Some ideas are so powerful and general, that once you learn them you start seeing them everywhere. Today I’d like to discuss one of those ideas: evolution by natural selection. Evolution by natural selection was one of the greatest intellectual triumphs of the last thousand years. The great diversity of life, including human beings, is […]
Most Books Won’t Change Your Life (But You Should Read Them Anyways)
“If you only put into action half of what you read, you’d already be a millionaire.” I’ve heard many variations of this advice, all making the point that the problem isn’t that we don’t have good ideas, but that we implement little of it and therefore our lives don’t change, we don’t lose weight, grow […]
Useful Mental Model: Efficient Markets (and the Efficient Market Hypothesis)
Some ideas are so powerful and general that once you learn them deeply you start to see them everywhere. Efficient markets is one of those ideas. Unfortunately, efficient markets is also an idea that gets a lot of hate. The reason is that the simple logic of efficient markets often leads to conclusions people would […]
Unpopular Opinion: Don’t Just Get Started
“Just get started,” is the default mantra for all self-help, business books and anyone telling you how to improve your life. Yet, this is actually a piece of advice I think is more often wrong than right. Contrary to this bromide, I think preparing more is good. Most people actually start projects without much planning, […]
I'm a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, podcast host, computer programmer and an avid reader. Since 2006, I've published weekly essays on this website to help people like you learn and think better. My work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, TEDx, Pocket, Business Insider and more. I don't promise I have all the answers, just a place to start.