
Super Thinking
by Gabriel Weinberg, Lauren McCann · first published 2019
21mentions
8recommended by
20HN commenters
2019–2025first – last mentioned
40% recommend60% neutral
Why HN recommends it
An accessible tour of mental models for sharper decision-making and reasoning. It is a fantastic, approachable read, suited to beginners and a step before more advanced model-thinking books.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.








The site looks like it's having a bad day right now, but in line with the subject I recently picked up "Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models" [0] by Gabriel Weinberg of DuckDuckGo. Fantastic read on the topic. The audiobook is good as well, but if you go that route make sure you grab the illustration PDF as it's…
on “Mental models” ↗Two books on improving your thinking skills: 1. Super Thinking - Lauren McCann and Gabriel Weinberg (DuckDuckGo) 2. Thinking Strategically - Avinash Dixit
on “Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?” ↗Research inductive reasoning. But beware, ideologies gained from abstraction are seductive in their simplicity and can utterly fail to handle complexities of real life. Super Thinking, by Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann is a fantastic read on using abstractions as mental models.
on “Ask HN: How does one develop abstract thinking for math and computer science?” ↗Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models https://www.amazon.com/Super-Thinking-Book-Mental-Models/dp/... Written by the duckduckgo folks Shane Parrish of Farnam Street has his own two volumes of this (the Mental…
on “Ask HN: How to build mental models of what the world is like?” ↗Super Thinking: The big book of mental models, Weinberg and McCann Thinking in Bets, Annie Duke How to Decide, Annie Duke Asking the right question: A guide to critical thinking, Browne & Keeley Thinking in Systems,…
on “Ask HN: Recommendations for Learning Logical Reasoning?” ↗…Yeah, Kahneman is a legend in that area indeed. Huge influence in the behavioral sphere. Another nice read (althought much lighter) that is covering many biases as well is "You are not so smart" and "Super Thinking" (already linked in the article).
on “Cognitive biases and principles that affect UX” ↗…publishing a book with packt). I am still a beginner, long way to become a good model thinker. Here are a few books, I recommend. 1.The Great Mental Models : General Thinking Concepts (Beginner Level) 2.Super Thinking (Intermediate) 3.The Model Thinker (Intermediate-Advanced, you can also take the coursera MOOC "Model Thinking" by the same author) I am also working on a tool to assit people in thinking with models.…
on “Mental models” ↗…- Competing Against Luck - Domain Driven Design - Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture - Data-Driven Marketing - Designing Data-Intensive Applications - Monetizing Innovation - Super Thinking - The Great Mental Models - Nonviolent Communication - High Growth Handbook - Powerful - Trillion Dollar Coach
on “What is expected of a engineering manager?” ↗Gabriel Weinberg, Founder-CEO of DuckDuckGo recently wrote one that is about to hit the shelves: "Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models"
on “Ask HN: Which books teach mental models?” ↗At the library last week, I saw this book on mental models: https://www.amazon.com/Super-Thinking-Book-Mental-Models/dp/...
on “Mental Models to Make You a Worldly Wise Person” ↗Pretty similar to Super Thinking: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41181911-super-thinking Can anyone compare them?
on “Mental Models: The Best Way to Make Intelligent Decisions” ↗Looking at my Audible history it was either Think Again by Adam Grant or Super Thinking by Gabriel Weinberg. Can't remember exactly.
Suggestion for the author: Jason's friend Gabriel Weinberg (also the founder of DDG) wrote about Luck Surface Area as one of the portable mental models in his best-seller, Super Thinking (https://amzn.to/3weREdA). I like patio11 and all but I don't think his guest podcast many years later was key in popularizing the idea. It had also already been mentioned on many podcasts over the entire…
on “How to Create Luck” ↗Audible version here: https://www.amazon.com/Super-Thinking-Book-Mental-Models/dp/...
on “Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models” ↗…The Fabric of Reality Behave (tried twice, maybe third times a charm?) A Short History of Nearly Everything Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Genius: The Life and Science Richard Feynman Super Thinking Man's Search for Meaning The Cooking Gene The Vital Question: Why is Life The Way it Is (re-read) The Case Against Sugar The 15 Decisive Battles of the World The History of the Peloponnesian War…
on “Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?” ↗