Mental models are how we understand the world. Not only do they shape what we think and how we understand but they shape the connections and opportunities that we see. These recurring pattersn are how we simplify complexity, why we consider some things more relevant than others, and how we reason.
Mental models are the most important ideas that emanate from applications of thought in philosophy, mathematics, physics, biology, economics, history, spirituality and psychology.
These models function as thought leverage - they enable us to reason and make critical decisions from first principles without necessarily having to spend the infinite number of hours diving into the weeds to unearth these fundamental truths. We cannot keep all of the details of the world in our brains, so we use models to simplify the complex into understandable and organizable chunks.
The quality of our thinking is proportional to the models in our head and their usefulness in the situation at hand. The more models you have—the bigger your toolbox—the more likely you are to have the right models to see reality. It turns out that when it comes to improving your ability to make decisions variety matters.
https://public-files.gumroad.com/1i6t9v4770zo5bvde25rw7qhphq4
The first rule is that you can't really know anything if you just remember isolated facts and try and bang 'em back. If the facts don't hang together on a latticework of theory, you don't have them in a usable form.
—Charlie Munger