David Perell

@david_perell481k followers

"The Writing Guy" | Christian | Host: How I Write Podcast | I tweet about writing, beauty, and architecture | My writing:

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Posts 82 posts

#	Date	Post	↓ Outlier	Views	Likes	Reposts	Bookmarks
1	Feb 2, '24	J.P Morgan's private library is a shrine to knowledge that you rarely see these days.	63.7×	5.7M	6.7k	582	1.1k
2	Jul 9, '22	What's causing all these logos to look the same?	62.8×	0	214k	34k	25k
3	Dec 18, '22	Why do elite colleges pump students into the same five industries: law, medicine, tech, investing, and management consulting? For answers, let’s turn to the philosopher René Girard	60.6×	5.4M	17k	3.1k	11k
4	Sep 24, '24	Sam Altman's spent years refining his note-taking process. Here's exactly what he does.	58.3×	5.2M	20k	2.4k	28k
5	Jun 12, '25	I grew up in San Francisco, walking with my family by the Golden Gate Bridge. I still remember the thick and iconic chain railing that gave the place a sense of distinctiveness. No	30.6×	2.7M	28k	1.3k	2.6k
6	Oct 4, '23	Spent two hours with Marc Andreessen, who gave me a masterclass on how to think, learn, read, research, and write. Here's what I learned: 1. Read, read, read... then read some more	29.2×	2.6M	6.6k	1k	9k
7	Jul 19, '25	When a YouTube commenter comes out of nowhere and absolutely nails it	28×	2.5M	60k	4.7k	16k
8	Jul 29, '23	You can see something 10,000 times on your phone, but never understand it until you see it in person for the first time. That’s the lesson from the park bench scene in Good Will Hu	23.8×	2.1M	9.9k	2k	3.3k
9	Jul 16, '23	Ordering a coffee at a 5-star hotel so you can work in the lobby is one of the world’s great arbitrages. You can either pay $3 for a run-of the-mill Starbucks with rickety seating	21.7×	1.9M	6.1k	224	1.1k
10	Jan 16, '23	Rick Rubin became a world-class music producer without knowing the first thing about music	21.4×	1.9M	4.8k	599	1.3k
11	Aug 16, '24	The 404 page on the Financial Times is a work of genius	20.5×	1.8M	20k	3.4k	6.8k
12	Nov 18, '23	Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, has a rule where he never says yes to anything on the spot. People-pleasing had him making too many commitments. He says some	17.6×	1.6M	6.5k	806	3.2k
13	Dec 22, '23	I went from thinking the Bible was the most boring book ever to seeing the magic in it. Years ago, I realized that the Bible is the foundational book of Western civilization. If I	15.2×	1.4M	4.9k	638	3.2k
14	Aug 5, '23	One of my smartest friends only reads 3-5 books per year but rewrites every page in his own words as he goes through it. Then, he summarizes the entire book once he's done. He read	14.3×	1.3M	5.8k	652	1.5k
15	Mar 26, '25	The Ghibli-style memes are the beginning of something bigger. The age of minimalism is over. No longer is the Internet stuck in the soulless valley of right angles and flat white b	13.5×	1.2M	5.9k	392	1.1k
16	Feb 2, '24	This story about Square shows the kind of scrappiness that helps you become a $41 billion company.	13.4×	1.2M	8.7k	681	2k
17	Oct 2, '25	Went out drinking in New York with a friend from San Francisco last month. The bar was crowded and drinks were flowing when he said: “The people here are so nice and non-transactio	13.4×	1.2M	6.2k	211	1.5k
18	Jan 15, '23	Buying a book should be a bundle. For one price, you get the physical copy, audiobook, notes, commentary from famous readers, links to further reading, a lecture series, and interv	12.8×	1.1M	8.1k	621	391
19	Oct 9, '25	I think about this YouTube comment almost every day	12.3×	1.1M	30k	2.5k	8.8k
20	Aug 8, '23	Have some friends whose careers are absolutely taking off, and the common theme among them is how they’ve surrendered to their nature. They’re done trying to be somebody they’re no	10.9×	970k	5.6k	604	1.5k
21	Jul 29, '25	Watched an interview with Casey Neistat today, who talked about how all the teenagers take selfies on point-and-shoot cameras instead of smartphones now. iPhone photos have gotten	10.4×	925k	6.6k	246	2.1k
22	Feb 26, '21	This video is a masterclass in psychology. The first person to do something always looks weird. People laugh. Then somebody else joins. Then the crowds come in and the person who s	10.4×	0	28k	9.8k	3.4k
23	May 7, '24	Dave Letterman’s advice to Jerry Seinfeld: “Make sure you fail doing exactly what you want to do. That, you can live with.“	10.1×	892k	4.7k	741	2.2k
