Show 57 - Kings of Kings II

Many of us consider good mental health to be an important quality for leaders, whether they’re a nation’s president, a military general, or a CEO. However, in A First-Rate Madness, psychiatrist Nassir Ghaemi argues that mental illness can make leaders better fit to lead during crises and that mental illness contributed to the successes of historical leaders such as Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. According to Ghaemi, if we better understand how conditions like depression and bipolar disorder can enhance leadership, we can lessen the cultural stigma surrounding mental illness.

In this guide, we’ll define mental health and explore how abnormal mental health has influenced successful leadership decisions during critical times of war and conflict. Finally, we’ll uncover the pitfalls of being a mentally well leader and how mental health treatment affects leadership. Along the way, we’ll compare Ghaemi’s arguments to those of other mental health experts and provide additional historical context.

Do modern men struggle more with their masculinity than previous generations did? Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette say yes, and in King, Warrior, Magician, Lover they explain why it’s happening. Drawing on Carl Jung’s personality archetypes, along with their own observations about modern society, they explore why men today aren’t in tune with their masculinity and how that affects their behavior.

Our guide begins by explaining why modern men grow up without being taught to connect to their masculinity in mature and healthy ways, and how that hurts society. Then, we explore the four psychological aspects listed in the title and two key requirements of healthy masculinity. Our commentary compares Moore and Gillette’s ideas to those of other psychologists, including Jung. We also provide tools and advice to help you connect with healthy masculinity, or help others to do so. Finally, we discuss how many of these issues could be signs of underlying psychiatric problems, which might need professional help to treat.

In the age of science, we’ve turned our backs on the myths our ancestors believed in. However, could it be that in giving up those stories, we’ve lost a crucial part of the human experience? In Maps of Meaning, Jordan Peterson argues that mythology provides a psychological tool that helps us create meaning in a chaotic world. Beneath their fanciful trappings, creation stories and heroic quests give us the moral foundations of society and the tools for adapting to life’s challenges. Perhaps even more importantly, myths teach us to recognize our individual capacity for good and evil.

In this guide, we’ll examine Peterson’s arguments on how myth affects the mind, mythology’s fundamental archetypes and stories, and how to apply the lessons of myth to live a more well-rounded life. We’ll also look at alternative interpretations of mythological stories, what science says about the intersection of myth and cognitive development, as well as how the symbols of myth have taken new form in the stories of today.

In The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene asserts that whether you like it or not, you’re part of a never-ending game of power. You’re either striving for and wielding power, or you’re a pawn being played by someone more powerful than you. You choose your role.

This book is for those who prefer to be players rather than pawns. To turn you from an amateur into a master player, Greene has codified 48 laws of power based on historical examples of people who’ve excelled or failed at wielding power, with glorious or bloody results (or both). Some key principles you’ll learn: use your enemies, keep others dependent on you, say as little as possible, take credit for others’ work, and don’t get your hands dirty. You can choose to apply or dismiss these rules - but you can’t escape them.

Jimmy Carter isn’t remembered as a great president, but he’s come to be revered for his work as a humanitarian. However, in His Very Best, biographer Jonathan Alter presents a fresh perspective on the groundbreaking work Carter did in Washington. Instead of focusing on the hardships America suffered during Carter’s time in office, Alter draws attention to the long-term effects of what Carter accomplished while president. Alter paints Carter as deeply principled yet politically short-sighted in a way that let him achieve great things while undermining his legacy.

In this guide, we’ll show how Carter’s early life shaped his political career and his journey to the presidency. We’ll look at the various roles he’s played—politician, reformer, diplomat, and global humanitarian. We’ll also explore the political context that shaped Carter’s years in the White House, as well as the conflict between Carter’s values and the compromises required of anyone in high office.

What can you learn from 5,000 years of history? Are we in truly novel times, or do we face the same problems that the Romans and Egyptians faced 2,000 years ago?

Will & Ariel Durant, Pulitzer Prize winning historians, are famed for writing The Story of Civilization, a massive 9766-page, 11-volume treatise of the entirety of Western history. They compiled the most important recurring patterns in this book. Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund Bridgewater, considers this one of his 3 must-read books.

