The Difference is about how we think in groups--and how our collective wisdom exceeds the sum of its parts. Why can teams of people find better solutions than brilliant individuals working alone? And why are the best group decisions and predictions those that draw upon the very qualities that make each of us unique? The answers lie in diversity--not what we look like outside, but what we look like within, our distinct tools and abilities.The Difference reveals that progress and innovation may depend less on lone thinkers with enormous IQs than on diverse people working together and capitalizing on their individuality. Page shows how groups that display a range of perspectives outperform groups of like-minded experts. Diversity yields superior outcomes, and Page proves it using his own cutting-edge research. Moving beyond the politics that cloud standard debates about diversity, he explains why difference beats out homogeneity, whether you're talking about citizens in a democracy or scientists in the laboratory. He examines practical ways to apply diversity's logic to a host of problems, and along the way offers fascinating and surprising examples, from the redesign of the Chicago El to the truth about where we store our ketchup.Page changes the way we understand diversity--how to harness its untapped potential, how to understand and avoid its traps, and how we can leverage our differences for the benefit of all.

    David A. Kessler explains why Americans suffer in unprecedented numbers from obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other debilitating illnesses, and offers concrete solutions for reducing cardiovascular problems, keeping weight off, and curtailing chronic disease.The American body is in trouble. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States today, and millions are plagued by conditions like obesity and diabetes. But we have the answer to improving health and longevity: 1) cut out fast carbs (processed foods); 2) reduce saturated fats; 3) exercise regularly.Though the solution is simple, the difficulty lies in the food we eat. Multi-billion-dollar processing plants and food manufacturers dot the heartland and work to increase the profits of the industrialized farming business—Big Agriculture—that produces excess corn and wheat. Today, we are being fed highly palatable, ultra-processed carbohydrates as food products—fast carbs—that are often marketed as “healthy.” Fast carbs are primarily starches and sugars produced during food processing and are present in much of what we eat. By destroying the healthy structure of whole food and increasing the amount of rapidly digestible starch it contains, these products bypass our body’s metabolic pathways. When combined with the ill-effects of saturated fats, we are putting ourselves on a collision course with weight gain, insulin resistance, digestive issues, heart disease, and more.The problem is, most of us don’t know where these fast carbs and saturated fats lurk in our daily diets. Accessible and eye-opening, Fast Carbs, Slow Carbs provides the information we need to understand exactly what we are eating—and to learn the truth about what it being sold to us as “healthy” food. Rising above the confusing range of specific popular diets—Keto, Paleo, Mediterranean, Vegan, Vegetarian—Dr. Kessler gives us an achievable baseline that can set us on the path to better health.

    This is not a "how-to" book in any sense. Korn wants to get at the why of craft, in particular, and at the satisfactions of creative work, in general to understand their essential nature. How does the making of objects both reflect and refine our own identities? What is it about craft and creative work that makes them so rewarding? What is the nature of those rewards? How do the products of creative work inform society?

    Do you have to be born musical to become musical? Do you have to start at the age of six? Using the tools of his day job as a cognitive psychologist, Gary Marcus becomes his own guinea pig as he takes up the guitar. In a powerful and incisive look at how both children and adults become musical, Guitar Zero traces Marcus’s journey, what he learned, and how anyone else can learn, too. A groundbreaking peek into the origins of music in the human brain, this musical journey is also an empowering tale of the mind’s enduring plasticity. Marcus investigates the most effective ways to train body and brain to learn to play an instrument, in a quest that takes him from Suzuki classes to guitar gods. From deliberate and efficient practicing techniques to finding the right music teacher, Marcus translates his own experience—as well as reflections from world-renowned musicians—into practical advice for anyone hoping to become musical, or to learn a new skill.Guitar Zero debunks the popular theory of an innate musical instinct while simultaneously challenging the idea that talent is only a myth. While standing the science of music on its head, Marcus brings new insight into humankind’s most basic question: what counts as a life well lived? Does one have to become the next Jimi Hendrix to make a passionate pursuit worthwhile, or can the journey itself bring the brain lasting satisfaction?For all those who have ever set out to play an instrument—or wish that they could—Guitar Zero is an inspiring and fascinating look at the pursuit of music, the mechanics of the mind, and the surprising rewards that come from following one’s dreams.

