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Think Like a Rocket Scientist
Book

Think Like a Rocket Scientist

Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life

Ozan Varol
Public Affairs, 2020

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

When author Ozan Varol was 17 and living in Istanbul, he read about NASA’s Mars Landing project and the work that Cornell University was doing to support it. He wrote to the lead professor, describing his computer skills, and landed a job on the Mars program, along with a scholarship. Varol’s remarkable journey since then has relied on thinking like a rocket scientist. But as Varol points out, even rocket scientists fall prey to human biases and lazy thinking. With a fresh, engaging perspective, Varol elucidates the advantages of open-mindedness, careful thinking and bold action.

Take-Aways

  • Though it takes effort, you can and should learn to think like a rocket scientist – that is, creatively and critically.
  • Uncertainty can feel unsettling, but thinking like a rocket scientist requires getting comfortable with ambiguity.
  • Apply first-principles thinking to strip a problem to its fundamental components and question all of its assumptions.

About the Author

Ozan Varol is an author and tenured law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School.

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