Farnam Street
Mastering the best of what other people have already figured out
We all hope totalitarianism — a form of government in which the state has no limits in authority and does whatever it wants — is a thing of the past. Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia showed what the end of humanity would look like, and it …
“History is written by the winners” is the popular view. But your winner may not be my winner. A lot depends on the narrative you are trying to build. History is rewritten all the time. Sometimes it is rewritten because new information has …
The first thing they always do is tell you what they think. When someone has an opinion about everything, they want to share it with you. They often tout stats and research as if they had an imaginary checklist of facts they need to be able …
If we are to learn from the past, does the account of it have to be true? One would like to think so. Otherwise you might be preparing for the wrong battle. There you are, geared up for mountains, and instead you find swamps. You’ve …
On your way to work, you grab breakfast from one of the dozen coffee shops you pass. Most of the goods you buy get delivered right to your door. If you live in a large city and have a car, you barely use it, preferring Uber or ride-sharing …
It seems almost a bizarre question. Who thinks about whether zero was invented or discovered? And why is it important? Answering this question, however, can tell you a lot about yourself and how you see the world. Let’s break it down. …
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) explored many subjects, perhaps the most important was himself. A Farnam Street member directed me to the passage below, written by Richard Schacht in the introduction to Nietzsche: Human, All Too Human: A …
You probably know that Gutenberg invented the printing press. You probably know it was pretty important. You may have heard some stuff about everyone being able to finally read the Bible without a priest handy. But here’s a point you …
To get smarter, we need to exercise our cognitive powers – in the same way that we strengthen our bodies by exercising our muscles. To do this, we need to put ourselves in rich and varied environments, learn new things, and strengthen …
The author Louis L’Amour (1908-1988) was among America’s most prolific and most beloved. He wrote 105 books, most of which were fiction, and at his death in 1988 they were all still in print. Most still are today. (His prolific …
Andrew Ng has quite the modern resume. He founded Coursera, a wonderful website that gives anyone with Internet access the ability to take high level university courses on almost any topic. He founded the Google Brain project at Google, …
We’ve written quite a bit about the marvelous British naturalist Charles Darwin, who with his Origin of Species created perhaps the most intense intellectual debate in human history, one which continues up to this day. Darwin’s Origin was a …
It’s a wonderful idea to try to find a set of systems and principles that “work better” for big swaths of your life. Better habits, better mental tendencies, better methods of inquiry, and so on. We’re strong …
We’ve written before about the legendary businessman Ken Iverson, the former CEO of Nucor Steel, who took it from a tiny steel operation to a true steel powerhouse in his own lifetime. To recap, in Iverson’s tenure, Nucor: …
In Part 1 of our series on the best-selling negotiation book Getting to Yes, we covered Roger Fisher’s four-part framework on Principled Negotiation — his “way out” of highly contentious negotiation. To review, the four parts were as …
“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 $3.99.) Why are most negotiations so …
The three most fundamental sources of knowledge are physics, math, and human history. They offer us endless learning and mental models. Here’s how mastering the three buckets of knowledge can give you a deeper understanding of the world. …
Harvard’s biologist/psychologist Steven Pinker is one of my favorites, even though I’m just starting to get into his work. What makes him great is not just his rational mind, but his multidisciplinary approach. He pulls from …
Operating a screw is pretty simple as John Maeda points out in The Laws of Simplicity: Just mate the grooves atop the screw’s head to the appropriate tip-slotted or Phillips-of a screwdriver. What happens next is not as simple, as you …
Psychologist Albert Bandura is famous for his social learning theory which is really more of a model than a theory. He stresses the importance of observational learning. Who you spend time with matters. “Learning would be exceedingly …
Infographics expert Manuel Lima, who brought us the amazing The Book of Trees: Visualizing Branches of Knowledge, has a TED talk on how knowledge grows, which ends up being a fascinating history of visualizations as well as an insightful …
I never went to Engineering school. My undergrad is Computer Science. Despite that I’ve always wanted to learn more about Engineering. John Kuprenas and Matthew Frederick have put together a book, 101 Things I Learned in Engineering …
Your education shouldn’t end when your schooling does. If you want to get an edge in life, you must be constantly learning, not coasting along on what you already know. Lifelong learning requires the ability to reflect on your mistakes, a …
A close friend of mine argues that while we love the first part of Einstein’s quote, “Everything should be made as simple as possible,” we ignore the second part “but not simpler,” which is the essence of …