One day, a beautiful princess came along, sat by the water’s edge and dreamed about her perfect prince. The frog took up residence at a nearby lake. Once upon a time, a witch turned a prince into a frog, decreeing that he would remain a frog until a princess kissed him. Well structured – You’ll find this to be particularly well organized to support its reception or application. Visionary – You’ll get a glimpse of the future and what it might mean for you. Scientific – You’ll get facts and figures grounded in scientific research. Overview – You’ll get a broad treatment of the subject matter, mentioning all its major aspects. Inspiring – You’ll want to put into practice what you’ve read immediately. Insider’s take – You’ll have the privilege of learning from someone who knows her or his topic inside-out. Innovative – You can expect some truly fresh ideas and insights on brand-new products or trends. Hot Topic – You’ll find yourself in the middle of a highly debated issue. Therefore, we use a set of 20 qualities to characterize each book by its strengths:Īpplicable – You’ll get advice that can be directly applied in the workplace or in everyday situations.Īnalytical – You’ll understand the inner workings of the subject matter.īackground – You’ll get contextual knowledge as a frame for informed action or analysis.īold – You’ll find arguments that may break with predominant views.Ĭomprehensive – You’ll find every aspect of the subject matter covered.Ĭoncrete Examples – You’ll get practical advice illustrated with examples of real-world applications or anecdotes.Ĭontroversial – You’ll be confronted with strongly debated opinions.Įloquent – You’ll enjoy a masterfully written or presented text.Įngaging – You’ll read or watch this all the way through the end.Įye opening – You’ll be offered highly surprising insights.įor beginners – You’ll find this to be a good primer if you’re a learner with little or no prior experience/knowledge.įor experts – You’ll get the higher-level knowledge/instructions you need as an expert. While the rating tells you how good a book is according to our two core criteria, it says nothing about its particular defining features. What we say here about books applies to all formats we cover. We look at every kind of content that may matter to our audience: books, but also articles, reports, videos and podcasts. *getAbstract is summarizing much more than books. For instance, it may offer decent advice in some areas while being repetitive or unremarkable in others. A helpful and/or enlightening book, in spite of its obvious shortcomings. is particularly well structured.ĥ – Solid. A helpful and/or enlightening book that stands out by at least one aspect, e.g. contains uncommonly novel ideas and presents them in an engaging manner.Ħ – Notable.

A helpful and/or enlightening book that combines two or more noteworthy strengths, e.g. presents the latest findings in a topical field and is written by a renowned expert but lacks a bit in style.ħ – Good. A helpful and/or enlightening book that has a substantial number of outstanding qualities without excelling across the board, e.g. A helpful and/or enlightening book that is extremely well rounded, has many strengths and no shortcomings worth mentioning.Ĩ – Very good. Often an instant classic and must-read for everyone.ĩ – Superb. A helpful and/or enlightening book that, in addition to meeting the highest standards in all pertinent aspects, stands out even among the best. Here's what the ratings mean:ġ0 – Brilliant. Books we rate below 5 won’t be summarized.

Our rating helps you sort the titles on your reading list from solid (5) to brilliant (10). We rate each piece of content on a scale of 1–10 with regard to these two core criteria. Helpful – You’ll take-away practical advice that will help you get better at what you do. Whatever we select for our library has to excel in one or the other of these two core criteria:Įnlightening – You’ll learn things that will inform and improve your decisions. At getAbstract, we summarize books* that help people understand the world and make it better.

Kiss that frog