Africanmoose Random Ideas

All Book reviews

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:59:02 GMT

I tried to organize these into roughly 'highly recommended', 'recommended' to 'interesting'. Generally speaking if a book is on the list, I learned something from it.

Highly recommended

Interesting but dont go out of your way

Book Reviews

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:58:46 GMT

God made yeast, as well as dough, and loves fermentation just as dearly as he loves vegetation - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:57:54 GMT

Quote

“God made yeast, as well as dough, and loves fermentation just as dearly as he loves vegetation.”

Reflection

All good things come from fermentation: bread, wine, cheese, chocolate, pickles

Author

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Reference

Cooked - A Natural History of Transformation - Michael Pollan

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:57:40 GMT

Summary

Pollan gets a master in each of 4 fields (fire, water, air and earth) to teach him how to cook one dish well.

How I discovered it

Always enjoyed Michael Pollan since Suzie recommended one of his books.

Reflections

Appreciate good cooking! also, there are so many ways to cook and so much history and ways of doing things and fascinating people.
I dont have many notes on this book, but i totally enjoyed it and learned a lot from it. Highly recommended.

Details

Specialization is a force for economic growth, but also individually debilitating
Great cooking is about the three P's - patience, presence and practise
High quality ingredients require less work in preparing, and vice versa

Quotes

References

goodreads

No poems can please long or live that are written by water drinkers - Horace

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:49:25 GMT

Quote

No poems can please long or live that are written by water drinkers.

Author

Horace

Reference

Cooked - A Natural History of Transformation - Michael Pollan

The taste for partial spoilage can become a passion, an embrace of the earthy side of life that expresses itself best in paradoxes - Harold McGee

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:36:17 GMT

Quote

“The taste for partial spoilage can become a passion, an embrace of the earthy side of life that expresses itself best in paradoxes.”

Reflection

cheese...yoghurt...pickles....hmmmm

Author

Harold McGee

Reference

Cooked - A Natural History of Transformation - Michael Pollan

High quality ingredients require less work in preparing, and vice versa

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 15:39:21 GMT

Summary

Expensive, fresh ingredients require less work to make them tasty

Details

Sometimes the worst cuts of meat can be made delicious, but often require more time or effort

Reflections

This principle may work in other things also: Expensive tools and parts are easier to work with, but patience and effort expended on poorer tools may yield superior skills

References

Cooked - A Natural History of Transformation - Michael Pollan

Quotes

That we now think of such peasant fare as fancy or elite, while regarding the tossing of pricey filets of meat on the grill as simple food for the masses, represents a complete reversal of the historical situation. There has always been a trade-off between time and technique in the kitchen and the quality of the raw ingredients. The better the latter, the less of the former is required to eat well. But the opposite is equally true. With a modicum of technique and a little more time in the kitchen, the most flavorful food can be made from the humblest of ingredients. This enduring formula suggests that learning one’s way around the kitchen—knowing what to do with the gnarly cut, the mirepoix, and the humble pot—might still be a good recipe for eating delicious food without spending much to make it. These are skills that confer a measure of independence.

Specialization is a force for economic growth, but also individually debilitating

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 20:43:26 GMT

Summary

Specialization and division of labor allows for unprecendented economic growth, but also individually debilitating as it encourages learned helplessness in areas that are not your speciality

Details

Adam Smith points out that division of labor gives us the benefits of other peoples expertise

Reflections

I think its important to fight this tendency as an individual by trying to become as broad in our thinking as we can.

References

Cooked - A Natural History of Transformation - Michael Pollan

Quotes

Before long it becomes hard to imagine doing much of anything for ourselves—anything, that is, except the work we do “to make a living.” For everything else, we feel like we’ve lost the skills, or that there’s someone who can do it better. (I recently heard about an agency that will dispatch a sympathetic someone to visit your elderly parents if you can’t spare the time to do it yourself.) It seems as though we can no longer imagine anyone but a professional or an institution or a product supplying our daily needs or solving our problems. This learned helplessness is, of course, much to the advantage of the corporations eager to step forward and do all this work for us.

Here in a nutshell is the classic argument for the division of labor, which, as Adam Smith and countless others have pointed out, has given us many of the blessings of civilization. It is what allows me to make a living sitting at this screen writing, while others grow my food, sew my clothes, and supply the energy that lights and heats my house. I can probably earn more in an hour of writing or even teaching than I could save in a whole week of cooking. Specialization is undeniably a powerful social and economic force. And yet it is also debilitating. It breeds helplessness, dependence, and ignorance and, eventually, it undermines any sense of responsibility.

The consumer’s not a moron, you know…she’s your wife, and you must try not to insult her intelligence - David Ogilvy

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 15:00:43 GMT

Quote

The consumer’s not a moron, you know…she’s your wife, and you must try not to insult her intelligence.

