Showing results by author "Swift Reads" in All Categories

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (1994) by Barack Obama chronicles his quest to understand how the varied threads of his upbringing, including his father’s absence and his multiracial and multinational roots, shaped him and his understanding of his place in the world. Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961 to Stanley Ann Dunham, a white woman, and Barack Obama Sr., a black economist from Kenya. Obama Sr. and Dunham met while studying at the University of Hawaii....

Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time (1997) details how a small coffee roastery in Seattle became a monolithic corporation with a worldwide reputation for providing affordable luxury beverages. Author Howard Schultz, now retired CEO and chairman of Starbucks, recounts how he grew the company into an internationally recognized chain after joining Starbucks in the early 1980s and buying it later that same decade...

In From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America (2019), Howard Schultz examines how his upbringing in a working class New York family influenced his actions when he became chairman and CEO of Starbucks. Schultz uses his eventual professional success to argue that the United States still can be a land of opportunity if those with means are willing to give chances and resources to those without.

First Things First (originally published in 1994, updated in 2015) by Stephen Covey, A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca R. Merrill is a time-management book that asks readers to examine their most deeply held values. When people center the things in life that are most important, whatever those may be, triaging a busy schedule becomes an easy exercise instead of an ongoing nightmare....

Almost Everything: Notes on Hope (2018) by best-selling author Anne Lamott is a collection of essays on finding glimmers of optimism even amid great turbulence. Just before her sixty-first birthday, Lamott wrote these essays to share the wisdom she has gleaned from her many decades of living with her grandson and niece. Listen to this in-depth summary by Swift Reads to learn more.

Full Disclosure (2018) by Stormy Daniels is the adult film star’s tell-all memoir, with special emphasis on her relationship with Donald Trump. While her association with Trump was brief, its aftermath has been long and painful, with no end in sight.... (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work (2018) teaches companies and entrepreneurs how to increase productivity and improve work performance by setting reasonable boundaries on the hours spent completing tasks. Authors Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson use their web application company, Basecamp, as an example of a tranquil work environment where calm, steady progress is favored over breakneck speed.... Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

Accessory to War by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Avis Lang is a meditation on the history of space research and its interdependence on military research and warfare. The narrative contextualizes discoveries such as the compass and adaptive optics in order to evaluate the present global state of space diplomacy. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more.

Creative Selection: Inside Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs (2018) explores how Apple creates its products through the perspective of a programmer who worked at the corporation for more than a decade. Author and software engineer Ken Kocienda uses stories from his time at Apple to demonstrate how the company pushes its employees to solve seemingly impossible programming problems...(Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

The Fifth Risk, by Michael Lewis, is a journalistic account of how broad swaths of the US government are being ignored or dismantled under Donald Trump’s administration. After shunning the conventions of a presidential transition, Trump and his tiny team assumed stewardship of the government without ever bothering to learn how it works. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Astroball: The New Way to Win it All, by Ben Reiter, tells the dramatic story of how the Houston Astros transformed from being the worst team in professional baseball to the best. Reiter first made the bold prediction that the Astros would win a World Series in a Sports Illustrated cover story in June 2014. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

The Hidden Brain (2009) by Shankar Vedantam explores the unconscious inclinations and pre-formed judgments that shape human behaviors. In public policy and in other disciplines that attempt to explain and predict how and why people act, the common assumption is that people make decisions consciously, referring to the facts they know and privileging reason over their emotions. Purchase this in-depth summary to learn more. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley (As Told By the Hackers, Founders, and Freaks Who Made It Boom) (2018) is an account of how a region of California became the central hub for technological innovation in the latter half of the 20th century. Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.

The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy (2007), by Jon Gordon, is an allegorical tale that teaches people to cultivate an optimistic attitude for increased personal and professional fulfillment. The audiobook focuses on the fictional story of a miserable worker named George whose pessimism has nearly cost him both his job and his marriage....

Fear: Trump in the White House (2018) details the political and personal tribulations that faced an ever-shifting cast of White House staffers during the turbulent first year and a half of Donald Trump’s presidency. Renowned journalist Bob Woodward uses his access to Washington insiders to create a revealing portrait of an administration increasingly crippled by its need to guide, delay, and even hinder Trump’s whims. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World (2019) shows how social media sites, smartphones, and other modern innovations became major contributors to the rise of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Author Cal Newport argues that many users have become dependent on smartphones and the applications those phones can access to fill spare moments in their days....