The Best Speeches

Since its release in 1949, Joseph Campbell’s classic The Hero with a Thousand Faces has influenced millions of readers by combining the insights of modern psychology with Campbell’s revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. In its pages, Campbell outlines the Hero’s Journey, a universal motif of adventure that runs through all of the world’s mythic traditions, evident in the stories of such heroes as Buddha, Moses, Jesus, and Jason of the Argonauts. As relevant today as when it was first published, The Hero with a Thousand Faces continues to find new audiences among students and professors in fields ranging from anthropology and the history of religion to literature and film studies. The book has also profoundly influenced creative artists, including authors, songwriters, game designers, and filmmakers — George Lucas cites it as the inspiration for Star Wars — and continues to inspire all those interested in the inherent human need to tell stories. “As a book, it is wonderful to read; as illumination into the human condition, it is a revelation.” — George Lucas “Every generation will find in Hero wisdom for the ages.” — Bill Moyers

Dr. David J. Schwartz was a professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta and the president of Creative Educational Services, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in leadership development. He died in 1987.

Millions of readers have acquired the secrets of success through The Magic of Thinking Big. Achieve everything you always wanted: financial security, power and influence, the ideal job, satisfying relationships, and a rewarding, happy life.

One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill, you'll achieve extraordinary results.

Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfilment that comes from craftsmanship. In short, deep work is like a super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy. And yet, most people have lost the ability to go deep-spending their days instead in a frantic blur of e-mail and social media, not even realizing there's a better way.

In DEEP WORK, author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age. Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four "rules," for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill.

A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, DEEP WORK takes the reader on a journey through memorable stories -- from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a round-trip business class ticket to Tokyo to write a book free from distraction in the air -- and no-nonsense advice, such as the claim that most serious professionals should quit social media and that you should practice being bored. DEEP WORK is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world.