The Feynman Learning Technique
The Feynman Technique is the best way to supercharge your learning. And it works no matter the subject. Devised by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, it leverages the power of teaching for …
Richard Feynman
12 Life Lessons From Mathematician and Philosopher Gian-Carlo Rota
The mathematician and philosopher Gian-Carlo Rota spent much of his career at MIT, where students adored him for his engaging, passionate lectures. In 1996, Rota gave a talk entitled “Ten Lessons I …
An Investment Approach That Works
There are as many investment strategies as there are investment opportunities. Some are good; many are terrible. Here’s the one that I lean on the most when I’m looking for low risk and above average …
The Best of Farnam Street 2018
We read for the same reasons we have conversations — to enrich our lives. Reading helps us to think, feel, and reflect — not only upon ourselves and others but upon our ideas, and our relationship …
First Principles: The Building Blocks of True Knowledge
First-principles thinking is one of the best ways to reverse-engineer complicated problems and unleash creative possibility. Sometimes called “reasoning from first principles,” the idea is to break …
What Are You Doing About It? Reaching Deep Fluency with Mental Models
The mental models approach is very intellectually appealing, almost seductive to a certain type of person. (It certainly is for us.) The whole idea is to take the world’s greatest, most useful …
A Few Useful Mental Tools from Richard Feynman
We’ve covered the brilliant physicist Richard Feynman (1918-1988) many times here before. He was a genius. A true genius. But there have been many geniuses — physics has been fortunate to …
Richard Feynman on Teaching Math to Kids and the Lessons of Knowledge
Legendary scientist Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was famous for his penetrating insight and clarity of thought. Famous for not only the work he did to garner a Nobel Prize, but also for the lucidity of …
Richard Feynman on Refusing an Honorary Degree, Being Driven, and Understanding his Circle of Competence
Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track is a wonderful collection of letters written to and from the physicist and professor Richard Feynman—champion of understanding, explainer, an …
Cargo Cult Science: Richard Feynman On Believing What Isn’t True
Richard Feynman (1918-1988) has long been one of my favorites — for both his wisdom and heart. Reproduced below you can find the entirety of his 1974 commencement address at Caltech entitled Cargo …
Lifelong Learning
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 …
Richard Feynman: The Difference Between Knowing the Name of Something and Knowing Something
Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was no ordinary genius. He believed that “the world is much more interesting than any one discipline.” His explanations — on why questions, why trains stay on the tracks as …
Richard Feynman’s Letter on What Problems to Solve
“No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.” *** In a letter dated February 3rd, 1966, included in the wonderful anthology Perfectly Reasonable …
Richard Feynman: The Universe in a Glass of Wine
A poet once said, “The whole universe is in a glass of wine.” We will probably never know in what sense he meant that, for poets do not write to be understood. But it is true that if we look at a …
Richard Feynman on Curiosity
Following, beauty, and honors, the final part of Canadian filmmaker Reid Gower’s trilogy on Richard Feynman, covers curiosity. The world is strange. The whole universe is very strange, but you …
The Joy of Finding Things Out
Canadian filmmaker Reid Gower created the Feynman Series, a trilogy of physicist Richard Feynman’s penetrating insight into domains outside of physics. Consider the first, Richard Feynman on …