24	Oct 15, '22	An all-time exchange in Jerry Seinfeld’s interview with the Harvard Business Review	9.7×	0	42k	3k	2.6k
25	Jun 3, '24	This meme is revealing, both in its brilliance and its shortcomings. I'll start with the brilliance. Social media algorithms have a deeper and more intimate understanding of their	9.0×	797k	6.6k	794	4.1k
26	Apr 5, '21	Some paradoxes of modern life: 1. The paradox of reading: The books you read will profoundly change you even though you’ll forget the vast majority of what you read.	8.8×	0	22k	6.8k	6.4k
27	Apr 2, '24	The Paradox of Reading: The books you read will profoundly change you even though you'll forget the vast majority of what you read.	8.0×	707k	16k	3.3k	2.2k
28	Feb 21, '24	The American Psychological Association once invited William James to give a talk on the first 50 years of psychology research. He simply said: “People by and large become what they	7.9×	697k	6.8k	1.2k	3k
29	Jun 21, '25	Calling it now: The swing away from optimization culture is going to be one of the bigger trends of the next decade	7.8×	694k	3.9k	219	1.2k
30	Oct 3, '22	28 short pieces of life advice: 1. Block off 90 minutes in your calendar every morning to work on the most important thing. Wake up early if you need to. Don’t compromise.	7.0×	0	13k	2.1k	11k
31	May 10, '20	MEGA THREAD TIME Here are 50 ideas that shape my worldview. These are my guiding principles and the light of my intellectual life. All of them will help you think better, and I hop	6.9×	0	13k	3k	9.5k
32	Dec 15, '21	The CIA once released a guide on how to sabotage an organization, and I can’t shake the feeling that we’re voluntarily implementing these tactics today	6.8×	0	19k	4.3k	4.3k
33	Jul 5, '21	Read to collect the dots, write to connect them	6.5×	0	22k	4.2k	2.5k
34	Aug 5, '23	I fell into a pretty dark mental place earlier this year. At my absolute low, a dear friend called me to say: “I’m flying out to crash on your couch for the week. Whatever you need	5.7×	509k	5.2k	283	300
35	Feb 13, '24	Remember this for whenever you design something.	5.7×	508k	5.1k	653	2.9k
36	Jun 9, '25	Almost every time I meet somebody who I'd consider to be a genius, I discover that they have some debilitating inhibition like severe insomnia, addiction, mania, or paranoia. Natur	5.5×	489k	10k	1.2k	2.4k
37	Jul 9, '22	The homogenization of tech logos.	4.6×	0	19k	2.3k	719
38	Feb 3, '21	With Jeff Bezos stepping down as CEO, here’s a thread of the best things I’ve learned from him. 1. Be willing to change your mind. As Bezos famously said: "Anybody who doesn’t chan	4.5×	0	11k	2.3k	4.5k
39	Apr 26, '20	Business writing 101. ∙ Shorten your sentences. ∙ Make your point fast. ∙ Shorten the introduction. ∙ Use simple words. ∙ Add graphs and statistics. ∙ No buzzwords. ∙ Use more peri	4.4×	0	13k	2k	3.7k
40	Dec 5, '23	One of the simplest ways to improve your quality of life is to reduce how long it takes to have a difficult conversation once you know you need to have it.	4.2×	375k	4.6k	804	1k
41	Jul 9, '22	Something to factor into your answer: The homogenization doesn't end with logos. It's happening to phone booths, doorbells, street poles, and bookshelves too. (h/t @culturaltutor)	4.1×	0	18k	1.4k	487
42	Oct 4, '23	Do the hard thing now. Decline the invite right when you receive it. Have the difficult conversation before the conflict begins to fester. Give somebody the feedback as soon as the	4.0×	353k	4.2k	739	904
43	Jul 9, '22	Two interesting responses: • "This is what happens when the creative dept is overrun by the marketing dept. Being data driven is the death of art." — @cfcreative_ • "All businesses	3.9×	0	17k	1.6k	568
44	May 31, '25	Have a friend who’s an expert in the science of learning. Once, we got to talking about math. He said the lowest hanging fruit is to send every kid back to the stage of math they’r	3.5×	314k	4.5k	371	1.3k
45	Jul 6, '25	I’m staying at an airport hotel, and this morning I wandered down to the lobby to grab coffee just as the sun rose. The sweet hostess at the restaurant told me it cost $3, so I sho	3.4×	306k	4.3k	313	709
46	Dec 23, '19	These Amazon writing tips are fantastic. 👏	3.4×	0	10k	2.1k	2.2k
47	Dec 12, '22	Have a friend who speaks to his kids like adults. They developed an advanced vocabulary early on. Then they started kindergarten. At school, they were surrounded by kids with limit	3.3×	0	12k	1.2k	1.5k
