A.J. Jacobs on how to Cultivate Curiosity over Fury

A.J. Jacobs

First of all, he sounds great. I'm sorry he's not around. I would have interviewed him. And I agree. What you characterize is the enthusiasm and curiosity. I love that. To me, two of the big themes of this book in terms of thought processes are curiosity and flexible thinking. And I love, you know, you're one of the most curious people. I think it's one of the greatest drives that humans have, along with gratitude. Gratitude and curiosity to me are two amazing forces. And actually, I interviewed Alex Trebek, the late great Alex Trebek from Jeopardy! Once, and he said a quote that I still think about all the time. Even though it doesn't quite make sense, it still totally makes sense to me. And that quote is, I'm curious about everything, even those things that don't interest me. So he's curious about everything, even the most boring things. And I love that because I think it's true. Whatever the topic is, you are going to, if you dig a little, you're going to find fascinating. And in fact, I once thought of trying like a challenge where I write a book about the most stereotypically boring thing in the world. Maybe it's accounting and try to make it interesting because I'm sure it is. It's not about numbers. It's about people. It's about actions and business and love and hate. So anyway, curiosity, I think puzzles just fuel my curiosity. And as I said, I see the world as a puzzle. I have what I like to call the puzzle mindset, which is, I think, so important when you are looking at world problems to adopt the puzzle mindset, which is opposed to the motivated reasoning Or anger mindset. There's a child psychologist I saw who said, don't get furious, get curious as parenting advice. But I think that's great life advice because that really is, if you're going to solve a problem, curiosity is the way to do it, not anger. Anger gives you tunnel vision.

A.J. Jacobs

Though it doesn't quite make sense, it still totally makes sense to me. And that quote is, I'm curious about everything, even those things that don't interest me. So he's curious about everything, even the most boring things. And I love that because I think it's true.

A.J. Jacobs

Not about numbers. It's about people. It's about actions and business and love and hate. So anyway, curiosity, I think puzzles just fuel my curiosity. And as I said, I see the world as a puzzle. I have what I like to call the puzzle mindset, which is, I think, so important when you are looking at world problems to adopt the puzzle mindset, which is opposed to the motivated reasoning Or anger mindset. There's a child psychologist I saw who said, don't get furious, get curious as parenting advice. But I think that's great life advice because that really is, if you're going to solve a problem, curiosity is the way to do it, not anger. Anger gives you tunnel vision. Like if I'm talking to someone from the opposite side of the political spectrum, instead of seeing it as a debate, a war of words, I try to see it as a puzzle that we can try to solve together. What is our real differences how can we overcome them? Is there any evidence I can present to him or her to make her change her mind? How do we solve this puzzle? That to me is sort of the big thesis thrust of the book. Don't get furious. Well, get a little furious. Sometimes you need to, but balance it with curiosity.

A.J. Jacobs

People do because it's so counterintuitive. And that's another big theme of puzzles, I think, is that don't trust your gut. I am very wary of my gut. I feel my gut is an idiot, especially when it comes to matters of probability. So yes, you should switch. And when she wrote this, she got hundreds of condescending letters from her mathematicians saying, you're an idiot, but

Tim Ferriss

To lay out the spelling. So Cryptos is K-R Sculptured by the American artist Jim Sandborn, located on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia. And there's a whole Wikipedia entry, but certainly the firsthand experience of having spent time there, as you did, I think is worth digging into. Do you find not to in any way imply that the woman you just mentioned falls prey to this, but that people interested in cryptography have a high risk of, I want to say psychosis, but seeing Signal where there is noise, right? So ending up succumbing to all sorts of conspiracy theories or God knows what. I mean, there are a million pitfalls kind of in the gray zone.

A.J. Jacobs

I talk about the dark side of puzzle.

A.J. Jacobs

Is funny. Yeah, that would not be good for your nerves. And I will tell you, he was very gracious to come to my apartment and allow me to interview him. I will say he's not like the softest and cuddliest guy, which is probably good. He saw this Vladimir Putin thing coming. But when he came, I had set up my chess set so that we wouldn't waste any time. And he looked at it and he said, that is a very cheap chess set I