The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Atul Gawande. A reader recently pointed out that I hadn’t covered his most recent book, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. I had …
Books
The Optimism Bias: Imagining A Positive Future
In The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain, Tali Sharot argues that we have a neurobiological basis for imagining a positive future. “Humans,” she writes, “do …
Breakpoint: When Bigger is Not Better
Jeff Stibel’s book Breakpoint: Why the Web will Implode, Search will be Obsolete, and Everything Else you Need to Know about Technology is in Your Brain is an interesting read. The book is about …
Quiet: Why Introverts Have a Creative Advantage
In Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain looks at how our lives are shaped by personality. The book explores how where we land on the introvert-extrovert …
The Human Search for Meaning
“He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How.” — Nietzsche Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) is best known for his 1946 memoir Man’s Search for Meaning. The book sheds light …
11 Rules for Critical Thinking
A fantastic list of 11 rules from some of history’s greatest minds. These are Prospero’s Precepts and they are found in AKA Shakespeare: A Scientific Approach to the Authorship Question: All beliefs …
What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast
One of the big differences between the most successful people we’ve met and others is how they use their morning. Used well, the time before breakfast dramatically increases your productivity. …
Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
The “last lecture” is common with a lot of professors on college campuses. Professors are asked to consider what matters most to them. If you’ve ever sat in the audience for one of …
Ben Franklin: The Thirteen Necessary Virtues
In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, we find a list of thirteen virtues that Franklin thought were necessary or desirable. Virtues are character traits considered morally good and valued for …
The Best Books of 2013: Your 10 Overall Favorites
From philosophy and friendship to idea creation and building daily routines. While I never had any doubt that Farnam Streeters are the smartest people on the internet, the data once again tells that …
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big
Scott Adams, the famous creator of Dilbert, has made a very good living by understanding and revealing human psychology. In How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Adams shares “the …
The Original Parkinson’s Law and The Law of Triviality
We’ve all heard of Parkinson’s Law — “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” I bet you’ve lived this. After all, who hasn’t sat in an …
Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much
“The biggest mistake we make about scarcity is we view it as a physical phenomenon. It’s not.” We’re busier than ever. The typical inbox is perpetually swelling with messages awaiting attention. …
Edward Frenkel: Love and Math —The Heart of Hidden Reality
“The laws of Nature are written in the language of mathematics.” — Galileo *** Most of us are unaware of the hidden world of mathematics. Actually, we’d rather avoid the subject entirely. …
Seven Books Everyone Should Read
Little differences over a long lifetime create big disparities. Making decisions slightly better than your cohort translates into a big difference over a long life. This is the nature of compounding. …
Avoid Organizational Empty Suits at All Costs
Empty suits share three things in common. First, they are blind to the limits of their own knowledge. Second, they oversimplify the problem. Finally, they never utter the phrase “I don’t …