48	Jul 9, '22	My best guess comes down to two factors: software and the Internet. 1) Software: Designers are using the same tools, which exert the same unconscious forces on their creative proce	3.1×	0	15k	741	321
49	Sep 13, '19	WeWork sells workspace, but gives away coffee. Starbucks sells coffee, but gives away workspace.	3.0×	0	12k	2k	163
50	May 29, '25	Bezos once said: "The thing I've noticed is when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right. There's something wrong with the way you are measuring it." A	2.9×	253k	4.3k	389	1.6k
51	Jun 9, '21	Pixar's guide to storytelling	2.8×	0	6.6k	979	3.6k
52	Feb 16, '20	Education is broken. Here is what the future of education will look like: 1. Teaching will become an extremely lucrative profession. Salaries will follow a power law. The best teac	2.5×	0	6.2k	1.6k	1.9k
53	Sep 20, '20	Bryson DeChambeau might be the most innovative athlete in the world right now. He just won his first major championship and is changing how golf is played at the highest levels. Pe	2.5×	0	6.8k	1.2k	1.8k
54	Dec 24, '19	Cold emails are a great way to land a job. Here's what I've learned: ∙ Email the CEO directly. ∙ Show that you're unique. ∙ Be specific. ∙ Make a bold request. ∙ Have a clear call-	2.5×	0	6.3k	1.1k	2.6k
55	Feb 23, '22	If you've ever wanted to build an online business, this thread is for you. Here are the principles of online marketing:	2.4×	0	4k	761	3.8k
56	Aug 30, '22	Mr. Beast was so obsessed with YouTube that he talked growth strategy with friends on Skype every day for more than 1,000 days. By the end, everybody in the group had more than 1 m	2.3×	0	6.8k	612	2.3k
57	Mar 29, '20	If you want to improve your writing, start by becoming a better note-taker. Here are 10 ways to do that: 1. Save only the best notes: Don't hoard information. Save your top 5-10% o	2.3×	0	4.2k	760	3.4k
58	Jan 5, '23	@SahilBloom Have always liked this poem	2.2×	193k	4.3k	551	477
59	Feb 16, '22	Here's what the future of education looks like: 1. Teaching will become an extremely lucrative profession. Salaries will follow a power law. The best teachers will make millions of	2.1×	0	5.1k	912	2.2k
60	Apr 3, '21	Same structure: Rivers, blood vessels, tree roots, and tree branches	2.1×	0	7.6k	1.4k	461
61	Aug 6, '19	Best way to learn faster: Have a stake in the outcome. To learn about food, cook for friends. To learn about an idea, publish an article about it. To learn about stocks, invest in	2.1×	0	6.6k	1.9k	617
62	Jul 16, '23	@JeremyTate41 The German poet Heinrich Heine once visited the Amiens Cathedral where he realized why we don't build such buildings anymore: "In those days men had convictions, wher	2.1×	186k	3.7k	442	364
63	Dec 30, '21	21 ideas from 2021:	2.1×	0	4.2k	951	2.7k
64	Jul 9, '22	Look at how Pepsi's logo has evolved. The brand identity has become flat, bland, sterile, timid and unimaginative. Maybe globalization is to blame. The more you scale, the more you	2.1×	0	8.7k	825	311
65	Sep 27, '20	Officially obsessed with Oxford’s “Very Short Introduction” series. The books are generally well-written and don’t have any fluff, which is everything I want from non-fiction. Plus	2.1×	0	5.9k	542	2.1k
66	Mar 11, '21	The paradox of reading: The books you read will profoundly change you even though you’ll forget the vast majority of what you read	2.0×	0	7.7k	1.3k	376
67	Apr 6, '21	The American Psychological Association once invited William James to give a talk on the first 50 years of psychology research. He simply said: “People by and large become what they	2.0×	0	6.9k	1.2k	799
68	Nov 2, '19	This is an incredible photo of San Francisco.	2.0×	0	8k	1.1k	252
69	Sep 5, '20	I stopped believing in college when the lectures I watched for free on YouTube were better than the ones I paid $40,000 a year for	1.9×	0	7.8k	841	236
70	Dec 13, '21	If you ever need to delegate a task, do this: 1) Outline the vision. 2) Share resources. 3) Describe your definition of done.	1.8×	0	3.9k	538	2.4k
71	Jun 7, '22	We're living in a commitment crisis:	1.7×	0	4k	808	1.8k
72	Dec 13, '21	The paradoxes of modern life. Here's my mini-essay.	1.7×	0	4.9k	950	1.3k
73	Apr 17, '22	Elon Musk was once asked: "How do you learn so fast?" He replied: "I think most people can learn a lot more than they think they can. It's important to view knowledge as a semantic	1.6×	0	5k	779	1.1k
74	Jun 12, '20	Prediction: Somebody is going to make a fortune selling recyclable, easy-to-transport outdoor offices.	1.5×	0	5.5k	574	759
75	Jul 19, '25	Reminds me of this graphic from @tedgioia	1.5×	137k	3.9k	380	1.9k