Author

David Ogilvy

Reference

substack

Use genres to classify things, but dont be too strict or it may blind you to connections

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 18:40:00 GMT

Summary

Genres can be useful to classify things, but we should be careful not to let rigid classification to blind us to new connectinos

Details

There is a sweet spot to genres that allows us to be efficient but not

References

The Great Mental Models, Volume 4 - Economics and Art - Shane Parrish

Quotes

Noticing similarities helps us make connections and process the world more effectively. But being too rigid in our classifications means we miss out on opportunities for new combinations and the insights they bring. There is a sweet spot to genre, and using it as a model shows us how to explore the power inherent in multiple types of connections.

The Great Mental Models, Volume 4 - Economics and Art - Shane Parrish

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 18:30:31 GMT

Summary

Volume 4 in his series where he takes principles from every day sciences. In this case economics and art

How I discovered it

I have folllowed fs.blog from soon after it began

Reflections

Details

Quotes

References

Scarcity is a foundational principle of economics

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 18:30:31 GMT

Summary

Scarcity is a foundational principle of economics: scarce things are more valuable

Details

we may hoard scarce things
If you have a rare combination of qualities, you may be rewarded disproportionately
Sometimes scarcity is artificial for example: diamonds

Reflections

Try to be 'scarce' by having unusual combinations of skills

References

The Great Mental Models, Volume 4 - Economics and Art - Shane Parrish

Quotes

In economics, scarcity is a foundational principle. There are infinite wants and desires but limited resources. We can’t have everything, so we must choose. Scarcity guides those choices.

Some businesses operate with a scarcity mentality, removing shock absorbers and operating lean, with just enough resources to produce the day’s goods. This model is prone to disruption with the slightest hiccup and signals to employees that they’re in a culture of scarcity, triggering our biological instinct toward self-preservation. We subconsciously hoard things of value to gain an individual advantage.

Scarcity can work to your advantage. Imagine you’ve got a rare combination of qualities: you’re honest, hardworking, and smart. People like that are scarce, and the world tends to reward them disproportionately. It’s not just about being good at one thing; it’s about having a mix of traits.

The key to navigating scarcity is understanding its power, recognizing when it’s driving our choices, and asking if those choices align with our true values and goals. Sometimes, scarcity creates real value. But sometimes, it’s just a mirage, a trick of the mind

All history is viewed through a frame. Consider who is making the frame.

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:41:34 GMT

Summary

'History is written by the victors', but really any story is told within frames that the teller decides upon

Details

Consider why the teller chose to include and exclude certain information
multiple sources of information may give a better overall view of the situation

Reflections

this is always true. even if sometimes it is unconscious.
Sometimes it is deliberate with the goal of manipulation

References

The Great Mental Models, Volume 4 - Economics and Art - Shane Parrish

Quotes

How Nur Jahan is depicted throughout history is a lesson that, quite often, history is framed according to the sensibilities of the one doing the framing. Understanding that there is always a frame, always someone who makes decisions on what to capture and what to leave out, is a great life lesson

Framing’s power lies in its subtlety. Unlike a logical argument, a frame doesn’t need to be explicitly stated to have an effect. It works on an emotional, often subconscious level. A well-crafted frame can make an idea feel intuitive, even inevitable, without the audience quite knowing why.

Framing is the silent partner in every communication, the hidden hand shaping understanding. Like any powerful tool, framing can be used for good or ill. It can illuminate truth, or it can obscure it. It can empower people to see new possibilities, or it can subtly limit their thinking to narrow, predefined channels.

Work in Progress

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 07:55:20 GMT

processing The Great Mental Models, Volume 4 - Economics and Art - Shane Parrish
Working on a book on productivity
Processing book 'Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin'
Learning AI and using it to build an online zettelkasten, music analyzer app and personal finance database
Going through this explanation of how AI works

Interesting Ideas

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 07:54:59 GMT

Interesting Quotes

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 07:54:18 GMT

We experience rhythm in everything around us

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 06:24:04 GMT

Summary

We experience rhythm in our own bodies, the seasons and day around us

Details

Our heartbeat, and breath
Sunrise/sunset, seasons
moonrise, tides, wash of the waves on the beach
our own body clock or circadian rhythm

References

The Great Mental Models, Volume 4 - Economics and Art - Shane Parrish

Quotes

Rhythm is something we experience within our own bodies, as we hear or feel our heartbeats or breath. We identify it in other biological processes, such as our circadian rhythm. We see rhythm in the changing seasons or the pattern of sunrise and sunset—things with which to mark the passage of time. The rhythm of the moon gives us tides. There are rhythms found in the hours of our workday, the flow of transportation, and the activity in a town or city. Margaret Mary Barela argues, “The experience of meter, and rhythm as well, is kinetic. It is organic. We experience flow if we allow ourselves to focus on the kinetic aspect of the musical experience.”[16] Identifying and feeling the multiple rhythms in our day helps us appreciate the kinetic reality of rhythm.

