The Bed Of Procrustes: Philosophical And Practical Aphorisms
By: Nassim Taleb
Random House; 1st Printing edition (November 30, 2010)
112 pages

This is literally a book of one-liners. One-liners of wisdom. Do not let that keep you away. Some will have you chuckling and repeating them, while others will make you ponder for the rest of the day. Taleb, the renowned author of The Black Swan, among others, makes critical thinking look easy once again.

Three of my favorite quotes:

The tragedy is that much of what you think is random is in your control and, what’s worse, the opposite.

Weak men act to satisfy their needs, stronger men their duties.

You are alive in inverse proportion to the density of cliches in your writing.

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By: P.T. Barnum

BarnumMedia.com – Jason P. Jordan (February 11, 2014)
83 pages

This is a short little volume written by a man many consider to be one of the best showman of all-time. You probably know him from the long running Barnum and Baily Circus. In this book, Barnum simple spells out advice on how the young should go about having a successful career. In money getting: What should you lean into? What should you shy away from?

Two of my favorite quotes:

“There is no greater mistake than when a young man believes he will succeed with borrowed money. Why? Because every man’s experience coincides with that of Mr. Astor, who said, “it was more difficult for him to accumulate his first thousand dollars, than all the succeeding millions that made up his colossal fortune.” Money is good for nothing unless you know the value of it by experience. Give a boy twenty thousand dollars and put him in business, and the chances are that he will lose every dollar of it before he is a year older.”

“Engage in one kind of business only, and stick to it faithfully until you succeed, or until your experience shows that you should abandon it. A constant hammering on one nail will generally drive it home at last, so that it can be clinched. When a man’s undivided attention is centered on one object, his mind will constantly be suggesting improvements of value, which would escape him if his brain was occupied by a dozen different subjects at once. Many a fortune has slipped through a man’s fingers because he was engaged in too many occupations at a time. There is good sense in the old caution against having too many irons in the fire at once.”

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