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A review by nesa_will_be_a_hobbit_one_day
The Great Mental Models Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts by Shane Parrish, Rhiannon Beaubien
3.0
My rating: 3 --> it had some elements that I enjoyed
Here’s something to remember for life: “The world does not isolate itself into discrete disciplines. We only break it down that way because it makes it easier to study it.”
When confronted with a problem, will you put all your eggs in one basket and rely on a single tool? Or would you rather have a whole set to support it? If you’d rather have a backup, mental models are for you.
Mental models are chunks of knowledge from different fields of study that help you see the world as a whole. Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, calls them "a latticework of theory". They’re like tools, in the sense that they provide you with ways of handling a problem. They’re like lenses, in the sense that they give you multiple perspectives. They are like maps, for they allow you to see the bigger picture.
On top of that, they’re also useful for
- differentiating what is relevant from what is irrelevant in a given case.
- not only solving problems, but also preventing them
The term ‘mental models’ may modern, but they have existed for a long time. They were introduced by great thinkers such as Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. What the author does in this book is explain them in an accessible manner, and give you a practical method to apply them.
Here’s an example with the “inversion” principle
A) What’s inversion?
It’s dealing a problem, not by pondering hard over how to fix it, but by coming up with a way of stopping it from happening altogether. When you get stuck, think forwards and backwards (instead of only forwards, from the beginning to the endpoint) so that you can see the problem form various angles. Inversion has the additional advantage of promoting innovation.
B) How do we apply it?
- Assume that what you’re trying to prove is either true or false. Then, think about the consequences of said assumption. Finally, think of other conditions that would have to be true under this assumption
- Ask yourself “what would make things worse?” and stop doing that. If possible, eliminate everything that compels you to do so
- A 5-step method (force field analysis, Kurt Lewin)
1. Identify the problem
2. Define your objective
3. Identify the forces that support change towards your objective
4. Identify the forces that impede change towards the objective (so that you know what needs to be removed – this is just as powerful as finding supporting forces)
5. Strategize a solution
C) a real-life example: how Edward Bernays got women into smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes by completely changing the environment they lived in. So instead of asking "how do we convince women to smoke cigarettes?", he asked "what conditions would be true in a world where women already enjoyed smoking cigarettes?"
“To tackle the idea of smoking as a slimming aid, he mounted a large anti-sweets campaign. After dinner, it was about cigarettes, not dessert. Cigarettes were slimming, while desserts would ruin one’s figure. But Bernays’s real stroke of genius lay not just in coming out with adverts to convince women to stay slim by smoking cigarettes; “instead, he sought nothing less than to reshape American society and culture.”
He solicited journalists and photographers to promote the virtues of being slim. He sought testimonials from doctors about the health value of smoking after a meal. He combined this approach with (...) altering the very environment, striving to create a world in which the cigarette was ubiquitous. He mounted a campaign to persuade hotels and restaurants to add cigarettes to dessert-list menus, and he provided such magazines as House and Garden with feature articles that included menus designed to preserve readers ‘from the dangers of overeating'.
The idea was not only to influence opinion but to remold life itself. "
In each chapter, before explaining each principle, the people involved are presented. Along the way, some ideas that support the main principle are provided as well. This might seem like an interruption, but it’s a matter of preference and a minor complain that can be easily dealt with. The explanations are accompanied by illustrations as well.
This book was well-structured, practical and helpful, but we’re introduced to few mental models and, admittedly, some suggestions are obvious.
“Using the lenses of our mental models helps us illuminate these interconnections. The more lenses used on a given problem, the more of reality reveals itself. The more of reality we see, the more we understand. The more we understand, the more we know what to do”
Here’s something to remember for life: “The world does not isolate itself into discrete disciplines. We only break it down that way because it makes it easier to study it.”
When confronted with a problem, will you put all your eggs in one basket and rely on a single tool? Or would you rather have a whole set to support it? If you’d rather have a backup, mental models are for you.
Mental models are chunks of knowledge from different fields of study that help you see the world as a whole. Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, calls them "a latticework of theory". They’re like tools, in the sense that they provide you with ways of handling a problem. They’re like lenses, in the sense that they give you multiple perspectives. They are like maps, for they allow you to see the bigger picture.
On top of that, they’re also useful for
- differentiating what is relevant from what is irrelevant in a given case.
- not only solving problems, but also preventing them
The term ‘mental models’ may modern, but they have existed for a long time. They were introduced by great thinkers such as Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. What the author does in this book is explain them in an accessible manner, and give you a practical method to apply them.
Here’s an example with the “inversion” principle
A) What’s inversion?
It’s dealing a problem, not by pondering hard over how to fix it, but by coming up with a way of stopping it from happening altogether. When you get stuck, think forwards and backwards (instead of only forwards, from the beginning to the endpoint) so that you can see the problem form various angles. Inversion has the additional advantage of promoting innovation.
B) How do we apply it?
- Assume that what you’re trying to prove is either true or false. Then, think about the consequences of said assumption. Finally, think of other conditions that would have to be true under this assumption
- Ask yourself “what would make things worse?” and stop doing that. If possible, eliminate everything that compels you to do so
- A 5-step method (force field analysis, Kurt Lewin)
1. Identify the problem
2. Define your objective
3. Identify the forces that support change towards your objective
4. Identify the forces that impede change towards the objective (so that you know what needs to be removed – this is just as powerful as finding supporting forces)
5. Strategize a solution
C) a real-life example: how Edward Bernays got women into smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes by completely changing the environment they lived in. So instead of asking "how do we convince women to smoke cigarettes?", he asked "what conditions would be true in a world where women already enjoyed smoking cigarettes?"
“To tackle the idea of smoking as a slimming aid, he mounted a large anti-sweets campaign. After dinner, it was about cigarettes, not dessert. Cigarettes were slimming, while desserts would ruin one’s figure. But Bernays’s real stroke of genius lay not just in coming out with adverts to convince women to stay slim by smoking cigarettes; “instead, he sought nothing less than to reshape American society and culture.”
He solicited journalists and photographers to promote the virtues of being slim. He sought testimonials from doctors about the health value of smoking after a meal. He combined this approach with (...) altering the very environment, striving to create a world in which the cigarette was ubiquitous. He mounted a campaign to persuade hotels and restaurants to add cigarettes to dessert-list menus, and he provided such magazines as House and Garden with feature articles that included menus designed to preserve readers ‘from the dangers of overeating'.
The idea was not only to influence opinion but to remold life itself. "
In each chapter, before explaining each principle, the people involved are presented. Along the way, some ideas that support the main principle are provided as well. This might seem like an interruption, but it’s a matter of preference and a minor complain that can be easily dealt with. The explanations are accompanied by illustrations as well.
This book was well-structured, practical and helpful, but we’re introduced to few mental models and, admittedly, some suggestions are obvious.
“Using the lenses of our mental models helps us illuminate these interconnections. The more lenses used on a given problem, the more of reality reveals itself. The more of reality we see, the more we understand. The more we understand, the more we know what to do”