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Little Bets
Little Bets
Sep 23, 2024 4:23 AM

Author:Peter Sims

Little Bets

How did Pixar go from producing CAT scan images to winning Oscars?

How did Steve Jobs turn Apple into a world-beating company?

How does Amazon's culture encourage innovation?

How can you find the creative solutions demanded by our ever-changing world?

The answer, according to renowned business thought-leader Peter Sims, is LITTLE BETS. In these fast-moving times, it's next to impossible to predict what's around the corner, and harder still to formulate a foolproof plan to deal with it. Truly innovative companies, Sims argues, don't get caught up in projections and predictions. Instead, they embrace uncertainty, take a chance, fail quickly and learn fast.

This method has formulated thousands of modern advances, from Google's PageRank to Starbucks coffee shops - if you harness its power, what could you achieve?

Reviews

Highly engaging ... Little Bets will help you challenge the status quo and discover extraordinary new possibilities in whatever endeavor you're engaged in

—— Howard Schultz, Chairman and CEO of Starbucks

An enthusiastic, example-rich argument for innovating in a particular way

—— Wall Street Journal

Want a big idea? Start little. Whether you're an entrepreneur or an artist, Peter Sims shows you how big breakthroughs start with little bets

—— Chip Heath, author of Made to Stick and Switch

Little Bets is easily the most delightful and useful innovation book published in the last decade

—— Robert I. Sutton, author of Good Boss, Bad Boss

Put [t]his book on your reading list

—— TechCrunch

Diverse and uplifting - a veritable gumball machine of memorable anecdotes to inspire creativity

—— Kirkus Reviews

Genius may be rare but that doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t approach greatness through keenly observed trial and error. Such is the rallying cry of this practical and very readable book

—— Daily Mail

Remarkable insights into the lives of evil men.

—— Scotsman

Combines erudite analysis, historical context, a mind-bending adventure and extremely suggestive sex - some of it involving Foer's grandmother.

—— Tony Allen-Mills , Sunday Times

A labyrinthine personal journey that explains how our author ended up in the finals of the US Memory Championship - a compelling story arc from sceptical journalist to dedicated participant. I can't remember when I last found a science book so intriguing.

—— David Profumo , Literary Review

[A] charming book...interwoven with informed exposition about the psychological science of memory.

—— Professor Larry R Squire , Nature

A fascinating, engaging and very well-written book.

—— Dallas Campbell , Science Focus

Addictive and fascinating...extraordinary. [Foer] attended the US Memory Championship as a journalist and returned the next year as a competitor and won...It is Foer's gifts as a teacher and a storyteller that make this book essential reading.

—— Leo Robson , Scottish Sunday Express

Take, for example, the emergence of Downing Street as a salon for intellectuals from around the world, and not only economists and political scientists. Under David Cameron-or, more accurately, Steve Hilton, the prime minister's most influential adviser-the thinkers invited to hold court there often have little to say about policy per se. Joshua Foer, a young American who has written an acclaimed book about how memory works, was a recent guest. Mr Hilton's rationale is that governments have more to learn from fields of research that investigate how humans behave, such as neuroscience and social psychology, than from conventional technocrats. There is now a policy team devoted to "behaviourial insight" in the Cabinet Office.

—— Bagehot, The Economist

Foer's book is great fun and hugely readable, not least because the author is a likeable sort of Everyman-science nerd whom we want to become a memory champion. Always fascinating and frequently mind-boggling, Moonwalking with Einstein is a book worth remembering.

—— Mark Turner , The Independent

For anyone interested in economics, cognitive science, psychology, and, in short, human behavior, this is the book of the year. Before Malcolm Gladwell and Freakonomics, there was Daniel Kahneman who invented the field of behavior economics, won a Nobel...and now explains how we think and make choices. Here's an easy choice: read this

—— The Daily Beast

I will never think about thinking quite the same. [Thinking, Fast and Slow] is a monumental achievement

—— Roger Lowenstein , Bloomberg/Businessweek

A terrific unpicking of human rationality and irrationality - could hardly have been published at a better moment. Kahnemann is the godfather of behavioural economics, and this distillation of a lifetime's thinking about why we make bad decisions - about everything from money to love - is full of brilliant anecdote and wisdom. It is Kahnemann's belief that anyone who thinks they know exactly what is going on hasn't understood the question; as such it's the perfect gift for opinionated family members everywhere.

—— Tim Adams , Observer Books of the Year

The book I most want to be given is Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. I'm a speedy thinker myself, so am hoping to be endorsed in that practice.

—— Sally Vickers , Observer Books of the Year

In this comprehensive presentation of a life's work, the world's most influential psychologist demonstrates that irrationality is in our bones, and we are not necessarily the worse for it

—— 10 Best Books of 2011 , New York Times

Selected by the New York Times as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2011

—— New York Times

Wonderfully rich and insightful

—— Julian Ovenden , Daily Express

A brilliant read

—— Nadine O’Regan , Sunday Business Post

Essays true to psychoanalytic principles, but free from jargon; they have the quality of the best short stories.

—— Lorna Bradbury , Daily Telegraph

Grosz is able to expand out creating universal themes and experiences that makes every chapter personally relevant to the reader. It is a fascinating process that challenges you to reflect honestly about your own experiences… Indeed this is both the perfect book for someone with no psychology background or someone who works in the area… I found this book extremely interesting… I would highly recommend to anyone wanting an interesting and fascinating social science read and it is a book you’ll remember long after reading.

