In this guide, we’ll outline King’s advice on what to look for when reading other people, taking into consideration factors like situational context, your own biases, and the different drives and patterns of thinking that nonverbal communication often reflects. Along the way, we’ll examine advice from other experts on how to read people, as well as additional theories explaining these techniques.

In this guide, we’ll start by explaining how your brain functions. Then, we’ll explore the faulty methods your brain uses to process information, causing unhappiness. Finally, we’ll discuss how to replace these methods with new ones that will ensure happiness. In our commentary, we’ll compare Gawdat’s ideas with those of other experts on happiness, psychology, and brain science.

In this guide, we’ll start by explaining how your brain functions. Then, we’ll explore the faulty methods your brain uses to process information, causing unhappiness. Finally, we’ll discuss how to replace these methods with new ones that will ensure happiness. In our commentary, we’ll compare Gawdat’s ideas with those of other experts on happiness, psychology, and brain science.

The desire to feel accepted by others is one of the most powerful human motivators—it often dictates how we speak and act to feel like we belong to a group. But according to researcher Brené Brown, striving for social acceptance instead of being true to ourselves breeds isolation and division by fueling the fear that we’re one misstep away from exclusion.

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien tells the stories of a small company of American soldiers serving in the Vietnam War. Through the narrative, the book blurs the line between autobiography and fiction, leaving the reader unsure as to what is fact and what is myth. In reading these stories, we explore the harrowing physical and psychological toll of warfare and the dehumanizing and brutalizing effects of combat on human beings. We also see the transformative power that narrative and storytelling have to help us make sense of our experiences and give meaning and clarity to even the most shocking, chaotic, and traumatizing events.

In this guide, we’ll describe Griffin’s experiences passing as a Black man and share his conclusions about Southern race relations. Throughout this guide, we’ll contextualize Griffin’s experiences and ideas by exploring the history of racism according to experts such as Ibram X. Kendi and Michelle Alexander. Furthermore, we’ll outline critics’ opinions of this controversial book. Finally, we’ll examine the relevance of Griffin’s ideas to life today.

In Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, Lincoln history buff James L. Swanson draws on archival material and trial transcripts to create a vivid account of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and the 12-day pursuit of killer John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators through Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. This book is condensed from a longer book to adapt it for young readers, but the compelling storyline and many lesser-known historical details will interest adult readers as well. The book evokes the unique time of political division, grievance, and danger that threatened the Union in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.

The Federalist Papers are a unique window into the minds of the men who drafted the Constitution and founded the United States. This series of 85 essays, originally published at the time of the raging debate over ratification, make the case for a stronger national government and urge the adoption of the Constitution. This is one of the most important documents in American history, revealing what the Founding Fathers thought about human nature, civil society, and the relationship between government and liberty.

In a time when Americans were divided on their wish for liberation from England, Common Sense provided a persuasive argument to leave England and their model of governance for a republic directly elected by the people. While it deals largely with the American case, it also considers larger topics of political philosophy—anti-monarchism, theories that republics will engage in less conflict, and discussions of the state of nature and how the first societies were created. Common Sense answers the question: What does the ideal government look like? In these ways, it is more relevant today than ever.

In this guide, we’ll explore such insights as how enslavers convinced themselves that slavery benefited slaves and why most antiracist reformers harbored racist thoughts. Along the way, we’ll make connections between this book and Kendi’s later writings, and we’ll expand upon, and sometimes challenge, Kendi’s ideas by referring to other prominent writers on race such as Robin DiAngelo and Jennifer Eberhardt.