    Who should we trust? Who should we believe? How can we make sure we make the right choices This is the book that will help you through that data deluge and show you how to make better and smarter decisions.Internationally renowned thinker, forecaster, and bestselling author Noreena Hertz reveals the extent to which life's big decisions are made on the basis of flawed information, weak assumptions, corrupted data, insufficient scrutiny of others, and a lack of self-knowledge. Taking us on a journey that reveals the extent to which we cede our intellectual power at our peril, Hertz shows how errors in decision-making lead young people to under-save for retirement, doctors to miss tumors, CEOs to make catastrophic investments, governments to adopt the wrong economic policies, and parents to irreversibly traumatize their children.To avert such disasters, Hertz persuasively argues, we need to become empowered decision-makers, capable of making high-stakes choices and holding accountable those who advise us.By weaving together cutting-edge research with real-world examples from Hollywood to Harry Potter, NASA to World War Two spies, Hertz constructs a path to more astute and empowered decision-making in ten clear steps. With a razor-sharp intellect and an instinct for popular storytelling, she offers counterintuitive, actionable guidance for making better choices-whether you are a business-person, a professional, a patient , or a parent.

    They will offer practical techniques to help readers sharpen the way they think, enabling them to connect better with those around them. This first book will be a general overview to the Mind Gym and will include a summary of their most popular courses, including: creative problem solving; dealing with stress; time management; influencing and persuading people and memory recall. The book will include reader questionnaires and exercises to demonstrate how individuals react in certain situations and what their thought processes are. The next three titles in the series will then focus on specific areas in more detail, in particular: Time Management, Creativity and influencing and Persuading People. range of readers from businesses to schools to retired people to those who are simply keen to keep their body and mind healthy - the list is endless!

    This Will Never Happen Again is a collection of David Cain's essays and reflections on what each of us can do in our own private, first-person experience to create personal stability and meaning in a world for which we are now poorly adapted. About the Author David Cain is a Winnipeg-based blogger, and the author of Raptitude, a street-level look at the human experience. Primarily, he writes about the one thing we all value but which schools never teach -- how to create quality of life in real-time. Raptitude attracts nearly a quarter million views monthly.

    In recent years, scientists like Kathryn Paige Harden have shown that DNA makes us different, in our personalities and in our health--and in ways that matter for educational and economic success in our current society.In The Genetic Lottery, Harden introduces readers to the latest genetic science, dismantling dangerous ideas about racial superiority and challenging us to grapple with what equality really means in a world where people are born different. Weaving together personal stories with scientific evidence, Harden shows why our refusal to recognize the power of DNA perpetuates the myth of meritocracy, and argues that we must acknowledge the role of genetic luck if we are ever to create a fair society.Reclaiming genetic science from the legacy of eugenics, this groundbreaking book offers a bold new vision of a society where everyone thrives, regardless of how one fares in the genetic lottery.

    The text is divided into three parts: the problems posed for anthropology by universals; six important studies that have forced anthropologists to rethink; and the distinctions between linguistic, cultural and social universals.

     If you've been on social media lately, or turned on your TV, you may have noticed a lot of dumb ideas floating around."We know when history will repeat and when it won't.""We can tell the difference between evidence and coincidences.""The simplest explanation is usually true."Wrong, wrong, and dangerous!If we're not careful, loserthink would have us believe that every Trump supporter is a bigoted racist, addicts should be responsible for fixing the opioid epidemic, and that your relationship fell apart simply because you chewed with your mouth open.Even the smartest people can slip into loserthink's seductive grasp. This book will teach you how to spot and avoid it--and will give you scripts to respond when hollow arguments are being brandished against you, whether by well-intentioned friends, strangers on the internet, or political pundits. You'll also learn how to spot the underlying causes of loserthink, like the inability to get ego out of your decisions, thinking with words instead of reasons, failing to imagine alternative explanations, and making too much of coincidences.Your bubble of reality doesn't have to be a prison. This book will show you how to break free--and, what's more, to be among the most perceptive and respected thinkers in every conversation.

