Nonfiction, quantized

Great books, in five questions.

Short answers, true to the book. Read them, or listen as every word lights up.

Browse the libraryHow it works
  1. 01The team nobody would sell a bike to
  2. 02The clerk who cut a customer's credit card in half
  3. 03A goose, a volleyball, and what you actually want
  4. 04Why a hundred bad photographs beat one perfect one
  5. 05Bored, and doing the lift anyway
Self-help · James ClearAtomic HabitsTiny changes, repeated, decide who you become.
All twenty books

The library

Twenty books. 100 questions.

01Five books

Self-help

  1. Cover of Atomic Habits by James Clear, published by Avery, Penguin Random House

    01

    Atomic Habits

    James Clear

    Tiny changes, repeated, decide who you become.

    1. 01The team nobody would sell a bike to
    2. 02The clerk who cut a customer's credit card in half
    3. 03A goose, a volleyball, and what you actually want
    4. 04Why a hundred bad photographs beat one perfect one
    5. 05Bored, and doing the lift anyway
  2. Cover of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson, published by Magrathea Publishing

    02

    The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

    Eric Jorgenson

    Wealth comes from ownership and leverage, not from selling hours.

    1. 01The hour you cannot sell twice
    2. 02Ten points of judgment, one hundred million dollars
    3. 03A contract to be unhappy until it arrives
    4. 04Willpower is badly outnumbered
    5. 05Three answers that refuse to agree
  3. Cover of Deep Work by Cal Newport, published by Grand Central Publishing, Hachette

    03

    Deep Work

    Cal Newport

    Undistracted concentration is rare, valuable, and can be deliberately designed.

    1. 01Your office is built to break the thing it pays for
    2. 02What a blacksmith knows about your job
    3. 03Four good hours, and how to protect them
    4. 04Your attention is being trained right now, in a queue
    5. 05The farmer who sold his hay baler
  4. Cover of Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

    04

    Thinking, Fast and Slow

    Daniel Kahneman

    A fast mind supplies confident answers a slow mind rarely checks.

    1. 01The answer that arrives before you ask
    2. 02Right about everything except the cause
    3. 03Same money, opposite choices
    4. 04The self that keeps the diary did not live the day
    5. 05Stop trying harder and change the room
  5. Cover of Ikigai by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, published by Penguin Life, Penguin Random House

    05

    Ikigai

    Héctor García and Francesc Miralles

    A renewable daily reason to get up, not a grand destiny.

    1. 01The man who retired for one day
    2. 02The world's oldest people cannot agree on anything
    3. 03A town that keeps its friendships in a binder
    4. 04The donkey that tightened its own rope
    5. 05One hundred and fifty cups, twelve kept

02Thirteen books

Finance

  1. Cover of A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel, published by W. W. Norton

    01

    A Random Walk Down Wall Street

    Burton G. Malkiel

    Owning the whole market, cheaply and patiently, beats trying to outguess it.

    1. 01The price of a great business
    2. 02Wrong prices, expensive expertise
    3. 03The risk you already own
    4. 04Safe money has a deadline
    5. 05Let the plan do more of the work
  2. Cover of Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip A. Fisher, published by Wiley

    02

    Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits

    Philip A. Fisher

    Own a few outstanding growth companies you know deeply, and hold them for years.

    1. 01What happens to the dividend you don't receive?
    2. 02The company that can make the next one
    3. 03The research that ends before a purchase
    4. 04What today's price assumes about tomorrow
    5. 05The work of holding on
  3. Cover of Conservative Investors Sleep Well by Philip A. Fisher, published by Harper & Row

    03

    Conservative Investors Sleep Well

    Philip A. Fisher

    Safety comes from strong, adaptable businesses bought at sensible prices.

    1. 01The risk inside a dependable payment
    2. 02The company that can afford to keep changing
    3. 03When growth is already in the price
    4. 04The work behind a confident answer
    5. 05When patience needs a reason
  4. Cover of Developing an Investment Philosophy by Philip A. Fisher, published by Wiley, in Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings

    04

    Developing an Investment Philosophy

    Philip A. Fisher

    Wiley, in Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings

    Find the businesses the crowd misjudges, then stay patient only while the reasons hold.

    1. 01What the numbers leave unexplained
    2. 02When a better invention isn't a better business
    3. 03A good company can still cost too much
    4. 04Where your attention and money belong
    5. 05Patience needs a reason to continue
  5. Cover of Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, published by Random House

    05

    Fooled by Randomness

    Nassim Nicholas Taleb

    We mistake luck for skill and noise for meaning, and pay for it.

