Farnam Street
Mastering the best of what other people have already figured out
If you’re a modern knowledge worker, your typical day might look something like this: you go to work, read and reply to emails, attend meetings, grab a coffee, have lunch, attend more meetings, …
Some advice from Marcus Aurelius in Meditations: Never under compulsion, out of selfishness, without forethought, with misgivings. Don’t gussy up your thoughts. No surplus words or unnecessary …
“I seem to read the history of all ages and nations in every page — and especially the history of our country for forty years past. Change the names and every anecdote will be applicable to …
Many fail to grasp what they have seen,and cannot judge what they have learned,although they tell themselves they know. Heraclitus As with Baltasar Gracián and The Art of Worldly Wisdom, the …
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” — Seneca *** We’ve entered a new phase of self-invention. Thanks in large part to technology and the pace of the modern …
The Enchiridion (“The Manual”) is a short read on stoic advice for living. Epictetus’ practical precepts might change your life. What’s in our control and what’s not Some …
These 11 simple rules, first presented by Dave Packard at HP’s second annual management conference in 1958 are timeless. Not only will they help you improve your ability to work with others but …
The Bed of Procrustes, the title of Nassim Taleb‘s book of aphorisms, takes its title from Greek Mythology. Procrustes (“the stretcher”) owned a small estate along the sacred way …
Michel de Montaigne, one of the most erudite humanists of the 16th century, died on September 13th in 1592. [B]orn in 1533 into the minor nobility of his family’s estate near Bordeaux. … His …
In 1936 Graham Wallas, co-founder of the London School of Economics, published The Art of Thought, outlining the four stages of the creative process. This pre-dates, by at least a decade, James …
Two examples from Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard’s book, Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman, demonstrating that process is more important than results. Focus on …
Nassim Taleb, the author of The Black Swan and Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder with 34 insights from his facebook account: The artificial gives us hangovers, the natural inverse-hangovers. …
“The ancient relationship between bees and flowers is a classic example of coevolution. In a coevolutionary bargain like the one struck by the bee and the apple tree, the two parties acton each …
The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence, a book by Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658), offers three hundred aphorisms for understanding the world and creating advantageous divergence. Most of …
The way a given culture thinks about dirt and cleanliness can tell us a lot about the way people think of themselves and others. Mary Douglas’s book, Purity and Danger, is an inquiry into the …
The more I read Seneca the more I like the man. I read Susanna Braund’s translation of De Clementia in 2011 but never got around to reading more. My mistake. Writing in Antifragile, Nassim Taleb says …