How Do People Get New Ideas?
In a previously unpublished 1959 essay, Isaac Asimov explores how people find new ideas. Echoing Einstein and Seneca, Asimov believes that new ideas come from combining things together. Steve Jobs …
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Building a Business and Making Your Mark
Building the perfect business is about finding the balance between what you have to offer and what the world wants. In this post, we hear from Sebastian Thrun, co-founder of Udacity, about some of the …
Ideas Are Not Singular
In isolation, good ideas alone are not enough to produce something great. The right people are what make ideas work. Read on to learn about how Pixar used that principle as the basis of its amazing …
Charles Dickens to The Times — I Stand Astounded and Appalled
On November 13, 1849 a crowd of over 30,000 people gathered outside a prison in South London to witness the public execution of Marie and Frederick Manning. Marie and Frederick, a married couple, had …
Elon Musk Recommends 12 Books that Changed his Life
Elon Musk, the billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX, is often praised for his brilliance, bold vision, and problem-solving approach. After meeting him, people often say, “He’s the smartest …
Andy Warhol on Loneliness
In his pseudo-memoir, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again), which is more a collection of his thoughts on various subjects, Andy Warhol writes about the paradox of getting what …
Tiny Beautiful Things
On March 11, 2010, a new writer took over “Dear Sugar,” an advice column on the Web site the Rumpus. Things would never be the same. Slowly over the next two years, we learned a little more about her …
David Foster Wallace: The Future of Writing In the Age of Information
David Foster Wallace remains both loved and hated. His wisdom shows itself in argumentative writing, ambition, and perfectionism, and perhaps one of the best, most profound, commencement addresses …
Charlie Munger: Adding Mental Tools to Your Toolbox
In The Art of War, Sun Tzu said: “The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought.” Those ‘calculations’ are the tools we have available to …
Peter Thiel Recommends 7 Reads
Eccentric billionaire Peter Thiel’s book Zero To One should be required reading for Farnam Street readers. Like The Hard Thing About Hard Things, it’s nice to see another business leader …
Four Reasons Why Plato Matters
Plato devoted his life to one goal: helping people reach a state of fulfillment. To this day, his ideas remain deeply relevant, provocative, and fascinating. Philosophy, to Plato, was a tool to help …
The Ten Pillars of Cutthroat Zen
Dan Harris turned to meditation after a panic attack on live TV in front of millions of people. In the back of his excellent book, 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without …
Craig Callender: Introducing Time
St Augustine, the theologian, and philosopher, famously posed the question ‘What is time?’ in The Confessions. After waxing on for a bit about what he can say about time, he admits (that …
John Steinbeck on Love
Nobel laureate John Steinbeck (1902-1968) is best known as the author of The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men but we can pull from his letters a mix of insight and language that rivals that of …
What Matters Most
The Holstee Manifesto sits above my fireplace. A reminder to live a life of purpose and meaning. This is your life. Do what you want and do it often. If you don’t like something, change it. If …
Aphorisms for Thirsty Fish: The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin
“Expectation is the grandfather of disappointment. The world can never own a man who wants nothing.” One hundred years after Confucius, came Wu Hsin. His name literally means …