In The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t, Julia Galef argues that we don’t need to deceive ourselves in order to feel good, motivated, or persuade others. The book also offers practical tips to see the world more accurately. As usual, the key takeaways are below, and you can find the full summary by clicking the link above. KEY TAKEAWAYS We’re in soldier mindset when we try to defend the views we already hold or wish are true. We’re in scout mindset when we...

I didn’t plan this, but my latest summary for The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money by Bryan Caplan comes right as the school year begins for those in the Northern Hemisphere. As usual, the key takeaways are below, and you can find the full summary by clicking the link above. A word of warning: although Caplan makes some great points, I've also found multiple flaws with his arguments, particularly when he tries to calculate the social return and...

In August, I posted 2 book summaries and 1 blog post: Book summaries The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Henrich - a very interesting but dense explanation of how WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic) cultures are different, and how they got to be that way. Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt - covers how to spot the far-too-common examples of "bad strategy" and develop good strategy instead. Blog posts Is it better to be WEIRD? - a long-ish...