Paul Mani
1) Summary of Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living
Author
Description
Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living by Shauna Niequist: Conversation Starters
A collection of essays revealing Shauna Niequist's deeply moving reflections on very personal issues like motherhood, faith, and marriage, she says these are her sources of support and purpose. But they also become causes of stress and anxiety. She thinks being able to balance these two aspects of her life is a good way...
Author
Description
Kushner, Inc.: Greed. Ambition. Corruption. The Extraordinary Story of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump by Vicky Ward: Conversation Starters
Jared and Ivanka made many forays into national security and policy-making which is unthinkable in policy protocol. Their actions show their agenda which is to increase their wealth and no one has raised any precautions against their actions, according to journalist Vicky Ward. The author unveils the motivations...
Author
Description
DIRTY, LAZY, KETO: Getting Started: How I Lost 140 Pounds by Stephanie Laska: Conversation Starters
Stephanie Laska was a size 26 and weighed almost 300 pounds. Classified as obese III on the BMI scale, she couldn't find clothes that have her size. Seatbelts didn't fit her either. Her diets didn't work and was about to give up dieting altogether when she came across the keto diet. "In my opinion, there are way too many rules and expectations about...
Author
Description
American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures by America Ferrera Conversation Starters
Liza Koshy liked being racially ambiguous. Forever the ethnically mysterious little brown girl. She describes her culturally assorted friends "not as a melting pot but a salad bowl who were "tossed haphazardly together" and created a delicious dish with each culture contributing a "special flavor or texture." Actress Issa Rae tells her story about growing...
Author
Description
Dear Zealots: Letters from a Divided Land by Amos Oz Conversation Starters
Amos Oz does not exempt himself from being called a fanatic and proposes that readers embrace the responsibility of facing the fanatic who resides in our own souls. He provides a closer look at Judaism and asks what its essence is. The book is considered by critics as a necessary work that tackles urgent matters addressing the rise of zealotry all over nations worldwide, including...
Author
Description
Lethal White: A Cormoran Strike Novel by Robert Galbraith: Conversation Starters
The apparently deranged Billy Knight visits detective Cormoran Strike in his office and tells him he saw a child murdered and buried beneath the ground wrapped in a pink blanket. Soon, the minister of culture, Jasper Chiswell, asks Strike's services to look into two men who are blackmailing him but does not want to tell Strike what the blackmail is all about. It turns...
Author
Description
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear: Conversation Starters
Learn how to be 1% more day by day. Break unwanted habits and stick to ones that help you become a better person. Your usual failures when adopting new habits will be avoided. You can override your lack of willpower and motivation and develop inner strength and belief in yourself. Learn how to introduce new habits in your life even if you...
8) Summary of Mr. Trump's Wild Ride: The Thrills, Chills, Screams, and Occasional Blackouts of an Ex
Author
Description
Mr. Trump's Wild Ride: The Thrills, Chills, Screams, and Occasional Blackouts of an Extraordinary Presidency by Major Garrett: Conversation Starters
Donald Trump's worldview is shaped by TV and his judgment and reactions are reinforced by it. TV is Trump and Trump is TV. In the issues involving tax cuts, judicial appointments, immigration restrictions, and foreign policy, the president has created chaos. He ignores memos and fails to inform his...
Author
Description
Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence by Alex Berenson Conversation Starters
Tell your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence is an eye-opening report from former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson. In this book. Berenson reveals the undeniable link between marijuana use and mental illness. He reveals the epidemic of violence that is caused by drug use. The media has ignored and...
Author
Description
Stop Mass Hysteria: America's Insanity from the Salem Witch Trials to the Trump Witch Hunt by Michael Savage: Conversation Starters
The Left is deranged in its political reactions. Mass hysteria has happened in the past, as in the case of Cristopher Columbus and in the Communist scare that prevailed in the 1940s. The public insanity that resulted from these incidents were often created by politicians who had sinister motives. Author Michael Savage...
Author
Description
Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans by Ben Shapiro: Conversation Starters
Strategies used by the left to bully conservatives are myriad. They cite race issues, raise issues about class differences, and highlight topics about sexism. They use every possible means to demonize the other side to keep them quiet. Then they act as if such threatening actions are justified because they believe that conservatives are...
Author
Description
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown: Busy Readers Conversation Starters
The way of the Essentialist is to do "less but better." Greg McKeown advises readers to constantly pause and ask whether one is investing one's time in the right activities. Learning to know the difference between the trivial and the vital is an important skill of the Essentialist. Essentialism is not about doing more things but doing the right things....
Author
Description
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro: Conversation Starters
Author Dani Shapiro discovers that she is not the biological daughter of her father. The life she thought she completely knew crumbled all of a sudden. She had relentlessly examined her life in the four memoirs she has written in the past and is shocked to realize that her life mission to know the truth about herself is still beyond her grasp. This book...
Author
Description
Family Trust: A Novel by Kathy Wang: Conversation Starters
Stanley Huang will soon die and leave his millions to his two wives and two children. His first wife, Linda, barely got financial support from him. His son Fred is a disappointed middle manager who keeps hoping for a promotion in the investment firm he works for. His daughter Kate has a husband who works for a startup that hasn't started earning yet. Mary, Stanley's second wife, finds it...
Author
Description
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho: Conversation Starters
Santiago grows up in the Andalusian mountains shepherding his flock. One night he dreams of seeing treasures in a far-away place he had never been to, the Egyptian pyramids. He leaves his flock, travels, and meets people who become messengers of spiritual truths. As if by magic, he soon meets an alchemist who becomes his teacher. Santiago tells his teacher that he is afraid that he will suffer,...
Author
Description
Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law by Preet Bharara: Conversation Starters
After many years of observing and participating in the legal system, making efforts to improve on it, and prosecuting those who try to defy it, US Attorney Preet Bharara writes a book about his legal work. He asserts that as American citizens, people must work to protect the rule of law. They also need to accept the flaws inherent...
Author
Description
Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Sue Johnson: Conversation Starters
Her parents deeply loved each other but could not overcome their differences and eventually got divorced. Then she studied psychology and counseling and eventually made the realization that love and marriage are more about emotional bonding rather than rational bargains.
Hold Me Tight is hailed by the New York Times and Time magazine as a highly effective...
Author
Description
The Accidental Superpower: The Next Generation of American Preeminence and the Coming Global Disorder by Peter Zeihan: Conversation Starters
Geopolitics was a central factor in the global politics of the early 20th century but was relegated to the sides when political theorists paid more attention to economics, ideology, and technology. As the world advances into the 21st century, geopolitics will continue to play a major factor in the success of...
19) Summary of AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order: Conversation Starters
Author
Description
AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee: Conversation Starters
Artificial intelligence will pose challenges to nations, including loss of jobs and loss of self-worth as a result of people being replaced by machines in the workplace. Kai-Fu Lee gives a vision of a world filled with smart machines. Global inequality will be exacerbated as technological power will be confined to the two superpowers, the United States...
Author
Description
The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right by Max Boot: Conversation Starters
When Trump declared that Mexican immigrants are rapists and that he will be running for president, Max Boot thought he was witnessing America turn into the dystopian story that science fiction wrote about. A historian who has studied the presidencies of respected Republicans like Roosevelt, Lincoln, and Reagan, he couldn't believe how conservatives could support...