We answer the question “How do I think well?” by leveraging timeless, multi-disciplinary wisdom
“You must know the big ideas in the big disciplines and use them routinely - all of them, not just a few… I went through life constantly practicing this model of the multidisciplinary approach. Well, I can’t tell you what that’s done for me. It’s made life more fun, it’s made me more constructive, it’s made me more helpful to others, it’s made me enormously rich… You have to learn these things in such a way that they’re in a mental latticework in your head and you automatically use them for the rest of your life. ”
What are Mental Models?
Mental models are heuristics (i.e., practical shortcuts) for understanding and describing how the world works. A small collection of big ideas, from across the universe of disciplines, can help us explain the vast majority of phenomena that we encounter. By learning these big ideas to fluency, and leveraging them throughout our lives, we can more accurately grasp the dynamics underpinning whatever we bear witness to, providing us an opportunity to better shape these dynamics towards our goals. Whether you are a parent, manager, investor, mayor, professional croquet athlete, or student, learning and using fundamental mental models will help you more effectively engage with your life, make decisions, and realize your goals.
Special thanks to Charlie Munger, Farnam Street, and Gabe Weinberg for the inspiration!
What is Mental Model Fundamentals?
Mental Model Fundamentals provides details for ~130 fundamental mental models from 17 disciplines, based on references to over 1,000 sources. Ultimately, Mental Model Fundamentals is meant to serve two purposes: (1) Help you learn the fundamental mental models to fluency, especially how they relate and operate in conjunction with one another; and (2) Serve as an ongoing reference guide for you, to improve performance and minimize error when applying the models across your life.