The Great Mental Models, Volume One – by Shane Parrish (Farnam Street)
Date read: 1/28/20. Recommendation: 9/10.

Aside from being the most beautifully designed book that I’ve picked up in years, the content is equally rich. Volume One presents nine foundational mental models and general thinking concepts. The book champions a multidisciplinary approach to help broaden your perspective and make better decisions. Parrish emphasizes that these mental models help us overcome three main barriers to effective decision making—not having the right vantage point, ego-induced denial, and distance from the consequences of our decisions. The concepts discussed range from first principles and inversion to Occam’s Razor and Hanlon’s Razor. If you enjoyed the free ebook that I wrote on strategy, you will enjoy this one—it shares a similar philosophy and further builds upon many of those ideas.

See my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Volume one presents the first nine models, general thinking concepts. Goal is to improve your understanding of the world, improve your ability to see things through different lenses, and improve the quality of your decisions by improving your rationality. 

Multidisciplinary approach:
“Not having the ability to shift perspective by applying knowledge from multiple disciplines makes us vulnerable….Multidisciplinary thinking, learning these mental models and applying them across our lives, creates less stress and more freedom.” 

Three shortcomings:

1. Not having the right perspective. We have a hard time seeing any system we are in.

2. Ego-induced denial. Too much invested in our opinions or ourselves to see the world’s feedback. “We optimize for short-term ego protection over long-term happiness.” It’s hard not to stay with what’s easy. 

3. Distance from the consequences of decisions. Also tend to undervalue elementary ideas and overvalue the complicated ones.

Perspective:
“The chief enemy of good decisions is a lack of sufficient perspectives on a problem.” Alain de Botton

Simplicity:
“Most geniuses—especially those who lead others—prosper not by deconstructing intricate complexities but by exploiting unrecognized simplicities.” Andy Benoit

“Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance.”

“Focusing on simplicity when all others are focused on complexity is a hallmark of a genius.”

Occam’s Razor:
Simpler explanations are more likely to be true than complicated ones. “Instead of wasting your time trying to disprove complex scenarios, you can make decisions more confidently by basing them on the explanation that has the fewest moving parts.” 

Avoid unnecessary complexity. Commit to the simplest explanation. Easier to falsify, easier to understand, and more likely to be correct. If one explanation requires the interaction of three variables and the other requires thirty, which is more likely to be in error?

Principles:
“As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.” Harrington Emerson

Antifragility:
Put yourself in a position benefit from serendipity and randomness. Seek out situations that offer upside optionality—good odds of offering us opportunities. 

Never take risks that will do you in completely. Develop resilience to learn from failures and start again. “Those who are not afraid to fail (properly) have a huge advantage over the rest.” 

Hanlon’s Razor:
Don’t attribute to malice that which is more easily explained by stupidity. 

Remember, people make mistakes. The world isn’t always out to get you.

Always assuming malice puts you at the center of everyone else’s world. You’re the only person who thinks about you as much as you do. Don’t prioritize malice over stupidity unless you’re seeking paranoia.