• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Farnam Street Logo

Farnam Street

  • Articles
  • Newsletter
  • Podcast
  • Books
  • Courses
  • Log In
  • Become a Member

Explore Farnam Street Articles

How to Live on 24 Hours a Day: Arnold Bennett on Living a Meaningful Life Within the Constraints of Time

“We shall never have more time. We have, and have always had, all the time there is.” *** Despite having been published in 1910, Arnold Bennett’s book How to Live on 24 Hours a Day remains …

Continue readingHow to Live on 24 Hours a Day: Arnold Bennett on Living a Meaningful Life Within the Constraints of Time

Math Makes Life Beautiful.

Math has long been the language of science, engineering, and finance, but can math help you feel calm on a turbulent flight? Get a date? Make better decisions? Here are some heroic ways math shows up …

Continue readingMath Makes Life Beautiful.

The Small Steps of Giant Leaps

One of the most beneficial skills you can learn in life is how to consistently put yourself in a good position. The person who finds themselves in a strong position can take advantage of circumstances …

Continue readingThe Small Steps of Giant Leaps

Thought Experiment: How Einstein Solved Difficult Problems

Thought experiments are a classic tool used by many great thinkers. They enable us to explore impossible situations and predict their implications and outcomes. Mastering thought experiments can help …

Continue readingThought Experiment: How Einstein Solved Difficult Problems

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 …

Continue readingWhy Math Class Is Boring—and What to Do About It

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 …

Continue readingHow to Remember What You Read

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 …

Continue readingHow Description Leads to Understanding

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 …

Continue readingMirror Your Audience: Four Life Lessons From Performance Artist Marina Abramović

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 …

Continue readingThe Precautionary Principle: Better Safe than Sorry?

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 …

Continue readingSeizing The Middle: Chess Strategy in Business

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, …

Continue readingThe Availability Bias: How to Overcome a Common Cognitive Distortion

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 …

Continue readingHow to Write Creative Fiction: Umberto Eco’s Four Rules

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 …

Continue readingBetter Thinking & Incentives: Lessons From Shakespeare

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 …

Continue readingAdvice for Young Scientists—and Curious People in General

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 …

Continue readingThe Pygmalion Effect: Proving Them Right

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 …

Continue readingEfficiency is the Enemy
← See newer articles
See older articles →

Discover What You’re Missing

Get the weekly email full of actionable ideas and insights you can use at work and home.


As seen on:

Forbes logo
New York Times logo
Wall Street Journal logo
The Economist logo
Financial Times logo
Farnam Street Logo

© 2023 Farnam Street Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Proudly powered by WordPress. Hosted by Pressable. See our Privacy Policy.

  • Speaking
  • Sponsorship
  • About
  • Support
  • Education

We’re Syrus Partners.
We buy amazing businesses.


Farnam Street participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising commissions by linking to Amazon.