Writing demands ordered thinking. Writing practice builds thinking skills. Math demands logical thinking. Math practice builds reasoning skills. History creates context for current events. History learning builds perspective. Science searches for truth. Science learning builds a foundation for understanding truth. Every day I write, reason, and build my opinions on science and historical context. I’ve…
People younger than you know stuff you don’t know. So do people older than you. So learn to listen better. You shouldn’t engage with politics unless you are also engaged with reality. The things you know about people will still be true decades later. The things you know about things will be obsolete in a…
There is so much blather that passes for thinking these days. If you imagine that you have a good argument, write about it. You’ll make it far stronger (or maybe figure out that you were wrong). I don’t care if your thesis is “Rex Tillerson is the best secretary of state in decades,” “Landscape architecture…
In December of 1994, economist Hal Varian, who is currently Google’s chief economist, wrote a paper called “How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time.” Ignore the subject matter. It should have been called “How to think clearly.” His advice hasn’t lost relevance in the 21-plus years since he wrote it. (Thanks to Cory Doctorow at…