What is the key to success? It's hard to tell when so much success advice is contradictory: Should you be kind, or is being nice for losers? Should you spend every waking hour at work, or focus on work-life balance? In Barking Up the Wrong Tree, peak performance expert Eric Barker examines the research on every option—and shares what he believes are the secrets to success.

In this guide, you'll learn why context is king—in other words, why the rules for success depend on who you are—and examine interpersonal relationships, reviewing the importance of kindness, networks, and your attitude towards success. We'll also present Barker's views on persistence and hard work, namely why you need to stick to some things and quit others, and how you can achieve the ideal balance of work and play. Along the way, we'll examine how Barker’s ideas compare with those of other thought leaders and introduce even more ways to implement his suggestions.

The Big Leap, by psychologist and personal growth coach Gay Hendricks, aims to help you overcome the psychological barriers to success and fulfillment. Hendricks asserts that, while we all have an innate call toward our most successful and fulfilling life, even highly successful people are often unable to achieve beyond a self-imposed limit, a "happiness threshold." As you achieve greater success, Hendricks says you reach this threshold, which triggers self-sabotaging behaviors.

Hendricks explains how our happiness thresholds are established early in life, through the adoption of false beliefs, and how to identify your own false beliefs. He offers practical advice for applying this new knowledge to your life and relationships, in order to take the "big leap" into living your best life.

We’ll compare Hendricks’s ideas on happiness, limiting beliefs, and self-sabotage with those of other authors and experts, and we’ll explore the scientific research behind key concepts.

Do you feel uninspired at work? Do you dream of making a positive impact on the world but doubt that you’re good enough to do so? According to leadership expert Seth Godin, anyone can choose to create work that changes the world by becoming a "linchpin" whose unique skills hold their organization together. Godin asserts that becoming a linchpin is not only the path to a fulfilling life and career but also necessary for career security in today’s tumultuous job market.

In this guide, we’ll identify what beliefs make up the "linchpin mindset" and explain the steps you can take to become a linchpin and start living your most fulfilling work life. Additionally, we’ll supplement Godin’s advice with counterpoints that will help you implement his ideas wisely as well as tips for bosses who aim to nurture and manage linchpin employees.

Whether you’re unhappy at work, interested in another field, or worried your job will become obsolete, it’s never too late to make a career change. Barbara Oakley asserts that whatever your age or occupation, you can have a mindshift, which means opening up new opportunities through transformative learning. In Mindshift, she writes that it’s possible to overcome perceived barriers—such as age, imposter syndrome, or a lack of money—and gain new skills so you can reinvent yourself.

Oakley is proof that it’s possible to make a big change and flourish despite presumed weaknesses. She grew up thinking she was bad at math and science but developed a passion for those subjects later in life, obtaining a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering.

In this guide, we’ll discuss why it’s important to have a mindshift in the modern world. Then we’ll outline Oakley’s strategies for overcoming perceived limitations so that you can have your own mindshift. We’ll also supplement Oakley’s ideas with other experts’ tips for supercharging your learning and maximizing your potential.

This guide examines the five elements of "rebel talent," as well as three principles of "rebel leadership." To complement Gino’s ideas, we’ve also added context and tips to help you access your productive inner rule breaker, push yourself out of your comfort zone, and step into a richer, more fulfilling work and personal life.

In Designing Your Life, Burnett and Evans argue there are multiple paths to career and life happiness—learning how to recognize and evaluate these paths increases your chances of experiencing satisfaction. They share principles from their popular life design courses to help you explore multiple paths and purposefully plan a balanced life in which you can truly thrive.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the authors’ methods for purposefully planning a happy and meaningful life. We’ll also expand on their ideas with research and practical advice from other self-help practitioners.

In Poverty, by America, social scientist Matthew Desmond writes that the United States, despite its vast wealth and prosperity, suffers from poverty and inequality unseen anywhere else in the developed world.

According to him, poverty in America persists because it benefits many Americans to keep a share of their fellow Americans in a state of want—and he issues a call to arms to readers to examine their role in benefiting from and perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

In this guide, we’ll explore the key points raised by Desmond, including:

• The experience of poverty in America and its devastating social consequences
• The false explanations for why people are poor—and stay poor
• How non-poor Americans benefit from the poverty of their fellow Americans
• The choices we can make—both at a policy and individual level—to empower the poor and eradicate poverty

Throughout the guide, we’ll supplement Desmond’s findings with arguments from other poverty scholars, journalists, and economists—both to provide additional support and context for Desmond’s ideas, and to challenge his conclusions.

In this guide, we’ll explore the history of LTCM, how its models operated, how it achieved such dizzying success, and how it suffered such a crushing and ignominious fall. Throughout the guide, we’ll supplement Lowenstein’s account with commentary from other financial experts and analysts, including commentators who wrote after the book’s initial publication in 2000—adding insights to the LTCM story in light of subsequent events.

In this guide, you’ll learn about cutting-edge technological theories that will help you better understand our rapidly changing world. We’ll examine the evidence that an artificial superintelligence might soon exist, explore the theoretical limits of its power, and speculate about the impact this AI might have on humanity. In our commentary, we’ll offer contrasting perspectives from other leading AI experts—those who think Tegmark’s view of AI is unrealistically alarmist and those who feel it’s an even more urgent concern than Tegmark. We’ll also update Tegmark’s ideas with news regarding AI research and development.

Dalrymple is an award-winning Delhi-based historian who has written extensively on European colonialism in the Eastern hemisphere. Our guide explores how the English East India Company rose to power by exploiting a period of chaos and instability in India—when the once-powerful Mughal Empire had collapsed into smaller kingdoms that vied to fill the power vacuum. In the midst of this anarchy, the English East India Company forged alliances, backed coups, installed puppet rulers, and built the largest army on Earth. Our commentary delves into background historical context, the fallout from these events, views from other historians, and political theory that sheds light on the company's machinations.