Jocko Underground: What Do You Do If Someone Steals From You?

We like to think that we’re intelligent, rational beings who generally make good decisions. However, psychologist Daniel Kahneman says that in reality, the human mind is hasty, imprecise, and lazy. In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman explains how we make decisions, why those decisions are often wrong, and how we can work around our natural shortcomings to make better decisions in the future.

We’ll begin by describing the “fast” and “slow” systems of thought that Kahneman identifies. Next, we’ll go over the ways our thinking tends to be sloppy and biased, and why that happens so regularly. Finally, we’ll examine Kahneman’s research into happiness, and how a better understanding of ourselves can help support our overall well-being.

In our commentary, we’ll explore some evolutionary origins of cognitive biases, look at how the biases Kahneman highlights relate to additional biases, and compare Kahneman’s insights to those from other psychologists, such as Malcolm Gladwell and Barbara Oakley.

Will breastfeeding your baby raise their IQ? When should you start potty training your toddler? Parents of young children often ask questions like these, as they’re eager to know the right way to parent. However, health economist Emily Oster argues in Cribsheet that there isn’t just one right way to parent a young child. What’s best for one family isn’t always best for another. She argues that you can discover the best parenting decisions for your family by consulting research and applying strategies from economics to your decision-making process.

In this guide, we’ll explore Oster’s advice on making research-based parenting decisions. We’ll also present her research on some of the most important and controversial topics in parenting, from breastfeeding to potty training. Throughout our guide, we’ll contextualize Oster’s findings by exploring how social and cultural norms and stigmas influence parenting decisions. Furthermore, we’ll supplement Oster’s recommendations with additional actionable advice, such as how to identify trustworthy data and how to reduce your child’s chance of having a peanut allergy.

Brilliant thinkers across all disciplines rely on mental models–recurring concepts and patterns that explain a wide array of situations. For example, physicists might use Newton’s law of inertia to predict that planets in motion will remain in motion, and biologists might rely on natural selection to explain the origin of the fight-or-flight response.

However, mental models aren’t only useful inside the ivory tower. Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann argue that using mental models can drastically elevate our everyday reasoning and decision-making skills. In Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models, they provide an array of mental models to improve our decision-making, in life and in business.

In this guide, we’ll first discuss Weinberg and McCann’s foundational mental models for general decision-making, then explore professional applications. We’ll consider strategies to implement these models and compare the authors’ discussion of mental models with other similar works.

Brandon Turner’s The Book on Rental Property Investing is an educational guide to effectively locating, buying, and managing real estate properties. Turner identifies the major pitfalls new investors encounter, and he suggests how to profitably overcome these challenges by working smarter, not harder.

Turner is a real estate investor with hundreds of income-earning properties. He’s also a bestselling author and a former host of Bigger Pockets, a real estate investment podcast. In this guide, we’ll cover Turner’s detailed approach to each stage of the rental property investment process, as well as explore overarching strategies to help new investors think professionally about their portfolios. In our commentary, we’ll provide further advice on various elements of the rental property investment process, such as handling paperwork and securing a good agent.