Mortimer Adler on Understanding What You Read
One of our goals when reading is to find and elucidate the key sentences in a book. Independent of whether we agree with these key sentences, we first need to digest them — to capture the …
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Spring 2016 Reading List — More Curated Recommendations For a Curious Mind
We hear a lot from people who want to read more. That’s a great sentiment. But it won’t actually happen until you decide what you’re going to do less of. We all get 24 hours a day …
Can We Reason Our Way to a Better Morality?
In a 2012 TED talk, NYU professor Rebecca Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex, sat down with her husband Harvard professor Steven Pinker for an interesting (and polarizing) conversation: Does …
How Clever Leaders Overcome More Talented and Better Funded Competitors
Talent and resources aren’t always enough to succeed. Doing incredible things requires true passion. Sometimes a driven, inspired team can succeed against one with more talent and funding. *** In the …
Carl Braun’s Writing Lessons for Clear Thinking and Productive Communication
“Man is a gregarious animal. We work in herds, in teams. The bear can do exactly as he pleases, for he works alone. We do not work alone. We depend throughout our lives on the goodwill of other …
Towards a Greater Synthesis: Steven Pinker on How to Apply Science to the Humanities
The fundamental idea behind Farnam Street is to learn to think across disciplines and synthesize, using ideas in combination to solve problems in novel ways. An easy example would be to take …
Elon Musk and the Question of Overconfidence
Ashlee Vance’s book on Elon Musk is well read for a good reason: It’s a fascinating look at a fascinating person. You can interpret the book however you like. It’s a tale of genius. …
The Iconic Think Different Apple Commercial Narrated by Steve Jobs
Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… …
A Journey of Self Discovery
*** “Beautiful people do not just happen.” In her bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert told her story of self-discovery in which she spent a year journeying through Italy, India, …
What Can We Learn From the Prolific Mr. Asimov?
To learn is to broaden, to experience more, to snatch new aspects of life for yourself. To refuse to learn or to be relieved at not having to learn is to commit a form of suicide; in the long run, a …
Letters to a Prime Minister
Every two weeks, from 2007 to 2011, Yann Martel sent a book to then Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. Each book was accompanied by a letter telling the PM why he might enjoy that particular …
Roger Fisher on a Better Way to Negotiate, Part 1
“Peace is not a piece of paper, but a way of dealing with conflict when it arises.” — Roger Fisher *** (Don’t want to read online? Purchase a sexy PDF of the two-part series for only …
The Central Mistake of Historicism: Karl Popper on Why Trend is Not Destiny
Philosophy can be a little dry in concept. The word itself conjures up images of thinking about thought, why we exist, and other metaphysical ideas that seem a little divorced from the everyday world. …
Investing: The Rules of the Road
Investing money can seem a little rudderless at times. One day you hear that stocks are risky and the next that they’re indispensable. Some days it seems like stocks only go up and sometimes that they …
Multitasking: Giving the World an Advantage it Shouldn’t Have
Echoing the comments of William Deresiewicz, Charlie Munger offers some sage advice on multi-tasking: I will say this, I know no wise person who doesn’t read a lot. I suspect that you can read on the …
Tiny Gains. Massive Results.
When we want to improve ourselves, we often pursue dramatic changes with little success. A better idea is to go for small, incremental improvements that add up over time. *** Self-motivated, …