I always was a great fan of Big Data. After reading “Everybody Lies” my interest in this area will only grow.

Big Internet Lies we all know. Fake news, coloured lives, photoshopped pictures. On the other hand, for the first time in the history of humankind, we have one place where we are all honest regardless of the subject – Google Search.

Plans, ideas or concerns that one would never share with the tax advisor, doctor, spiritual leader or a life partner are typed every second. With 4.5 billion internet users worldwide and close to 7 billion Google searches performed each day this is really Big Data.

And it is possible to analyze it. A few questions from the book:
Can you game the stock market?
How many Americans are racist?
How much sex are people really having?
How many people actually read the books they buy?

The author selected a few interesting topics from the areas of Politics, Psychology, Sports, Sex, Medicine and Crime. To get the answers, read the book and make sure you get to the end of it!

Stay safe and happy reading!

Karolina Kaim

In these days of lock-down and self-isolation, the greatest hardship is perhaps the longing of meeting with people, and that made me reflect on John Borrell who is one of the most interesting and inspiring persons I have ever met.

John is a former foreign correspondent, from New Zealand, who after having experienced the horror of wars all around the world, decided to settle down in post-communist Poland with his Polish wife in 1993.

It is a modern-day, real life tale of finding your place in life, in a new country, dealing with a foreign language, fighting with hostile neighbours, creating a business from scratch, and standing up to your principles and what you believe is fair and just.

During his struggle to establish a new life in Kaszubia in northern Poland, he managed to build Kania Lodge that hosts 16 bedrooms and suites, set up a wine import business, set up a vodka production & export business, and create a local newspaper.

This is not a “how-to-start-a-business” type book but a journey through the early days of a new, free and democratic Poland and how challenging those times were for both Poles and for foreigners who came to stay. I have found that both Poles and foreigners have enjoyed this read, and I hope you will too.

And yes, it has a happy ending!

Soren Rodian Olsen

Being stuck at home we could all use some cheering up. What I recommend to choose for comfort is a good read – “Factfulness” by Hans Rosling, “an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world”, according to Bill Gates quoted on the cover.

If you think that the majority of people in our world live in low-income countries, with almost no access to healthcare and education – welcome to the devastating majority of those who are wrong. And, ironically, the more educated we are, the more our views differ from the facts.

In “Factfulness” Hans Rosling, Swedish public health professor, deals with the misconceptions of people living in “developed countries”, starting with explaining why this term has been obsolete for years. In each chapter Rosling gives a clear advice on how not to give in to our innate pessimism and see the world as it really is. Surprisingly, it is not as scary as we are used to think.

This engaging reading leaves you with a positive thought – the world may not be great, but it is better than ever before. What more can we ask for?

Aleksandra Prawda

I am reading a lot of books and it wasn’t different in recent weeks. It was hard to decide which one to choose and which one to share with you, but after I finished it, it was crystal clear it will be „ a story of Helena Rubinstein – The Women Who Invented Beauty’’ by Michel Fitoussi.

Madam Rubinstein is well known as a founder of high-end luxury beauty brand and less known as an extraordinary Polish Jewish woman who lived whole her life in unnormal times.  She is solid proof that human beings can adjust and survive in the most difficult times.

Madam Rubinstein story starts in Poland in 1872 and then smoothly provides a glimpse of Sydney, New York, London and Paris. It is a real story about difficult choices, passion, love, business and how few great histories were made.

So… if you want to hear the real story about founding Lehman Brother – pick up that book. If you want to hear what makes Picasso and Dali motivated – pick up that book. If you want to hear what Coco Chanel was doing in Helena’s store – pick up that book. If you want to know what takes to make a great product and survive everything – pick up that book.

You will read that book faster than you think.

Tomasz Dąbrowski

Not another long book! So short and so on time during COVID-19!  

I want to recommend a book by Timothy Snyder ‘On tyranny”. Very different book from most of the recommendations you get right now from your friends when they finally found time to read a huge trilogy of Tolkien’s or another 2000 pages book. This one is only 120 pages, very small pages, so you can read it in two hours only, especially important if you have only two hours away from work or from your family during the quarantine time😊

Timothy Snyder reminds us that tyranny always uses the same principles to over slave us. Right now it just uses more technology, artificial intelligence, social media or even big data so it’s even more dangerous.

