Slava Akhmechet on reading in clusters
This is a great take on the benefits of reading clusters of books on a common theme. I like the way it takes the idea… Read More »Slava Akhmechet on reading in clusters
August 2021
Trilogy: Books as Network
I’ve just finished reading Nicholas Monsarrat’s The Cruel Sea. It’s one of the best war novels I’ve read, and served as the final book in… Read More »Trilogy: Books as Network
Marc Andreessen on the secret of Netscape’s success (c.1995)
Netscape’s secret is that we’re in the middle of an exploding market. Marc Andreessen It’s as simple and as difficult as that.* *In one sense,… Read More »Marc Andreessen on the secret of Netscape’s success (c.1995)
God’s Servant [Jakarta edition]
Some questions to bear in mind: Who’s it for? (Who is your project- or organisation, or life – supposed to be serving? What’s the official… Read More »God’s Servant [Jakarta edition]
Sacha Chapin on writing faster
Humans are naturally sense-making, story-telling creatures. We’re wired to explain ourselves and the universe, to ourselves and to each other. We’re naturally ingenious fabulists, shrewd… Read More »Sacha Chapin on writing faster
How do hamsters outsmart humans?
For those who came in late, this is Joan. Born to Run Most of the signs – particularly the signs she leaves in her food… Read More »How do hamsters outsmart humans?
Adam Smith on emergent opulence: peace, easy taxes and justice
You heard it first from Thucidides. Now here’s Smith: Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the… Read More »Adam Smith on emergent opulence: peace, easy taxes and justice
“What can I do to make things better?” (3): ends, means, and the Roomba of contingency
Uncertainty about ends, means and you. There’s an important caveat to the any understanding we come to about ends, means, and your place in the… Read More »“What can I do to make things better?” (3): ends, means, and the Roomba of contingency
“What can I do to make things better?” (2): assumptions
While you’re establishing* your habit of thought-and-action, look again at the question. It contains at least three assumptions, each raising another set of questions. 1.… Read More »“What can I do to make things better?” (2): assumptions
“Dogs that do not bark”: Gwern Branwen on unseen progress since the 1990s
Progress is usually debated in terms of the big things like lifting the Third World out of poverty, eliminating child mortality, or science & tech:… Read More »“Dogs that do not bark”: Gwern Branwen on unseen progress since the 1990s