Ira Glass, host of This American Life, gives a funny and thought-provoking talk from the 2007 Gel Conference on what makes a great radio program. Along the way he offers some tips on what makes a good story, how to hold the listener’s attention, and how to tie the story into your post. “Narrative,” he [...]
Stories
Ira Glass: The Art and Craft of Telling Great Stories
by Shane Parrish on May 4, 2013
The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves
by Shane Parrish on April 22, 2013
“Essentially, we cheat up to the level that allows us to retain our self-image as reasonably honest individuals.” — Dan Ariely In his book, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves, Dan Ariely attempts to answer the question: “is dishonesty largely restricted to a few bad apples, or is it a [...]
How feeling powerless directs the narratives of our mind
by Shane Parrish on January 9, 2013
In his new book Mastery, Robert Greene writes discusses how feeling powerless directs the narratives of our mind. We live in a world that seems increasingly beyond our control. Our livelihoods are at the whim of globalized forces. The problems that we face—economic, environmental, and so on—cannot be solved by our individual actions. Our politicians [...]
Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing
by Shane Parrish on January 2, 2013
I just finished Michael Mauboussin’s latest book, The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing. In the book Mauboussin goes beyond the general idea that luck is important to outcomes. He explains the type of interactions where luck is important and dives into why we have a difficult time comprehending the [...]
Three Things to Consider in Order To Make an Effective Prediction
by Shane Parrish on December 12, 2012
Michael Mauboussin commenting on Daniel Kahneman: When asked which was his favorite paper of all-time, Daniel Kahneman pointed to “On the Psychology of Prediction,” which he co-authored with Amos Tversky in 1973. Tversky and Kahneman basically said that there are three things to consider in order to make an effective prediction: the base rate, the [...]
The Paradox of Skill
by Shane Parrish on November 7, 2012
Michael Mauboussin talking about his new book The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing with the WSJ: The key is this idea called the paradox of skill. As people become better at an activity, the difference between the best and the average and the best and the worst becomes much [...]
Whoever tells the best story wins
by Shane Parrish on October 18, 2012
From Everything Is Obvious: How Common Sense Fails Us: Historical explanations, in other words, are neither causal explanations nor even really descriptions—at least not in the sense that we imagine them to be. Rather, they are stories. As the historian John Lewis Gaddis points out, they are stories that are constrained by certain historical facts [...]
Another reason to read fiction
by Shane Parrish on October 8, 2012
From Jonathan Gottschall’s The Storytelling Animal — fiction shapes our minds. Research results have been consistent and robust: fiction does mold our minds. Story—whether delivered through films, books, or video games—teaches us facts about the world; influences our moral logic; and marks us with fears, hopes, and anxieties that alter our behavior, perhaps even our [...]
