This year, I almost exclusively read science fiction. That's not normal for me, my go-to is non-fiction... but I've realized that there's a lot to be gained in the speculation of possibility. As Cixin Liu says in an introduction to his short stories: In China, the new generation’s way

Do not feel small when you enter a cavernous space. For you have just set foot into an enormous catchment basin. Be glad for the space, for the volume. But with limits. The bounds keep your ideas from escaping. When I sit in an expansive space, the molecules of my

Books (with sprinkling of articles & podcasts) that have stuck with me throughout 2018 Scale  by G WestEngineering Systems by O de Weck, D Roos, C MageeThinking in Systems by D MeadowsHow Buildings Learnby S BrandPace Layering article by S BrandSciences of the Artificial by H SimonComputers and the World

I have learned— if you must give advice to others, it’s useful to think of Kahneman’s remembering vs. experiencing self: Don’t give advice from your remembering self. In hindsight your simplified lessons feel certain; to those experiencing the immediate, they feel irrelevant. In chronological order #1 Do

{Memory + Search + Flow + Serendipity} I capture most of what I learn and encounter because I believe it contributes to further discovery. My hope is that my obsessive note taking the storage of my experiences (memories), paired with an effective ability to search allows me to connect ideas and solve future

I’m in full belief that we need both concrete GSD (get shit done) and abstract long term thinkers. The ideal is someone who can cycle thru both at the right time and efficiency. This is very rare. So at times, you will need two people to play these parts.

Or: The joys of being a Big Picture GuyAs a young engineer, I was persistently frustrated by the antics of my resident “Big Picture Guy.” BPG oversaw one of my projects at the engineering design firm where I worked. It seemed — to early 20s me — that his business-focused mind could