In Ali Smith's 'Gliff,' two children flee capture in an authoritarian near-future

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 Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman argued presciently 35 years ago that television was reshaping our culture and trivializing public life—news, politics, religion, education, and business—by turning it into entertainment. He warned that we would become so inundated with irrelevant information that we’d lose sight of what was important—even worse, we wouldn’t care as long as we felt entertained. With the proliferation of digital media today and worries about excessive “screen time,” his analysis still resonates.

The 21st century will bring changes and challenges unlike any humans have encountered before. Globalism and technological innovations are changing the structures of societies worldwide—and the changes are happening quickly. If people don’t face these challenges and help shape the future, the world could have a class of obsolete workers whose jobs have been automated and people could lose their ability to make their own decisions. In 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Noah Harari highlights the biggest challenges in the modern world, and he offers advice on making sense of and navigating such transitional times.

In this summary, you'll learn how algorithms like Netflix movie recommendations are teaching you to distrust your own judgment, why religion can’t solve 21st-century challenges, and how automation will threaten the jobs of humans in every industry.

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.

To understand the pressures on democracy in the 21st century, it’s important to understand what modern democracy is and where it came from. In The Origins of Political Order, political economist Francis Fukuyama explores the development of political systems from prehistory to the eve of the American and French revolutions in order to show how and why modern democracies evolved.

Fukuyama argues that a stable democratic society requires three components: a strong state, the rule of law, and accountability. In this guide, we’ll explore each of these components in detail and show, for example, how Chinese bureaucracy created the first modern state and how local English legal disputes eventually led to democracy. Along the way, we’ll build on, update, and sometimes challenge Fukuyama’s claims by referring to other works of political theory such as Sapiens, Humankind, and How Democracies Die.

If you’ve ever noticed that history seems to repeat itself over the course of centuries, you may be wondering what causes that pattern—and how it may play out in the future. In The Fourth Turning, historian William Strauss and consultant Neil Howe explain how Anglo-American history follows a pattern of four 15 to 25-year periods, called Turnings, and how the behaviors of different generations define these Turnings.

In our guide, we’ll explore the authors’ theories on the Four Turnings, as well as the generational archetypes and their respective roles in the Turnings. We’ll also discuss the authors’ descriptions of the past three Turnings and their predictions for the Fourth. Finally, we’ll examine the authors’ theories in the context of history and modern society, as well as how their predictions about the Fourth Turning have played out in the years since the book’s publication in 1997.

Wondering how to build a successful career in the world of advertising? In Confessions of an Advertising Man, David Ogilvy—a marketing tycoon known today as the “Father of Advertising”—distills the wisdom he picked up over decades in the industry. Whether you’re just starting your advertising career or you’re the head of an agency, this book will serve as a foundational source of knowledge.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to create advertisements that capture consumers’ attention in an increasingly crowded marketplace. You’ll also discover practical advice for running an advertising agency, such as how to protect your organization's reputation. In commentary, we’ll supplement Ogilvy’s marketing advice with ideas from books like Building a StoryBrand and Permission Marketing. Additionally, we’ll provide relevant tips for the business side of advertising from books like The Go-Giver and The Dichotomy of Leadership.

The ultimate goal of copywriting is to craft advertisements that spur demand for what you’re selling. You do this by understanding what customers already need and framing your product as the only solution to fulfill these needs.

In the best-selling classic Breakthrough Advertising, renowned copywriter Eugene M. Schwartz offers timeless advice for crafting persuasive advertisements that convince customers to buy your products.

This guide walks you through Schwartz’s methods for writing advertisements that sell. You’ll come away knowing:

• Exactly what you need to understand about customers to craft successful advertisements
• Specific techniques you can use to create captivating headlines
• Persuasive methods you can apply to write compelling copy

Additionally, we’ll clarify Schwartz’s ideas with research from marketing professionals and suggest actionable strategies to help you integrate these concepts into your copywriting process.

David Ogilvy (1911-1999), the “father of advertising,” started one of the most successful advertising agencies in the world and worked with major clients such as Rolls-Royce, Shell, and Hathaway. In Ogilvy on Advertising, Ogilvy shares his decades’ worth of experience as a salesman, copywriter, and adman.

Ogilvy will teach you the craft of advertising—how to create legible, easy-to-understand print ads, engaging radio ads, and TV commercials that sell. He’ll also cover how to use marketing and research to increase your chances of success. Finally, he’ll give an overview of the advertising industry as it stood in 1985, covering how to get a job in advertising, run an agency, find an agency, and manage public opinion.