How to Skimm Your Life Book Summary - How to Skimm Your Life Book explained in key points

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How to Skimm Your Life summary

Name: How to Skimm Your Life
Rating: 3.6 (95 reviews)
Author: The Skimm

The Skimm

Life hacks for the modern life long learner

3.6 (95 ratings)

28 mins

Table of Contents

How to Skimm Your Life
summarized in 10 key ideas

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What’s in it for me? Get a primer on the topics that any active modern person should know about.

Even though the internet has put an abundance of information at our fingertips, it can be a struggle to find reliable, trustworthy sources that will make you feel well-informed about the important things in life. Just finding the time to sift through all of the competing news and lifestyle sites can be a chore. And this is where theSkimm comes in to help you make sense of it all.

Launched in 2012, by Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, theSkimm set out to give young women a reliable source of meaningful information – the kind of news and insight people need in order to feel capable of making good decisions. This service has grown over the years and has resulted in How to Skimm Your Life, a collection of tips and information on the kinds of subjects that affect all of us in our day-to-day lives, from food and travel to finances and politics.

It’s a complex world out there, and a lot of critical things, like knowing how to invest your money or how to pack properly for a trip, are never taught in school. So let’s skim through some of these things together and get up to speed.

In these blinks, you’ll find

four items every kitchen needs;
ways to make air travel less of a hassle; and
the steps needed to make your first investment.

Feel fancier and more informed by learning some basics about wine.

Does the following sound familiar? You’re standing in front of a wall of wine bottles, wondering what to bring to a party, and your mind is a total blank. Should I buy white, red, bubbly or a dessert wine? Will I look foolish if it doesn’t pair well with dinner?

Wine should be enjoyed as a stress-reliever, not a stress-creator. So let’s look at some tips and essential info that will help you feel more comfortable the next time you find yourself chatting about wine with a friend.

Wine is essentially fermented grape juice, and the color of the wine is determined by the color of the grape skins to which it is exposed after the juicing process. Likewise, the amount of tannin a wine has is determined by how long the wine spends soaking with grape skins, seeds and stems. Tannin is a compound with natural antioxidant properties, and is generally found more in red wines than in white; it’s the reason your mouth tends to feel dry after a glass of red.

Now, when it comes to tasting wine, you may have noticed that people like to swirl the wine in their glasses and take some air into their mouths after taking a sip. This may come across as pretentious, but there’s a good reason for it: swirling the wine and taking in air are both ways of getting oxygen into the wine, which opens up more of the wine’s complex flavors. Of course, knowing why you’re doing it won’t change the fact that it still looks a bit goofy.

There’s a whole list of words people use when talking about wine as well, such as crisp, bright and flat. A lot of these words refer to the amount of acidity in the wine, and speak to the amount of citrus flavor it has. A good amount of acidity can lead to a crisp and fresh-tasting wine; no acidity, and the wine can taste flat or even flabby.

And if you hear someone say the wine tastes oaky, that’s a reference to the oak barrels in which the wine spent time. New barrels will impart an oakier flavor, while old barrels tend to impart more subtle ones.

So whether you’re enjoying a Chardonnay with some chicken or pork, or a Zinfandel with your pizza, now you know what goes into your favorite wine to make it so distinctive.

There are some essential tools every kitchen should have, and some simple ways to go green.

If you’d like to cook something to go with your favorite bottle of wine, here are a few things that every kitchen should have.

First of all, make sure you have a ten-inch stainless steel skillet, which is good for frying, searing, making sauces and so much more. This pan is the all-round MVP of most kitchens, as is an eight-to ten-inch chef’s knife.

There are ways to travel with less hassle and to improve your networking habits.

Do you love to travel, but hate dealing with airports? Then join the club! No, seriously! If you live in the United States, then by filling out the right paperwork and meeting the requirements, you can qualify for TSA PreCheck. This allows you to skip the dreadful security lines that are most travelers’ worst nightmare.

The cost for a five-year TSA PreCheck membership is $85. But keep in mind that you’ll not only need to fill out the paperwork, you’ll also need to show up for an interview. These interviews usually take place at an airport, so if you’re a frequent flier, you may want to try to schedule your face-to-face for just before an upcoming flight – when you’re planning on being at the airport anyway!

