Super Thinking, Gabriel Weinberg
Super Thinking, Gabriel Weinberg
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Super Thinking
The Big Book of Mental Models

Author: Gabriel Weinberg, Lauren McCann

Narrator: René Ruiz

Unabridged: 12 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 06/18/2019

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

"You can't really know anything if you just remember isolated facts. If the facts don't hang together on a latticework of theory, you don't have them in a usable form. 
You've got to have models in your head."
- Charlie Munger, investor, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway

The world's greatest problem-solvers, forecasters, and decision-makers all rely on a set of frameworks and shortcuts that help them cut through complexity and separate good ideas from bad ones. They're called mental models, and you can find them in dense textbooks on psychology, physics, economics, and more. 

Or, you can just read Super Thinking, a fun, illustrated guide to every mental model you could possibly need. How can mental models help you? Well, here are just a few examples...

  *  If you've ever been overwhelmed by a to-do list that's grown too long, maybe you need the Eisenhower Decision Matrix to help you prioritize.
  *  Use the 5 Whys model to better understand people's motivations or get to the root cause of a problem.
  *  Before concluding that your colleague who messes up your projects is out to sabotage you, consider Hanlon's Razor for an alternative explanation.
  *  Ever sat through a bad movie just because you paid a lot for the ticket? You might be falling prey to Sunk Cost Fallacy.
  *  Set up Forcing Functions, like standing meeting or deadlines, to help grease the wheels for changes you want to occur.

So, the next time you find yourself faced with a difficult decision or just trying to understand a complex situation, let Super Thinking upgrade your brain with mental models.

*Includes a PDF of charts, drawings, and cartoons illustrating the mental models of super thinking.

About The Author

Gabriel Weinberg is the CEO & Founder of DuckDuckGo, the Internet privacy company and private search engine. He holds a B.S. with honors from MIT in Physics and an M.S. from the MIT Technology and Policy Program. Weinberg is also the co-author of Traction. Lauren McCann is a statistician and researcher. She spent nearly a decade at GlaxoSmithKline, where she designed and analyzed clinical trials and authored articles in medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine. She holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research and a B.S. with honors in mathematics, from MIT. Lauren and Gabriel reside in Valley Forge, PA with their two children.superthinking.com


Reviews

Goodreads review by Demi on September 15, 2023

I love mental models but this book can't even install 1 of them to the readers mind. It is a list of 100s of mental models explained in a few sentences. This should not have been a book but a list of mental models instead, maybe a webpage or something. I'm not sure what was Gabriel thinking turning......more

Goodreads review by Miles on November 17, 2019

Before starting it, I had misgivings about whether Lauren McCann and Gabriel Weinberg’s Super Thinking would be worthwhile for me to read. This was mainly because I have already studied a lot of mental models from various fields of research, and also because it seemed a bit too self-helpy for my tas......more

Goodreads review by Matt on June 23, 2019

When I saw a tweet from Annie Duke saying the world would improve immediately if everyone read this book, I had to check it out. [URL not allowed] I wasn’t disappointed. This book is simple, easy to follow and gives mental models that greatly help your decision making. It has......more

Goodreads review by Van on July 22, 2019

Mental Models applied in real life context. The book did an excellent job by connecting mental models in real life context using a storytelling style rather an academic listing of the models. Highly recommend.......more

Goodreads review by Haur Bin on April 26, 2020

A good collection of mental models extracted from various disciplines, which if applied properly, can help broaden one’s perspective. Very similar to Charlie Munger’s emphasis on breadth of knowledge and when magic happens when a confluence of factors across a broad spectrum manifest themselves in a......more


Quotes

“An intellectual playground that will have your brain doing mental reps and seeing the world differently."
–SHANE PARRISH, creator of the Farnam Street blog and host of The Knowledge Project podcast
 
“An invaluable resource for making sense of the world, making good decisions, and placing smart bets. A fast-paced and fun read, jam-packed with useful information on every page. I wish I’d had this book ages ago!”
–ANNIE DUKE, author of Thinking in Bets
 
"Internalizing these mental models will help you understand the world around you. Once you can spot them, you can change your own behavior to avoid common traps, adjust how you interact with people to get better results, and maybe even articulate new mental models of the world that have yet to be discovered."
–BRIAN ARMSTRONG, Cofounder & CEO of Coinbase