Girl Dinner (with Greta Titelman, Sam Taggart and Zach Noe Towers

American society is inundated with food. There are thousands of options of what to eat and a myriad of ways to eat it. So why does food need defending? In In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan distinguishes between real food and processed food and how the reliance on the latter leads to a society plagued by Western diseases.

From our reliance on industry and science to dictate what we should and shouldn’t eat to the loss of traditional food cultures, the Western diet has wreaked havoc on Americans and created one of the unhealthiest societies in the world. But we can reverse the damage if we repair our relationship with food and support the health of the food chain.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan explores how we answer the question, “What should we eat.” It traces four types of food chains from a food’s origin to the dinner table. He focuses on how food production in the U.S. has evolved from small farms to a mass production system of huge corn and animal farms operated on factory-based principles. This system has produced cheap, tasty but less healthy foods, while making it difficult for us to make better choices by obscuring our food’s origins and ingredients.

We have a viable alternative in true organic food, but to make better choices and influence change we must do the work of educating ourselves and giving up our addiction to convenience and unhealthy foods.

Have you ever attended a conference and couldn’t wait for it to end? Have you ever gone to a wedding and felt there was something missing?

Experiences like these inspired Priya Parker, an expert on gatherings, to write The Art of Gathering. Parker contends that pre-planned gatherings of all types—both business and personal—could be more meaningful experiences than they usually are. She presents a step-by-step guide to transforming your gathering into a meaningful event that people will talk about for years.

In this guide, we’ll discuss what to do before a gathering to set the stage for a potentially transformative experience. Then, we’ll talk about how to begin the gathering and dispel misconceptions—like the idea that hosts should relax—that result in boring or unpleasant gatherings. Finally, we’ll share how to end the gathering in a more meaningful way. We’ll also discuss what other experts say about gathering well and share ways to apply Parker’s tips to virtual or hybrid gatherings.

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal shows how the fast food industry has reshaped the American economic system and imprinted itself on the nation’s culture since the 1950s. The industry has profoundly reshaped how American food is produced, marketed, and consumed. The book explores fast food’s exploitative marketing and labor practices, destruction of the nation’s independent farmers, responsibility for the spread of deadly foodborne pathogens like E. coli, and creation of a national obesity epidemic. Fast Food Nation shows us how fast food has exerted a decidedly negative influence on American life.

In This Is Marketing, entrepreneur and marketing expert Seth Godin challenges conventional marketing strategies. He argues that in today's media-saturated world, traditional marketing techniques are no longer effective. Instead, Godin emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships with customers based on trust, authenticity, and empathy. Effective marketing, according to Godin, goes beyond mere sales and aims to bring about positive changes in people's lives.

In this guide, we’ll explain why Godin says old marketing techniques are no longer effective and outline his guiding principles for successful marketing in the modern age. We complement his suggestions with insights from his other books as well as those of other marketing experts such as Ryan Holiday (Perennial Seller), Byron Sharp (How Brands Grow), and Pat Flynn (Superfans).

Marketing seems like a simple task: Have a great product, tell people about it, and they’ll buy it. But it’s not that straightforward. In fact, the success of your business depends less on the quality of your product than on consumers’ perception of your product—and that’s where skillful marketing comes in. In The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, advertising experts Al Ries and Jack Trout explain the universal laws that govern what works and what doesn’t in marketing. Ries and Trout spent more than 25 years studying the successes and failures of countless well-known and little-known brands, and they boiled their findings down to these 22 principles.

In this summary, you’ll learn:

• Why it’s better to own up to your shortcomings than to gloss over them.
• How Marlboro sold more cigarettes to women by marketing to cowboys.
• Why trying to be everything to everyone will sink your sales.

In This Is Marketing, entrepreneur and marketing expert Seth Godin challenges conventional marketing strategies. He argues that in today's media-saturated world, traditional marketing techniques are no longer effective. Instead, Godin emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships with customers based on trust, authenticity, and empathy. Effective marketing, according to Godin, goes beyond mere sales and aims to bring about positive changes in people's lives.

In this guide, we’ll explain why Godin says old marketing techniques are no longer effective and outline his guiding principles for successful marketing in the modern age. We complement his suggestions with insights from his other books as well as those of other marketing experts such as Ryan Holiday (Perennial Seller), Byron Sharp (How Brands Grow), and Pat Flynn (Superfans).

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.

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.