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Read the Obits
- gwern 2y ago> It’s not just about learning new facts, of course — it’s about asking questions. Why was a British mystic in Mexico City? How did Spanish-language television evolve in the U.S.? What led someone to invent PLAX or build search tools for financial news decades before Google? Even if you don’t find all the answers, just posing the questions helps you flex the creative muscle that thrives on curiosity and connection. Maybe wait until you have at least 1 anecdote, anywhere in the history of the world, of major creativity from reading an obituary, before recommending it?
- hammock 2y agoHuh? Obits are mini bios, but better than living bios, and more accessible than bestselling bios that make you think you have to be Rockefeller or Lincoln
- gwern 1y agoI enjoy reading obituaries, for a number of reasons. (Mostly in the NYT, but also, of course, the famous Economist obits.) But I rarely have ever gotten any creative ideas from them, and I do not recall hearing about anyone else doing so either. And I object in principle to telling silly stories about desirable activities to try to justify them. This is how we get bad ideas like 'Mozart for babies' or 'we should make kids play chess because it correlates with being smarter'. Chess should be played for its intrinsic value, because if it can only be justified by its instrumental value in raising IQ or grades, the case for that was weak, much weaker than its proponents were willing to admit, and has since turned out to be false - but along the way, wasted a lot of time and money and made a lot of kids miserable playing a game they didn't like, and the proponents just made the world a worse place by wasting all those resources, filling the literature with useless analyses and research on chess correlates, and decreasing public trust in science.
- flufluflufluffy 2y agoGoddang, it’s not like they’re giving medical advice or anything, it’s simply about being exposed to novel concepts and ideas, which fosters creativity. You don’t really need “evidence” for this, but even if somehow it’s wrong and reading obituaries either somehow does not increase or decreases creativity, is not like there’s harm in saying “Hey, try reading some obituaries, you might learn some interesting stuff”
- crazygringo 1y agoBut that's not what they're saying. They're claiming it's a creativity hack, not that you might learn some interesting stuff. That's the entire thesis of the post... which isn't backed up at all.
- kenjackson 1y agoDoes there exist anything related to creativity that is backed up with clear data? This article is as convincing as anything else I’ve ever read about increasing creativity.
- PhearTheCeal 1y ago> Complex training courses, meditation and cultural exposure were most effective (gs = 0.66), while the use of cognitive manipulation drugs was least and also non-effective, g = 0.10. The type of training material was also important. For instance, figural methods were more effective in enhancing creativity, and enhancing converging thinking was more effective than enhancing divergent thinking. from https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/items/a8357c0b-1e41-4eff-8ad1-fe3b5355a831 https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/items/a8357c0b-1e41-4eff-8ad1-fe3b... reading the obits might fall under "cultural exposure".
- gwern 1y agoThere's lots of legitimate research related to creativity which could be discussed: the existence of the 'incubation effect' and sleep effects, the inefficacy of the popular forms of 'brainstorming' compared to the more painful forms that work*, the 'near adjacent', the 'equal-odds rule', the benefits of cognitive/ideological diversity (and lack of benefits of certain other kinds of diversity), the correlation with intelligence and personality traits like Openness... As opposed to OP. Which adduces so little evidence for the claim about reading obituaries that a rando like me could actually write a more persuasive argument for the benefits of reading obituaries (because I at least wrote one thing tenuously inspired by reading an obituary the other month: https://gwern.net/traffic-lights https://gwern.net/traffic-lights ). Even the most shameless periodical usually tries for at least 3 anecdotes, no matter how dubious and strained, before declaring it the hot new trend or It Is Known fact. * One of Sawyer's research topics, as it happens.
- codingdave 2y agoIf it helps them, that seems sufficient reason to share what works for them. I'd say that a more kind critique would be that their advice could be expanded to: "Read anything" in order to get creativity going. But gatekeeping advice unless they can cite "major creativity" that came from it seems harsh.
- crazygringo 1y agoWhen they claim up front that it's a "creativity hack", yes I expect would expect them to back it up. That's not gatekeeping or harsh, it's literally the one job of an article to back up its claim.
