20 hours of insights in 20 minutes
Talking to Strangers is about how difficult it is to understand other people. It is well-written and contains many engaging examples. Unfortunately, the examples do not illustrate Gladwell’s points well and his analysis is not very rigorous.
Decision hygiene helps you make better decisions. It’s like washing your hands in that it’s good practice but you don’t know what errors you avoid by doing it.
Poker is a game of decision-making under conditions of uncertainty over time. Poker is like life and decisions are like bets. Thinking in bets can therefore help you make better decisions in life.
There is noise in many areas, more than you think. This book explains the different types of noise, how to measure it, and how to reduce it. There are many examples with citations.
Humans are tribal creatures. Much of modern life makes us less social and tribal and therefore less happy. Outside threats such as wars tend to strengthen social bonds.
There is a lot of bullshit out there, probably more than you think. It takes a lot more work to refute bullshit than to create it. Bergstrom and West describe how to spot some of the most common ways to spot bullshit so you can call it out.