Book Summaries

In the last five decades, Cuba has struggled to develop a diversified and growing economy in an attempt to lift living standards. With an average daily income of only one dollar, most Cuban citizens are barely getting by even after decades of reforms. In 2008, expectations ran high when Raul C...

As the digital era grinds on and the Internet takes over more of our daily life’s activities, something seems to be missing. The technology that was supposed to liberate us from the drudgery of life has become a distraction, which in turn prevents us from enjoying our solitude or companionship...

The global economic crisis in 2007 had its origin in the U.S. housing market, but very few of us know the role played by courts and judges in cascading this crisis to a global proportion. While battling with the largest banks, three ordinary Americans faced with the prospect of losing their ho...

In less than a decade, the United States rose to the top of oil producing nations, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia. Much of this boom is driven by the discovery of shale oil and the introduction of the hydraulic fracturing process, so much so that nearly 9 out of 10 oil and gas wells in the c...

Buying a car can be a gut-wrenching experience with so many models and options to choose from. And that is well before price negotiations have even started. For decades, dealers have been accustomed to setting the right price at the right time. However, dictating terms of negotiations is now u...

Before the housing crisis erupted in late 2007, there was a decade-long period of subprime lending targeted at the most vulnerable members of society. The elderly, those facing financial difficulties, and families in transition were forced to pay significantly higher borrowing costs to compens...

Not only has coffee-drinking gained the status of a morning ritual for most Americans, but admirers of the invigorating beverage are increasingly opting for gourmet variety. Whether at home or in the office, coffee machines are ubiquitous, and their latest version has, in fact, arrived home vi...

Matchmakers have been around since the dawn of time, but in recent years they have turbocharged their business growth leveraging all the latest technologies. Matchmakers, marketplace operators or platform developers are all focused on connecting demand with supply, offering access to two group...

Not many of us pay attention to the architecture surrounding us in our daily lives as we stream in and out of supermarkets, gas stations and other commercial and public places. Much of the architecture we inhabit is increasingly defined by the technology of the time along with the pace of chan...

All animals communicate, yet only humans have language. With this sophisticated verbal instrument, we convey our inventions, progress and accumulate knowledge, an innate human faculty. In ...

In his seminal work, Richard O. Prum, an ornithology professor at Yale University and a widely-respected evolutionary biologist, has written ...

For decades investors have been told to diversify among a large number of holdings because financial markets are inherently fragile and volatile. However, many value investors have amassed large amounts of wealth by simply ignoring this principle and keeping their focus on what they know well ...

Before Amazon disrupted the retail industry, Netflix was the bête noire of the movie industry. Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings co-founded a movie rental service that simply sent discs by mail. The business took off because customers loved a subscription model with no late fees. As Netflix buil...

Sam Zell, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, learned to take risks from his parents at an early age, and rarely missed an opportunity to make profit. Known for creating the largest real estate companies in commercial real estate, Zell went on to find even greater success in other indust...

The American Revolutionary War was anything but a lonely struggle, as it is widely believed. In fact, the fight for independence was multi-faced, fought on many fronts, and almost of global proportions. In an interview with Readara, historian and author Larrie D. Ferreiro pierces the popular m...

In 2008, Shai Agassi set out to build electric car infrastructure with a grand vision to change the world but without any experience in the auto industry. A born salesman, young Agassi had the necessary tech savvy and political connections, but went on to build a company that lacked specific p...

Generally, the implementation of developing technologies that the majority of the population can use to improve productivity is key to the continual success of an economy. Western Europe and the United States of America developed an array of technologies that continue to advance their economie...

Tea was first introduced to Britain and Europe in the early 1800s and quickly came to be seen as a civilizing force among its noble and merchant classes. With the rising popularity of tea, the European merchants rushed to import tea from China, before seeking help from the ruling class to find...

In a relatively short period of three decades, China has emerged as the largest trading nation and the second largest economy in the world, a feat that no other nation has been able to achieve in modern history. Previously, China suffered humiliating defeats in two opium wars, and leaders of t...

Small startups can end up not only disrupting but also reordering economic segments, especially when capital, technology and entrepreneurship come together. In the last decade, advances in smart phones, animal spirits of young entrepreneurs and surge in venture capital led the rise of two comp...