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- crazygringo 1y agoCompletely agreed. It's just irresponsibly bad writing to claim "this can boost your creativity!" without even a single example of how it has boosted yours or someone else's. I don't need a scientific study, but surely you can give at least a single anecdotal example? Because if you can't, you honestly shouldn't be writing this in the first place.
- billfruit 2y agoI think its hardly that much of an interesting idea. Reading wide ofcourse is useful and interesting. But I doubt reading obituaries are the best way to go about that. One approach that I often do, is to go to fivebooks.com when an any random subject or topic strikes me and then try to read the books their interviewees have recommended on that topic. I have found many interesting books in this way. Like their lists about the Spanish Civil war lead me to 'Forging of a Rebel' by Arturo Barea. Another source is to look into famous/interesting peoples reading lists. Many famous people including Gandhi, Tolstoy and others kept lists of all books that they read.
- kristianp 1y agoWhat a great website fivebooks is! But as you say, you need to make an effort to find something different on there. A randomiser might be good there.
- androng 2y agoi like this advice. when trying to come up with new characters for fiction its very difficult to come up with something you don't already know but with this you have real people with their entire life story summarized for free.
- Animats 1y agoThere are biographies, of course. One striking thing about reading biographies is that real people are seldom "chosen ones". That's a literature and movie trope.
- badmonster 2y agosuch a simple, beautiful hack - using life stories from unexpected places to stretch your mind and spark creative leaps you’d never plan for.
- constantinum 2y agoThere is an excellent documentary on behind-the-scenes workings of the obituary editorial team at NYT. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BgpMNerK9cU&pp=ygURT2JpdHMgZG9jdW1lbnRhcnk%3D https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BgpMNerK9cU&pp=ygURT2JpdHMgZG9...
- jawns 2y agoThere is a real danger that obituaries of people in the early 21st century will become inaccessible to future generations due to obituary rot: https://shaungallagher.pressbin.com/blog/obituary-rot.html https://shaungallagher.pressbin.com/blog/obituary-rot.html > An unfortunate side effect of this move to digital-only obits will likely only become apparent a few decades from now, and it will likely frustrate the next few generations of genealogists hunting for records of early 21st century ancestors. > Print newspapers were well suited for both the distribution and preservation of obituaries. Distribution isn’t a problem for digital obituaries, and in many ways the web is better than print in this respect. But when it comes to preservation, there are many factors that make digital obits in their current state particularly susceptible to rot.
- toomuchtodo 1y agoObits should intentionally be committed to the Internet Archive for longevity and preservation, but I digress.
- DoingIsLearning 1y agoThe Internet Archive is massive force for good and a huge not-for profit effort. However in certain aspects of preservation of History (for example if deemed high value at a national level) we should also expect national archives to duplicate the effort to preserve this and other information with historic value.
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- inglor_cz 1y agoI wonder how much would such national digital archives resist rewriting of history. It is much harder to doctor hard copies of newspapers or books. You can burn them, but altering them is a complicated challenge, and someone may own another copy of the originals. With digital records, the temptation is stronger because the editing is easier, and other "unofficial" copies that diverge from the officially archived version may be declared to be fake/misinformation etc.
- Wistar 2y agoI have a lifelong friend who is a very successful investor and who has been habitually reading obits since his high school days. I recall his explaining that obits served as an opportunity radar.
- djeastm 1y agoCan you elaborate on how? Besides the obvious of seeking out a bereaved family member and purchasing their home/belongings on the cheap, of course
- eru 1y agoYou can also look for companies with leadership transition.
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- Applejinx 1y agoI don't do it, but consider this: obituaries are clearly capsules of what people consider valuable and worthy about a person. This has nothing to do with whether they're true, or plausible: they're little windows into what one would consider surpassingly important. It's like the saying about the Velvet Underground: 'very few people came to their concerts but everyone who did, started a band'.
- Wistar 1y agoI can't remember exactly what he said but it was something along the lines of staying aware of the changes in the community.
