Inspiring Reads for Self-Starters: Business & Science Books
Empowering Knowledge for Ambitious Minds
If you thrive on fresh ideas, innovative strategies, and scientific breakthroughs, you’re a Self-Starter. At Bookfinity, we help you find books that inform, challenge, and fuel your drive to learn and grow.
From cutting-edge business insights to fascinating science discoveries, these reads provide the knowledge and inspiration you need to take your next big step—whether launching a project, refining a skill, or simply satisfying your curiosity.
August New Releases
Anatomy of a Con Artist: The 14 Red Flags to Spot Scammers, Grifters, and Thieves
by Johnathan Walton
These are the 14 red flags to identify the scammer in your life before they con you--from a victim-turned-vigilante and host of the hit podcast Queen of the Con.
"Johnathan Walton has written a master class on how to spot scammers, con artists, grifters, and thieves. And his storytelling reads like a crime novel. . . . A must-read."--Joe Navarro, FBI special agent (ret.) and author of the international bestseller Dangerous Personalities
"Some people play golf on the weekends," Johnathan Walton says. "I hunt con artists."
Con artists are everywhere--your new boyfriend or girlfriend, your new neighbor or coworker, your new friend--and they don't outsmart you; they out-feel you to get their hands on your money. In Anatomy of a Con Artist, Walton lays out "the tells" based on hundreds of real-life cases he's investigated, including:
Red Flag #1--A Stranger Offering Help: Someone new and overly helpful insinuates themselves into your life.
Red Flag #3--Drama, Drama, Drama: Constant dramatic "emergencies" to pull you in.
Red Flag #8--Beak Wetting: Faux generosity--gifts, money, or favors to bring your guard down.
After being scammed out of nearly $100,000 by a devious con artist, Walton was turned away by police. Infuriated and armed with the investigative skills he'd gained from years as a TV reporter, Walton launched his own investigation and built a compelling criminal case authorities could not ignore. Walton got his con artist charged, prosecuted, and convicted, then devoted his life to helping other victims do the same. This book packs in all he has learned.
Some con artists scheme for money, some for attention, some just for the thrill of lying. And if you think it can't happen to you, then you are exactly the kind of "mark" a professional con artist is looking for. With this insightful guide in your hands, you are far less likely to get conned and far more likely to spot these nefarious manipulators from a mile away--and cross the street when you see them coming.
Are You Mad at Me?: How to Stop Focusing on What Others Think and Start Living for You
by Meg Josephson
From psychotherapist and social media star Meg Josephson, a groundbreaking "cure for chronic people-pleasing" (Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author) that explores the common survival instinct called fawning and offers "explanations, comfort, and best of all, solutions" (Christie Tate, New York Times bestselling author).
Are you...
- Constantly worried about what people think of you, if they like you, if they're mad at you?
- The eldest daughter and/or the angry daughter?
- Anxious, a perfectionist, or an overachiever?
- Always overextending yourself (and then resentful)?
- Someone who avoids conflict at all costs?
- Fearful of getting into trouble or being seen as "bad"?
- Silencing your needs for the comfort and happiness of everyone else?
- Prone to overexplain or over apologize?
- Eternally obsessing over why someone texted with a period instead of an exclamation point?
Psychotherapist Meg Josephson is here to show you that people-pleasing is not a personality trait. It's a common survival mechanism known as "fawning" an instinct often learned in childhood to become more appealing to a perceived threat in order to feel safe. Yet many people are stuck in this way of being for their whole lives. Are You Mad at Me? weaves Josephson's own moving story with that of fascinating client stories and thought-provoking exercises to show you how to:
- Identify all the roles you might play--from peacekeeper to performer to caretaker to lone wolf to perfectionist to chameleon--that keep you far from yourself.
- Stop fearing your thoughts and emotions, even if they're unpleasant.
- Rethink conflict and boundaries as an opening for deeper connection.
- Practice "leaning back" in relationships.
- Recognize when people-pleasing is actually necessary (with your chaotic boss) and when it's not (with your close friends) and stop self-loathing when you slip into old patterns.
- Shift away from the familiar chaos, anxiety, and resentment you're used to as you move closer to yourself and a life that no longer depletes you--but brings you joy.
With Josephson's "lucid prose and smart mix of clinical expertise, personal disclosure, and pertinent case studies" (Publishers Weekly), Are You Mad at Me? will help you shed the behaviors that are keeping you stuck in the past so that you can live in your most authentic present.
Joyspan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life's Second Half
by Kerry Burnight
From America's Gerontologist, a practical guide that offers a radical and optimistic approach to longevity.
Dr. Kerry Burnight--known to her many followers as "Dr. Kerry"--is sparking a revolution to make older better. Fed up with the fear driven, anti-aging hysteria, hundreds of thousands of people turn to Dr. Kerry for her practical, effective and uplifting approach to navigating longevity--our parents' and our own.
In Joyspan, Dr. Kerry shares her popular philosophy and tools in a comprehensive resource that moves readers from fear to peaceful confidence. Dr. Kerry's insights, along with those of her inspiring 95 year-old mother Betty, are based upon a profound truth: the key to good longevity isn't the length of your life, it's the quality of your life. Books that advance lifespan and "healthspan" don't address the whole picture. Dr. Kerry introduces readers to the critical concept of "joyspan" based on the science of well-being, contentment, connection, meaning, growth, choice, and purpose.
