One book that is often recommended is Pólya's "How to solve it" [1], although it's more directed at solving mathematical problems than general mental models.
Ask HN: Which books teach mental models?
61–70 of 98 posts
Re: Ask HN: Which books teach mental models?
#62I strongly recommend checking out the Cynefin framework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework
Knowing which context you're in provides a useful tool when choosing mental models to approach the problem.
Having said that, 99% of mental models is practice as adopting a mental model is often an emotional problem too.
For example, while Cynefin may suggest an iterative approach for complex domains, you'll still need to be emotionally able to deal with the natural outcomes of iterative problem solving
e.g. being comfortable making decisions with incomplete data, handling failure, communicating progress when there is no clear way to estimate scope.
Re: Ask HN: Which books teach mental models?
#63I'm sure this is where this is coming from, but if not, Sam Harris's latest podcast is about mental models. I know it's not a book, but I found it insightful.
Re: Ask HN: Which books teach mental models?
#64There's Munger's talk. Not a book but quite good anyway http://csinvesting.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Worldly-Wi...
Re: Ask HN: Which books teach mental models?
#65There are many good recommendations here, but I’d add that reading books about mental models is worth 10%, while practice thinking about real situations is 90%. To get practice, you can’t just sit and scratch your chin. You have to make a predction, write it down, then see how real life played out a few years down the road. It helps to write down predictions you considered but rejected and why.
That sounds like quite possibly the least effective method of learning.
There are people out there who have done all that work for you. All you have to do is pick up a book, learn their models, then stand on their shoulders as you develop your own.
Re: Ask HN: Which books teach mental models?
#66My opinion would be different, I believe the good understanding of human behavior is the key, e.g. what motivates people, reward system, FOMO, etc. Try to read "Charlie Munger's 25 Cognitive Biases".
Re: Ask HN: Which books teach mental models?
#67Not a book, but a course. This one was insanely useful for me and I've applied the models countless times: [Model Thinking][0]. I heartily recommend this to anyone who wants to learn about models and has some spare time: [0]: https://www.coursera.org/learn/model-thinking
Scott Page ( from U Michigan who is the creator of the class) has written a book on models called Model Thinker. I’m currently reading it and think it is pretty good!
Scott Page is an awesome guy!
Re: Ask HN: Which books teach mental models?
#68The Chimp Paradox by Professor Steve Peters
Re: Ask HN: Which books teach mental models?
#69Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows Once you start looking for positive and negative feedback loops in the world around you, it's hard to stop. In particular, Meadow's book is great because it also goes beyond +/- loops in isolation, and shows more complicated patterns, such as eroding goal patterns and traps that often cause public policy interventions to fail.
+1 I just recently read this book and i was met with gem after gem. Also made me start looking at the world in terms of feedback loops, is it a balancing, goal-seeking or reinforcing feedback loop? How tight are these feedback loops? etc. Definitely a must read!
Re: Ask HN: Which books teach mental models?
#70Gabriel Weinberg of Duck Duck go recently released an entire book devoted to mental models. A few years ago, he also wrote a good article that gives an early idea what he was thinking about here:
https://medium.com/@yegg/mental-models-i-find-repeatedly-use...