{"title":"The First Shelf — Start Here","description":"\u003cp\u003eStart here. Six short, gripping books you can finish in a weekend each. Your phone trained your attention for 3-second videos; these rebuild it one finished book at a time. Finish one, and the next gets easier. When you've finished a few, move up to the Second Shelf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePick any 3 and shipping's free.\u003c\/strong\u003e Free US shipping starts at $55, and any three books from this shelf get you there.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"on-the-shortness-of-life-and-the-happy-life-paperback","title":"On the Shortness of Life by Seneca (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003eLife isn't short, Seneca argues. We just waste most of it. A brief, piercing essay on busyness, distraction and reclaiming your time before it's gone. This edition pairs it with Seneca's essay The Happy Life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRead it if:\u003c\/strong\u003e you want the most time-efficient philosophy book ever written.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst Shelf\u003c\/strong\u003e — short and gripping. Finish it this weekend.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50498369552549,"sku":"9781387583812","price":24.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0852\/2216\/2597\/files\/L9vhBFPZg09781387583812.webp?v=1789882170"},{"product_id":"the-old-man-and-the-sea-the-hemingway-library-edition-hardcover","title":"The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (Hardcover)","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn aging Cuban fisherman, a giant marlin and a battle far out at sea. Hemingway's short masterpiece about endurance, pride and dignity in defeat, told in his famously spare style.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRead it if:\u003c\/strong\u003e you want a story about never quitting that you can finish in a single afternoon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst Shelf\u003c\/strong\u003e — short and gripping. Finish it this weekend.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50498434990245,"sku":"9781476787848","price":33.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0852\/2216\/2597\/files\/Z98zMkDcrs9781476787848.webp?v=1789882533"},{"product_id":"the-lessons-of-history-paperback","title":"The Lessons of History by Will \u0026 Ariel Durant (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwo historians who spent decades writing an eleven-volume history of civilisation boil it all down into roughly a hundred pages. What history teaches about war, economics, religion, morality and the rise and fall of nations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRead it if:\u003c\/strong\u003e you want the biggest possible perspective in the smallest possible book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst Shelf\u003c\/strong\u003e — short and gripping. Finish it this weekend.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50498441478309,"sku":"9781439149959","price":24.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0852\/2216\/2597\/files\/R-jhhB_N4K9781439149959.webp?v=1789882633"},{"product_id":"sun-tzus-the-art-of-war-plus-the-art-of-management-sun-tzus-strategy-for-managers-paperback","title":"The Art of War by Sun Tzu (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003eA 2,500-year-old military manual that CEOs, athletes and generals still study. Know your enemy, know yourself, win without fighting, and never take on a battle you haven't already won in planning. This edition adds a guide to applying Sun Tzu's strategy to management.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRead it if:\u003c\/strong\u003e you want strategy in its purest form, and how to use it at work.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst Shelf\u003c\/strong\u003e — short and gripping. Finish it this weekend.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50498444984485,"sku":"9781929194483","price":42.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0852\/2216\/2597\/files\/VBeGIK-Xa_9781929194483.webp?v=1789882718"},{"product_id":"the-call-of-the-wild-by-jack-london-fiction-classics-action-adventure-hardcover","title":"The Call of the Wild by Jack London (Hardcover)","description":"\u003cp\u003eA pampered house dog is stolen and sold into the brutal world of Yukon sled teams, where he has to fight, adapt and rediscover something ancient inside himself. Short, fierce and impossible to put down.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRead it if:\u003c\/strong\u003e you want a book you can finish in a weekend that makes you feel more alive when you close it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst Shelf\u003c\/strong\u003e — short and gripping. Finish it this weekend.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50498446131365,"sku":"9780809565474","price":45.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0852\/2216\/2597\/files\/hST8nGg0PA9780809565474.webp?v=1789882742"},{"product_id":"the-prince-niccolo-machiavelli-hardcover","title":"The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (Hardcover)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe original no-nonsense guide to getting and keeping power, written by a Florentine diplomat who'd seen it all. Is it better to be loved or feared? Machiavelli gives an answer people have argued about for 500 years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRead it if:\u003c\/strong\u003e you want to see power described as it is, not as it should be.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst Shelf\u003c\/strong\u003e — short and gripping. Finish it this weekend.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50498447442085,"sku":"9788793494756","price":31.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0852\/2216\/2597\/files\/L5R570Dwn79788793494756.webp?v=1789882769"}],"url":"https:\/\/theforgeshelf.com\/collections\/the-first-shelf-start-here.oembed","provider":"The Forge Shelf","version":"1.0","type":"link"}