If you’ve ever struggled to leave a lousy job or a toxic relationship, psychologist Henry Cloud has advice for you. In Necessary Endings, Cloud argues that pulling out of a bad situation is often the best way to move forward with your life. According to Cloud, we should view the endings in our lives positively, as those endings enable us to begin to live the lives we want. Cloud offers strategies for assessing the various situations in your life, determining which of them need to end, and making sure that your endings stick.

In our guide, we’ve distilled Cloud’s actionable advice for making changes in your life. We’ve also included commentary from the worlds of business and psychology that adds more nuance and detail to Cloud’s ideas about business, life, and boundaries.

According to psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist, pop psychology has given us a wrong—and dangerous—impression of the brain’s two hemispheres. In The Master and His Emissary, McGilchrist rebuts the popular misconception that the brain’s left hemisphere is dominant because it’s responsible for logical thinking and problem-solving, while the right hemisphere is used only for creative endeavors. Against this myth, McGilchrist argues that the right hemisphere is more important than the left hemisphere, and failure to recognize this fact threatens to rob our lives of meaning and happiness.

In this guide, we’ll examine the differences between the brain’s hemispheres, the reasons McGilchrist thinks the right hemisphere belongs in control, and the historical eras that he says illustrate power imbalances between the hemispheres. We’ll also examine McGilchrist’s predictions about a world dominated by the left hemisphere and his reasons for thinking this world would diminish our happiness. Throughout the guide, we’ll consider counterarguments from other experts in fields like history, philosophy, and literary criticism, and we’ll discuss updates since the book’s publication.

The cynical view of the financial world says that Wall Street is run by a special breed of traders who exploit investors’ collective fear and greed to enrich themselves however they can, without any care for the havoc they might wreak. In Liar’s Poker, Michael Lewis backs up this opinion with a first-hand account of the pursuit of ill-gotten riches at the Salomon Brothers investment firm during the 1980s. As a Salomon employee, Lewis took part in its wealth-chasing culture and witnessed the start of its downward spiral.

This guide will explore Lewis’s portrayal of Wall Street, the boom and bust of the mortgage bond market, and the rise of junk bond investments. We’ll also take a broader look at the financial world and alternate views showing there’s room for ethics and level-headed investing. We’ll conclude with Salomon Brothers’ troubles in the 1990s, which occurred after this book’s publication.

In today’s fast-paced world, our lives increasingly revolve around productivity, efficiency, and work. It’s now normal for many people to answer emails during dinner and pack their days with as many tasks as possible. Yet in Do Nothing, radio journalist Celeste Headlee argues that by trying to do too much, people are working less efficiently because the human brain isn’t designed to multitask or work without rest. In addition, the culture of overworking has led to worse health outcomes and increased social isolation.

So if all this work isn’t serving us, how can we end an addiction to productivity? And if not work, what should we be doing? Headlee’s solution is to embrace true leisure—doing things just for the fun of it. In this guide, we’ll explain the historical origins of the modern work addiction, how it impacts society, and what you can do to live a healthier life. We’ll also supplement Headlee’s ideas with more context on global labor trends and tips from other wellness and productivity experts.

The modern world lures us into giving away our freedom, argues early retiree Jacob Lund Fisker. The vast majority of adults are caught in an unfulfilling cycle of consumerism: They sell decades of their lives to employers so they can buy consumable goods and status symbols that don’t make them happy. Luckily, Fisker says, it’s possible to break out of this system: He did this by learning how to survive on just $7,000 a year, which allowed him to permanently retire at age 33. In Early Retirement Extreme, he teaches others how to do the same.

In this guide, you’ll learn the basic principles of Fisker’s frugal mindset and how you, too, can retire at an extremely early age. In our commentary, we’ll examine popular ideas from the early retirement community that provide intellectual context for Fisker’s argument and help you save even more money. We’ll also highlight counterpoints to Fisker’s point of view from books including 168 Hours and I Will Teach You to Be Rich.