- bix6 2y agoRelated, new era obits and celebrations (I am affiliated): https://www.chptr.com/ https://www.chptr.com/ My father unexpectedly passed away a few years ago so this stuff is especially close to my heart. I’ve learned a lot from lives of others so think this is wonderful advice for finding gems and remembering the normal goodness that exists in this world.
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago> one popular piece of advice for boosting creativity is to learn something new every day. But here’s the catch: This only works if that new information is very different from what’s already in your head. This is a good distinction. I make it a point to hang with folks from vastly different backgrounds from me. I can get some very good (and bad) ideas from them.
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- qubex 1y agoAn old Russian joke: A guy keeps going to the newsagent: he scans the headlines and then leaves. The newsagent sees him do this a few days in a row and finds it to be strange behaviour, so one day he asks him: “Comrade, what are you doing? Can I help you?” “Thank you comrade, but I’m only interested in the obituaries.” “But comrade, the obituaries are at the back!” “Not the ones I am looking for, comrade!”
- pavlov 1y agoThis joke has its origins in the days when Soviet leadership was a series of men in their seventies who kept dying on the job. It has acquired a certain acuity in today’s America where the leaders are a series of unpopular men approaching their eighties. There is a widespread “Is He Dead Yet?” meme that’s the contemporary direct equivalent of the Soviet joke.
- piyh 1y agoAll I ask for are leaders born in the 1950s
- jfengel 1y agoWe just had a chance at one born in the 1960s. People decided that they wanted someone born in the 1940s.
- dredmorbius 1y agoIt refers specifically to Stalin. And a time when the Chairmanship was not a revolving door, though it became more of one immediately afterward.
- Applejinx 1y agoAnd Russia! Let's not forget the same holds there, for very good reasons. Particularly as they managed to be the leaders of the unpopular men leading America, and they're squandering what wealth Russia has in mad imperialism for purely ego reasons while also seeking to crash the US no matter what that does to the world economy. Pure table-flipping. It's called the Swan Lake moment: Swan Lake on loop on the state media TV. That's what happens when everything is turmoil and nobody knows what will come next.
- ghaff 1y agoThe Economist obits are especially worth reading.
- dcminter 1y agoI think this is my favourite: https://www.economist.com/obituary/2009/08/13/benson https://www.economist.com/obituary/2009/08/13/benson https://archive.ph/9tM1P https://archive.ph/9tM1P
- ycombinatrix 1y agodamn, can't believe i outlived Benson
- DangerousPie 1y agoThey are also available as part of their excellent (and free) The Intelligence podcast. Always worth a listen.
- lordgrenville 1y agoAnn Wroe is a treasure
- Triphibian 1y agoThe obituary they run in the back of The Economist is an excellent place to start.
- chairmansteve 1y agoA new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it ... Max Planck
- kayo_20211030 1y agoI like obits as much as the next person, maybe more. But the premise of the piece very much depends on a particular definition of creativity; and then tries, and fails, to extend it to reading obits. If it's defined as something novel, then a priori it can't be obvious and therefore is likely to be an association between distant concepts - a statement of the obvious. Mednick might be right; but an extrapolation to obits, as in the original piece, is unjustified, and definitely unproven. Velcro wasn't invented because someone read an obit; it's good, impressive, but just regular creativity. Gentner posits an obvious truism, but its relationship to obits is tenuous at best, again unjustified, and just probably wrong. The whole piece would be begging the question were there a question. It's a statement of faith.
- pnw 1y agoInterestingly the second person listed has their own Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_Garfinkle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_Garfinkle
- BenFranklin100 1y agoReading in the obits? Perfect for our TikTok attention span culture. Back in the day, we would read a biography or at least the damn Wikipedia article.
- EA-3167 1y agoWhat about reading one means you can't read the other? Did I miss something in the article that demanded you ONLY read obituaries?
- kazinator 1y agoWhenever I see a "X has died" subject on the front page of HN, I invoke a personal rule that if I haven't heard of the person, I skip it. You dying shouldn't be what gets my attention. Of course, there are long dead historic figures that we know about. But being dead is rarely the very first thing you learn about them.
