mindlevelup: The Book

Welcome to mindlevelup: The Book!

This book is intended to be a more beginner-friendly introduction to rationality. Most of the material is sourced from blog posts here on mindlevelup, but there’s also new content!

My goal is for this to be a sort of Schelling Point for newcomers to rationality curious about some of the more evidence-backed ideas. So if you know anyone who’s interested in learning more about rationality, but finds the Sequences too daunting, this might be a very good choice!

Currently, it’s at about 30,000 words and ~150 pages, but that might change with future updates.

The best way to read the book from the Google Doc link, which will get the fastest updates, as that’s the actual doc I use for writing.

For a PDF / other version, I recommend directly selecting “Download As” from the Google Doc link, as that ensures your copy will be the most up to date.

Lastly, of course, you could read it here on mindlevelup. (Which’ll also be behind the Google Doc because editing on WordPress is time consuming.)

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Overview of this book:

The book is roughly organized into 9 sections :

0) Introduction
The introduction.

1) WTF is Rationality
A quick introduction to what rationality even is. Covers instrumental and epistemic rationality, cognitive biases, and System 1 & 2. (~14 pages)

2) Starting Advice
4 things that I think are very useful to keep in mind as you read onward. (~10 pages)

3) Planning 101
An overview of how our planning is often overconfident. Goes over stats, research, and several techniques to reduce bias in planning. (~23 pages)

4) Interlude 1
Two awesome concepts to think about. (~8 pages)

5) Habits 101
An overview of habits, how they form, and how to break them. A super, super, super in-depth exploration of multiple techniques for both creating and removing habits. (~51 pages)

6) Interlude 2
Two even more awesome concepts to think about. (~15 pages)

7) Attractor Theory
A model of decision-making that combines motivation and environmental design. Basically it’s about how you should consider the effects of actions on yourself. (~13 pages)

8) Closing Disclaimer
Rationality is great. But don’t let it control you. (~3 pages)

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FAQ:

Q) What is this, exactly?
A) mindlevelup: The Book is a collection of essays from the mindlevelup blog compiled into an e-book. The book’s focus is roughly about techniques for goal achievement and productivity.

Q) How often will mindlevelup: The Book update?
A) Don’t expect anything major. I’m currently focused on trying to make it more presentable, so expect mostly small-scale edits. New content will come in the form of blog posts, while more established and developed ideas may slowly find their way into inclusion for The Book.