The reading collection
Psychology, geopolitics, philosophy—and everything in between.
373 readings · 121–132
Mozart’s Rebellion Mozart was a gifted child, who surprised everyone around him with his musical genius. But for his entire youth, and up until his mid-twenties, he was imitating other people’s styles of music rather…
When Peterson was later asked which rule he found hardest to follow, he said it was this one. Don’t Lie A form of lying (to yourself) and to others is to espouse overly simplistic “truths” about the world.
Many thinkers including Kierkegaard, C.J Jung, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Rogers, and Plato have all written about the discovery of the self. To Kierkegaard, there was only one greater tragedy than failing to become…
Alfred Hitchcock* The Counter-Balance Strategy The first quality of a General-in-Chief is to have a cool head which receives exact impressions of things, which never gets heated, which never allows itself to be…
Chapter 9: Immigration Some cultures might be better than others Globalization made it easier for people to explore other cultures, but also made it easier for people to be offended by their differences.
Law 32: Play to People’s Fantasies Avoid telling people the ugly truth unless you are prepared to face the anger that will result. Life is harsh and distressing. If you can conjure up a fantasy or add romance to…
Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are–Joseph E. LeDoux – 2002 How does the memory function? What is the synaptic basis of mental illness and drug addiction? What is the mechanism of self-awareness?…
Lifting The best ways to train are using dumbbell and barbell exercises, if you want to build bigger, stronger muscles. There are some machines that are good, such as the leg press or cable setup, but most are…
The world reveals itself as tools, not as objects. We don’t waste time processing the boring details of everything we see. We only care about the usefulness of things. Many of us don’t think about the complexity of…
Law 23: Concentrate Your Forces Casanova* You have a finite amount of energy, conserve them by concentrating them at their strongest point. A single rich mine that is deep is more valuable to you than multiple…
The Right Pond It’s better to be big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond. No matter who you are, and what you are doing, there is always someone who is more brilliant than you are.
Fighting endless battles is costly, it is much wiser to master the art of maneuver. Bait your enemies into positions that seem alluring but at really traps and blind alleys. Give them dilemmas – if you give them…