IdeaMathematics
What Is the Secretary Problem?
How to pick the best option when you see them one at a time and cannot go back. The 37 percent rule, worked through with ten flats, and its limits.
7 min read≈ 1,520 words3 questions
Level
Intermediate
Builds on one or two other Ideas, which are linked in the text.
5 items
IdeaPhysics & Chemistry
Why Does the Universe Seem Fine-Tuned for Life?
Why small changes to a few numbers in physics would rule out stars and life, how the anthropic principle, multiverse and design answer it, and the doubts.
7 min read≈ 1,520 words3 questions
IdeaPhysics & Chemistry
What Is Sonoluminescence?
How a sound wave makes a tiny bubble in water collapse and flash with light, what a shrimp has to do with it, and what physicists still cannot explain.
7 min read≈ 1,500 words3 questions
BookHistory & Civilization
"Homo Deus" by Yuval Noah Harari: Summary and Review
Harari's sequel to Sapiens asks what humans will want once famine, plague and war are under control. Its key ideas, weak points, and who should read it.
9 min read≈ 1,940 words5 questions
BookMind & Psychology
"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman: Summary and Review
Kahneman's two systems, loss aversion and the two selves explained, plus which chapters failed to replicate and how to read the book today.
10 min read≈ 2,180 words5 questions