Henry Ford and the Actual Value of Education
“The object of education is not to fill a man’s mind with facts; it is to teach him how to use his mind in thinking.” — Henry Ford *** In his memoir My Life and Work, written in …
Thinking
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 …
Warren Berger’s Three-Part Method for More Creativity
“A problem well stated is a problem half-solved.” — Charles “Boss” Kettering *** The whole scientific method is built on a very simple structure: If I do this, then what will …
Architect Matthew Frederick on the Three Levels of Knowing
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, …
How The Four Laws of Ecology Help You Solve Problems
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 …
Second-Order Thinking: What Smart People Use to Outperform
Understanding how to think things through – to push your mind past the first step – can help you solve problems, avoid problems, and take better actions. The best way to examine the …
Shane Parrish on Mental Models, Decision Making, Charlie Munger, Farnam Street, And More
An interview I gave that I think you’ll enjoy as I talk about reading, mental models, investing, learning and more. *** Shane Parrish is the curator for the popular Farnam Street Blog, an …
How Darwin Thought: The Golden Rule of Thinking
In his 1986 speech at the commencement of Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles (found in Poor Charlie’s Almanack) Charlie Munger gave a short Johnny Carson-like speech on the things to avoid …
Peter Thiel on the End of Hubris and the Lessons from the Internet Bubble of the Late 90s
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 …
The Busy Person’s Guide to Thinking
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 …
The Three Essential Properties of the Engineering Mind-Set
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 …
David Foster Wallace on The Moral Clarity of the Immature
David Foster Wallace, who brought us gems such as This is Water and insights into ambition and perfectionism, was the guest editor of the 2007 edition of Best American Essays. His introduction …
Elon Musk: A Framework for Thinking
Elon Musk has two frameworks I use all the time. The first is the algorithm, which helps you solve problems. The second is his framework for thinking, which he outlines below: I do think there is a …
Ray Dalio: Open-Mindedness And The Power of Not Knowing
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 …
Developing a Mental Framework for Effective Thinking
Becoming a better thinker means understanding the way you think and developing a way of approaching problems that allows you to see things from multiple lenses. These lenses, or mental models, are …
Remember Not to Trust Your Memory
Memories are the stories that we tell ourselves about the past. Sometimes they adjust and leave things out. In an interesting passage in Think: Why You Should Question Everything, Guy P. Harrison …