Philosopher's Notes

Michael Easter is a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He’s also a GREAT writer. As per the inside flap of the book: “Our world is overloaded with everything we’re built to crave. The fix for scarcity brain isn’t to blindly aim for less. It’s to understand why we crave more in the first place, shake our worst habits, and use what we already have better. Then we can experience life in a new way—a more satisfying way.”

How’s YOUR focus? If you’re like most human beings on the planet these days, my hunch is you feel like you’ve lost your ability to pay attention. This book is a sobering look at what Johann Hari believes to be the twelve causes of our inability to focus and a guide on “How to Think Deeply Again.” I highly recommend it.

Caroline is tied for first as my all-time favorite PRACTICAL Positive Psychologist. She has a gift for bringing the empirical wisdom from academia alive in the pages of her books. I’m inspired not just by the wisdom she shares in her books, but how she's committed to embodying that wisdom in her life. So I was honored when Caroline invited me to write the foreword to this book. As I said in the foreword, there are a LOT of books on goal setting out there but if you’re looking for a SCIENCE-BACKED approach to setting goals, this is the one to get.

I got this book after making a new friend (who happens to be an officer in the U.S. Navy) on our Heroic trip to Athens. As per the sub-title, this book tells “The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy.” More specifically, it tells us how we have the Athenian navy to thank for not only the birth of democracy but for the Golden Age of Athens that produced those ancient ruins of the Acropolis AND the cultural contributions in architecture, the arts AND philosophy. The book is packed with fascinating historical stories and Big Ideas.

Donald Robertson is a writer, trainer, and cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist. He’s also one of the world’s leading scholars and practitioners of Stoic philosophy. He has been one of my absolute favorite writers and Stoic thinkers/practitioners since I read some of his earlier books. This book is a remarkably creative, thoughtful, and practical exploration of the life and wisdom of the founder of Western philosophy.

Attia is one of the most credible, grounded, practical, and inspiring authorities on the art and science of longevity. I got this book as part of my recent micro-sabbatical in which I unplugged for a month and enjoyed GOING DEEP reading 15+ books on a couple of subjects: Peak Performance and Energy. This book is FANTASTIC. It’s been life changing for me. I’m recommending it to all my friends.

Owen Eastwood is one of the world’s top performance coaches. He’s worked with some of the most elite teams and groups in the world, including the British Olympic team, the Command Group of NATO and the Royal Ballet School. He’s also one of the world’s leading experts onthe power of, as per the sub-title of the book, how to “Unlock Your Potential with the Ancient Code of Togetherness.”

Max Fisher is a former international reporter for the New York Times, where he contributed to a series about social media that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2019. I got this book after Yuval Noah Harari referenced it in his latest book, Nexus. It’s hard to put into words just how powerful the book is. I don’t think I’ve EVER read a book that made me more nervous about the future of our society than this one. If you've ever found yourself overwhelmed by a sense of moral outrage after spending time on social media platforms, I think you will find this book as powerful as I did.

Yuval Noah Harari is one of my all-time favorite thinkers. We have featured each of his previous three great books: Sapiens, Homo Deus, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. As per the sub-title, this book is “A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI.” It’s a compelling, sobering look at the challenges we face as AI becomes more and more integrated into our lives. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Jonathan Haidt is one of the world’s leading scholars on the psychology of morality and politics. He’s also one of my favorite thinkers on the planet. His blend of practical, scientifically-grounded wisdom combined with his intellectual rigor (and intellectual humility) is deeply inspiring. This book explores the question of “How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.”