Pomodoro Breaks
Episodes
How we feel time
12 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Time is more than a clock’s tick; it is the fabric of our existence. David Gilden, an astrophysicist turned psychologist, takes you on a mind-bendin...
Understanding pure consciousness
11 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Elephant and the Blind is a groundbreaking exploration into the elusive heart of the human mind: pure consciousness. Drawing on over 500 vivid rep...
what's in a name?
10 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Enter a linguistic revolution with Michael Devitt’s Reference and Beyond. This provocative collection shatters traditional views on how names and th...
Science of cognitive feelings
09 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever felt a name on the tip of your tongue or experienced a sudden eureka moment? Jerome Dokic reveals that these cognitive feelings are far ...
Who is a stranger?
08 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Prepare to transform your understanding of humanity with François Laruelle’s Theory of Strangers. This isn't just a book—it’s a radical practic...
The edge of Sentience
05 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What if a silent patient feels every cut? What if an octopus or AI possesses a hidden inner world? Jonathan Birch’s The Edge of Sentience explores h...
How are corporates become rich
04 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Why are global corporations so dominant and billionaires so rich while technically following the law? Profit and Power reveals the secret DNA of moder...
Science of animal brains
03 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Can we ever truly know what an octopus thinks or a bee feels? Mike Dacey's Seven Challenges for the Science of Animal Minds dives into the mysterious ...
Capability building instead of GDP
02 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Forget the cold numbers of GDP. Nussbaum’s book reveals why national wealth often hides deep human suffering. Instead of measuring money, she asks a...
The idea of associationism
01 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Kojin Karatani's Transcritique on Kant and Marx shatters traditional boundaries by reading Immanuel Kant through Karl Marx and vice versa. This provoc...
Big world, small planet
29 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We once lived in a small world on a big planet, but roles have reversed. For the first time, we are pushing Earth to its breaking point. Big World, Sm...
Travelling across the rivers
28 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Explore a hidden world where six colossal rivers—the Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong, Red, and Yangzi—dictate the fate of empires. This ep...
Hot take on US v/s China
27 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Is America’s obsession with outcompeting China destroying democracy from within? In The Rivalry Peril, Van Jackson and Michael Brenes argue that gre...
Weaponisation of expertise
26 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Why do millions distrust experts today? The Weaponization of Expertise reveals it is not mere ignorance; it is a rational response to elite hubris. Th...
Surrounded by idiots
25 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ever feel like you are the only sane person in the room? In Surrounded by Idiots, communication expert Thomas Erikson reveals why we clash with others...
The state of democracy
22 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Is democracy a dying dream or a dangerous mask? In Democracy in What State?, eight provocative thinkers including Slavoj Žižek and Wendy Brown tear ...
Beginning of Bombay
21 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Step into the high-stakes world of nineteenth-century Bombay, a city forged by the unyielding ambition of three legendary merchant princes. From the H...
Chaos theory
20 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Unlock the secrets of a world where tiny changes spark massive revolutions. This captivating exploration of chaos theory and nonlinear dynamics reveal...
Understanding free speech
19 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Think free speech is a noble democratic ideal? Think again. This provocative history reveals it as a dangerous concept born from greed and venal inter...
Building an octopus organisation
18 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Most companies today are stuck like the Tin Man: rigid, rusted, and waiting for permission to move. In a world of constant chaos, these traditional mo...
Bias and Noise
15 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Bias is a well-known villain, but an invisible force called noise is wreaking havoc across legal, medical, and financial systems. Daniel Kahneman, Oli...
Soft design principles
14 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Soft design is a broad approach focusing on human-centric, emotionally resonant experiences, often using gentle aesthetics like pastel colors, soft gr...
Why firms exist
13 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Oliver E. Williamson’s The Mechanisms of Governance transforms our understanding of economic life by peering inside the corporate black box. Moving ...
Abundance for the world
12 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine a world in 2050 where energy is nearly free and diseases are cured by medicines synthesized in orbit. In Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thomp...
