5 ms·
A few years ago I published a large list of mental models I find repeatedly useful (https://medium.com/@yegg/mental-models-i-find-repeatedly-useful-936f1cc405d
by yegg 7y ago
A few years ago I published a large list of mental models I find repeatedly useful (https://medium.com/@yegg/mental-models-i-find-repeatedly-useful-936f1cc405d https://medium.com/@yegg/mental-models-i-find-repeatedly-use...), discussed at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12040707 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12040707.
I've spent my spare time since (day job is running DuckDuckGo) with my co-author (statistician, researcher, and wife!) turning that list into this book, which weaves the 300+ mental models into nine narrative thematic chapters, paired with 150+ illustrations. Here's the full list of models from the book (in order): https://superthinking.com/download/MentalModels.pdf https://superthinking.com/download/MentalModels.pdf
Happy to answer any questions about it and/or the process of getting this published. It's my second book (first is Traction).
- davidvanleeuwen 7y agoAwesome! Thanks for posting. Just ordered it.
- yegg 7y agoThanks so much! Really appreciate it.
- ducttape12 7y agoYou wrote two books and you run DDG? Got any advice on balancing it all? (also thanks for DDG!)
- yegg 7y agoYou're welcome. Sorry for being self-referential, but we really did put our best productivity advice in the book -- Chapter 3: Spend Your Time Wisely. Here are the "Key Takeaways" from that chapter (there is a little section at the end of each). * Choose activities to work on based on their relevance to your north star. * Focus your time on just one of these truly important activities at a time (no multitasking!), making it the top idea on your mind. * Select between options based on opportunity cost models. * Use the Pareto principle to find the 80/20 in any activity and increase your leverage at every turn. * Recognize when you’ve hit diminishing returns and avoid negative returns. * Use commitment and the default effect to avoid present bias, and periodic evaluations to avoid loss aversion and the sunk-cost fallacy. * Look for shortcuts via existing design patterns, tools, or clever algorithms. Consider whether you can reframe the problem.
- ducttape12 7y agoAwesome, thanks for the reply! Guess I'll make a point to read your book then :-)
- myth_buster 7y ago> Consider whether you can reframe the problem. This to me has been perhaps one of the most useful tool when I'm struggling with something. The fable of NASA's space pen [0] is good marker to invoke this. [0] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-write-stuff/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-write-stuff/
- greymalik 7y agoHow would you tackle multiple priorities/north stars? What if I want to be the best parent I can be and save enough for retirement? I can't put off being a parent until I have enough to retire on, nor can I wait to start saving for retirement until after I'm "done" being a parent.
- zild3d 7y ago* Use the Pareto principle to find the 80/20 in any activity and increase your leverage at every turn.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoStronger: I can't put being a parent on hold to write my book. Not if I already have kids. I can't put it on hold to build my career, or launch my startup. They need you today, not when your "north star" is done.
- ptttr 7y agoI have a feeling that this book is _the_ advice. It's literally in the subtitle: "Upgrade Your Reasoning and Make Better Decisions with Mental Models". I imagine mental models have a lot to do with managing and balancing one's life.
- melicerte 7y ago> I wish I had learned many of these years earlier. In fact, the proximate cause for posting this was so I could more effectively answer the question I frequently get from people I work with: “what should I learn next?” If you’re trying to be generally effective, my best advice is to start with the things on this list. [1] [1] https://medium.com/@yegg/mental-models-i-find-repeatedly-useful-936f1cc405d https://medium.com/@yegg/mental-models-i-find-repeatedly-use... by @yegg, the link he shared in his comment.
- shishy 7y agoI've been waiting for the release! Just ordered. Congratulations on getting it out!
- yegg 7y agoThank you!
- catiguana 7y ago(statistician, researcher, and wife!) -> In that order?
- csomar 7y agoNo PDF for sale?
- yegg 7y agoSorry, it is published through Penguin, and they don't currently offer a PDF version.
- eswat 7y agoCongrats on completing another book! Mental models seem to be a popular topic to write about in the last few years. As someone that has already devoured a lot of content about this, is there a good reason to pick up your book if I don't necessarily want to make the time to read more on the topic?
