Top 15 Aphorisms (from The Bed of Procrustes)

PLUS: The Tetris Effect, Sweating as a human trait, 8 of diamonds card & many more...

Aug 11, 2023

hi 👋 Prado here

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Every Friday, I publish one essay & 10 interesting things that will help you become healthy, wealthy and wise 👇

Essay of the week - 15 Aphorisms

My 15 favourite Aphorisms from the first 40% of the book - The Bed of Procrustes by Nassim Taleb

I suspect that they put Socrates to death because there is something terribly unattractive, alienating, and nonhuman in thinking with too much clarity.
They will envy you for your success, for your wealth, for your intelligence, for your looks, for your status—but rarely for your wisdom.
I have the fondest memories of time spent in places called ugly, the most boring ones of places called scenic.
The most painful moments are not those we spend with uninteresting people; rather, they are those spent with uninteresting people trying hard to be interesting.
The ultimate freedom lies in not having to explain why you did something.
The book is the only medium left that hasn’t been corrupted by the profane: everything else on your eyelids manipulates you with an ad.
One categorical: it is easier to fast than diet. You cannot be “slightly” kosher or halal by only eating a small portion of ham.
To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week’s newspapers.
You don’t become completely free by just avoiding to be a slave; you also need to avoid becoming a master.
I went to a happiness conference; researchers looked very unhappy.
Those who do not think that employment is systemic slavery are either blind or employed.
What fools call “wasting time” is most often the best investment.
Karl Marx, a visionary, figured out that you can control a slave much better by convincing him he is an employee.
You will be civilized on the day you can spend a long period doing nothing, learning nothing, and improving nothing, without feeling the slightest amount of guilt.
You can tell how uninteresting a person is by asking him whom he finds interesting.

If you got more time in hand and want to read more, here’s my complete notes from the book.

I didn’t get much so I just dropped the whole screenshot from my note-taking app :)

P.S: I’m not trying copy paste things from the book. These are some of my highlights from the book. If you are the publisher of the book or Mr. Taleb himself reading this… please let me know and I’ll remove this from the newsletter. “Thank you for writing this book and sharing your perspectives with the world” - To Taleb.

Let us all take a lesson or two from these Aphorisms :) Happy reading.

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10 things from InterestingRoad.com 🙌

1. Cryonics.

2. Something from my Twitter👇

3. "In the race of life, we humans are neither the fastest nor the most efficient. But thanks to our sweating capability, we are certainly the most persistent." - Page 30 in the book Numbers don't lie. (Read more here)

4. The Tetris Effect (Read more)

5. Interesting DYK of the week:-

5a) Interesting website of the week: eatortoss.com

6. Question of the week:- What do you do to help you think clearly?

7. Picture of the week:-

8. Current read: The Bed of Procrustes by Nassim Taleb (About 40% done)

9. Meme of the week:-

Covid days were something else.

10. Quotes of the week:

“If you want strangers to help you, smile. For those close to you, cry.” - Taleb
(Tweet this quote)
“The best way to come up with new ideas is to get really bored.” - The Benefits of Boredom - Austin Kleon
(Tweet this quote)
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind but i'd rather live in a blind world than be blind alone” - Nicholas Kavanaugh
(Tweet this quote)

Newsletter of the week: Morning Brew

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It’s more like an evening brew because Asia is around 12 hours ahead of the US.

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Check out some of my previous newsletters:

Diderot Effect (Read)
Life’s Lines of Closeness (Read)
How far did Elon Musk go to fulfil his curiosity? An untold story (Exclusive)
Cathedral Thinkers (Read)

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Personal Announcement 🚨

Tomorrow, I’m heading down to Harvard Model United Nations conference. I’ll be with 5 other creatives folks showcasing and documenting the whole thing. I’m looking forward to sharing my experience in the next week newsletter. Until then, keep doing your thing. let me know if there is something me or mine can do for you.

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