Relationship Advice from Jerry Seinfeld’s Is This Anything?
Spanning five decades, Seinfeld’s Is This Anything? covers everything from bumper cars and cotton balls to Facebook and COVID-19.
Physicist Sean Carroll On ‘The Mistake We Make’
In The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself, physicist Sean Carroll reminds readers of a mistake we’re all prone to making.
Science Fiction Author Robert Heinlein On Happiness
In the sci-fi novel, Starship Troopers, author Robert Heinlein shares his secret to a happy life.
Psychologist Paul Watzlawick’s ‘Blasphemic Remark’
In the 1990s, psychologist Paul Watzlawick was conducting a training seminar when he made the following controversial remarks.
Waiting For Your Turn to Speak
'When people think you’re dying, man, they really, really listen to you instead of just—'
Sally Satel and Scott Lilienfeld on Addiction: Quitting is the Rule, Not the Exception
Psychiatrist Sally Satel and psychologist Scott O. Lilienfeld offer hope to those struggling to overcome a dependence on drugs in their book, Brainwashed.
On the Limitations of the ‘Talking Cure’
Ideally, talking is only one component of the therapeutic process. Without corresponding efforts to alter one’s behaviour, a commitment to talking about problems can become its own vice.
10 Wise Aphorisms from The Bed of Procrustes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Author Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms is chock full of wise words. Here are ten of my favourite aphorisms from the book.
How to Remain Fragile
If you tend to avoid anxiety-provoking situations, perhaps you remain hopeful that one day you will overcome your fears. For now, though, you continue to tell yourself that you just aren’t ‘ready’ and will try ‘next time’.
Public Perceptions of COVID-19 and the Availability Heuristic
A recent survey suggests people grossly over-estimate COVID-19’s fatality rate. The availability heuristic helps explain why.