The Art of Thinking Clearly – Book Review

I have long been fascinated with the research on human biases and how they can affect our decision making. I've read a bit of Kahneman's work and have seen it cited in many other books. I never quite got around to finishing 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' though. Ralf Dobelli's The Art of Thinking Clearly provides …

Memory System Part 4: Symbolic Systems

In the earlier parts of this series I have discussed the possible modern applications of ancient memory techniques. I mentioned that not everyone was convinced of the merits of some of the key tenants of the proposed system, chiefly its reliance on adding imagined images to what needs to be learned - specifically to create …

Memory, Mindfulness and Imagination

I've already written about what I understand to be the benefits of having a better memory in the modern world. These were namely to aid us in our thinking and to help put things into a shape and form that makes it easy for others to remember. Now, after having contemplated this for a bit …

Memory System Part 3: Imaginary World

In the first and second parts of this series I have discussed the advantages of a memory system as well as proposed a simple technique for organising thinking. A particular focus of the presented technique was to provide a very lightweight way to order thoughts, with minimal requirements to adorn what we want to remember …

Memory System Part 2: 3×3 Grid

I have outlined in part 1 of this series possible applications for an improved memory. The two applications I suggested were: (1) to be able to aid our imagination and creativity and (2) create more memorable stories. I think the second application is really only relevant for those who want to become better creators of …

Memory System Part 1: Ancient Techniques and Modern Applications

I've recently been thinking about how to become better at dictation or to use speech to compose text. One important area of study that I came across in relation to this is rhetoric. Improving memory in turn is an important part of the discipline of rhetoric. In this article, I will briefly describe some ancient …

Some Thoughts on Learning

Over the past few years I had to study for a few professional certifications and I also spent a very considerable time studying at school and university. Throughout this journey I gained some insights that were useful to me and that I will collect here in the hope that they maybe useful to someone else …

Some Thoughts on Habits

I have long been interested in productivity and the old Benjamin Franklin quest of finding ways to better myself. One of the more recent themes in this field is habits, which I first came across in Duhigg's bookThe Power of Habit. The basic promise here is that if we get ourselves to do something regularly, …

Book Review – The Art of Learning

The Art of Learning is written by Josh Waitzkin, who was a multiple times national chess champion in the U.S. as well as later became an accomplished martial artists, winning the Tai Chi world championships. This I think is interesting background to consider since the author has demonstrated an ability to not only raise to …

Finding Purpose

For most of human history, we shared a strong belief in the supernatural. This anchored our spiritual life and helped us answer some of lives most painful questions; such as what is the purpose of my life and what awaits me after I die. Nowadays we have lost this belief and there is no point …