Self Help & Psychology Book Summaries

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene is a self-help book that explains how powerful people have gained and maintained their control over the centuries. While controversial for its manipulative tactics, this book also shares eye-opening insights into history, strategy, and human nature.

The Power of Habits by Charles Duhigg is a deep dive into the science of how habits work. If you want to change your habits but don't know where to start, this book can help you. It provides a simple 3-step formula called "The Habit Loop" to break bad habits and build better ones.

Discourses of Epictetus is a compilation of lectures on Stoic philosophy from almost 2,000 years ago. The book delivers timeless wisdom that continues to be intensely practical, guiding us on how to stabilize our emotions, become more self-disciplined, and live a good virtuous life.

The Power of Myth explores how stories shape our perception of the world, and why myths continue to be relevant in providing direction to our lives in modern times. Joseph Campbell explains universal lessons from myths, like discovering our personal "Hero's Journey" and following our bliss.

Dopamine Nation explains how to break bad habits using the neuroscience of dopamine, the "pleasure molecule" in our brains. If you want to retrain your brain to like doing hard things, Dr. Anna Lembke shares tools that may help like dopamine fasting, self-binding, truth-telling and leaning into pain.