Ever since Thoreau headed to Walden, our attention has been wandering.
At Tradecraft we spend a lot of time thinking about thinking. So we loved Buster Benson’s epic post on cognitive biases. If you haven’t read it lately, refresh your memory here. We wanted a way to…
New research on how students use technology in class can give interested professors a place to start.
Your life choices aren’t just about what you want to do, Joshua Rothman writes—they’re about who you want to be.
I have really enjoyed chatting with teachers on Twitter lately about DOK (Depth of Knowledge) levels. Part of what I teach in my college class to
Don't feel bad that you can no longer remember state capitals.
New discoveries about the human mind show the limitations of reason.
We live in a society where we’re all constantly being pulled in different directions. When you’re at work you have to focus on a task, but also pay at
Thinking as a practice places a check upon the self. It offers us a way out of our "res idiotica." If our universities are faithful to their missions, they must foster conditions where truth is free to be heard and sought.
“When you have nothing to think about, you can do your best thinking.” Getting to that state in a climate of perpetual, unsleeping distraction, opinion, and alarm, requires another kind of discipline: the discipline to unplug, wander off, and clear your mind.
Larissa MacFarquhar on the philosopher and cognitive scientist who believes that the tools we use to help us think may be what makes human thought special.
From unwritten poems, to uncompleted palaces, to the eternity we'll never grasp, Aysegul Savas weaves together Wordsworth, Borges, Coleridge, and Kubla Khan.
What you can learn from the college class that eschews traditional learning in the name of new experiences.
Studies reveal the impact of strategic thinking on studying and other areas of life.
Famous insomniacs include William Wordsworth, Emily Brontë, Vladimir Nabokov and Marcel Proust so could there be a positive side to sleeplessness, asks Marina Benjamin
Early in the second season of Noah Hawley’s excellent Fargo series, one of the gruff, laconic Gerhardt brothers shakes his head during a tense crime family moment and mutters sagely, 'know thyself.' Challenged to produce the quotation’s source, he says, with irritated self-assurance, “It’s in the Bible.” The quote does have an ancient origin---maybe the temple of Apollo at Delphi, maybe the temple court at Luxor---and it's an idea that reappears in every philosophical system from age to age.
Both our attention and our memory have been affected by how much we use the Internet. Here are solutions for “deprogramming” themselves and restore their brains to a pre-Google state.
How to keep your mind in check as you grow your creator’s business.
Trust your gut, boost your memory, de-bias your decision making… can we train our brains to perform better?
Memory is one of those things we’re all constantly trying to improve on. As we age, it’s also one of those things that is constantly getting a little
“What’s the world for you if you can’t make it up the way you want it?” –Toni Morrison, Jazz * The attempts I made to get out of my own head were sundry and full of nonsense. I visited a petting zo…
"Instead of reinventing the wheel, consider adapting an existing philosophical approach to make wiser decisions."
Jumping right into a creative brainstorm often leads to more awkward stares than great ideas. Here's how to change that--quickly.
Sagan laid out his method, proposing what he called “A Baloney Detection Kit,” a set of intellectual tools that scientists use to separate wishful thinking from genuine probability.
The goal of brainstorming is to find possible solutions to a problem, but the process often becomes a platform for the outspoken, who offer the same p
Our go-to method for problem solving is majorly flawed. Here's how to flip it on its head.
Influencers and politicians use snappy cliches to get you on side – but you can fight fire with fire
Working on myself and with my patients, I see firsthand that it’s not easy to practice self-reflection while staying objective. You often end up staying at the same level of thought of the problems…
It’s not bad to spend some of your work time slacking off or recharging. But sometimes you need to buckle down and spend a couple of hours working wit
How can you avoid overestimating your ability to estimate your abilities?
Freedom of choice is a pillar of Western culture. But there's such a thing as too much choice.
Wondering how to make a narcissist miserable? These 12 things they hate will do the trick. Learn what they are in the article.
“To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose. To throw away what you no longer need is neither wasteful nor shameful.” That advice comes from Marie Kondo, the Japanese author and decluttering expert who has become perhaps the biggest contempor
What you think you know about how you retain new information and skills is likely completely wrong. Here's what actually works.
Think about the last time where you were engaged in an activity and you simply lost track of time.. You were focused like a ninja, you felt amazing and it seemed as if there was nothing else on this…
A modern-day Luddite argues that computers deaden our souls.
The most commonly held belief about creativity is that it’s elusive, esoteric and unique only to the anointed few—but that’s not true.
Open your mind, relax… and take a step back from Twitter
The free new iPhone app can help weigh the pros and cons of a decision for you.
Cutting out distractions doesn't just clear space to focus. As author and podcaster Manoush Zomorodi explains, it can also lead to boredom-induced creativity.