AI powered products
11 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Step into the future of innovation with Dr. Marily Nika’s essential guide to navigating the AI revolution. In a world where every product manager is...
Understanding consumption (nobel prize winner)
08 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Angus Deaton decodes the mysterious world of household spending in Understanding Consumption. Originating from his prestigious Clarendon Lectures at O...
During the industrial revolution
07 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Why are some nations rich while others stay poor? This captivating collection explores the hidden gears of global prosperity through Joel Mokyr's visi...
India's democracy
06 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A Logic of Populism: India and Its States shatters the belief that populism is purely a democratic disease. Srikrishna Ayyangar explores India’s com...
How to make welfare economics better
05 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Economists assume optimal policy is knowable, but consequences are often highly uncertain. This impressive treatise delivers a powerful critique of tr...
RNA world hypothesis
04 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
You are entering the age of RNA. For decades, this molecule was just DNA's biochemical backup singer, but now it is revealed as life’s great catalys...
Understanding the gig economy
01 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Are young workers trapped in unstable gig jobs, shut out of careers, and facing persistent unemployment? This essential book, Youth and Employment, ex...
The laws of user experience
30 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Unlock the timeless secrets of human-centered design with Laws of UX by Jon Yablonski,. This essential resource helps designers, from newcomers to pro...
Is politics a large exchange place?
29 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Politics as Exchange shatters the illusion of democratic governments acting solely in citizens' best interests, arguing this common view is too optimi...
Going AI-first in marketing
28 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The age of Artificial General Intelligence is speeding toward us, bringing a "holy-shit moment" that will redefine business. Experts predict that with...
Gamifying marketing
27 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Traditional marketing fails to deliver the personalized, immersive experiences modern consumers expect. With over 3.3 billion people playing games alm...
Ancient diets to modern minds
24 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Explore From Ancient Diets to Modern Minds, the definitive treatise on human brain evolution. Trace five million years of history to understand how mi...
China and Europe
23 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Why did Europe surpass technologically advanced China after AD 1000? This book details the dramatic reversal of fortune and institutional bifurcation ...
How the brain makes split second decisions
22 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How does the brain make reliable, split-second choices—like recognizing a person or reacting while driving—using unreliable, noisy neurons? This f...
Big philosophical ideas
17 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The anthology of philosophical thought offers a rich exploration of some of the most challenging and counter-intuitive ideas in philosophy. It dives d...
How to analyse discourse
16 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
James Paul Gee's How to Do Discourse Analysis: A Toolkit introduce readers to a practical and comprehensive set of tools designed to analyze language ...
Communicative AI
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Communicative AI by Mark Coeckelbergh and David J. Gunkel offers a deep and critical look at Large Language Models (LLMs), the powerful AI systems beh...
Putin's playbook
14 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Edward Lucas’s The New Cold War: Putin’s Russia and the Threat to the West paints a vivid portrait of Russia’s return to Cold War-era tactics un...
The Gun, The Ship, The Pen
13 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Linda Colley’s The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen reveal how the global spread of written constitutions since the mid-1700s was largely shaped by the pr...
When to say NO
10 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend spotlight the power of setting and de...
Words that change mind
09 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Words That Change Minds uncover how the Language and Behavior Profile (LAB Profile), inspired by Neuro-linguistic Programming, gives professionals a s...
The legacy of Bell
08 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Invention of Miracles by Katie Booth delve into the life of Alexander Graham Bell, revealing the tension between his celebrated inventions and his...
Organisational strategy during crisis
07 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The authors—Aaron K. Olson, Ward Ching, Richard Waterer, and B. Keith Simerson—present a framework built on three pillars: insight, choice, and ri...
Forms of Social Organisation
07 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This article reviews two volumes of previously uncollected papers by the influential anthropologist Mary Douglas. The review re-examines Douglas's cor...
Infrastructure as a code
06 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Infrastructure as Code: Designing and Delivering Dynamic Systems for the Cloud Age by Kief Morris (O’Reilly Media, third edition) present a practica...