Why is it so hard to stop eating your favorite chips? What are the implications of supermarkets containing aisle after aisle of sodas, frozen meals, and packaged snacks—and only tiny produce sections?

In Ultra-Processed People, professor and infectious disease doctor Chris van Tulleken argues that ultra-processed food—everything from breakfast cereals to fast food, candy, and lunch meats—is destroying our health and our planet. He claims that ultra-processed food isn’t really food at all; rather, it’s akin to an addictive substance that tricks us into eating more and more while simultaneously increasing our risk of developing a host of diseases. Plus, the way ultra-processed food is made harms the environment and contributes significantly to climate change.

Our guide explores van Tulleken’s arguments and his recommendations to counteract the effects of ultra-processed food. We’ll also provide context for his claims from the perspective of nutritional science, statistics, and other influential books on processed food, including The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and Fast Food Nation.

How does detective Sherlock Holmes consistently crack the toughest cases? Is his extraordinary intellect purely fictional, or is it possible to emulate his way of thinking to enhance your critical thinking and problem-solving skills?

In Mastermind, psychologist and journalist Maria Konnikova demystifies Holmes's legendary intellect. She argues that with self-awareness and practice, you can cultivate his cognitive abilities to improve your memory, sharpen your observation skills, and think more rationally.

This guide walks you through Konnikova's advice for thinking more like Holmes. You’ll learn:

• The specific mental strategies Holmes uses to unravel mysteries
• Why most people don’t use these mental strategies
• How to master Holmes’s strategies to boost your powers of observation, analysis, and deduction in daily life

We’ll also supplement Konnikova’s ideas with research and actionable methods from other psychologists and cognitive experts.

Defining creativity has historically been challenging because creatives are often walking contradictions—they’re introverted yet outgoing, focused yet easily distracted, and sensitive yet resilient. According to Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire, this is because creativity isn’t a characteristic itself, but rather the effect of a collection of different characteristics.

The authors’ research shows that creative people are ultimately defined by their introspection, desire for learning and experiences, unconventional and fantastical thinking, and search for meaning. In Wired to Create, the authors say that creatives possess 10 characteristics that encompass these traits and result in their heightened creativity—by embracing these characteristics, you too can maximize your creative potential.

In this guide, we’ll explore Kaufman and Gregoire’s 10 creativity characteristics, explaining how they manifest and why they enhance creativity. In our commentary, we’ll supplement the authors’ discussion with information from other experts and books on creativity and well-being like The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and That Little Voice In Your Head by Mo Gawdat.

If you’ve been struggling to concentrate, journalist Johann Hari wants you to know that you’re not alone—and the struggle isn’t your fault. In Stolen Focus, Hari makes the case that we have a societal attention crisis: We’re all losing our ability to concentrate, which means we can't progress on our individual goals, and we can’t collectively confront the major challenges humanity faces.

Hari argues that our attention crisis is the result of outside forces stealing our focus, not the fact that we’re not trying hard enough to concentrate. He examines these forces, including everything from our food to the economy, and unlike other authors writing about distraction, he proposes societal solutions rather than individual tips.

In this guide, we’ll explore Hari’s evidence of an attention crisis, the seven factors causing this crisis, and his three-part solution. We’ll also share suggestions for action based on Hari’s insights, as well as explore perspectives from other authors that complement his ideas.

Most people think of willpower as a virtue, an admirable trait that we strive for but don't always achieve. But science tells a different story. Willpower—the ability to exercise self-control when you need it—is an instinct that's wired into our brains.

Yet it seems like willpower vanishes at crucial moments, like when your coworker shows up with a box of donuts. To harness your innate willpower, you need to understand what factors make you give up your self-control. In The Willpower Instinct, Stanford University psychology professor Kelly McGonigal details how our natural willpower gets compromised by stress, distraction, lack of sleep and exercise, and a host of other factors. Using the latest psychology and neuroscience research, she offers strategies to help us defeat procrastination, control cravings, and achieve our goals.