Understanding is Built, Not Sent
Plus a map of the cafes I write from
The Critical Thinker
A newsletter for curious minds. Practical ideas about how to reason and think clearly.
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Field Notes on Thinking Clearly
For paid subscribers
It Was Obvious England Would Lose to Argentina
Plus A Field Guide to Thinking Clearly for paid subscribers
Grice’s Maxims
The case for direct communication
The Distractions We're Remembered By
Daydreaming, boredom, and creative breakthroughs
Pictures of Facts
The Rashomon effect; edited reels in Glass Onion, Memento, and Rashomon
The Handmade Things We Value
Reflections from a Kyoto shop
On Not Knowing What We Know
Plus, the Big Five US publishers over time
You Must Leave the Cave to See the Cave
In Book 7 of Plato’s Republic, prisoners are chained inside a cave, forced since childhood to stare at a wall. Behind them, a fire casts shadows of moving objects. It’s all they ever see.
Arguments Drawn on Napkins
The napkin snatcher strikes again.
Groupthink
Conformity at the expense of independent thinking
Moral Exclusion
Plus, what's the Mandela Effect?
The Hidden Lives of Quiet People
An apocryphal story in three scenes
Wishful Thinking: Why We Believe What We Want to Believe
And is that always a bad thing?
What if Kurt Vonnegut Had Done “Shapes of Thinking” Instead
Plus, what's a halfalogue?
What’s the #1 Cognitive Bias That Derails Investors? (With Barry Ritholtz)
Guest: Barry Ritholtz / Video + Transcript + Summary (28 mins)
The Endowment Effect: Owning Something Makes It More Valuable?
Plus, revisiting a picture book for grownups thanks to a nudge by Veo 3
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Our Invisible Sidekick
Plus, what's so interesting about Torpenhow Hill?
Why We Think Only Others Get It Wrong
Plus, San Francisco’s little libraries, writers throwing shade, and the strangest cafe in town
Pithiness
The shortest letter, paper, ad, story, issue