I summarise non-fiction books with more detail and critical analysis than you'll find elsewhere. Join my newsletter to get new summaries delivered straight to your inbox!
August monthly round-up
August has been a quieter month with only two book summaries and no blog posts:
Book summaries
- Power: Why Some People Have It —and Others Don’t by Jeffrey Pfeffer
- Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen
I expect to be publishing more than this in September, though. Next week you'll see a summary for Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni and an accompanying blog post with some of my own thoughts on meetings.
Thanks for subscribing and, until next time,
ToSummarise.com
ToSummarise.com
I summarise non-fiction books with more detail and critical analysis than you'll find elsewhere. Join my newsletter to get new summaries delivered straight to your inbox!
It's been a while since my last summary and newsletter. Since I'm not publishing as often, I'm only sending out the newsletter quarterly for the time being (instead of monthly) - just an FYI. Anyway, I've published a new summary: Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. They won a Nobel Prize in 2024 for their work arguing that institutions are key to understanding why some nations succeed and others fail. As usual, the key takeaways are below, and you can find the full summary...
My latest summary is for Seeing Like A State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C Scott. The book explores how states simplify and standardize complex societies to make them “legible” to distant rulers. In doing so, the state ends up reshaping reality to fit its narrow view. As usual, the key takeaways are below, and you can find the full summary by clicking the link above. KEY TAKEAWAYS States try hard to make their subjects legible: State power is...
In the past, I've sent monthly updates, but I haven't been publishing enough in the past several months for that. So you're getting a quarterly update instead for now. This quarter, I posted only 1 book summary and 1 blog post: Book summaries Essentialism by Greg McKeown (23 mins). This can be a useful read, if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed and hoping to get your priorities straight heading into 2026. You've probably heard much of the advice before, but I still find I need the reminder...