Structure of Language
06 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Lasnik and Uriagereka's Structure: Concepts, Consequences, Interactions explores the nature of syntactic structure in human language. The authors, pro...
The State, China and the USA
03 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future explores China’s transformation into an “engineering state” driven by grand projects, rapid in...
Crowd-Based Business
03 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This book, "Crowd-Based Business Models Using Collective Intelligence for Market Competitiveness," by Rajagopal, explores how businesses can leverage ...
The paradox of coercion
02 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The excerpt sheds light on a powerful idea in international relations—the assurance dilemma. It argues that coercion works only when threats are mat...
Venture Capital
02 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The culmination of various perspectives on venture capital, focusing on the dynamics between venture capitalists (VCs) and entrepreneurs. One text gui...
Artifacts Versus Nature Body
01 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This text excerpts from Masayuki Matsui's book introduces a new academic discipline focusing on the 3M&I body (human, material, money, and informa...
Stop burning out
01 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Life today moves fast, leaving little time to pause and recharge. Self-Care All-in-One For Dummies by John Wiley & Sons (2022) helps you find balance ...
The Plenitude: Creativity, Innovation, and Making Stuff
31 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Rich Gold's The Plenitude explores the creation and consumption of material goods in modern society. The book examines four creative professions—art...
Finish what you started
31 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The journey to finish what you start and mastering the art of following through transforms intentions into reality. This crucial process is not merely...
Spiritual guide from Osho
30 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Spiritual awakening is hindered by the mind, focusing outward on desire and illusion, obscuring the God/truth within. Realization requires intense int...
Bureaucracy, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations
30 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Carl Benedikt Frey’s HOW PROGRESS ENDS: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations offers a groundbreaking framework for understanding the weal...
Political Argument
27 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Brian Barry's Political Argument provides rigorous analysis of political philosophy, focusing on core concepts like justice, equality, and freedom. It...
Mastering project management
26 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A comprehensive project management guide integrating Quality Management, Six Sigma, and Change Management. It details the five key PM process phases: ...
Internet of Things
25 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This hands-on guide introduces undergraduate students to essential Internet of Things technologies, architectures, and procedures. Written by Michael ...
Phenomenology and Structuralism
24 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Phenomenological structuralism, by Paul C. Mocombe, synthesizes Vygotsky's social theory and Chomsky's cognitive linguistics to resolve the structure/...
Creating effective dashboard
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This guide presents a comprehensive framework for dashboard design, development, and deployment, countering the 71% failure rate common in analytics p...
Advanced Reinforcement Learning
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Deep Reinforcement Learning is essential for enabling smart 6G communications. This resource details DRL algorithms like DDPG and PPO for complex reso...
How to use advanced statistics
19 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This essential resource introduces applied nonparametric statistical methods, minimizing assumptions for robust data analysis. The comprehensive fifth...
Understanding Pharma Ops
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The pharmaceutical industry must modernize its supply chain management to deliver consistent patient value for pharmaceuticals and biologics. Transiti...
Architecture - Form, space and order
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This book defines architecture through the principles of form, space, and order. Primary elements—point, line, plane, and volume—constitute the fu...
Swarm robotics
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Bio-inspired swarm robotics explores algorithms, mechanisms, and strategies derived from nature's collective intelligence and self-organization. This ...
Deterrence : How it works
14 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Betting the survival of civilization on psychological threats is a terrifying gamble. In Deterrence: A Conceptual Analysis, Patrick M. Morgan shatters...
Entanglement theories
13 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Entanglement, the greatest mystery in quantum mechanics, describes the instantaneous link between distant particles, challenging Einstein's local real...
Parting gifts of the Empire
12 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Explore the intellectual history of anti-imperialism in Palestine and India during the era of decolonization. The study examines how marginalized thin...
Regeneis - synthetic biology
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Synthetic biology and genomic engineering reinvent nature by treating organisms as programmable machines. This technology is crucial for developing su...