    But most residents of Denmark and Sweden, he found, don't worship any god at all, don't pray, and don't give much credence to religious dogma of any kind. Instead of being bastions of sin and corruption, however, as the Christian Right has suggested a godless society would be, these countries are filled with residents who score at the very top of the "happiness index" and enjoy their healthy societies, which boast some of the lowest rates of violent crime in the world (along with some of the lowest levels of corruption), excellent educational systems, strong economies, well-supported arts, free health care, egalitarian social policies, outstanding bike paths, and great beer.Zuckerman formally interviewed nearly 150 Danes and Swedes of all ages and educational backgrounds over the course of fourteen months. He was particularly interested in the worldviews of people who live their lives without religious orientation. How do they think about and cope with death? Are they worried about an afterlife? What he found is that nearly all of his interviewees live their lives without much fear of the Grim Reaper or worries about the hereafter. This led him to wonder how and why it is that certain societies are non-religious in a world that seems to be marked by increasing religiosity. Drawing on prominent sociological theories and his own extensive research, Zuckerman ventures some interesting answers.This fascinating approach directly counters the claims of outspoken, conservative American Christians who argue that a society without God would be hell on earth. It is crucial, Zuckerman believes, for Americans to know that "society without God is not only possible, but it can be quite civil and pleasant."

    Beyond the shallow waters of new-age, "law of attraction" and conventional motivational psychology there is a deep well from which you derive unbending determination and strength. That source is within you and can be awakened to achieve anything. The Reality Creation Technique is the most speedily effective method to help you make your dreams come true.

    This enlightening study is the result of group discussions at Dr. Adler's annual seminar in Aspen, Colorado, and conversations between Dr. Adler and Bill Moyers filmed for public television.

    'Compelling and wise and rational.' - Jon RonsonOne in four of us experience a mental health problem each year, with anxiety and depression alone affecting over 500 million people worldwide.Why are these conditions so widespread? What is it about modern life that has such an impact on our mental health? And why is there still so much confusion and stigma around these issues?In Psycho-Logical, neuroscientist and bestselling author Dean Burnett answers these questions and more, revealing what is actually going on in our brains when we suffer mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and addiction.Combining illuminating scientific research with first-hand insights from people who deal with mental health problems on a daily basis, this is an honest, entertaining and reassuring account of how and why these issues occur, and how to make sense of them.

    Sometimes our best efforts can result in the opposite of what we want over time. How can we avoid these unwanted results? If we apply conventional thinking to complex issues, we often maintain or increase the very problems we want to fix. There is, however, a solution to get the desired results. Think in Systems is a concise information manual offering high-level problem-solving methods for personal and global issues. The book presents the main features of systems thinking in an understandable and everyday manner, helping you to develop this skill top analysts and world leaders use. If you thought that complex thinking is only for people who deal with complex issues like running a company or country, think again. Every issue is complex. Running out of gas is a simple problem, but I’m sure you’re dealing with much greater headaches on a daily basis. Your life is a system. Everything that is connected to your system (life) is a part of it. However, you are just a subsystem in the larger picture. Your town, country, the world, the solar system are all bigger systems you are a part of. These systems are interconnected. Whatever you do will affect the system and whatever the system does will affect your life. Systems can have positive and negative effect on your life – or on the life of people generally. The greatest problems like hunger, war, and poverty are all failures in the system. Similarly, fights with your loved ones, being stuck in a rut at your job are also system failures. They are not only your fault. Thus they can’t be fixed with a simple cause-effect thinking. Learn to use systems thinking in your business, relationships, friendships, and general political, socio-economic, and environmental issues. Systems thinking boosts your critical thinking skills, makes you more logical, enhances your analytical abilities, and makes you more creative. Systems thinking won’t put extra pressure on your cognition. Quite the contrary, you’ll have fewer headaches knowing that you surely didn’t miss any detail when you tried to solve a problem. "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Albert Einstein • Learn the main aspects, concepts, and models of systems thinking. • Design models and systems maps to solve your problems • Find solutions to your underlying problems, not just the symptoms • Improve your mental health, wealth, and relationships Systems thinking is a relatively new discipline which doesn’t get the exposure it deserves. However, our world grows more connected, interdependent and complex with each passing day. Becoming a systems thinker will help you to overcome your confusion and fear of missing the whole picture, and help you find more effective solutions to your personal (and if you are up to it), global problems. •Widen your understanding of international economic, political, and socio-economic affairs •Manage your business better •The most helpful materials, books, and experts to learn even more about systems thinking Identify your problems more accurately. Find solutions to your problems, don’t just treat the symptoms.