    1. 01When a winning streak proves less than you think
    2. 02What a convincing result leaves out
    3. 03The cost hidden inside a winning record
    4. 04The cost of knowing every price
    5. 05What fortune cannot decide for you
  6. Cover of One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch, published by Simon & Schuster

    06

    One Up On Wall Street

    Peter Lynch

    Everyday life can point you to good companies early, if you do the homework before you buy.

    1. 01Can your money wait?
    2. 02What a familiar product cannot tell you
    3. 03Who keeps the profits when an industry grows?
    4. 04How much success have you already paid for?
    5. 05What would make you sell a winner?
  7. Cover of Paths to Wealth through Common Stocks by Philip A. Fisher, published by Wiley

    07

    Paths to Wealth through Common Stocks

    Philip A. Fisher

    Wealth comes from companies that keep outgrowing their imitators, owned patiently and never blindly.

    1. 01When safe money fails its owner
    2. 02The boom your shares can miss
    3. 03Who investigates the adviser?
    4. 04A good company can cost too much
    5. 05The limits of patient ownership
  8. Cover of Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre, published by Wiley

    08

    Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

    Edwin Lefèvre

    Being right about the market pays only if you can afford to wait and can admit when you are wrong.

    1. 01Before the explanation arrives
    2. 02Right about the market, out of money
    3. 03What makes a position worth keeping
    4. 04The favor he could afford to repay
    5. 05The buyers who let someone else out
  9. Cover of The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett, published by Carolina Academic Press

    09

    The Essays of Warren Buffett

    Warren Buffett

    Judge a business as a lasting owner would, by the cash it can return and the people who run it.

    1. 01When a falling price helps you
    2. 02The profit owners can actually use
    3. 03Giving managers room to work
    4. 04When growth makes owners poorer
    5. 05The return worth giving up
  10. Cover of The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, published by HarperCollins

    10

    The Intelligent Investor

    Benjamin Graham

    Buy businesses with a margin of safety, and never let the market's moods make your decisions.

    1. 01What a winning investment cannot tell you
    2. 02Safe for next year, safe for twenty years
    3. 03How much success have you already paid for?
    4. 04What extra investing work has to earn
    5. 05Who benefits when you hand over the decisions?
  11. Cover of The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John C. Bogle, published by Wiley

    11

    The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

    John C. Bogle

    Investors as a group earn the market's return minus their costs, so whoever pays the least keeps the most.

    1. 01What a rising market cannot promise
    2. 02The small charge that keeps compounding
    3. 03What a winning record leaves out
    4. 04What work does your index fund leave you?
    5. 05When your portfolio has to pay the bills
  12. Cover of The Most Important Thing by Howard Marks, published by Columbia Business School Publishing

    12

    The Most Important Thing

    Howard Marks

    The price you pay decides the risk you take, and markets are riskiest when everyone feels safe.

    1. 01What makes a bargain worth believing
    2. 02When confidence starts making markets dangerous
    3. 03How much uncertainty can you afford?
    4. 04Buying before certainty arrives
    5. 05What a winning record leaves out
  13. Cover of The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, published by Harriman House

    13

    The Psychology of Money

    Morgan Housel

    Doing well with money depends more on how you behave under pressure than on how much you know.

    1. 01Why yesterday's money lessons survive
    2. 02What your money leaves you free to do
    3. 03What a winning result leaves out
    4. 04What cash can protect
    5. 05A plan you can keep, and still change

03Two books

Business

  1. Cover of Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt, published by Crown Business

    01

    Good Strategy Bad Strategy

    Richard Rumelt

    Good strategy names the real obstacle and concentrates effort on a few coordinated actions that overcome it.

    1. 01What agreement leaves undecided
    2. 02Where fewer resources can matter
    3. 03Why a better business can be a poor investment
    4. 04Where rebuilding has to begin
    5. 05A decision you can learn from
  2. Cover of Good to Great by Jim Collins, published by HarperBusiness

    02

    Good to Great

    Jim Collins

    Great companies put the right people first, then push one clear focus until each gain builds on the last.

    1. 01Choose people who can change the plan
    2. 02Hope that can face an unwelcome answer
    3. 03When profitable work is the wrong work
    4. 04Give initiative somewhere to build
    5. 05What should survive you?

How it works

Enough of the book to know if you want the rest.

  1. 01

    Five questions

    The ones the book actually answers, in the order it argues them.

  2. 02

    One piece per question

    Written from the book and nothing else, with its stories kept.

  3. The team nobody would sell a bike to A leading bicycle manufacturer once resisted selling bikes to the British national cycling team. The company worried that being seen on its bikes would hurt sales.

    Listen to a sampleAtomic Habits, question 01

    03

    Read or listen

    Every piece is narrated. Follow the highlighted word, or tap any word to jump there.