Derek Sivers

Istanbul Tűrkiye - 12 days in 10 neighborhoods, meeting up with 30 local people for 60 hours of conversation: https://sive.rs/met/at-16

To understand Türkiye and Turkish worldviews a bit, this book is a good quick start: https://sive.rs/book/TurkeyCS

When walking a city, what do different experts notice that you don’t? Fun book on this: On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz. My notes: https://sive.rs/book/OnLooking

Very good China book, following four real women in current China: Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang. My notes: https://sive.rs/book/ChinaFourWomen

Best food I’ve ever eaten: When in Finland go to https://liemi.fi/ and order SHANGHAI TACOS WITH HALLOUMI. I had them every day for four days.

Bangalore India hospital flow: https://sive.rs/inflow

Notes from Bangalore, India, where I spent most of two weeks in a hospital, and the rest with friends: https://sive.rs/met/at-15

Building without predicting. (The story of how I built my perfect home.) https://sive.rs/fit

I write to see what I can write. I code to see what I can code.

17 conversations in Jakarta, Indonesia: https://sive.rs/met/at-14

16 conversations in super-multicultural Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: https://sive.rs/met/at-13

India tech friends: I just bought my ticket to IndiaFOSS in BLR Sept 26-27: https://fossunited.org/indiafoss/2026 Want to meet? Email me: https://sive.rs/contact

Fight Club: I liked it the first time years ago, but watching a second time when you already know the end reveal? Elevates it from good to great. So many brilliant details in the screenplay. What else in life is better the second time?

Prepare your “no” and keep it handy: https://sive.rs/n0

My life was changed by four sentences in four books : https://sive.rs/4s4b

Geography is four-dimensional: https://sive.rs/4d

1993 communal internet shaped me: https://sive.rs/netizen

I’m not autistic, but my heroes are.

What next? — (ch 60/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u60

Reframing death — (ch 59/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u59

Since we moved from city to rural land, to a house where the bathroom and kitchen are outside, my boy observed: “This year there are way more full moons.”

You are what you pretend to be — (ch 58/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u58

My favorite LLM prompt: “List the top cities in {COUNTRY}, and anthropomorphize each one, listing the good-natured stereotypes and jokes that other people in {COUNTRY} say about people in this city.”

Keep tuning and adjusting — (ch 57/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u57

Good book on cultural psychology: Tribal. Great insights and examples of how change happens on the personal, cultural, and institutional level. My notes at https://sive.rs/book/Tribal

Take the first step immediately — (ch 56/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u56

Why your choice is wrong — (ch 55/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u55

Fascinating book: Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness - https://sive.rs/book/Conscious19 - uses one true story, 19 times, of the laughing brain patient - https://sive.rs/u12 - in the format of Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei - https://sive.rs/book/WangWei - to explore the subject.

Talk with friends to solidify it — (ch 54/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u54

Great book: Elephant in the Brain: sive.rs/book/BrainMo... You have hidden motives and subconscious incentives. Two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason. Instititutions do this too: wasteful because they’re serving hidden purposes no one acknowledges.

Private journal to internalize it — (ch 53/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u53

No new instructions for the computer — (ch 52/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u52

From explorer to self-leader — (ch 51/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u51

How to decide and make the best choice — (ch 50/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u50

An awesome collection of great questions — (ch 49/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u49

Five tiny tales of reframing — (ch 48/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u48

Traits of useful perspectives — (ch 47/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u47

Expand your repertoire — (ch 46/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u46

Diamond in the trash — (ch 45/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u45

Answer great questions — (ch 44/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u44

Who chooses your (next) thoughts? — (ch 43/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u43

The most useful part of this book — (ch 42/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u42

Philosophies are instruments — (ch 41/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u41

What is “the truth” really for? — (ch 40/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u40

Life is _______ — (ch 39/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u39

Placebo meanings — (ch 38/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u38

Magic mirror shows what you need to believe — (ch 37/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u37

Which perspective empowers you? — (ch 36/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u36

Judge the contents, not the box — (ch 35/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u35

Carpenters’ tools — (ch 34/60 of Useful Not True) — https://sive.rs/u34