The topic of this book is really important right now, during the COVID-19 time, because a lot of authorities and governments all around the world will try to use this threat, which is serious and real, to seal their power for a long, long time.

The book reminds us that things that happened before, happened because we were too lazy or too conformist to act when it was not too late.

I hope you have a good read and I hope you stay safe!

Konrad Plochocki

In these strange times, I would like to recommend to you a very special book. Teasingly a bit, since it is not a business reading, it does not refer to the market situation, nor does it directly concern personal development.

“Almost nothing: The 20th Century Art and Life of Józef Czapski” written by Eric Karpeles. The biography presents the personage of Józef Czapski, a painter, writer, social activist, one of the few who were taken captive and survived the Katyn massacre. The book tells us about perseverance, fortitude and bravery in the face of difficult circumstances. The painter’s life against the background of historical events of the 20th century is veraciously portrayed. It is written in an extremely interesting, swift, and poignant way.

One of the fragments that has stuck in my mind is the letter that Czapski received from a friend, and I quote: “Poetry is a luxury for me”. Maybe in the current circumstances, it is worth to pause for a moment.

I strongly recommend this book to all of you, not only because of its considerable literary quality, which is undoubtedly value in itself but specifically because of Czapski’s figure.

Joanna Wojnarowska

Wherever we are right now during the confinement many of us may wonder what the World and our cities will be like in the months and years to come. For those interested in projecting a bit of history on the future and confronting it with reality I would recommend two books that constitute a good synchronized read.

“The Well-Tempered City. What Modern Science, Ancient Civilizations, and Human Nature Teach Us About the Future of Urban Life” by Jonathan F.P. Rose and “The Seduction of Place. The History and Future of the City” by Joseph Rykwert. The first author is a successful, American born, developer and author, the latter is a world-known retired professor of history of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.

The perspective of the history of urbanism presented by Rykwert in nine concise chapters together with ideas of Rose, rooted in contemporary challenges for the cities completes each other. “The Well-Tempered City (…)” provides reflections on the creation of new (cities) neighbourhoods based on five fundamentals: coherence, circularity, resilience, community and compassion. “The Seduction of Place (…)” is a book on the history of urbanism written in such an exciting way as if it was our own diary. Creating our own dialogue between those two books or at least parts thereof will lead us to the understanding of many aspects of today’s cities and hopefully will open our minds to how we should shape OUR CITIES for the next generations.

Marcin Klammer

I love business books which put values such as honesty, transparency and respect first. Hence, I would like to recommend the book “GETTING NAKED: A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty” by Patrick Lencioni. Fables usually tell us a metaphorical story of a battle between two forces, and such as one, the book portrays two fictional companies: one modern, client-oriented which is acquitted by another, larger and more traditional one. Main differences lay in their approach towards understanding business management and what they consider a success and clients’ satisfaction.

Just like a good fable, the book provides a lesson to learn: clinging to our ego prevents us from achieving our greatest business successes. Many professionals are withheld by their own fears: fear of losing business, fear of being embarrassed and fear of feeling inferior. The author advises on how to embrace those vulnerabilities (‘get naked’), profit from things which initially may have seemed to be failures and transform them into the biggest strengths.

It’s a great read which proves that changing your business very often starts with changing your own attitude and approach.

Monika Rajska-Wolińska

The housing situation in Poland was and still is difficult for those not privileged. This topic is close to my heart so today I recommend “13 Floors” by Filip Springer.

The book takes us through a history of housing conditions in Poland which were dramatic and first initiatives of developing affordable housing (Warszawska Spółdzielnia Mieszkaniowa of 1921) where habitants only had to pay reasonable rent.

Then, Springer outlines current individual stories, giving us a view of what is wrong with affordable housing. These are dramatic stories of (i) people taking out facilities in franc which started to exceed the value of financed flat, (ii) victims of reprivatisation going wrong, including heartbreaking story of Jola Brzeska, (iii) landlord-oriented leasing market which is grossly private and not institutional, where tenants cannot feel secure and rents are high. Springer also describes one institution which worked better – Towarzystwa Budownictwa Społecznego.

All of this great reportage sets out an amazing base for reflection on what can be done better in order to at least attempt to secure one of the most basic human rights – a right to a place to live, as Poland is definitely not doing well in this field.

Olga Ziegler