Part manifesto, part how-to guide, Joyspan proves that internal strength is as critical as external fitness.Filled with both perspective-shifting strategies and troubleshooting for the specific challenges of aging--including caregiving, dementia, unexpected diagnoses, isolation, uncoupling via death or divorce, financial concerns, and more-- this book is an essential resource for a generation looking for a better way to grow older--and to help our aging parents do the same.
Primal Intelligence: You Are Smarter Than You Know
by Angus Fletcher
Tap into your hidden intelligence and transform your life
How are some people so much smarter than the rest of us? Where do visionary creatives and savvy decision-makers like Vincent van Gogh, Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln, Maya Angelou, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Wayne Gretzky, Warren Buffett, and William Shakespeare get their extraordinary mental abilities?
In 2021, researchers at Ohio State's Project Narrative, renowned for collaborations with NASA, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley, announced they had the answer. They named it Primal Intelligence. And they published scientific proof that Primal Intelligence was impossible for computers--but could be strengthened in humans.
Intrigued, U.S. Army Special Operations developed Primal training for its most classified units. The training succeeded. The Operators saw the future faster. They healed quicker from trauma. In life-and-death situations, they chose wiser.
The Army then authorized trials on civilian entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, managers, salesforces, coaches, teachers, investors, and NFL players. Their leadership and innovation improved significantly. They coped better with change and uncertainty. They experienced less anger and anxiety. Finally, the Army provided Primal training to college and K-12 classrooms. It produced substantial effects in students as young as eight.
That revolutionary training is now available for the first time in this book. It's not an optimization hack or a cheat code. It's a different way of using your brain. It offers a new neuroscientific approach to intuition, imagination, emotion, and commonsense, helping you think more like van Gogh and Jobs, Lincoln and Shakespeare.
It's your edge over AI. Your human genius. Your Primal Intelligence.
july new releases
The Origins of Efficiency
by Brian Potter
A step-by-step examination of how production processes--from penicillin and automobiles to steel and semiconductors--get more efficient over time, and why it matters for unlocking a new era of abundance.
Efficiency is the engine that powers human civilization. It's the reason rates of famine have fallen precipitously, literacy has risen, and humans are living longer, healthier lives compared to preindustrial times. But where do improvements in production efficiency come from?
A Beginner's Guide to Dying
by Simon Boas
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
In his mid-40s, aid worker Simon Boas was diagnosed with incurable cancer--it had been caught too late, and spread throughout his body. But he was determined to die as he had learned to live--optimistically, thinking the best of people, and prioritizing what really matters in life. Deemed "a funny, touching meditation on death" by the Sunday Times, this warm and wise book offers lessons for all of us in how to approach life.
G.O.A.T. Wisdom: How to Build a Truly Great Business--From the Founders of Beekman 1802
by Brent Ridge - Josh Kilmer-Purcell
"G.O.A.T. Wisdom is a glorious and profound book that will make you think deeply, feel more, and take meaningful action. With soul-stirring stories and zingy insights, this isn't just a book you read, it's one you experience, share, and return to again and again." -- Sally Hogshead, New York Times bestselling author, Fascinate: How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist
Twelve timeless principles for building a business, from the founders of Beekman 1802.
Have you ever wanted to create a business that's not only good but great? Have you ever felt as though you're destined to do something bigger and more significant with your life? If so, you should know that you don't need millions in funding, a marketing department, or influencer status.
If you have an idea, the determination to bring it to life, a deep and abiding belief in your product, and a devotion to your customers, you already have the humble starting point behind one of the world's fastest-growing and most beloved brands: Beekman 1802.
June New Releases
Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream
by Megan Greenwell
A timely work of singular reportage and a damning indictment of the private equity industry told through the stories of four American workers whose lives and communities were upended by the ruinous effects of private equity takeovers.
Private equity runs our country, yet few Americans have any idea how ingrained it is in their lives. Private equity controls our hospitals, daycare centers, supermarket chains, voting machine manufacturers, local newspapers, nursing home operators, fertility clinics, and prisons. The industry even manages highways, municipal water systems, fire departments, emergency medical services, and owns a growing swath of commercial and residential real estate.
Life Is a Lazy Susan of Sh*t Sandwiches (Original)
by Jennifer Welch - Angie Sullivan
From the beloved hosts of the hit podcast I've Had It, an honest, irreverent and inspiring guide to overcoming life's unexpected challenges and finding joy, stability and humor in today's chaotic world, for fans of Big Friendship and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
Long before their blockbuster podcast, I've Had It, Jennifer Welch and Angie "Pumps" Sullivan were simply two best friends, supporting each other through the ups and downs of life. Together they've celebrated family milestones and cheered on professional successes, but they've weathered the storms together too. When Jennifer's husband battled alcoholism and drug addiction, she turned to Angie for support. When Angie's own marriage began to crumble, she turned to Jennifer. And crucially, through it all they've kept one another laughing in stitches.
Almost 30: A Definitive Guide to a Life You Love for the Next Decade and Beyond
by Lindsey Simcik - Krista Williams
Turn your mess into magic.
The years leading up to thirty can feel more agonizing than exciting. The pressure to have it all figured out--your job, your relationships, your life--is intense. And as if that's not enough, bam! Along comes Saturn Return, a cosmic milestone that thrusts you into adulthood ... ready or not.