Preview
  • The Great Mental Models

  • General Thinking Concepts
  • By: Shane Parrish
  • Narrated by: Shane Parrish
  • Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,636 ratings)

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The Great Mental Models

By: Shane Parrish
Narrated by: Shane Parrish
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Publisher's summary

The old saying goes, "To the man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail". But anyone who has done any kind of project knows a hammer often isn't enough.

The more tools you have at your disposal, the more likely you'll use the right tool for the job - and get it done right.

The same is true when it comes to your thinking. The quality of your outcomes depends on the mental models in your head. And most people are going through life with little more than a hammer.

Until now.

The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts is the first book in The Great Mental Models series designed to upgrade your thinking with the best, most useful and powerful tools so you always have the right one on hand.

This volume details nine of the most versatile all-purpose mental models you can use right away to improve your decision making, your productivity, and how clearly you see the world. You will discover what forces govern the universe and how to focus your efforts so you can harness them to your advantage, rather than fight with them or, worse yet, ignore them.

©2019 Shane Parrish (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.
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Editorial Review

Hack your thinking with these 9 cool tricks

As an Audible editor, lifelong reader, and generally voracious consumer of #content, it pains me that I’m not exactly a hyperefficient learning machine. That’s probably why I click on every email I get from Shane Parrish’s brilliant website, Farnam Street, which covers better thinking and decision making and is read by an influential group of Wall Street investors and Silicon Valley types (and also me). A former Canadian spy (!), Parrish has honed in on the idea that outfitting your cognitive toolbox with "mental models" is the key to making more intelligent decisions—and his first book outlines nine of the most useful. If you enjoy learning about learning, or just want to avoid making dumb decisions, consider this your fast track to thinking like a boss. —Kat J., Audible Editor

What listeners say about The Great Mental Models

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Awesome book

This is a expansion to the articles relating to mental models on Farnam Street blog.
Will definitely listen to it a few more times.
Ca't wait for Vol2.

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great intro to mental models. I want more!

This is a great book I would recommend to anyone. The reader's voice lacks energy, but it's good enough to make listening for an hour or more at a time very doable.

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Sometimes heavy on examples vs. How to use it

I was hoping this would give more how to use the models vs just commenting on their existence and how others have used them

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Buen comienzo pero puede mejorar

Me costó terminarlo y en parte por la calidad del narrador. Muy plano y sin matices que cambiaran la rutina del volumen o entonación.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great models

Great summary of mental models - light touch on their application. Short book, easy to read and understand, solid overall.

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great

Fantastical points for the day fifteen words later I'll probably never leave a review again

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Rich in information

This book is replete with relevant examples from science, history, mythology, economics etc. that you can use to lead a better life.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Valuable knowledge. Better reading would help.

I applaud Shane's attempt to gather this information and I only hope that he will consider hiring other readers for future volumes. The pacing and the lack of emotion in Shane's voice leads to a rather dry listen.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Great concepts, terrible narration

Really really cool book, it’s super interesting which is only reason I’m still listening. The narrator monotonously reads the book as if it were one long run-on sentence. No pauses for periods, new paragraphs, new chapters nothing.

Pro tip: a new section/chapter is usually preceded with a quote by someone else

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

First level thinking ...

Disappointed with Shane’s Lebron James / Woody Allen example. Here’s how I see it playing out. After the contest is announced, most gamblers (like Shane) think Lebron is a lock and bet the house on his success. Lebron notices this and bets as much as possible on Woody. Lebron throws the match. So the correct bet is to bet on Woody and you get massive odds to do so.

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