Predictive Maintenance
10 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Predictive Maintenance in Smart Factories leverages Information Fusion and Data Science, crucial for Industry 4.0. The text details hybrid cloud-to-ed...
Political frontiers and boundary making
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Political frontiers are crucial inventions of advancing civilization to prevent conflict and limit national expansion. Effective boundary making deman...
Liberal democracy
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This critique argues liberal democracy is essentially a political structure maintaining capital accumulation and private property, exposing the democr...
Competing economic theory
05 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Explore the competing schools of economic thought, retrospectively evaluating Classical, Marxian, Neoclassical, and modern macroeconomics (Keynesian, ...
Brand and Myths
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Brand and Myth expertly analyzes how major brands operate using profound psychological and sociological dynamics, extending beyond mere marketing or e...
Timelessness in cosmology
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Fundamental physics and cosmology grapple with time, timelessness, and spacetime emergence. Experts debate the problem of time in quantum gravity appr...
Digital semiotics
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The sources explore the semiotics of digital culture, often termed Numanities, through the Digital Semiosphere or platfosphere model. They critique th...
How to write well
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
William Zinsser's definitive nonfiction writing guide champions simplicity, clarity, and genuine voice as essential principles. Writing well is a craf...
Statistics and lies
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin provides a guide to critical thinking, helping readers spot misinformation and outright lies in today’s complex world....
Economic bifurcation
25 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Economic Bifurcation and Chaos rigorously explores instability and chaos in macro models, including New Keynesian and endogenous growth frameworks. Au...
How to reason
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ecological Reasonings critically analyzes Western Monorationalism, linking its singular concept of Reason to anthropocentrism and environmental collap...
Elements of style
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Elements of Style provides essential requirements for clear, plain English writing. The book concentrates on elementary rules of usage, proper pun...
Cheat codes for economics
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Daryl Fairweather, Chief Economist at Redfin, offers "economic cheat codes" in "Hate the Game". This essential guide uses game theory and behavioral e...
Laws of UX
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Laws of UX provides essential psychological principles for designers building intuitive, human-centered products and services. Understanding user ...
Forms of poetry
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Norton Anthology, The Making of a Poem, edited by Strand and Boland, explores the history and structure of diverse poetic forms. It illuminates ru...
Understanding RnD
17 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
R&D Management and Technology Commercialization is a practical guide detailing strategies for successful innovation. It teaches leaders to build and m...
Digital transformation
16 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Elements of Digital Transformation is a comprehensive guide detailing processes, principles, and best practices for organizations accelerating modern ...
Handbook of social computing
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Social computing utilizes AI, NLP, and social network analysis for diverse applications, including business prediction and mitigating societal risks. ...
Prompts for poets
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Poet's Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux (1997) is an accessible guide to writing poetry. Drawing from their extensive teaching, this r...
What is critical theory
11 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Explore Carl Trueman's profound analysis of Critical Theory, tracing its origins from Hegel and Marx through the radical Frankfurt School thinkers lik...
Society as a system
10 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This interdisciplinary textbook, Understanding Society through a Systems Approach, analyzes society using systems theory. It frames society around fou...
Paranoid Finance
09 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Fabian Muniesa's Paranoid Finance explores how the mainstream financial system's emphasis on value creation holds an inherent paranoid potential. This...
Maths behind gravity
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Gravity of Math explores how geometry rules the universe by detailing the mathematical foundations of Einstein's general theory of relativity. It ...
Business behaviour
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Discover Behaviorally Informed Change Management, bridging organizational change management with behavioral science and neuroscience. This guide provi...
Modern corporate finance
04 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Modern corporate finance drives national wealth through efficiency and value maximization, emphasizing returns exceeding the cost of capital over chas...
Beautiful math
03 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Bernhardt's book, "Beautiful Math," reveals the surprisingly simple mathematical ideas behind the Digital Revolution and the Information Age. It...