I read The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli. It turns out he’s maybe a little less than above-the-board with his references, so the ideas that were so helpful may come from bunches of other people.
The most potent part of the book for me was at the very end, chapter 99, Why You Shouldn’t Read the News. It was so good that I searched out the author’s website and found the long form, somewhat earlier version of his thoughts. Apparently they’re very much inspired by Nassim Nicholas Taleb,
The key thought, for me, is that
People find it very difficult to recognize what’s relevant. It’s much easier to recognize what’s new. We are not equipped with sensory organs for relevance. Relevance doesn’t come naturally. News does. That’s why the media plays on the
new. (If our minds were structured the other way round, the media would certainly play on the relevant.) The relevant versus the new is the fundamental battle of the modern man.
I find the argument (not all the points, but the overall argument) compelling. I’m aggressively pursuing the relevant rather than the new. It’s hard work, but I think it’s a good change of focus.