October monthly round-up

Published 11 days ago • 1 min read

I'm happy to say I cleaned up both the All Summaries and Blog Posts archives this month so you can now sort by things like author, title, date, rating and topic. I've kept the old pages for now in case of teething issues—please let me know if you see any!

During October, I posted 2 book summaries and 3 blog posts:

Book summaries

The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef (32 mins) — an accessible book about how we should strive to think more like scouts trying to work out the truth, rather than soldiers trying to defend an existing position.
Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio (25 mins) — there are some good ideas in here, but overall the book is not very well-written and I wouldn't recommend it.

Blog posts

Criticisms of The Case Against Education (Pt 3 — Checking the Math) (12 mins) — my third and final post in this series.
Overrated or Underrated is Overrated (2 mins) — a lighthearted post about how easy it can be to talk past one another
My quick review of the “Principles in Action” app (3 mins) — if you're interested in implementing Ray Dalio's ideas, I'd recommend this free app over reading the Principles book.

My next summary will be for Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck by Eliezer Yudkowsky, a thought-provoking book pushing back against "modest epistemology"—the idea that you should defer to "experts" or "the crowd" since the average person won't be able to outperform them. It was interesting to read this shortly after The Scout Mindset. The two books don't exactly contradict each other (and I found both to be valuable), but there's definitely a conflict in the general 'vibes'.

Thanks for subscribing! Until next time,

To Summarise

New Book Summary: Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio

My latest summary is for Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the largest hedge funds in the world. In Principles, Dalio reflects on his life and career and sets out the principles he claims helped him succeed. As usual, the key takeaways are below, and you can find the full summary by clicking the link above. KEY TAKEAWAYS Why Principles? Principles allow you to systemise your decision-making and operate consistently. When you can explain your...

20 days ago • 1 min read

New Book Summary: The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef

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...

about 1 month ago • 1 min read

September monthly round-up