Resources

Books and further reading

These books complement The First Principles Playbook by going deeper into specific aspects of structured thinking, decision-making, and innovation.

On first-principles and structured thinking

• The Great Mental Models, Volume 1 — Shane Parrish & Rhiannon Beaubien. A compact toolkit of versatile thinking models including first principles, inversion, and second-order thinking.
• Super Thinking — Gabriel Weinberg & Lauren McCann. An illustrated reference of mental models across disciplines.
• Clear Thinking — Shane Parrish. Recognizing pivotal moments and overriding autopilot in decision-making.

On problem-solving and critical thinking

• Think Like a Rocket Scientist — Ozan Varol. Nine strategies from rocket science applied to work and life challenges.
• Problem Solving 101 — Ken Watanabe. Consulting-style problem solving made accessible to everyone.
• The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking — Edward Burger & Michael Starbird. Five habits for deeper understanding and better ideas.

On innovation and entrepreneurship

• The Lean Startup — Eric Ries. Build-measure-learn cycles for testing business ideas rapidly.
• Zero to One — Peter Thiel. Building something new rather than copying what exists.

Free tools from this site

• Problem Deconstruction Worksheet — 8 steps from problem statement to cheapest test. Free, no account required.

More tools, templates, and checklists will be added as the blog develops.

Get the book

Paperback — $6.99   Kindle — $3.99

Also available free with Kindle Unlimited.