There are ways to strengthen your résumé and be better prepared for an interview.

Bragging about yourself can be uncomfortable, and yet this is essentially what a good résumé is all about. So it’s no wonder some of us need help putting a decent one together.

Here are some tips on how to strengthen your résumé and get it to stand out from the pack.

Successful negotiations start by knowing what’s important, and it’s never too late to save more money.

If there’s one thing that can be more stressful than interviewing for a job, it’s negotiating for a better salary or benefits. You could even say that negotiating is like dancing, since there’s a certain amount of give and take that goes on when it’s being done well. So if you feel like you have two left feet when it comes to these kinds of things, here are some tips on being a better negotiator.

First of all, it’s best to know exactly what’s most important to you. For some people, it’s all about the money, but for others it’s more time off, better health care coverage or equity in the company. Knowing what’s important, and making HR aware of what really matters to you, will undoubtedly make any negotiation process run more smoothly and satisfactorily for everyone involved.

Decisions about investing, as well as whether to lease or own your property, needn’t be so complicated.

There’s a good chance you finished school with little knowledge about how to save or invest money. So let’s cover some of the basics on how to get started.

Investing doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, the first step in opening a brokerage – that is, an investment account – is quite easy. Businesses like Charles Schwab or ETrade allow you to open up an account online, and then you’re on your way to investing your money and watching it grow.

Here’s a skimmed overview of geopolitical history during the first half of the twentieth century.

Depending on how you look at it, the world is either a tiny speck in the universe, or a massive place with 7.5 billion people speaking 6,000 languages and adhering to over 4,000 different religions. What we can all agree on is that it’s complicated, especially when you factor in politics and the global economy.

To understand the current geopolitical situation, let’s turn the clock back to 1914, the year Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. This caused a huge uproar, as Ferdinand was next in line to rule the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Events following World War II helped shape today’s geopolitical landscape.

In 1948, government-enforced segregation, known as apartheid, began in South Africa, following political gains made by the white-run National Party. Around 21,000 people are believed to have died as a result, before apartheid was finally abolished in 1994.

Two years later, the Cold War heated up over Korea, after the Soviet-backed north invaded the US-backed south. The conflict ended in 1953, with the two regions still distinctly separated. Not long afterward, in 1955, the conflict moved to Vietnam, and went on there for two decades before communist forces prevailed.

Important world alliances formed after World War II, but tensions still exist, especially among certain religions.

We’ve covered many of the conflicts that have taken place over the past 100 years or so, but some significant alliances were made as well.

For instance, one of the biggest developments following World War II was the creation of the United Nations, which has brought together 193 countries with the stated purpose of promoting peace and human rights. Every autumn, dignitaries from these countries meet in New York City for a General Assembly and address issues that are threatening peace and violating human rights.

Questions about populism, nationalism and the electoral college are central to US politics today.

Some of the tensions in the world today are due to a rise in nationalism and populism. Often, the terms nationalism and populism get used interchangeably, and while there are similarities, there are differences, too.

Let’s say there are two political candidates: a populist and a nationalist. The populist politician would have a message that calls for taking control of the government out of the hands of perceived clandestine enemies like the “elites,” while the nationalist’s agenda would be about putting the interests of the country, and the people seen as the rightful masters of that country, above all others. The reason these two ideologies have meshed in recent years is that they both tend to call for a retreat from the growing trend toward globalized trade and economies.

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What is How to Skimm Your Life about?

How to Skimm Your Life (2019) offers a helpful crash course on a variety of subjects, including travel, job-hunting and world affairs, so that you can feel more knowledgeable about the important things in life. If you’ve ever felt like you needed some help making better-informed decisions on a day-to-day basis, look no further.

Who should read How to Skimm Your Life?

People wanting to improve their decision-making skills
Anyone with a hectic life wanting short, but sweet, life advice
Twentysomethings looking for life hacks

About the Author

Founded by Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, the Skimm is a popular online newsletter that initially set out to empower female millenials to make more informed decisions. Since launching in 2012, the Skimm has steadily attracted more subscribers, and is now a valued resource for over seven million members.

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