The Great Mental Models

General Thinking Concepts

By: Shane Parrish

Narrated by: Shane Parrish

The old saying goes, "To the man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail". But anyone who has done any kind of project knows a hammer often isn't enough.

The more tools you have at your disposal, the more likely you'll use the right tool for the job - and get it done right.

The same is true when it comes to your thinking. The quality of your outcomes depends on the mental models in your head. And most people are going through life with little more than a hammer.

Until now.

The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts is the first book in The Great Mental Models series designed to upgrade your thinking with the best, most useful and powerful tools so you always have the right one on hand.

This volume details nine of the most versatile all-purpose mental models you can use right away to improve your decision making, your productivity, and how clearly you see the world. You will discover what forces govern the universe and how to focus your efforts so you can harness them to your advantage, rather than fight with them or, worse yet, ignore them.

©2019 Shane Parrish (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.

An efficient path to wisdom

No need to re-create the wheel. This book summarizes what other people have already figured out and presents it in an efficient and easy to understand way so that it can immediately be used to improve your success in life.

Things about thinking you need to know!

Filling in the gaps of the technical things.. Completely worth listening too and one I'll come back to often,.

Too vague

Was not impressed overall. Nothing could be concluded nor main points successfully driven home!

Great content but narration could be better

I love Shane's work and plan to purchase this entire series but I did find Shane's narration slightly difficult to listen to. He speaks faster than he does on his podcasts which is actually good. I was worried he'd talk too slow. BUT, in speeding up Shane seems to be a little uncomfortable and rushes with his transitions. He needs to pause more... especially when a new section begins. Finally, Shane is a little too monotone in his delivery which I also struggled with. I mean no disrespect but I think a professional narrator may add tremendous value for future audiobooks.

The concepts

A great book with mediocre narration. It is better to read than listening. The author has a very monotonous boring voice. He should hire a professional reader for his future books. The book has great content. Highly recommend.

One of my favorite books ever. Already pre-ordered the next 3.

I’m just really pumped up for the 15th of this month, when the next three titles release, about time dam it.

Excellent! Except...

Shane has an excellent weekly blog I recommend highly at fs.blog that I’ve read for a couple of years so I looked forward to the release of the TGMM audiobook. It doesn’t disappoint.

I agree with another reviewer that it needs a pdf or, my preference, would be for Amazon to offer a package of the audiobook with the book itself, not a Kindle version since I don’t like reading on one. It wouldn’t be possible here since Audible was given a 6 month head start before the book is available.

A couple of areas for improvement in the next release after listening to this one twice. First, let us know when you’re moving from one mental model to the next since I thought the segues were weak.

Second, the audiobook is short at under 3 1/2 hours so volumes could be combined. It’s great for Shane and Audible that I will buy 5 audiobooks but not for me. However, in the true spirit of Hanlon’s Razor I’ll assume there was a reason to do it this way.

Since I am a member of the club that believes authors should record their audiobooks so I thoroughly enjoyed Shane’s recording while keeping in mind my point to improve the movement from one mental model to the next.

In summary I suggest buying this audiobook and the ones that follow. In addition to seeing where my past thinking has gone astray and led to less than wise decisions I am confident the knowledge will at least make me stop and think through the ‘effects of the effects’, Second Order Thinking, of future decisions.

I am grateful for the time and effort Shane has put into this project. It has helped me and it will help many others.

Thank you.

Want to learn? Read This!

This should be a standard text for high school and University students. If you want to learn more, faster and retain it longer, then this should be on your reading list. Highly recommend. Thank you Shane!

heading

the book just kinda stopped. I need at least 15 words to complete this review

great content, not great narration

all of Shane's content is good quality, and this is no exception. it is concise and informative.
the narration is poor though, someone else should have narrated it. still worth a download