Avoiding Folly is a newsletter about the mistakes that we make when we try to transform knowledge into action. And how we can avoid them.

Latest

Feb
22

The Fastest Retraction Ever

On December 26, 2023, someone posted a message on Reddit saying that one in five husbands leave their wives if
8 min read
Feb
08

The Seeds of Change

Crop rotation – the practice of leaving some portion of fields fallow during a given season – developed early in the history
4 min read
Feb
01

The Reading Crisis

About 48 million adults in the United States struggle to read. And it's estimated that more than half
4 min read
Jan
25

Absolutist Thinking

There's a Twitter grab that I couldn't find that goes something like this: A: I really
5 min read
Dec
21

Faster Than the Speed of Thought

A bat and a ball cost $1.10. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the
4 min read
Dec
14

I'm Suspicious of Stories

One of the first rules of science communication is that you need "to tell a story". Stories are
4 min read
Nov
30

Have recipes changed?

Like so many observations about life, I'm not sure if things have changed or if I'm
4 min read
Nov
23

When plans are overrated

The Magic streamer Kenji "Numot the Nummy" Egashira does something unusual. He doesn't make guides to
3 min read
Nov
16

The Ranking Trope

I’ve always admired my son’s Bartebly-like resistance to one of the most common questions that adults ask children:
2 min read
Nov
09

The Threads of Bad Science

How do you extract bad science from your head? During one of my previous jobs, I had to pore over
3 min read