—— Topic UK

Grosz’s vignettes are so brilliantly put together that they read like pieces of bare, illuminating fiction. . . utterly captivating

—— Robert Collins , Sunday Times

Marvellous… After reading [Grosz’s] absorbing accounts of his patients’ journeys you might feel that The Examined Life ought to be given out free at birth

—— Melissa Katsoulis , The Times

Crystal-clear and completely magical…The Examined Life is a book full of troubles, but also of wonders

—— Craig Brown , Mail on Sunday

Engaging, frank, and with many penetrating insights. His short, succinct chapters have both the tension and the satisfaction of miniature detective or mystery stories

—— Michael Holroyd , The Spectator

By turns edifying and moving…Grosz offers astute insights into the perplexities of everyday life

—— Trisha Andres , Financial Times

[Grosz's accounts] are shaped like short stories, but true and moving in ways that fiction cannot be […] distilled through long examination into finely crafted literary form…

—— Alexander Linklater , Observer

Grosz’s message is always affirming…it is possible to change

—— Mark Crockett , The Scotsman

Excellent… Every one of these case histories bears repeating. All offer worthwhile insights

—— Susanna Rustin , Guardian

Intelligent, human and deeply moving

—— Jane Clinton , Sunday Express

'Grosz] writes lucidly and with sensitivity… sprinkled with wise reflections… A gem… highly recommended

—— Leyla Sanai , The Independent

[A] fine and moving book… It is a true literary work and a very modern one…

—— Anthony Rudolf , Jewish Chronicle

That rarest of pleasures: a book I loved, and could recommend to almost anyone

—— John Self , Asylum blog

Enlightening…full of wisdom and insight

—— Sophie Hannah , Metro

Beautifully unadorned writing... He paints a vivid portrait of his patients

—— Sunday Business Post

A rare insight into the life of the psychoanalyst… succeeds in making complex behavioural issues accessible for any reader

—— Kathryn Gaw , Irish Times

Exquisitely written casebook

—— Vantage NW Magazine

The suspense in each chapter is so expert that I had to double check that this wasn’t a work of fiction. Best of all, Grosz manages to give a jargon-free account of how psychoanalysis works

—— The Week

By turns edifying and moving… Grosz offers astute insights into the perplexities of everyday life

—— Trisha Andres , Financial Times

Grosz's vignettes are so brilliantly put together that they read like pieces of bare illuminating fiction... It is this combination of tenacious detective work, remarkable compassion and sheer, unending curiosity for the oddities of the human heart that makes these stories utterly captivating.

—— Sunday Times

Brilliant…. Grosz is a superb writer, yes, but it is the stories his patients tell him that really make you marvel. An elegant, jargon-free expedition into the secret business of our minds written with such wisdom and kindness… After reading [Grosz’s] absorbing accounts of his patients’ journeys you might feel that The Examined Life out to be given out free at birth

—— Melissa Katsoulis , The Times

A fine and moving book... The tact, patience and understatement, which are particular components of Grosz’s wisdom, remind the reader that this writer’s insights and empathy result from thousand of hours with patients. This book is not polemical literature… nor is it an academic work or a popular self-help book. It is a true literary work and a very modern one.

—— Jewish Chronicle

Crystal-clear and completely magical...The Examined Life is a book full of troubles, but also of wonders: it shows people trapped by their own mysterious impulses, searching for an escape hatch, and often finding it

—— Craig Brown , Daily Mail

Five star review - an intelligent, human and deeply moving book… Grosz is listening for the unspoken and the gaps in between. His book celebrates change and the triumphs and tragedies of humanity

—— Jane Clinton , Sunday Express

Excellent… this book arrives like a box of chocolates. Thirty-one elegantly presented chapters which, when you bite into them, each reveals something sweet, rich or crunchy. Every one of these case histories bears repeating. All offer worthwhile insights.

—— Susanna Rustin , The Guardian

Engaging, frank, and with many penetrating insights. His short, succinct chapters have both the tension and the satisfaction of miniature detective or mystery stories… A stimulating book.

—— The Spectator

Grosz writes lucidly and with sensitivity, treating his patients with respect. The cases are sprinkled with wise reflections... highly recommended

—— Independent

There are many sage lessons here, backed up by research where necessary…fascinating… Grosz writes lucidly and with sensitivity, treating his patients with respect. The cases are sprinkled with wise reflections…highly recommended

—— Leylai Sinai , Independent

Intensely readable… As a reminder of the strangeness of human existence, the myriad ways we find of making ourselves unhappy and the perplexing resourcefulness of the unconscious mind, Grosz’s book is a worthwhile addition to the literature of the examined life.

—— New Statesman

Written with real elegance and a strong sense of structure… several chapters read like powerful short stories

—— Readers Digest

Elegantly structured and written… Grosz’s book is intensely readable

—— Jane Shilling , New Statesmen

Shaped like short stories, but true and moving in ways that fiction cannot be... Gradually accumulating through his book, Grosz provides, not a definition, but an enactment of the purpose of psychoanalysis, which is both modest and profound.

—— Alexander Linklater , Observer

Grosz is an able writer, engaging, frank and with many penetrating insights. His short, succinct chapters have both the tension and the satisfaction of miniature detective or mystery stories… a stimulating book

—— Michael Holroyd , Spectator

[These] interpretations make fascinating reading, leave you marvelling at the ingenuity of the human subconscious. Grosz’s message is always affirming: if a person can work out what it is that’s driving them, it is possible to change

—— Mary Crockett , The Scotsman

Grosz’s narrative is by turns edifying and moving...tempered by his engaging prose and moments of humour

—— Trisha Andres , The Financial Times

I couldn't put this down—I read about other people, but learned about myself at the same time. Real stories can be so much more fascinating than fictional ones, especially with Stephen Grosz. No preaching, no clichés—just wisdom.

—— Victoria Hislop

Modest and profound

—— Alexander Linklater , Observer
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