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From: Farnam Street Weekly <newsletter@farnamstreetblog.com>
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Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2014 10:02:00 +0000
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Subject: Backward and Forward Thinking
| | | | | If you missed last week's edition—Nine habits you need to stop now, how to make hard choices, why you should stop telling people to cheer up, why the IPO is dying, how to write 250 words per minute with a pen, and so much more—you can catch up. | | Start Here The most popular article this week was An 18-Minute Plan for Managing Your Day And Finding Focus. What else was interesting? - Charlie Munger on the Value of Thinking Backward and Forward — "I have a physicist son who has been trained more in the type of thinking I like. And he immediately got the right answer, and here's the way he reasoned..."
- The Role of a Critic — "In many ways, the work of a critic is very easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment."
- Ernest Hemingway, who died on July 2nd, with some timeless words of wisdom on how the simplest things often require the highest price to learn.
| | Something to Read 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done
Clutter builds up in our lives. We're busy. But there are ways that people use to cut through distractions and find a way to focus. These are the people worth studying and learning from. In this over-crowded sector, however, the problem is separating the wheat from the chaff. Peter Bregman, the author of this book, is more signal than noise. His tips and advice, some of which can be found here, offer a practical way forward for our increasingly overwhelmed world. What W.H. Auden Can Do For You
I was excited to crack this one open for two reasons. First, I have no experience with W.H. Auden, who many consider one of the best poets of the twentieth century. While I've heard good things, I've never really looked into him. Second, the author, Alexander McCall Smith, is also the author behind The Sunday Philosophy Club, a novel recommended by Nassim Taleb. The book falls short of generating enthusiasm for Auden but ends up proving its worth in the exploration of how we can be changed by something we read. Art has the beautiful ability to make us see things in a different light. As Smith writes: "We are changed because we now understand something that we did not understand before." How and Why to Build a Wine Cellar
I'm less interested in the finer details and architectural merits of wine cellars than the consumption of wine. So while it may seem odd that I would read a book primarily about building a wine cellar, the chapters on "breathing, aroma and taste," and "the psychology of wine tastings" made this book entirely worthwhile. Another highlight was the section on recognizing spoiled wine, which included an explanation of why it is often best to choose the latest vintage available at most restaurants. See the big list of what I've been reading. | | Still Curious? + Life is a game. This is your strategy guide — "your top priority should always be mastering where your time goes. ... The most important rule of money is never to borrow it, except for things that earn you more back." (Pair with 30 Lessons from the wisest Americans.)
+ The Power of Two — There are lessons in here for organizations, especially the ones that seek to remove any tension and unpleasantness from meetings. "For centuries, the myth of the lone genius has towered over us, its shadow obscuring the way creative work really gets done. The attempts to pick apart the Lennon-McCartney partnership reveal just how misleading that myth can be, because John and Paul were so obviously more creative as a pair than as individuals, even if at times they appeared to work in opposition to each other. The lone-genius myth prevents us from grappling with a series of paradoxes about creative pairs: that distance doesn't impede intimacy, and is often a crucial ingredient of it; that competition and collaboration are often entwined." (Pair with Working Together: Why Great Partnerships Succeed.)
+ Magnus Carlsen's Parents on Raising the World's Best Chess Player — "...chess commentators draw attention to his ability to wear down opponents, to wait patiently for them to make the tiniest mistake. Magnus himself maintains that he is an aggressive player but that audacity isn't always what's called for. "When you play against the best people in the world, they see through your plans, and you cannot win with a swashbuckling attack all the time," he says. "You just need to take what's there.""
+ 10 Tricks to Appear Smart During Meetings — The smartest person is often the one who skips the meeting, but if you must go, I like #5 the best "Repeat the last thing the engineer said, but very very slowly."
+ Messages from the 29th Floor — "The clue to the elevator's significance lies in the buttons that adorn its interior and exterior. Its automation, at the beginning of the 20th century, created a system of electronic signalling which brought the entire operation under the control of the individual user. In no other mode of transport could a vehicle be hailed, directed and dismissed entirely without assistance, and by a touch so slight it barely amounts to an expenditure of energy. The machine appears to work by information alone."
+ Schooled — "Cory Booker, Chris Christie, and Mark Zuckerberg had a plan to reform Newark's schools. They got an education."
+ The Internet's Own Boy — An exceptional documentary on the computer programmer and internet activist Aaron Swartz, who used his technological prowess to fight for open access to information. The film raises questions on access to information and civil liberties. It might also make you question what you're doing with your life.
+ Questions You'll Need to Settle Workplace Disagreements — "As collaboration becomes essential for any job, it's not "if" but "when" you will get into a disagreement with your colleagues. So when it does happen, what are your options for de-escalating a disagreement in the workplace and finding resolution quickly? In my experience, the most critical ingredient to settling conflicts is clarity on the grounds of disagreement."
+ Re:Thiink Innovation — Only 18 spots left. Join me in Chicago this September for two days of learning how mental models can help you and your organization tackle innovation.
+ Second Wind — How do businesses go about reviving old technologies in the face of so much innovation? "... the key to success lies in redefining the product's value and meaning." + The most popular article in last week's edition of Brain Food was Nine Habits You Need To Stop Now. | | Thanks for reading,
Shane Parrish | | | | | | | |
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