Do yourself a favour. Go to https://semantle.com/ and start playing the game right away.
The way it works is, you first write any random word under the sun. Semantle will then tell you how semantically similar your guess is to the actual secret word of the day. That’s your clue to try guessing again. And then you keep guessing, till you are able to arrive at the secret word. As simple as that. And a lot of fun.
I got a hang of it in about ten guesses. After around 50 guesses, I got very close. And then I gave up! After I saw the final word, I realized I should not have. :)
May be I will try playing it again right now, once I am done posting this newsletter. Wish me luck.
Alright, now to the other two things.
Thing 1
Here’s some more stuff around the theme of words and phrases…
When you are trying to resist a temptation - what will be more helpful? Saying 1) "I don't" or 2) "I can't" do this… Guess?
In the above short-video (the latest episode of #CoreInsights), I share findings from a research paper around this topic. Short answer - "I don't" approach works better. Why? There is a theory behind that, which I mention in the video.
Thing 2
Let me talk about some books that I’ve been reading lately..
May be this inspires you to pick up something too?
Physical books:
Vajpayee - The Ascent of the Hindu Right 1924-1977 by Abhishek Choudhary - read about 10% - so far, so good (it’s a very recently launched book). Nothing much to write home about, yet. I have generally been fascinated with Atal B Vajpayee - so was eager to learn some more. I am not a very biography kind of person otherwise.
Our Mathematical Universe by Max Tegmark - it’s been a painfully slow read - am at ~25% - the writing is great, but the content is genuinely hard-core technical, so taking my time to slowly follow along; cosmology is not a very familar territory to me, so generally happy to understand the field and development a bit better.
Winning Middle India - by Bala Srinivasa & T N Hari - I am done with 7 of the 11 chapters - most of the book is fluff and shares insights and data that I’ve already read somewhere or the other. I think it’s written more for folks who have not been following the evolution of the Indian startup ecosystem. They may derive a lot more value from it. In any case, it’s a short book.
The RSS - A View to the Inside by Walter K Andersen & Shridhar Damle - Been a slow read again (have had this book since Dec 2018); I’ve read 3 or 4 chapters of the 14 that are there. Somehow don’t feel like giving up and hope to read up at least 10 of the 14 chapters (some chapters are definitely not very relvant today - like there is one on 2015 Bihar Elections)!
Books on ipad:
What I Learned About Investing from Darwin by Pulak Prasad - I am really enjoying reading it (finished about 40%) because at a very fundamental level I already think and act like Prasad when it comes to investing. I am no VC - like him, but philosophy kaafi same.
Alchemy by Rory Sutherland - tried restarting where I had left off in 2020 (20% read). Since I already know a lot of how behavioral science works, value per page for me is low. Hoping that at least some new insights / wisdom will come my way, if I manage to finish it off.
How Big Things Get Done - by Bent Flyvbjerg (read 8%) - a very interesting premise and I am hopeful of getting some new perspective on delays and projects.
Disciplined Entrepreneurship by Bill Aulet - finished it recently - fits neatly with the overall startup gyaan books from the likes of Steve Blank and Eric Ries.
Simply Brilliant - How Great Organizations Do Ordinary Things in Extraordinary Ways - by Wiliam C Taylor - am at ~20% and have started getting this feeling that it’s mostly fluff - will take it to 50% and then decide.
Unlocking happienss at work - by Jennifer Moss - at about 14% - the book is mostly theorising around the ‘happy employes = more productive employees” mantra (which is true for any happy person in general) but eager to learn more and see if I discover something interesting (at CoreVoice, we believe in optimizing for joy - so extemely interested in this theme).
Big Little Breakthroughs - by Josh Linkner - read around 1/3rd - intend to finish it soon.
It Didn’t Start with You - How Inherited Familiy Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle - by Mark Woynn - I liked the premise, so started reading it - done with 20% and observing that it’s a bit repetitive. Still want to skim through soon to the parts where new information is presented. Let’s see.
Great, so now you know of a new word guessing game that’s really fun + 2 more things. May you get to do more of what brings you joy and less of what sucks it away. See you soon. Happy independece day of course.
Bonus material - how old were you when you realized that the negative space in the 8 of hearts diamonds - also makes an 8? :D
PS: That’s Dona btw (not Paula)