The six Swans

A new, updated and expanded edition of this New York Times bestseller on how to reconstruct your life so it's not all about work
  
 Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan - there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, this book is the blueprint.

This step-by step guide to luxury lifestyle design teaches:


The 4-Hour Working Week by Timothy Ferriss (Audiobook Extract) read by Ray Porter

In this conversation with Elizabeth Gilbert, our generation's "Mark Twain," we unpack the inherent magic of language, embracing the sacred "No," what it takes to have the things you say you want, and to sex or not to sex on book tour. Ha. Liz has an extraordinary way with words (but you knew that) and a rich perspective on what it means to share your magic with the world. Her eighth bestseller, BIG MAGIC is nothing short of brilliant and we're elated to have her with us. For more inspiring interviews with best-selling authors, subscribe to the Beautiful Writers Podcast on iTunes. To get access to our thriving community of writers visit TheBeautifulWritersGroup.com.

Download on iTunes

Elizabeth Gilbert : The Big Magic of Creative Living

What's different now? Over the 15 years since David Allen first published Getting Things Done, the ability to achieve  "stress-free productivity" with GTD® grows more important than ever.  David joins us in an all-new interview where we discuss the changing times, why people get trapped in unproductive thinking, and how to instantly gain more clear space.

Ep: 1 - David Allen talks about the New Edition of Getting Things Done

Dr Karl explains to Dr Rahul how magnets work, what happened to the Philae probe which landed on a comet, and why soft-top cars are less safe than ordinary vehicles in a thunderstorm. Published on June 16, 2016.

Dr Karl

Her name is synonymous with her fantastically best-selling memoir Eat Pray Love. But through the disorienting process of becoming a celebrity, Elizabeth Gilbert has also reflected deeply on the gift and challenge of inhabiting a creative life. Creativity, as she defines it, is about choosing curiosity over fear — not to be confused with the more familiar trope to "follow your passion,” but rather as something accessible to us all and good for our life together.

On Being with Krista Tippett 

Elizabeth Gilbert — Choosing Curiosity Over Fear

Matthieu Ricard is helping us redefine happiness in a culture convinced that it’s a passive experience. The French-born Tibetan Buddhist monk reframes happiness not as pleasure but as practice that requires discipline — akin to marathon training or learning chess. He asks, “What are the inner conditions that foster a genuine sense of flourishing, of fulfillment?”

Ricard is the author of “Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill” and “Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World.”

Find the transcript at onbeing.org.

Becoming Wise — Season 2

Happiness Is Practice, Not Pleasure | Matthieu Ricard [Becoming Wise]

Today we present an excerpt from a talk that David gave in front of a live audience. It covers procrastination, what type of people are the most susceptible to getting stuck, and how to stop procrastinating on your taxes….and everything else.

Ep: 89 - How to Stop Procrastinating On Your Taxes (...And Everything Else)

To subscribe on Apple podcasts please visit apple.co/2r40QPA or on Andriod subscribeonandroid.com/www.lse.ac.uk…unesStore.xml or search for 'LSE IQ' in your favourite podcast app or visit lse.ac.uk/iq

Welcome to LSE's award-winning podcast, LSE IQ, where we ask leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer an intelligent question about economics, politics or society.

With more and more information about us available electronically and online, this episode of LSE IQ asks, ‘Is big data good for our health?’

Advances in bio-medical technologies, along with electronic health records and the information we generate through our mobile phones, Smart Watches or Fit bits, our social media posts and search engine queries, mean that there is a torrent of information about our bodies, our health and our diseases out there. 

Alongside this, the tremendous growth in computing power and data storage means that this ‘Big Data’ can be stored and aggregated and then analysed by sophisticated algorithms for connections, comparisons and insights. 

The promise of all of this is that big data will create opportunities for medical breakthroughs, help tailor medical interventions to us as individuals and create technologies that will speed up and improve healthcare. 

And, of course, during the COVID-19 pandemic we’ve also seen some countries use data, generated from people’s mobile phones, to track and trace the disease. 

All of this poses opportunities for the tech giants and others who want to be part of the goldrush for our data -  and to then sell solutions back to us.

What are the risks in handing over our most personal data? Will it allow big data to deliver on its hype? And is it a fair exchange?

In this episode, Oliver Johnson speaks to Dr Leeza Osipenko, Senior Lecturer in Practice in LSE’s Department of Health Policy; Professor Barbara Prainsack, Professor of Comparative Policy Analysis at the University of Vienna and Professor Sociology at King’s College London; Dr Stephen L. Roberts, LSE Fellow in Global Health Policy in LSE’s Department of Health Policy; and Dr James Somauroo, founder of the healthtech agency somX and presenter of The Health-Tech Podcast. 

Research 
Blockchain’s potential to improve clinical trials by Leeza Osipenko
Big Data, Algorithmic Governmentality and the Regulation of Pandemic Risk by Stephen Roberts
Personalized Medicine: Empowered Patients in the 21st Century? by Barbara Prainsack


Contributors
Dr Leeza Osipenko
Professor Barbara Prainsack
Dr Stephen L. Roberts
Dr James Somauroo

LSE IQ podcast

Is big data good for our health?

What happens in a classroom of refugee and immigrant youngsters learning English? Their fresh approach to language can result in remarkable poetry -- some of which is collected in the anthology England: Poems from a School. Also, new language among healthcare professionals: the term cohorting describes the act of grouping patients with COVID-19 in designated facilities. But what's the word for reintegrating them into the general patient population after treatment. Decohorting, maybe? Finally, who can resist all those independent bookstores with tantalizing names like Moon Palace and Mysterious Galaxy? Also, black-hearted buzzard, nesh, livid, muckle, Fiddler's Green, Come go home with us, and a confounding puzzle about words containing the letters C-O-N. http://waywordradio.org

A Way with Words

Moon Palace (Full Episode)

Brought to you by Penguin.

Winner of the Booker Prize 2019.

The British Book Awards Audiobook of the Year 2020

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood is read by Ann Dowd, Bryce Dallas Howard and Mae Whitman with Derek Jacobi, Tantoo Cardinal and Margaret Atwood.

Margaret Atwood's dystopian masterpiece, The Handmaid's Tale, is a modern classic. Now she brings the iconic story to a dramatic conclusion in this riveting sequel. 

More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results.

Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third voice: a woman who wields power through the ruthless accumulation and deployment of secrets.

As Atwood unfolds The Testaments, she opens up the innermost workings of Gilead as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes.

'Dear Readers: Everything you've ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we've been living in.' Margaret Atwood

'The literary event of the year.' Guardian

'A savage and beautiful novel, and it speaks to us today, all around the world, with particular conviction and power... The bar is set particularly high for Atwood and she soars over it' Peter Florence, Booker Prize Chair of Judges, Guardian

The Testaments - Margaret Atwood, read by Ann Dowd

Our GTD podcasts are here to support you at every stage of your GTD practice. You will hear interviews with people from all walks of life about their journey with GTD, from beginners to those who have been at it for years. The podcasts include personal and professional stories, as well as practical tips about GTD systems for desktop and mobile, using apps and paper. Start listening now and you'll be well on your way to stress-free productivity.