- dredmorbius 1y agoObits are among my idea-stirring hacks. Some thoughts on why they work, and some similar ones. Obits are written long in advance. I noticed following Jorge Bergoglio's death that NPR's obit was written (and voiced, in the newscast / headlines) by Silvia Poggioli, though she'd retired from the network in 2023 (here: <https://www.npr.org/2025/04/21/1013050313/pope-francis-dead https://www.npr.org/2025/04/21/1013050313/pope-francis-dead>). This means that they're both well-researched and polished writing, unlike most breaking news coverage. They also compress a lifetime into a few paragraphs (~75 in the case of Poggioli's article), which tends to bring out highlights. Another format that often brings out interesting ideas, outside my own area of expertise: interviews. Especially with those not from the worlds of politics or mainstream business. All the better, historical interviews, from earlier times. These often give either perspectives on a different world, or a perspective on circumstances which presage the world we find ourselves in now. Terry Gross's "Fresh Air" and the Studs Terkel archive are two particularly excellent examples. As I'm expanding my language comprehension, interviews and histories in foreign languages are another excellent option. A third option: academic author interviews. The New Books Network has poor production values (bonus: well-produced audio is almost certainly a skippable ad) and a large number of duds, but where it hits the topics are almost always well outside the mainstream but at the same time the product of expertise. There's a huge back-catalogue: <https://newbooksnetwork.com/ https://newbooksnetwork.com/>
- fnord77 1y agowouldn't biographies (or cliffs notes of biographies) be better?
- taubek 1y agoIn my country obituaries like the ones in the picture are not published often. Maybe for some diginaties, in a form of necrologue.
- fifticon 1y agoalso, if you read them daily, once you have read the day's section: If you are not in it, you have the rest of that day to do what you want!
- croisillon 1y agoRelated: Obituary for a quiet life (303 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40028643 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40028643 When the notable figures of our day pass away, they wind up on our screens, short clips documenting their achievements, talking heads discussing their influence. The quiet lives, though, pass on soundlessly in the background. And yet those are the lives in our skin, guiding us from breakfast to bed. They’re the lives that have made us, that keep the world turning.
- fedeb95 1y agorelated advice: go to your local library and look at books in fields you don't know anything about. Find the most unusual book cover and title (compared to the others in the same section). That's usually something you want to read. Works best in big libraries.
- JohnMakin 1y agoThere's another outstanding use of obituaries - genealogy research. My paternal grandfather had some issues with his racial lineage and left home at a very early age after his dad died to join the military to fight in Korea. For whatever reason he ended up adopting a name he was not born under - his father's - and kept it a secret his whole life and didn't tell a soul. it wasn't uncovered what he had done until decades later when his mother died and his birth certificate was found in her belongings. When trying to figure out who his dad's family was, where no one in the family really had any idea and in the past they had a lot of incentive to hide their ancestry and keep their records inaccurate/incomplete (this was during one-drop law times, where people would hide marriages and assume fake identities all the time to avoid persecution). I was stuck for months until someone mentioned using newspapers.com archive to try to see if anything came up (not a plug, this service is genuinely amazing). Jackpot! Public records often lie, but obituaries rarely do. I was able to piece together his paternal side's relatives via obituaries (who leave surviving relative names quite often) and found his precise lineage all the way back to the 1850's and before emancipation, something that is typically quite hard to do. Could not have possibly done it without obituaries.
- ac2u 1y agoPeople are always surprised at what can be unearthed if you cast a wide net and start pulling on threads, even if only to rule certain threads out early on. Nice work.
- fedeb95 1y agothe reason this works is the same as why HN is a good news source (with its limitations). No sponsored likes, just as people pay to submit obituaries. High range of topics, even if HN is narrower. So, it tells more about your usual search engine than about obituaries. For instance, that's why I prefer duckduckgo to google.
- thesuitonym 1y agoIf you think HN is immune to purchasing consent, I have some real estate to sell you.
- fedeb95 1y agothat was my impression. Well, maybe paid content was more appealing to me!