layout: post title: “links that i like” date: 2025-08-31 slug: links-i-like —
important caveats:
- boy i sure do love things that confirm my priors
- (many of these things initially usefully challenged my priors)
- not in order, not of equal quality
- more organization and links coming Soon (TM)
- mental math speed game
- grinding this game taught me agency
Art of Problem Solving - Intermediate Counting
- math textbook on combinatorics
- grinding this book taught me agency
Discovery Fiction - Michael Nielsen
- this has been fundamental to how i learn now
- writing a discovery fiction and telling the story of inventing something lays strong hooks for the brain to remember later
How to do free recall (AKA active recall) - Language learning demonstration
- youtube video demonstrating active recall study technique
- free recall is obviously good
How to Solve it - George Polya
- classic book on mathematical problem-solving
- a wise man once told me ‘all problems are the same’
What the humans like is responsiveness - Sasha Chapin
- blog post about being present and responsive in conversations
- reminds me of the thing about bill clinton and how “He has a special skill to make you feel like you’re the only person in the world.”
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
- classic self-help book on social skills
- “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
- the above is literally the only sentence you need from this book. don’t even read the rest of it
Making Normal Conversations Better - Sasha Chapin
- blog post about improving everyday conversations
- very based article on conversations, confirms priors
How I Studied 600 hrs + Watched 300 hrs of Anime in 4 Months (The ULTIMATE Study Technique) 😲
- youtube video about combining study and entertainment for productivity
- great way to get things done even if you’re tired/don’t really want to
- the most important part of this trick is the flow state, you don’t want to do 25min increments since you can’t drop into flow
- better is to just allow yourself to go into flow state for as long as you can, once it breaks then you can watch an episode of anime, then go back
- this works really well too because anime has a intro/outro that sort of conditions you out of working into something actually restorative, and that beginning/end is long enough to get you back into focus
- as opposed to scrolling on your phone, or playing a video game with a faster start/end loop (since you’ll be tempted to watch the next reel/scroll to the next tweet/play just one more game)
- similar concept but less fun might be taking a walk, or even going on a treadmill while you watch the show if you want to compound the break into being even more ‘productive’ while still restorative
- this might actually be worth its own blog post
3 Tips anyone can use to instantly look more attractive - Charisma on Command/Charlie Houpert
- youtube video on improving attractiveness and charisma
- charisma on command has some hit or miss videos but this was a great one, albeit clickbait title
- especially second (?) tip about avoiding seeking behavior, trying to just have a good time with the people around you. i think it really does a good job at hinting at the deeper idea with charisma here of just actually having a good time/being secure being more important than any of the ‘tricks’.
- the body language one is good too, just objectively being in more open body language will help you feel better
My Most POWERFUL Study Trick (Any Subject)
- youtube video about learning techniques (paused before take)
- i paused this video at the exact timestamp linked above, right before he said the idea he proposed is really bad
- basically he was like ‘oh what if you start from really hard content first, and work your way back down’ and in my head i was like ‘oh that makes sense, start from what you actually want to learn, and then you can recursively learn the fundamentals you’re missing until you actually understand the thing you’re interested in
- the rest of the video claims this idea is bad but i am glad i paused it. would honestly recommend this
- this might be worth its own blog post for my perspective
Berkson’s Paradox - Kris Abdelmessih
- blog post explaining how correlations break down in narrowed samples
- the correlations you expect break down when the sample is narrowed.
- this might be worth its own blog post for my perspective
- i think this extends into this idea people have of like ‘stat points’ in an RPG. people assume someone that is smarter than them is worse than them at some other attribute out of spite/jealousy/inherent installation of berkson’s paradox. but its actually more likely that all of these positive traits are correlated/reflective of some underlying ‘competency’ trait. being into exercise compounds and makes you have more energy through the day for other things. being social compounds into higher surface area of meeting people who are similar to you/would be good friends. etc etc.
Emotional First Aid - Guy Winch
- book on practical psychological self-help techniques
- pretty nice practical advice and some good case studies
Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong TED - Johann Hari
- ted talk challenging conventional views on addiction
- rat park go brrr
How Great Leaders Inspire Action TED - Simon Sinek
- ted talk about the “Start With Why” leadership principle
- start with why feels so obvious now i can’t think of how you could possibly do anything else
Power of Vulnerability TED - Brene Brown
- ted talk about the importance of vulnerability in relationships
- basically shaped my views on understanding people/making friends/being vulnerable
To listen well, get curious - Ben Kuhn
- blog post about using curiosity to improve listening skills
- put into words intuitions i had around how natural curiosity is how you actually listen to people
Socratic Persuasion - Neel Nanda
- blog post about using questions to persuade and engage others
- i sent this to one of my friends and he said “this is literally just how you talk”
Charisma On Command Podcast with Dr. K and Joe Hudson - Charlie Houpert
- podcast episode discussing charisma and social dynamics
- i haven’t fully wrapped my head around it but just a lot of obviously correct mental models here i think
There Are Four Levels Of Charisma - Which Are You?
