Home
/
Non-Fiction
/
The Serendipity Mindset
The Serendipity Mindset
Oct 8, 2024 10:29 PM

Author:Christian Busch,Gabriel Vaughan

The Serendipity Mindset

Brought to you by Penguin.

What if being lucky was a skill that you could master and share with other people?

Modern life can feel like an endless sequence of cancelled plans, last-minute meetings and delayed journeys. So how can we use unpredictability to our advantage? LSE and NYU academic Dr Christian Busch has spent a decade exploring how, if acted upon, unexpected encounters can enhance our worldview, expand our social circles and create new professional opportunities. In this book, he reveals the secrets behind the hidden force that rules the universe: serendipity.

From social mobility in Sub-Saharan Africa to accidental energy-saving multinationals in the West, he has studied hundreds of subjects internationally who improved their lives by learning to see opportunities in the unexpected. We meet people from all backgrounds, from couples who first interacted during chance encounters to businesspeople who invented multi-million ideas after a best-laid plan misfired, learning the fundamental common denominators among lucky people.

The Serendipity Mindset is a revolutionary exploration of a well-researched and essential life skill that we can all develop in a few simple steps. By learning to identify, act on and share it, we can use uncertainty as a pathway to more joyful, purposeful and successful lives.

© Dr Christian Busch 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Reviews

To fully leverage the discoverability and connectivity that today's mobile networked world enables, you must hone your ability to connect the dots of chance encounters and seemingly random information in creative and productive ways. This book can help you do that - highly recommended!

—— Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and co-author of 'Blitzscaling'

Christian Busch shows us that understanding how serendipity works can change the way we work and live. Drawing from both cutting-edge science and real-world examples, The Serendipity Mindset is a wise, exciting and life-changing book

—— Arianna Huffington, author of 'Thrive'

More than just a way to create exciting opportunities, it's the foundation for a more optimistic and meaningful life. An important book for a complicated world

—— Cal Newport, author of 'A World Without Email'

Christian Busch reveals that luck isn't always dumb. People who can see what others don't - who are awake to the high probability of the improbable - can achieve and contribute in ways their more blinkered colleagues cannot. A bracing and hopeful antidote to a world addicted to efficiency and control

—— Daniel H. Pink, author of When and Drive

How to create the opportunities for a successful and fulfilling life? Christian Busch shows convincingly that it's more than blind luck in The Serendipity Mindset, which offers excellent practical guidance for all

—— Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever and co-founder of IMAGINE

The book has changed my life for the better. During idle moments in which I might previously have second-guessed myself, I am now determined to say something kind, to thank someone, to make a connection

—— Mr Porter

Netflix's unique culture of freedom and responsibility and its flexibility to adapt are fuelling its remarkable rise around the world. In No Rules Rules, Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer reveal the fascinating story of Netflix's success, while providing actionable lessons for leaders on how to attract top talent and unleash their creative energies to drive excellence.

—— Susan E Rice, former US national security adviser and permanent representative to the United Nations

In this epic work, Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant offer us a compulsively readable successor to The Design of Everyday Things. They have crafted a definitive narrative that is as well-designed as the products that grace its pages

—— Brian Merchant, author of THE ONE DEVICE

User-friendliness is the cognitive lubricant that makes us love the stuff we use. And yet we rarely wonder how that love was crafted. This fascinating book unveils how—and why—that love was crafted

—— Ellen Lupton, author of BEAUTIFUL USERS: DESIGNING FOR PEOPLE

When I had to stop, mid-reading, and send one of the stories in this book to a colleague, I knew it was instantly indispensable — whether for well-versed designers or anyone who’s ever questioned the design of everyday life. Rarely does a book have the power to turn any reader into a more conscious participant in the world around us. You need to read it

—— Liz Danzico, Chair of the Interaction Design MFA program at the School of Visual Arts

An engrossing history [and] a sprawling and multifaceted story, with side excursions into near-miss nuclear disasters, WWII fighter plane crashes, and the latest developments in driverless cars …The result is an erudite and insightful exploration of a revolution in human thinking that most people have probably never considered

—— Publishers Weekly

a topical and essential read

—— The Lady

This book offers a history of user-centered design that’s delightfully true to its title. The stories it tells are thoughtfully organized, rigorously reported, and deftly presented. Kuang, a journalist, and Fabricant, a designer, demonstrate the power of design—for good and evil—in everything from autos and airplanes to nuclear power plants and mobile apps

—— Fortune -- picked as a favourite book of the year

Does well to remind readers of the action that can be taken to reduce stress and be happier in our jobs

—— Financial Times book of the month

Instagram has reshaped how we eat, shop, talk and present ourselves. In No Filter . . . Sarah Frier offers a rare glimpse into how the company came to be a formidable force in the tech industry.

—— BEST TECH BOOKS OF 2020 , MASHABLE

A lively and revealing account of how the world came to see itself through [Instagram founder] Mr Systrom's lens . . . The tale of nerds who struck gold offers glimpses of Silicon Valley's weirdness.

—— THE ECONOMIST

No Filter offers an engaging account of how tech founders' ideals inevitably have to be squared with making profits.

—— WALL STREET JOURNAL

A fascinating business story - but also much more than that . . . Frier is a skilled reporter and an astute and sensitive cultural observer. No Filter is a vital read for anyone seeking to understand the incredible power Silicon Valley executives exercise over us, and the opaque, unpredictable and undemocratic mechanisms by which they do so.

—— New Statesman

A vivid portrait of clashing Silicon Valley egos

—— Best Books of the Year: Business , Financial Times

Officially, this is the tale of the photo-sharing app Instagram, but it's also a wider story of Silicon Valley - the fragile egos, the feuds, the deals done around fire pits . . . Mark Zuckerberg is the book's sometimes cartoonish villain, ending staff meeting with the cry: "Domination!"

—— Business Books of the Year , SUNDAY TIMES

No Filter is a topical and well-reported account of the rise of Instagram and its takeover by Facebook. But it also tackles two vital issues of our age: how Big Tech treats smaller rivals and how social media companies are shaping the lives of a new generation.

—— Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FINANCIAL TIMES

Bloomberg reporter Sarah Frier chronicles the rise of photo-sharing social network Instagram, from when it was still a location-based app named "Burbn" to the ad-driven juggernaut it is today . . . Frier deftly streamlines from multiple interviews with some of the most high-profile executives, venture capitalists, and most-followed celebrities on Instagram

—— The 10 Best Business Books of 2020 , Fortune

Congressional documents may have told us why Mark Zuckerberg thought he needed to buy Instagram, but No Filter is the inside story of the company that Facebook actually bought. Sarah Frier's book is the definitive account that bridges the gaps between the company Instagram was born as, the company that eventually sold to Facebook for $1 billion, and the company we know today. The intrigue of this origin story will only grow as the status of Instagram - as a brand within Facebook and a player in our daily lives - is sure to change in the decade ahead.

—— Favourite Business Books of 2020 , YAHOO FINANCE

Utterly brilliant . . . It is so fascinating because it works at two levels: there's the personal story of these two founders making it up as they go along . . . and then there's the bigger story of Silicon Valley itself, and the unstoppable pressure to grow and go viral . . . [Frier] explores how Instagram changed society in terms of influencers, and also in terms of what it does to us, when we see these heavily filtered images of perfection in other people's lives - and this is really worth thinking about.

—— Extraordinary Business Book Club

Examines the all-pervasive impact of Instagram and what it says about today's society.

—— Independent.ie
Comments
Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Copyright 2023-2024 - www.zzdbook.com All Rights Reserved