Recommended Resources
Books
Team of Rivals by Doris Kerns Goodwin
An Abraham Lincoln Biography that also follows rivals/allies William Seward, Salmon Chase and Edward Bates. A master class in how to set one's ego aside and work with a diverse set of talented colleagues.
This is Water (Audiobook) by David Foster Wallace
Graduation speech in 2005 to Kenyon College graduates. Main lesson: we get to choose how we think and while it's a lot of work, we don't have to be slaves to our habitual thought patters.
Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen
Provides a useful framework for handling challenging conversations.
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Main lesson: there are three dichotomies in how we think
Fast (habitual) vs Slow (thoughtful). 99% of what our brain does is automatic and easy and this leads to all kinds of biases.
Human vs Econ. We're not really all that rational when it comes to money. In particular, we're extremely loss-adverse.
Present vs Remembering Self. When considering what makes us happy, the present moment feelings and what we see when we reflect on our past can view things extremely differently; it's not clear which "self" should guide us.
Designing your Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans
How to apply "design principles" to figure out what you want to get out of life and how to achieve it. Main lesson: you don't need an end goal in mind. Just start with lots of ideas and do little experiments by changing little things to see if it feels like you're going in the right direction.
Sapiens by Yuval Harari
A key insight is that what makes human's special is our ability to tell collective stories and hold collective illusions that can be shared by millions or billions of people. The most powerful story/illusion is the concept of "money" which at this point is just bits in a computer or pieces of paper. But money makes so many large, collective actions possible, both good and evil.
The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver
Guide to why so many prediction models fail.
How simple questions can help improve efficiency and reduce mistakes in a world of increasing complexity.
How to be an Adult by David Richo
A handbook on psychological and spiritual integration.
The Elephant in the Brain by Robin Hanson and Kevin Simler
Explains the hidden motives from so much of human behavior
Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman
Lot's of great insight for working through challenges in marriage, which comes more from a deeply intuitive counselor with over 40 years experience. I feel it's important to add the caveat that I believe the author greatly overstates his ability to predict divorce -- he reports the results of fitting models to data rather than using his models to make prospective and preregistered predictions.
The Wondering Jew by Micah Goodman
Explores the tension between religion and secularism and suggest a path forward toward integration.
Blogs
Marginal Revolution by Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok - Economics blog that covers a broad range of topics.
Parent Data by Emily Oster - Data driven guide to parenting.
Podcasts
Radiolab - Stories rooted in science and philosophy
Dear Sugar - Empathetic advice
Conversations with Tyler - Conversations with today's deepest thinkers
The Memory Palace - Stories from history.
TED Talks
The Power of Vulnerability by Brene Brown
My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor
Technical (Website)
Oh Shit Git for dealing with git issues
Frank Harrell's Regression Modeling Strategies Course