The World's Best Book Summaries
What is the ludic fallacy? How does the tendency to “tunnel” into what we know lead us into making cognitive errors? The ludic fallacy is the tendency to treat uncertainty in real life like uncertainty in games of chance. The problem with this approach is that, unlike games of chance, real life has no rules. We’ll cover how the ludic fallacy shapes our predictions and why thinking of uncertainty like a game of blackjack is unproductive.
What is preferential attachment? Who benefits from preferential attachment? Who loses? Preferential attachment is the innate human tendency to flock to past successes, regardless of whether those successes are the product of merit or chance. Preferential attachment is a form of cumulative advantage. We’ll cover examples of preferential attachment, look at how it increases inequality in society, and discover when it’s wrong.
What does “diffusion” mean in sociology? What is the cultural diffusion meaning? What is a cultural diffusion example? Cultural diffusion is a term in sociology for the way a contagious idea or product spreads among people who adopt it at different phases. It involves phases in which innovators, early adopters, the early majority, the late majority, and, finally, the laggards adopt an idea or product. We’ll look at a cultural diffusion example to see how the idea of diffusion works in sociology and look at the factors that come into play at each stage of the diffusion model.
What is the barbell strategy? What is a barbell investing approach? How can you adopt the barbell strategy to mitigate risk in investing and in life? The “barbell strategy” is an approach designed to minimize the pain of a negative event while, potentially, reaping the benefits of a positive event. The barbell strategy is commonly used in investing, but it’s also applicable to life more generally. We’ll cover the nature of the barbell strategy and other strategies for mitigating risks.
What is a fractal? How are fractals useful in representing and predicting relatively unpredictable events? A fractal is a geometric pattern that repeats at different scales. Fractals, unlike pure geometric shapes like triangles or circles, are seen quite frequently in nature. We’ll cover what a fractal is and how it can help us make predictions in a world full of uncertainty.
What is a good media bias example? How do nonverbal cues reveal news bias on television? We’ll cover one news bias example in which newscasters’ nonverbal signals revealed how they really felt about the candidates during the 1984 presidential campaign. We’ll also look at how these unconscious facial expressions swayed viewer votes.
What is a social epidemic? How does it start? Can social epidemics be useful? A social epidemic is the spread of ideas, messages, behaviors, and products through a population in the same way that viruses spread. The idea was popularized in the book The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell. We’ll cover the requirements of social epidemics and how to create social epidemics to spread your ideas and sell your products.
What is epistemic arrogance? Who’s guilty of epistemic arrogance, and how does thinking we know what we actually don’t get us into trouble? Epistemic arrogance is the tendency to overestimate our ability to predict when we’re overconfident in our knowledge. We’re all guilty of epistemic arrogance, but it hits “experts” the hardest. We’ll cover how epistemic arrogance leads to bad predictions and why more information isn’t always better.
Who is Nassim Nicholas Taleb? How did he develop his popular “black swan” theory? The Black Swan is the second book in former options trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s five-volume series on uncertainty. This book analyzes so-called “Black Swans”—extremely unpredictable events that have massive impacts on human society. We’ll explore how Nassim Nicholas Taleb became obsessed with probability (or, more accurately, improbability) and how he developed his theory of black swans.
We don’t think of weak ties as good things–aren’t lasting friendships and deep connections what matter? We’ll cover why weak ties are important, especially in business and marketing. Learn why you should have a “connector,” someone with many weak ties, on your team.