- yegg 7y agoThanks! Here are some reasons why I think it is worth picking up even if you've read a lot on mental models already: * The mental model community likes to quote Charlie Munger saying "80 or 90 important models will carry about 90% of the freight in making you a worldly-wise person" and yet no one tries to systematically lists out all these models. This book attempts to do that. * We spent most of our time finding relatable examples outside the discipline in which a given mental model arises, which is why they are supposed to be useful. That is, we don't just tell you what it is, we try to tell you why it is generally useful in strategic decision making and how you might apply it personally and professionally. * We dropped the normal method of grouping models by discipline, and instead grouped them by theme, weaving models from different disciplines together around unintended consequences, decision models, etc. (nine chapters). * We commissioned and/or found illustrations/comics (150+ in total) to help better explain and remember the models, as well as make it more fun to consume!
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoActually, in the talk where Munger said that, he listed most of the 80 or 90. He didn't go into depth on any of them, but he listed them.
- giardini 7y agoYes. I was recommended Page's "The Model Thinker" https://www.amazon.com/Model-Thinker-What-Need-Know/dp/0465094627 https://www.amazon.com/Model-Thinker-What-Need-Know/dp/04650... when this YC topic popped up. Page's book is sort of a reference book, something you use periodically rather than a beginning-to-end read. But it does seem that "models" are all the rage currently.
- 7y ago
- rmets 7y agoThis is awesome, thanks. It would be cool to gamify these mental models in an app to help train. If this has been done or gets done, please post :)
- theNJR 7y agoThats a really good idea. Even providing them as an Anki deck would be helpful.
- nestorherre 7y agodisclaimer (not mine): https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/669613720 https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/669613720
- rmets 7y agoThanks, nice one. Have you used this, if so did you have any feedback?
- agbell 7y agoI liked traction, with its focus on try all these things, one may get you to the next level, then try some others. Does this book take the same approach?
- yegg 7y agoYes, it is a similar approach in terms of trying to be comprehensive.
- stareatgoats 7y agoLooks great! and something I'm more or less obsessed with myself (abstractions of any kind, really). Will definitely buy one! Somewhat OT, but I'm confused by the pricing on Amazon: Hardcover is $19.60 (20 used from 22.65, and 34 new from $14.00), paperback $28.92 (2 used from $34.32), Kindle 23.27, and more. Maybe I'm not used to Amazon, but this seems weird. How come so many used copies of a new book for example. And the prices are all over the place. Has something gone awry?
- manojlds 7y agoKindle says $5 for me.
- nnx 7y agoSomehow I don’t find a Kindle edition. Did you find an alternate product page?
- stronglikedan 7y agoThis is the link I get (after deobfuscation), which has Kindle at $14.99 (along with the peculiar used > new pricing): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525533583/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0525533583&linkCode=as2&tag=tracbook-20&linkId=974399b4a98ff9d8a1687de3f0575e79 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525533583/ref=as_li_tl?ie...
- manojlds 7y agoHey, for an Audible user, any reason you would recommend the book over the audiobook?
- soulofmischief 7y agoI come back to your article often; a narrative-driven book sounds perfect. Thanks for taking the time to write it! If I have any questions or feedback while reading and want to reach out, which contact method would you prefer? I only see Signal on your page and I wouldn't want to be rude if that is a personal number.
- sizzle 7y agoThank you for creating this excellent resource. I've struggled to internalize many concepts simply due to the format it's written in. Please consider making them into flashcards so they are easier to read daily e.g. http://getmentalnotes.com http://getmentalnotes.com Wow they made it into a cube?! http://www.poetpainter.com/thoughts/article/introducing-the-mental-notes-behavior-cube http://www.poetpainter.com/thoughts/article/introducing-the-...
- thisisit 7y agoI am on the first chapter and one thing which always bothered me was the example in first principles thinking. Farnam Street did and so did you in the book. Tesla and Musk, in spite of their success, might not be the best of examples. While the material breakdown cost give us an elemental view of what goes in - the actual cost is on R&D. Putting together the $80 material while ensuring the costs are down is something which might be doable only with huge amount of money. I don't see how it helps average Joe.