes from Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point. We’ll cover the role of connectors, mavens, and salesmen in business and