Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 5.22.23
This week, we have three amazing books by some phenomenal authors. The first book on the list is about scams and frauds. Then, we have a book about how to know when to quit, and we wrap it up with a short book on Stoicism. Enjoy!
Each of the links to the books are affiliate links, so if you use my link to purchase any of these books, some comes back to support what I do (and it also helps fund my reading habit).
Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry by Kelly Richmond Pope
I don’t have enough time to express how much I loved this book and all of the amazing things about it. It’s a must-read for just about everyone. Kelly Richmond Pope is a professor and has been fascinated with fraud since a young age, and now she dedicates her life to understanding why people commit fraud and how people fall for it. The book has a lot of really interesting stories, but the way the author writes really keeps you engaged, and I binged this book within a few days.
Kelly does a phenomenal job explaining the different types of people who commit fraud and the thought process they have when doing it. Then, she also explains how people fall for it or how things go unnoticed. She also has an excellent chapter on whistle-blowers and how difficult it is to be one because there’s so much retaliation and things that happen to a person’s reputation for just trying to do the right thing.
If I had to have one critique, it’s just a personal one and probably wouldn’t fit well in this book. I think the one thing missing is a larger moral/ethical conversation about unethical, terrible companies that are also victims of fraud. While fraud is wrong and there is a lot of collateral damage, when millionaires and billionaires are victims of fraud, the book doesn’t really discuss how many of those “victims” also did terrible things to acquire their money.
My critique is tiny, so make sure you get this book. Everyone needs to read it to learn how to protect themselves from fraud and also change the conversation around whistle-blowers and how we view them and treat them.
Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away by Annie Duke
This is one of my all-time favorite books by one of my favorite authors. This book just came out last year, and I loved it so much that I already gave it another read. There are an endless amount of books out there telling you to keep pushing and never give up, but I always wanted a book that talks about when you need to walk away and quit wasting your time. Annie Duke does such a fantastic job explaining why “quit” needs to stop being seen in a bad light, the psychology of why it’s difficult for us to give up and what we can do to make better decisions and walk away when it’s necessary.
And just a fun side note: I actually decided to read this book again because I was reading some hustle culture self-help book for entrepreneurs that kept saying throughout the book to never give up, but the reality is, some people have bad ideas or bad products or just bad luck, and they need to stop wasting time, money and resources.
Go out and read this book if you haven’t yet. I’m adding it to the list of books I want to read with my son.
Lessons in Stoicism: What Ancient Philosophers Teach Us About How to Live by John Sellars
I recently learned about John Sellars and as a fan of Stoicism, I grabbed this short book. It’s a super short read that breaks down the history and some of the main ideas of Stoicism. If you’re curious about the subject and new to it, I definitely recommend checking this book out. It’ll spark your interest in reading about it further and making a better life for yourself.
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