- youtube video breaking down different levels of charisma
- condensed nice encapsulation of one of my favorite points of the above video
Bhagavad Gita - Translation by Eknath Easwaran
- classical Hindu text on philosophy and spiritual guidance
- specifically the foreword/introduction glossary is amazing
- i think i benefitted from some familiarity with the concepts but still very good
Matthew Walker’s “Why We Sleep” Is Riddled with Scientific and Factual Errors - Alexey Guzey
- critical analysis of the popular sleep science book
- taught me basic skepticism
- blog post about how personality traits form stable patterns
- confirmation of priors + puts better words to ideas i have thought of in clouds
- blog post about productivity philosophy and techniques
- I don’t use time-management systems for general work. I find reducing root causes like procrastination to provide greater returns than attempting to work around by using a time-management system.
- very based
- blog post on productivity principles and momentum-based work
I try to prioritize in a way that generates momentum. The more I get done, the better I feel, and then the more I get done. I like to start and end each day with something I can really make progress on.
- also more based productivity advice
- i think the above quote is what i’ve gotten the most value from. he talks a lot in the blog about ‘what to work on’ and the north star of ‘doing it makes me more energetic/feel good’ has been the best compounding one
- blog post encouraging people to pursue their potential talents
- if you have even the slightest suspicion that you may be above-average at anything, for the love of god, please do something with that suspicion. i don’t care if you fail one hundred times in a row, because the only way I will ever be disappointed in someone is if they never truly try, not even once, in their entire life.
- based
- book about building good habits through small incremental changes
- Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. This is one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change. Small habits can make a meaningful difference by providing evidence of a new identity. And if a change is meaningful, it is actually big. That’s the paradox of making small improvements.
- cliche but good
- the first chapter is honestly all you need
The Colors of Her Coat - Scott Alexander
- blog post about appreciating the craftsmanship and beauty in everyday things
- nice reminder that we can, at any moment, have more awe for the world around us. the amount that we take for granted in how lovingly crafted the things we use and see are
Why Gifted Kids are actually special needs
- youtube video explaining the challenges faced by gifted children
- i honestly am due to watch this again but i just remember there being a lot of good points/confirmed priors/etc
Why 99% of people watch football wrong
- youtube video about understanding football strategy and tactics
- already has changed how i watch football highlights. enough of a shift that i am playing fantasy football again for the first time in a few years. excited for the upcoming season
Laws of Trading - Agustin Lebron
- book about decision-making frameworks and world models
- every decision is a trade, which is inherently downstream of your forecast of the expected value of the actions available to you at that time, which is derived from measurements of your world model. the book discusses this idea and those up/downstream of it
CRANIOTOMY: Dissection of your Human Condition
- collection of essays analyzing human psychology and behavior
- honestly this is really like a collection of essays that probably deserve their own treatment
Information Compression - Alexandr Wang
- blog post about communication challenges and organizational problems
- information compression is hard, upstream of many organizational problems is the failure to accurately reconstruct person A’s model of something from what they communicate about it
Optimism Shapes Reality - Alexandr Wang
- blog post about how expectations influence outcomes
- The scope influences how long things takes. When we say things will take a long time, they will take a long time. When we say things will take a short amount of time, they will take less time.
- optimistic timelines shift the distribution of outcomes to be closer to those timelines
- parkinson’s law, 4min mile, etc
Hyperstimuli are Understimulating
- blog post about how overstimulating content creates craving without satisfaction
- Pleasure is satisfying, and satisfaction makes you stop. Hyperstimuli are not simply “more stimulating.” They are more stimulating of craving, and less stimulating of pleasure.
- i actually misremembered this as ‘hyperstimuli are so overstimulating that you are taken out of the present moment and it requires less presence to enjoy’
- this seems related to the blog’s point but an extension rather than the main idea, that there’s missing parts of the hyperstimuli that make you crave the thing since it’s not as inherently pleasuring since there are missing elements that would normally provide satisfaction
- blog post about the importance of hiring passionate, committed people
- for an obsessed person, it’s always worth it
- this blog post isn’t as good as i remember it, but i think the quote from above i think is pretty compelling
Adventures with Anxiety! - Nicky Case
- interactive story/game about understanding anxiety
- i liked anxiety bc it was a little playable way to reinforce the ‘emotions make sense’ idea by showing that anxiety is actually something that serves a purpose, and it can be listened to without it taking over
The Evolution of Trust - Nicky Case
- interactive game exploring cooperation and trust through game theory
- i liked the trust game because it was fun and a nice way to communicate the ideas. the sandboxes/exploration with the sliders and seeing how the game changes when you change the parameters are great ways to reinforce looking for positive sum games, trying to have low miscommunication rates, and the value of forgiveness. can also be read as blackpilling when you think about the lack of repeated games + high miscommunication rates we currently have. matter of perspective
cooking
How to Wash Dishes Without Hating Every Moment of It
- youtube video on proper dishwashing technique and mindset
- teaches people how to wash dishes, which not everyone even knows how to do well/properly and adds some tidbits about how to make it more enjoyable/less daunting by doing a couple dishes while cooking
- its the main reason a lot of people don’t cook so i think it has to be included in any video about cooking
- youtube video explaining how to gauge cooking heat levels
- the thing that bothered me about heat level ambiguity is everyone has different burners, but this provides a list of visual/audio/practical cues someone can use to better figure out what ‘heat’ theyre at
- phrasing medium in terms of what it does to toasting bread or butter is actually more precise than ‘put 7 on ur burner’ bc 7 on mine is different from someone else’s 7