Rhythm is thus a fundamental part of all living creatures. Sunlight may modify, or entrain, our circadian rhythm as the periods of darkness and light vary throughout the year. But light does not tell us when to get up. Our bodies are already beginning the process of waking up and being ready to start the day before our eyes register the sun through our lids. “Much of the behaviour of living organisms is anticipatory of regular and predictable daily environmental changes,” write Russell G. Foster and Leon Kreitzman in their book Rhythms of Life, “rather than reactive.”[17] Foster and Kreitzman cover years of research showing that biological clocks still operate in plants and animals, even if they are separated from external calibration sources.

Shared information by means of casual conversation or gossip allows for efficient decision making

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 05:52:48 GMT

Summary

Shared information by means of casual conversation or gossip allows for efficient decision making

Details

meeting in a place that is not home and work allows people to be more free with conversation: pub, places of worship, etc
better if people are on equal footing in those places
better if there is a good diversity represented there

Reflections

work on talking to people in public places a bit more

References

The Great Mental Models, Volume 4 - Economics and Art - Shane Parrish

Quotes

So, people share information. They talk about what they paid for their house. They talk about how the harvest went on their cousin’s farm. They talk about how hard the blacksmith is working to keep up with demand. Gossip seems frivolous, but it enables more efficient decision making.

In his 1989 book The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg wrote about “third places,” places that are neither home nor work where we can go to experience companionship and community. A third place is “neutral ground” and “a leveler” where “the main activity is conversation.” No one is in charge, and “those gathered are on equal footing.”[8] Third places produce a dynamism that is often absent in other places because of the diversity of the people gathered. In the other places where we spend time—including home, work, and places of worship—we are much more likely to be surrounded by people similar to ourselves.

On following up - Be pleasant and persistent when things matter to you - James Clear

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:10:34 GMT

Quote

"The person who complains loudest will get attention, but at the expense of their reputation.

And yet, following up is an important life skill. If you want something done and you'd like it done soon, then you need to follow up.

The balance is in the delivery. Be pleasant and persistent when things matter to you. Always kind, but don't let it rest until it's done and done well."

Author

James Clear

Reference

3-2-1 email sep 14 2026

Visual displays should use comparison to convey data

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 20:00:15 GMT

Summary

Visual representation of data should show clearly comparisons

Details

Statistics analysis is fundamentally based on comparing.
visual aids should clearly show this

Reflections

this also applies to non-visual representation. teaching is a function of showing differentiation

References

The Great Mental Models, Volume 4 - Economics and Art - Shane Parrish

Quotes

In Beautiful Evidence, Edward Tufte explains the logic behind visual representations of data:

The fundamental analytical act in statistical reasoning is to answer the question “Compared with what?” Whether we are evaluating changes over space or time, searching big databases, adjusting and controlling for variables, designing experiments, specifying multiple regressions, or doing just about any kind of evidence-based reasoning, the essential point is to make intelligent and appropriate comparisons. Thus visual displays, if they are to assist thinking, should show comparisons.[

Africanmoose Random Ideas

All Book reviews

Highly recommended

Recommended

Interesting but dont go out of your way

Book Reviews

God made yeast, as well as dough, and loves fermentation just as dearly as he loves vegetation - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote

Reflection

Author

Reference

Related

Cooked - A Natural History of Transformation - Michael Pollan

Summary

How I discovered it

Reflections

Details

Quotes

References

Related

No poems can please long or live that are written by water drinkers - Horace

Quote

Author

Reference

Related

The taste for partial spoilage can become a passion, an embrace of the earthy side of life that expresses itself best in paradoxes - Harold McGee

Quote

Reflection

Author

Reference

Related

High quality ingredients require less work in preparing, and vice versa

Summary

Details

Reflections

References

Quotes

Related

Specialization is a force for economic growth, but also individually debilitating

Summary

Details

Reflections

References

Quotes

Related

The consumer’s not a moron, you know…she’s your wife, and you must try not to insult her intelligence - David Ogilvy

Quote

Author

Reference

Related

Use genres to classify things, but dont be too strict or it may blind you to connections

Summary

Details

References

Quotes

Related

The Great Mental Models, Volume 4 - Economics and Art - Shane Parrish

Summary

How I discovered it

Reflections

Details

Quotes

References

Related

Scarcity is a foundational principle of economics

Summary

Details

Reflections

References

Quotes

Related

All history is viewed through a frame. Consider who is making the frame.

Summary

Details

Reflections

References

Quotes

Related

Work in Progress

Interesting Ideas