How the Pandemic Changed Us (ft. Greg Gutfeld)

In 'The Anxious Generation', Jonathan Haidt examines the sudden decline in the mental health of adolescents starting in the early 2010s. He attributes this decline to the shift from a 'play-based childhood' to a 'phone-based childhood', highlighting mechanisms such as sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, and perfectionism that interfere with children’s social and neurological development. Haidt proposes four simple rules to address this issue: no smartphones before high school, no social media before age 16, phone-free schools, and more opportunities for independence, free play, and responsibility. The book offers a clear call to action for parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments to restore a more humane childhood and end the epidemic of mental illness among youth.

The Late Shift chronicles the intense corporate struggle surrounding late-night talk shows in the early 1990s, particularly the power struggle between David Letterman and Jay Leno to succeed Johnny Carson as host of NBC's The Tonight Show. The book provides a detailed look at the business side of television and the personalities involved in this pivotal moment in late-night television history.