Learn how human nature hasn’t changed over thousands of years, how societies cycle between inequality and redistribution like a heartbeat, and why eventually all civilizations fall.

How is it possible that defenders are responsible for most wars? Why is it a logical contradiction for military concerns to influence political policy? And why shouldn’t soldiers sleep in tents? We’ll answer these questions and more in our guide to On War.

On War is arguably the most influential Western treatise on the subject of war. In this guide, we’ll discuss Carl von Clausewitz’s philosophical ideas about war and walk through the chronology of a hypothetical war as we examine his tactical and strategic advice. We’ll also compare his advice to that of other military strategists, such as Sun Tzu, who wrote The Art of War (arguably the most influential Eastern treatise on war), and also consider non-military applications of some of his ideas.

Two years before his death, the famous Samurai Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) retired from dueling and retreated to a cave to write and reflect upon the true Way of the warrior. The resulting book, The Book of Five Rings, contains the key principles of Musashi’s approach, covering a range of topics such as the importance of constant practice, achieving mental and physical equilibrium, and how to defeat any enemy, large or small, in combat. Throughout the work, Musashi emphasizes that the key to a warrior’s success is strategy and discipline, not brute strength or innate talent.

In this guide, we’ll explain Musashi’s core principles and explore ways in which readers can apply Musashi’s teachings to their personal and professional lives. We will also compare Musashi’s approach to that of other commentators, both historical and modern, from Sun Tzu (The Art of War) to contemporary life coaches.

Successful victory during conflict requires more than just cunning and brawn. Whether you are involved in an individual conflict or are leading a group of people through a competition, the strategies required to prepare for and engage in battle are the same.

The Art of War by ancient Chinese warrior and philosopher Sun Tzu provides the essential elements that must be considered to develop strategic conflict resolution tactics. Sun Tzu’s principles guide you through the steps required to become a competent leader and fighter. They teach you how to determine victory, when to engage in combat, and when to use intelligence and intimidation to dissolve conflict without confrontation. With these teachings, you'll understand how to read conflict and opponents to determine the best course of action.

Orientalism is a study of the scholarly, intellectual, political, and ideological phenomenon known as Orientalism: the framework through which Western writers, policymakers, and the general public have interpreted and defined the Islamic societies of the Middle East as “the Orient.” Orientalism does not reflect objective truth about these societies or the people who live in them. Instead, it is an invention of the Western mind that posits a fundamentally different, exotic, dangerous, unchanging, and “other” East—an idea that was a major intellectual cornerstone of European imperialism and that continues to have profound implications on today’s geopolitical landscape.

In The Silk Roads, historian Peter Frankopan identifies Central and Western Asia as the crossroads of human civilization, the birthplace of the world’s major religions, the battleground where the great empires of history rose and fell, and the garden from which today’s global economy first sprouted. He argues that understanding the East is crucial to our understanding of the world—particularly for Westerners who have lost this global perspective.

In ancient times, trade routes known as the Silk Roads first brought European merchants to the luxury markets of the East, enabling the flow of both material goods and ideas from East to West. According to Frankopan, the Silk Roads have always been history’s crucial connection point, spreading not just luxury goods like silk and spices, but also technology, religion, languages, cultures, ideologies, and even conflicts and diseases. In this guide, we explore Frankopan’s history of the Silk Roads, while also incorporating insights and feedback from other scholars to supplement his analysis.

In Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari uses concepts from biology, history, and economics to tell the story of us, Homo sapiens. We start 2.5 million years ago, when Sapiens make their historical entrance, and end in the future, when the creation of an artificially created superhuman race may mark the end of the Sapiens species. Along the way, we learn how our ability to create imagined realities led to our dominance over other species. We watch as the Agricultural Revolution, the Scientific Revolution, imperialism, capitalism, and the Industrial Revolution change our species in lasting, and not always positive, ways.

Ultimately, we’re left with one question: As we design our future, who do we want to become? Asking the right questions may be more important than finding the right answers. Read this summary to explore our history as a species—in doing so, you’ll see today’s world in an entirely new way.