Useful Not True

Want early access?

Just go get it now.

Chapters:

Before

1. What’s this about?

Almost nothing people say is true

2. What time is it?
3. Perspectives feel real
4. No picture is the whole picture
5. People share perspectives, not facts
6. Separate events and interpretation
7. Bridge guard
8. Rules are a starting point, not the final answer
9. Obligations are not true
10. Cultural meanings
11. Try to find their incentives
12. The brain invents explanations
13. Memories are not accurate
14. The past is not true
15. Wanna bet?
16. Even science isn’t true
17. Fake or real? True or false? So what?
18. Bridge guard, revisited
19. That was about you, not them

Your thoughts aren’t true

20. You are the strange one
21. Who planted those seeds in your head?
22. You can’t trust your mind
23. Re-edit your mind’s movies
24. Hanging inherited paintings
25. Make believe
26. Beliefs are not facts
27. The more emotional the belief, the less likely it’s true
28. Your first thought is an obstacle
29. Fill your senses with reality

Ideas can be useful, not true

30. Bowling: curve into the target
31. A daily run and imagination
32. Beliefs → emotions → actions
33. Useful?
34. Religion is action, not belief
35. Carpenters’ tools
36. Judge the contents, not the box
37. Which perspective empowers you?
38. Magic mirror shows what you need to believe
39. Placebo meanings
40. Life is _______
41. What is “the truth” really for?
42. Philosophies are instruments

Reframe: find better perspectives

43. The most useful part of this book
44. Who chooses your (next) thoughts?
45. Answer great questions
46. Diamond in the trash
47. Traits of useful beliefs and perspectives
48. Five tiny tales of reframing
49. An awesome collection of great questions

Adopt what works for you now

50. How to decide and make the best choice
51. From explorer to self-leader
52. No new instructions for the computer
53. Private journal to internalize it
54. Talk with friends to solidify it
55. Why your choice is wrong
56. Take the first step immediately
57. Keep tuning and adjusting
58. You are what you pretend to be

After

59. Reframing death
60. What next?
61. More books on this subject

More books on this subject

• Nothing & Everything - by Val N. Tine
• Useful Delusions - by Shankar Vedantam
• The Religious Case Against Belief - by James P. Carse
• You Can Negotiate Anything - by Herb Cohen
• How Religion Evolved - by Robin Dunbar
• The Righteous Mind - by Jonathan Haidt
• Awaken the Giant Within - by Tony Robbins
• Thinking in Bets - by Annie Duke
• Sapiens - by Yuval Noah Harari
• Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches - by Marvin Harris
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There - by Marshall Goldsmith
• Switch - by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• The Happiness Hypothesis - by Jonathan Haidt
• Dreaming in Chinese - by Deborah Fallows
• Pragmatism - by William James
• Pragmatism an Introduction - by Michael Bacon
• Introducing Pragmatism - by Cornelis de Waal
• Pragmatism as a Way of Life - by Ruth Anna and Hilary Putnam
• Delphi Complete Works of William James - by William James
• The Biggest Bluff - by Maria Konnikova
• Philosophy: a Complete Introduction - by Sharon Kaye
• Thinking, Fast and Slow - by Daniel Kahneman
• How We Decide - by Jonah Lehrer
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Dummies - by Rob Willson and Rhena Branch
• The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy - by Donald Robertson
• The Alter Ego Effect - by Todd Herman
• How to Live - by Sarah Bakewell
• You Are Not So Smart - by David McRaney
• Overachievement - by John Eliot
• Scepticism: A Very Short Introduction - by Duncan Pritchard
• Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking - by D.Q. McInerny
• Loving What Is - by Byron Katie
• Everything Is Obvious - by Duncan Watts
• Useful Belief - by Chris Helder

A soon-to-be awesome collection of great questions

When something goes wrong

• What’s great about this?
• How can I use this to my advantage?
• Does this change the goal, or the path, or nothing?
• How can I reduce the downsides?

When changing direction

• When I was at my happiest, what was I doing?
• What have I strongly wanted for the longest time?
• What’s the opposite of what I usually do?
• Which of my old beliefs are not serving me?
• Forget me. What would be most helpful for others?

When stuck

• What is my one top priority now?
• How can I begin without waiting for anything?
• What advice would I love to hear from an all-knowing sage?
• What am I doing that’s actually a distraction?
• Instead of avoiding mistakes, how can I make more to learn faster?
• Who can help?

To make peace with what’s out of your control

• What happens if I ignore it and do nothing?
• Should I learn a lesson from this, or just move on?
• How can I blame no one, and see this as nobody’s fault?
• How can I be OK no matter what happens?