Summary: This week, Wisereads features a preview of Shane Parrish’s book, The Great Mental Models, which shares principles used by great leaders. Other highlights include discussions on the challenges of automation, the decline of reading skills in students, and the importance of hobbies for innovation. Additionally, the week features insights on managing fatigue through napping and tips for finding vintage clothing on eBay.
policy changes and standardized testing have led students to struggle with reading entire books. (View Highlight)
if a skill is not easily measured, instructors and district leaders have little incentive to teach it.” (View Highlight)
The PC, the web, and Linux have one key thing in common, notes author and a16z partner Chris Dixon: they were built by hobbyists. “Business people vote with their dollars, and are mostly trying to create near-term financial returns. Engineers vote with their time, and are mostly trying to invent interesting new things. Hobbies are what the smartest people spend their time on when they aren’t constrained by near-term financial goals.” (View Highlight)
“Imagine a blue emu swimming through the ocean. Humans have the astonishing ability to imagine such a fictional scene in great detail. Human imagination requires the ability to compose and predict various facets of the world. Simply imagining a scene requires composing different concepts while predicting realistic properties about motion, scene, physics, geometry, audio etc.” (View Highlight)
“There is no system that can prepare us for all risks. Factors of chance introduce a level of complexity to any situation that is not entirely predictable. But being able to draw on a repertoire of timeless mental models can help us minimize risk by better understanding the forces that are at play. Likely consequences don’t have to be a mystery.” (View Highlight)
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