Farnam Street
Mastering the best of what other people have already figured out
Architect Matthew Frederick draws our attention to the three levels of knowing in 101 Things Things I Learned in Architecture School. Simplicity is the world view of the child or uninformed adult, fully engaged in his own experience and …
“You know what Kipling said? Treat those two impostors just the same — success and failure. Of course, there’s going to be some failure in making the correct decisions. Nobody bats a thousand. I think it’s important to review your …
Incentives drive our behavior. Failing to consider incentives can lead to unintended consequences. In this post, we show you how incentives can go wrong and how we can use them to our advantage. *** There’s a great little story on …
“I think a society in which people can do and say what they want will also tend to be one in which the most efficient solutions win.” *** Paul Graham is a programmer, writer, and investor. His 2004 anthology Hackers and Painters …
The hardest truth to swallow is that the world isn’t really fair, and it isn’t a world you’d necessarily draw up from scratch. It’s not usually what you suppose it should be. None of what’s around us came about by grand design: From a spark …
Ecology is the study of relationships and processes linking living things to the physical and chemical environment. Exciting, right? In the 1971 book The Closing Circle, Barry Commoner gives us a clear and understandable example of what …
Before we get to Charlie Munger, let’s chat for a minute. We’ve been noticing a problem lately that you might be familiar with or experiencing yourself: The search for wisdom not actually translating into consistently applied wisdom. You …
Garrett Hardin‘s Living Within Limits had a huge influence on how I thought about population. In the book, Hardin convincingly demonstrates the folly of allowing human population to grow unchecked over a long enough timeframe. …
A quick yet incredibly important quote today that adds to the wisdom of Andy Benoit and Joseph Tussman. … [W]e should not try to alter circumstances but to adapt ourselves to them as they really are, just as sailors do. They …
“Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm.” — Publilius Syrus A calm sea makes it easy for anyone to sail. Only when the storm comes can we discover who knows what they are doing. The real test of a person is what they …
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 pure reason eventually lead us to a …
“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 men. If a man does not learn to bend, to …
A short post today that packs a punch. The liberating power of humility is one we’ve covered before. In fact, it’s a concept that is core to understanding your Circle of Competence. Now Russ Roberts adds to our collection of …
I spend a lot of time thinking about this simple idea: The person who aligns themselves with the general principles of the world goes further and faster than the person who doesn’t. What the pupil must learn, if he learns anything at …
“We don’t see things as they are, but as we are.” — Anaïs Nin *** Matthew Frederick‘s series of 101 things I learned in {Business School, Law School, Architecture School, Engineering School} attempts to distill the …
The Knowledge Project interview with Philip Tetlock deconstructs our ability to make accurate predictions into specific components. He learned through his work on The Good Judgment Project. In Superforecasting: The Art and Science of …
The best interview question — what important truth do very few people agree with you on?— is tough to answer. Just think about it for a second. In his book Zero to One, Peter Thiel argues that it might be easier to start with what everyone …
Members Only content. If you have an account, log in here to access content and your subscription settings. Not a member? Join Us.
We’re busier than ever. We’re often on autopilot. We “go through the motions” without really paying attention to the decisions we’re making or the implications. This is often where we go in the wrong direction …
No skill is more valuable or harder to come by than the ability to critically think through problems. Thinking better than others means you’ll have more free time and fewer problems. If you can’t think well, you’ll spend a …
Engineers use a unique mode of thinking based on seeing everything as a system. They see structures that aren’t apparent to the layperson, they know how to design under constraints, and they understand trade-offs. Adopting an engineering …
In this brief video, Elon Musk, who previously brought us how to build knowledge and 12 book recommendations, talks about a framework for thinking. I do think there is a good framework for thinking. It is physics – you know the sort …
Ray Dalio, founder of the investment firm Bridgewater Associates (and guest on The Knowledge Project), offers a prime example of what a learning organization looks like in the best book I’ve ever read on learning, Learn or Die: Using …
Mental models are tools for the mind. In his talk: Academic Economics: Strengths and Weaknesses, after Considering Interdisciplinary Needs, at the University of California at Santa Barbara, in 2003, Charlie Munger honed in on why we like to …