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Systems and Mathematics: The Great Mental Models, Volume 3
From the
New York Times
bestselling author of
Clear Thinking
and Farnam Street founder, Shane Parrish.
The third book in the timeless Great Mental Models series.
Time and time again, great thinkers such as Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett have credited their success to mental models–representations of how something works that can scale onto other fields.
Mastering a small number of mental models enables you to rapidly grasp new information, identify patterns others miss, and avoid the common mistakes that hold people back.
Volume 3 of The Great Mental Models series focuses on systems and mathematics, simplifying more than twenty-four key concepts from these technical fields into easy-to-understand terms. It provides insights into the unseen mechanisms that influence our environment and teaches you how to apply these principles to benefit your life.
Some of the mental models covered in this book
Margin of Safety: Engineers design for extremes, not averages. To create a robust system, ensure a meaningful gap between what the system is capable of handling and what it is required to handle. Compounding: The most powerful force in the universe can work in domains other than money. The law of diminishing returns: Inputs to a system lead to more output, up until a point where each further unit of input will lead to a decreasing amount of output. Regression to the mean: Above- or below- average performance tends to correct towards the average over the long term. The Great Mental Models series demystifies once elusive concepts and illuminates rich knowledge that traditional education overlooks. This series is the most comprehensive and accessible guide on using mental models to better understand our world, solve problems, and gain an advantage.
The third book in the timeless Great Mental Models series.
Time and time again, great thinkers such as Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett have credited their success to mental models–representations of how something works that can scale onto other fields.
Mastering a small number of mental models enables you to rapidly grasp new information, identify patterns others miss, and avoid the common mistakes that hold people back.
Volume 3 of The Great Mental Models series focuses on systems and mathematics, simplifying more than twenty-four key concepts from these technical fields into easy-to-understand terms. It provides insights into the unseen mechanisms that influence our environment and teaches you how to apply these principles to benefit your life.
Some of the mental models covered in this book
Margin of Safety: Engineers design for extremes, not averages. To create a robust system, ensure a meaningful gap between what the system is capable of handling and what it is required to handle. Compounding: The most powerful force in the universe can work in domains other than money. The law of diminishing returns: Inputs to a system lead to more output, up until a point where each further unit of input will lead to a decreasing amount of output. Regression to the mean: Above- or below- average performance tends to correct towards the average over the long term. The Great Mental Models series demystifies once elusive concepts and illuminates rich knowledge that traditional education overlooks. This series is the most comprehensive and accessible guide on using mental models to better understand our world, solve problems, and gain an advantage.
Audible Audio
Published October 15, 2024
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About the author
Shane Parrish
16 books83.6k followersShane Parrish is the founder, curator and wisdom seeker behind Farnam Street (www.fs.blog).
What started as a personal blog where Shane could explore what others have discovered about decision-making, purposeful living, and how the world works, quickly blossomed into one of the fastest-growing websites in the world.
With over 600,000 subscribers, consistently sold-out workshops, and over 10 million podcast downloads, Farnam Street has become the go-to resource that CEOs, athletes, professional coaches, and entrepreneurs rely on to find a signal in a world of noise.
Shane's work has been featured in nearly every major publication, including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and The Economist.
What started as a personal blog where Shane could explore what others have discovered about decision-making, purposeful living, and how the world works, quickly blossomed into one of the fastest-growing websites in the world.
With over 600,000 subscribers, consistently sold-out workshops, and over 10 million podcast downloads, Farnam Street has become the go-to resource that CEOs, athletes, professional coaches, and entrepreneurs rely on to find a signal in a world of noise.
Shane's work has been featured in nearly every major publication, including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and The Economist.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 27, 2025
Truly one of the better books I’ve ever read for several reasons. 1) It teaches you how to think not just lessons. 2) It can be applied to every aspect of life (business, personal, mental health). 3) It seems like one of those books that one can be reread again and again and each time discover or learn something new depending on their current stage of life.
March 16, 2025
Shane's podcast is the very first one I followed religiously, as he covers such a variety of subjects in a accessible way; not popular science-like, just bringing (mostly, but not only) economic subjects to life. It's there where I learned about his mental models idea - something I've done a lot in my life, without labeling it as such. What I love about these books (there are 4 volumes) is the composition of each model: giving an informal definition and real-life examples to illustrate each.
Although it will, most likely, be most useful to young people, as they start navigating life, I would recommend the mental models books to everyone, at any and every stage of their life. It's an incredible exercise - his suggestion to look at your life through one lens (aka model) a week, and reflect on it is brilliant.
Although it will, most likely, be most useful to young people, as they start navigating life, I would recommend the mental models books to everyone, at any and every stage of their life. It's an incredible exercise - his suggestion to look at your life through one lens (aka model) a week, and reflect on it is brilliant.
January 31, 2025
Another decent book about mental models.
I found it more useful than the previous volume of this series, just because I am biased on systems thinking concepts lately.
Even without the bias, the book is packed with lot's of interesting & applicable tools for your latticework.
I found it more useful than the previous volume of this series, just because I am biased on systems thinking concepts lately.
Even without the bias, the book is packed with lot's of interesting & applicable tools for your latticework.
March 7, 2025
There is simply too much information in the world to leverage in a practical way to help with day to day challenges at work or at home. The models in this book series help distill huge concepts into “lenses” that are manageable at a practical level. Each concept could be the subject of multiple books of its own, but the author keeps the examples simple, allowing the reader to access the material readily, while learning some trivia and obscure facts along the way. These are a super fun and educational read for anyone who values well-considered decision making.
March 16, 2025
Learned a lot and very informative
May 10, 2025
great mental models
Enjoying the series. Lots of applicable mental models that helps us think through life. Looking forward to reading the next one in the series
Enjoying the series. Lots of applicable mental models that helps us think through life. Looking forward to reading the next one in the series
June 8, 2025
Great if looking for elementary level understanding.
Look elsewhere for something more advanced.
Such an important topic area. Thank you.
Look elsewhere for something more advanced.
Such an important topic area. Thank you.
June 27, 2025
This book is a good primer as the previous volumes are
June 8, 2024
The models associated with Systems was particularly engaging. The models associated with Math concepts deviated a bit from my knowledge of the underlying mathematical concepts, but were still mostly enlightening.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews