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Super Thinking

Gabriel Weinberg, Lauren McCann

Super Thinking

16min

16min

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There definitely is a way to think better, reduce the risk of making bad decisions and save time. Super Thinking seeks to achieve this by using mental models, that is, implementing the thought patterns developed by various scientific disciplines implemented into our daily lives. Concepts such as antifragility, the filter bubble, the veil of ignorance and cognitive distortion become an extensive toolbox for improving the performance of our brains. Remember, it can be trained like a muscle!

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Analysis and key concepts

01.

Mental models allow for better thinking

02.

How to be less wrong

03.

Seeing things from someone else’s perspective and increasing empathy

04.

Individual choices have global consequences

05.

The risk of striving for perfection and the problem of abundance

06.

Choose what to invest in and do it quickly

07.

Avoiding misleading certainties and making surveys reliable

08.

How to take advantage of the psychology of persuasion

09.

Establish and increase your market power

10.

Quotes

11.

Take-home message

01. Mental models allow for better thinking

Thinking can become a superpower if we learn to harness mental models, in other words, patterns of thinking based on general concepts which help us understand a situation more quickly, allowing us to make better decisions both personally and professionally. These models provide shortcuts to deeper reasoning: once we get the general gist of a case, we can skip "basic" thinking, and immediately reach the highest level. Our intuition —or quick thinking— is mainly based on the reactions our brain has already recorded. It will replicate them without the need to reflect further, sometimes causing more harm than anything else. By contrast, logical thinking, also called slow thinking, is triggered in uncertain situations with which we are not yet familiar.

To improve our instincts, we need to learn as many mental models as possible, to be able to apply them quickly.

02. How to be less wrong

03. Seeing things from someone else’s perspective and increasing empathy

04. Individual choices have global consequences

05. The risk of striving for perfection and the problem of abundance

06. Choose what to invest in and do it quickly

07. Avoiding misleading certainties and making surveys reliable

08. How to take advantage of the psychology of persuasion

09. Establish and increase your market power

10. Quotes

11. Take-home message

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Many useful tips to:

  • Discover and use mental models.
  • Strengthen your decision-making processes.
  • Improve your ability to think efficiently.

Gabriel Weinberg is the founder and CEO of DuckDuckGo, a company dedicated to internet privacy and a private search engine. Gabriel graduated from MIT with a degree in Physics and has been honoured with an award for his studies in Technology and Politics.

Lauren McCann is a well-known researcher in the medical field whose analyses have even been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. She holds a PhD in Operations Research and a BA in Mathematics from MIT.

Publishing house:

Portfolio Penguin

Year:

2019

Pages:

352

ISBN:

978-0241336359