#38 Ali Almossawi: Thinking in Algorithms

My guest for this short episode of The Knowledge Project is a man who wears many hats. Ali Almossawi is a San Francisco-based author of books on critical thinking and computer science education, and the creator of An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments. He is also a principal engineer at Apple and was formerly employed as a data visualization engineer by Mozilla. His books have been read by 3 million readers, translated into 20 languages, and have sold over a quarter million copies in print. This interview is only 20 minutes along, but there was a lot I wanted to cover, so we move pretty fast. Specifically, we cover: The unique format Ali chooses when writing a book to help people understand the concepts more deeply The place for empathy in algorithmic thinking and how we can be more empathetic in our daily interactions with each other Ali’s note taking process and how he tracks the ideas and topics he’d like to explore Ali’s daily routine and the “algorithms” he uses to make the most of his day The single habit that has the most profound impact on Ali’s day to day The cost/benefit of sharing on social media and the impact it has on society as a whole And more. If you’ve ever wanted to improve the way you process information, think more clearly and make better decisions, you won’t want to miss this interview.   Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/   Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/   Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish