Derek Sivers

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

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

When walking a city, what do different experts notice that you don’t?

Very good China book, following four real women in current China: Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang.

Best food I’ve ever eaten: When in Finland go to liemi.fi/ and order SHANGHAI TACOS WITH HALLOUMI.

Bangalore India hospital flow: sive.rs/inflow

I just spent many days in a hospital in India.

summary: Entertaining for the first few minutes, then you catch on to the formula of his little stupid sayings based on opposites.

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

Building without predicting.

On a podcast, I briefly mentioned that I’m building my dream house without predicting - by living in a bare cabin in the woods, then adding only what I find I actually need.

summary: Türkiye history and cultural understanding.

summary: Author walks around the city - usually her New York City neighborhood - with 11 different experts in different fields.

I write to see what I can write.

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

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

summary: Non-fiction story of four real women in current China, following their lives from childhood in the 1990s until 2023 when the book was published.

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

summary: About the craft of writing a great film screenplay.

Fight Club: I liked it the first time years ago, but watching a second time when you already know the end reveal?

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

Someone asks you to do something, and you feel that pressure to answer immediately.

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

Last week someone asked why I prefer books.

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

Forty years ago, a family moved from India to Canada, and raised their children with “Indian values”.

1993 communal internet shaped me: sive.rs/netizen

summary: 80’s book about Chinese, helped me understand how simplified Chinese writing came about: not as much top-down as bottom-up formalizing of shorthand and cursive that had been in use for centuries. recommend: 3/10 my notes: In the Ming and Qing dyn…

I can relate to the original meaning of this old term that means to be good citizen of the internet.

I’m not autistic, but my heroes are.

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.”

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.”

summary: How to be agentic - to take charge and make things happen, no matter how unusual or uncomfortable it may be.

Good book on cultural psychology: Tribal.

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

Great book: Elephant in the Brain: sive.rs/book/BrainMotives You have hidden motives and subconscious incentives.

summary: Thoughts on human rights, race, gender, travel, inequality, tribe, home, visas, poverty, Kenya, Africa, and Bessie Head. recommend: 3/10 my notes: First requirements before consider going somewhere: I only ask for a clean and safe hotel, an easy…

summary: I love cultural psychology.

summary: Using the story of Anna - the patient who laughed when the surgeon stimulated parts of her brain - the author looks at the subject of consciousness from 19 different angles, writing in slightly different styles.

summary: You have hidden motives and subconscious incentives.

People of India!

summary: Famous fiction author.

“Purpose” and “passion” are words we use when we’re not working.

When I was in the music business, there was a record producer who lived in New Jersey, but refused to come into New York City.

I was inconsiderate but now I’m everywhere: sive.rs/socials

I love people.

Great book: “You’re Not Listening” by Kate Murphy.

At sive.rs/book I have a collection of my notes from the 420+ books I’ve read since 2007.

I highly recommend the book "Factfulness" by Hans Roling.

I’ve been offline 23 hours a day: sive.rs/off23