76	Feb 24, '18	1/ I’ve collected tons of career advice. Here’s the best of the best. 👇 Thread 👇	1.5×	0	4.3k	1.3k	731
77	Dec 13, '18	I have an idea! Companies should onboard employees with an internal podcast. It would focus on: - Company history - How decisions are made - Industry 101 - How the company makes mo	1.5×	0	5.5k	789	364
78	Jul 9, '22	Seinfeld has a bit about how people wear the same clothes in every movie about the future. (h/t @ChrisCuilla)	1.5×	0	6k	485	587
79	Jul 9, '20	My love of learning began once I stopped going to school	1.4×	0	5.7k	705	149
80	Dec 4, '21	We're stuck in a Never-Ending Now. Here's my mini-essay.	1.4×	0	4.6k	762	622
81	Oct 4, '20	One of the weirdest things about modern urbanism is that we build the opposite of what we like. We adore Europe’s narrow streets, but build skyscraper-lined cities with six-lane ro	1.3×	0	4.7k	836	380
82	Jul 9, '22	Have you seen these drawings? The style is called "Corporate Memphis" and it's everywhere now. It was originally designed for Facebook. The figures are flat, minimal, abstract, and	1.3×	0	5.2k	456	389
83	Apr 14, '21	Jeff Bezos has a saying: “Good intentions don’t work. Mechanisms do.” Long-term, you can’t solve problems by working more or trying harder. If you want persistent change, you have	1.2×	0	3.9k	663	678
84	Jul 9, '22	As a society, it’s as if we’ve read too many blog posts about the 80/20 rule. When you strip away too much of the non-essential, you lose the kind of craftsmanship that endows an o	1.2×	0	4.4k	394	695
85	Dec 12, '22	Sorting kids by age is a relatively new phenomenon. Kids were historically surrounded by younger and older peers. They taught the younger kids and looked up to the older ones. My h	1.2×	0	5.5k	271	159
86	Jan 24, '21	The pain you feel when you write is actually the pain of clarifying your thinking	1.1×	0	4.3k	603	308
87	Jul 9, '22	This is the best article I’ve seen about the logo phenomenon. “One reason for the sans serif logo trend is readability. Especially on mobile, but everywhere else as well: from huge	1.1×	0	3.7k	376	759
88	Apr 25, '20	The smartest people I know are mostly self-educated.	1.1×	0	4.4k	574	164
89	Jan 15, '21	High performers are like surfers. Surfers spend most of their time paddling, but everybody talks about the epic wave they caught after hours of waiting in the cold. No matter what	1.0×	0	3.9k	541	350
90	Jul 9, '22	How much of these homogenization trends come from trying to quantify beauty? Robert Pirsig argued that quality can't be defined because it transcends language when he wrote: “When	1.0×	0	4.6k	316	152
91	May 18, '21	Writing will humble you by making you see how flimsy and imprecise your thinking is all day	1.0×	0	4.1k	492	221
92	Jul 7, '20	There are two kinds of fame: 1) Kim Kardashian Fame: You're famous for being famous, so everybody knows who you are. 2) Charlie Munger Fame: A small number of people deeply respect	1.0×	0	4.1k	443	214
93	Nov 12, '19	Facebook is for people in your past. Twitter is for people in your future.	1.0×	0	3.9k	534	96
94	Apr 30, '21	Being ahead of your time by a year will make you rich, but being ahead of your time by a decade will drive you insane	1.0×	0	4k	457	195
95	May 6, '21	For all the talk about progress, why are beautiful buildings like this so rare these days?	1.0×	0	3.7k	365	239
96	Jul 9, '22	Architecture follows a similar pattern. I keep seeing the same kinds of modern houses that look like they’ve been copied & pasted by a slapdash architect. Professional architec	0.9×	0	4.1k	321	96
97	Jul 9, '22	@cfcreative_ @CartuneNetwerk Though we've never had so many options, we all trust the same curators to make buying decisions for us. Sometimes, it’s Wirecutter. Sometimes, it’s the	0.9×	0	4.2k	264	160
98	Jul 9, '22	Counterpoint: Many of the places we think are most beautiful are incredibly homogenous. Think of Paris and it's pretty Haussmann style apartment buildings that cover the entire cit	0.9×	0	4.2k	206	134
99	Oct 15, '22	Interviewer: How effective is humor as a leadership tool? Seinfeld: Being funny is one of the ultimate weapons a person can have in human society. It might even compete with being	0.8×	0	3.8k	205	115
100	Sep 10	Harlan Coben is the master of the plot twist. He's published 35 novels and sold more than 100 million books. This conversation is all about how he writes. Here are the highlights:	0.4×	33k	332	50	367

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