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The best way to make intelligent decisions (~100 models explained).

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How to make smart decisions without getting lucky.

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Reading Better

Improve reading comprehension and recall, and effective note-taking.

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Intellectual Giants

Check out this list of intellectual giants who profoundly impacted the world with their ideas, thinking, and leadership.

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Self Improvement

Train your brain to retain knowledge and insight better by understanding how you learn.

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Why Math Class Is Boring—and What to Do About It

There are two types of people in the world: those who enjoyed mathematics class in school, and the other 98% of the population. No other subject is associated with such widespread fear, confusion, and …

How to Remember What You Read

It happens all the time. You read an amazing book, one so packed with wisdom that you think it’s going to change your life forever. Then…it doesn’t. Why? Because when you’re finally in a situation …

How Description Leads to Understanding

Describing something with accuracy forces you to learn more about it. In this way, description can be a tool for learning. Accurate description requires the following: Observation Curiosity about what …

Mirror Your Audience: Four Life Lessons From Performance Artist Marina Abramović

Imagine it is a Saturday. You are in New York and decide to go to the Museum of Modern Art. There is a special exhibit on called The Artist is Present. Performance artist Marina Abramovic is sitting …

The Precautionary Principle: Better Safe than Sorry?

Also known as the Precautionary Approach or Precautionary Action, the Precautionary Principle is a concept best summed up by the proverb “better safe than sorry” or the medical maxim to “first do no …

Seizing The Middle: Chess Strategy in Business

Chess can serve as an apt metaphor for other areas of our lives, especially business. That’s because the game is a microcosm of the ways we use strategic thinking. There are not many areas where we …

The Availability Bias: How to Overcome a Common Cognitive Distortion

“The attention which we lend to an experience is proportional to its vivid or interesting character, and it is a notorious fact that what interests us most vividly at the time is, other things equal, …

How to Write Creative Fiction: Umberto Eco’s Four Rules

Umberto Eco (1932–2016) was one of the bestselling authors of all time. In Confessions of a Young Novelist, he shares some unique advice for writing fiction. Umberto Eco wrote Confessions of a Young …

Better Thinking & Incentives: Lessons From Shakespeare

At Farnam Street, we aim to master the best of what other people have figured out. Not surprisingly, it’s quite a lot. The past is full of useful lessons that have much to teach us. Sometimes, we just …

Advice for Young Scientists—and Curious People in General

The Nobel Prize-winning biologist Peter Medawar (1915–1987) is best known for work that made the first organ transplants and skin grafts possible. Medawar was also a lively, witty writer who penned …

The Pygmalion Effect: Proving Them Right

If you expect a dazzling feat, you might just get one. Many people believe that their pets are of unusual intelligence and can understand everything they say, often with stories of abnormal behavior …

Efficiency is the Enemy

There’s a good chance most of the problems in your life and work come down to insufficient slack. Here’s how slack works and why you need more of it. Imagine if you, as a budding productivity …

The Ultimate Deliberate Practice Guide: How to Be the Best

Everything You Need to Know to Improve Your Performance at Anything—For Beginners and Experts Deliberate practice is the best technique for achieving expert performance in every field—including …

What Information Do You Need in Order to Change?

“Feedback is an effective tool for promoting efficient behavior: it enhances individuals’ awareness of choice consequences in complex settings.” —“Feedback and Efficient Behavior,” Sandro Casal, Nives …

John Stuart Mill’s Philosophy of Equality

Sometimes in the debates about how to improve equality in our society, the reason why we should desire equality gets lost. In his classic text The Subjection of Women, John Stuart Mill explains why …

The OODA Loop: How Fighter Pilots Make Fast and Accurate Decisions

The OODA Loop is a four-step process for making effective decisions in high-stakes situations. It involves collecting relevant information, recognizing potential biases, deciding, and acting, then …

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Explore articles by category:

Accelerated Learning

Mental Models

Decision Making

Reading Better

Intellectual Giants

Self Improvement

Why Math Class Is Boring—and What to Do About It

How to Remember What You Read

How Description Leads to Understanding

Mirror Your Audience: Four Life Lessons From Performance Artist Marina Abramović

The Precautionary Principle: Better Safe than Sorry?

Seizing The Middle: Chess Strategy in Business

The Availability Bias: How to Overcome a Common Cognitive Distortion

How to Write Creative Fiction: Umberto Eco’s Four Rules

Better Thinking & Incentives: Lessons From Shakespeare

Advice for Young Scientists—and Curious People in General

The Pygmalion Effect: Proving Them Right

Efficiency is the Enemy

The Ultimate Deliberate Practice Guide: How to Be the Best

What Information Do You Need in Order to Change?

John Stuart Mill’s Philosophy of Equality

The OODA Loop: How Fighter Pilots Make Fast and Accurate Decisions

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