Peter

A dissapointing debut

Revisado: 04-14-19

I enjoy the Farnam street blog so see that he was releasing an audiobook intrigued me immediately. I really want to like this release but its just underwhelming. This volume lacked both depth and breadth of the mental models discussed, adding nothing to his blog entries. It feels like he's reading a textbook or class notes, dropping the terms and maybe the most barebones of examples. The content is far to dry and academic for a casual listener and far to shallow and basic to really help the people who are aware of these concepts but want to really integrate them into their mental tool kit.

In his chapter on probabilistic thinking, for example, he barely discusses things like hindsight bias, the gamblers fallacy isn't mentioned, hints at black swan event but doesn't follow that thread, his discussion of distribution curves assumes people know what a distribution curve is in general and how the normal distribution works, but describes the curves as if we don't, serving no one in the process and not discussing things like outliers, how to use them in decision making etc... its mostly just describing the terms, as if answering an exam question. After listing to it, I would have no idea

I think a lot of these votes are voting for the author (who I like) and not the work, which I cannot recommend at this time (just read his blog). You are much better off spending your money/credit on more specific books, like Thinking in Bets or A Drunkards Walk (for probabilistic thinking) and really hone that mental model. I really hope the subsequent volumes of this series expand and really add the depth and cohesion these models need to be properly integrated into better overall decision making.

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A thorough and well writen book.

Revisado: 08-07-18

Covers this subject in a rather thorough and comprehensive way. Great practical tips that aren't surrounded with trite motivational BS like the title might suggest. Worth a listen.

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Surprisingly detailed, pragramic, insightful

Revisado: 06-06-18

I picked up this book on a whim as I was looking to branch out from typical non-fiction books, hoping to pick up a few tips here and there. This book was a rather thorough break down of event design, which could be applied from everything from casual get togethers to conferences. There is little here about appetizers, dinner/drinks, music selection, proper activities, but how to make events memorable, engaging, fun, whatever the goal is. I think the name of this book does it a disservice as it sounds like a glorified Good Housekeeping issue rather than a truly thoughtful way to make all of your group activities tangibly work better. I recommend this book to everyone interested in the self-development genre.

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Ryan continues to practice what he preaches.

Revisado: 11-14-17

A very good primer on the actual reality of the process of creative works/vocations. He does a great job of giving very real insight into what it takes build a successful creative career. His insights on the value of editing have changed the way I view the projects I undergo, and I am not someone in a traditionally "creative" space. “Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry”

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High promise, poor execution.

Revisado: 07-30-17

Unfocused book. The author was trying too hard to make the term 'gastrophysics' stick, which makes this book feel repetitive. He seems to care about name dropping more than really exploring the aspects of the chapter he's exploring. There is an odd focus on an obscure movement that really doesn't add anything to the book (No, I don't care that they may have come up with certain concepts first). The actual science he discusses is limited and I found myself wanting more. The narrator was excellent though, which made listening to this more entertaining.

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Overly simplistic, lacks depth

Revisado: 04-02-16

The ideas are solid but described only on a surface level. If you've never listened to a book on this subject then there is some value to learning these concepts but there are better books on the subject.

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