Read the world’s ideas — and the tools to think with them.

ReadGlobe is a free, sourced map of how humans think — the mental models, cognitive biases, and great ideas that shape every decision — each explained clearly and cross-linked into one navigable graph. Built for the curious who want to think better.

Browse all 130 concepts in the glossary →

Mental models

First-principles thinking Second-order thinking Inversion Opportunity cost Circle of competence Occam’s razor The map is not the territory Margin of safety The Pareto principle Compounding Hanlon’s razor Antifragility Bayesian thinking The Lindy effect Regression to the mean Systems thinking Incentives Expected value Diminishing returns Network effects Comparative advantage Supply and demand Marginal thinking Switching costs Economies of scale Game theory Tragedy of the commons Chesterton's fence Goodhart's law Parkinson's law Skin in the game Optionality Via negativa The Peter principle Dunbar's number Prisoner's dilemma Red Queen effect Creative destruction Emergence Entropy Critical mass Leverage Bottleneck Path dependence Natural selection Signal vs noise Activation energy Redundancy Ergodicity Economic moat Mr. Market Barbell strategy Flywheel Local vs global optimum Metcalfe's law Zero-sum vs positive-sum Preferential attachment Streetlight effect Moore's law Nash equilibrium

Cognitive biases

Confirmation bias Sunk-cost fallacy Dunning–Kruger effect Anchoring bias Survivorship bias Availability heuristic Hindsight bias Halo effect Loss aversion Framing effect Negativity bias Recency bias Fundamental attribution error Self-serving bias Bandwagon effect Optimism bias The planning fallacy The gambler’s fallacy Status-quo bias Authority bias Base-rate neglect Choice overload The peak-end rule The curse of knowledge The spotlight effect The decoy effect The mere-exposure effect The IKEA effect In-group bias Illusory superiority The ostrich effect The Zeigarnik effect Endowment effect Cognitive dissonance Illusion of control Hyperbolic discounting Backfire effect Just-world hypothesis Bias blind spot Frequency illusion Representativeness heuristic Overconfidence effect False-consensus effect Hot-hand fallacy Barnum effect Actor–observer bias Affect heuristic Illusory correlation Primacy effect Clustering illusion Pessimism bias Reactance Omission bias Action bias Contrast effect Illusion of transparency Availability cascade Pygmalion effect Projection bias Empathy gap

Compare ideas head-to-head

Stoicism vs Existentialism Stoicism vs Taoism Kant vs Nietzsche Existentialism vs Taoism Nietzsche vs Jung Amor Fati vs Eternal Recurrence Sunk Cost vs Opportunity Cost Occam's Razor vs Hanlon's Razor Gambler's Fallacy vs Regression to the Mean Bayesian Thinking vs Base-Rate Neglect Planning Fallacy vs Optimism Bias Anchoring vs Framing First-Principles vs Second-Order Thinking Dunning–Kruger vs Illusory Superiority Inversion vs First-Principles Thinking Circle of Competence vs Dunning–Kruger Effect Antifragility vs Margin of Safety Availability Heuristic vs Base-Rate Neglect Compounding vs the Pareto Principle Systems Thinking vs Second-Order Thinking Survivorship Bias vs the Lindy Effect Halo Effect vs Fundamental Attribution Error Marcus Aurelius vs Nietzsche Plato vs Nietzsche Status-Quo Bias vs Loss Aversion Bandwagon Effect vs Authority Bias IKEA Effect vs Sunk Cost Fallacy Curse of Knowledge vs Spotlight Effect Hindsight Bias vs Confirmation Bias Choice Overload vs the Decoy Effect Recency Bias vs Anchoring Bias Negativity Bias vs Loss Aversion Self-Serving Bias vs Fundamental Attribution Error Ostrich Effect vs Confirmation Bias Mere-Exposure Effect vs Halo Effect The Map Is Not the Territory vs First-Principles Thinking In-Group Bias vs Bandwagon Effect Circle of Competence vs The Map Is Not the Territory Peak-End Rule vs Recency Bias Wu Wei vs Amor Fati Categorical Imperative vs Amor Fati Compounding vs the Lindy Effect Inversion vs Second-Order Thinking Pareto Principle vs Systems Thinking Antifragility vs the Lindy Effect Bayesian Thinking vs Occam's Razor

Ideas

The Allegory of the Cave

Plato's image of prisoners mistaking shadows on a wall for reality — a picture of how education turns the soul from illusion toward truth.

The Categorical Imperative

Kant's supreme moral rule: act only on a principle you could will everyone to follow, and treat people as ends, never merely as means.

Amor Fati

The Latin phrase "love of fate" — embracing everything that happens, including suffering, not merely tolerating it.

The Shadow

Jung's term for the disowned parts of the self — traits we deny and project onto others — which must be integrated to become whole.

Wu Wei

The Taoist principle of "effortless action" — accomplishing things by aligning with the natural flow rather than forcing them.

Eternal Recurrence

Nietzsche's thought-experiment: if you had to live your life over and over, identically, forever — could you affirm it?

Thinkers

Marcus Aurelius

Roman emperor whose private journal became the most-read handbook of Stoic practice.

Plato

c. 428–348 BCE

Founder of the Academy who framed the questions Western philosophy still argues about.

Friedrich Nietzsche

The philosopher with a hammer who diagnosed the collapse of inherited values.

Immanuel Kant

The Enlightenment thinker who fused reason and experience and rebuilt ethics from duty.

Carl Jung

Founder of analytical psychology who mapped the unconscious as a source of meaning.

Lao Tzu

c. 6th–4th century BCE

The semi-legendary author of the Tao Te Ching and fountainhead of Taoist thought.

Schools of thought

Stoicism

A Greco-Roman philosophy holding that virtue is the only true good and that we should focus only on what is within our control.

Existentialism

A philosophy holding that existence precedes essence — we are not born with a fixed purpose but must create meaning through our choices.

Taoism

A Chinese philosophy of living in harmony with the Tao — the natural way of things — through simplicity, humility, and effortless action.

Analytical Psychology

The school founded by Carl Jung that studies the unconscious through archetypes, the collective unconscious, and the process of individuation.

Quotes

“You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

— Plato, Attributed (paraphrase of the Cave)

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols

“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”

— Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

— Carl Jung, Letters

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

— Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (attributed)

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”

— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book X

“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.”

— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VI

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (paraphrase)

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”

— Plato, The Republic, Book II

“There are three classes of men: lovers of wisdom, lovers of honour, and lovers of gain.”

— Plato, The Republic (paraphrase)

“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols

“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, §146

“What if a demon crept after you and said: "This life as you now live it you will have to live once more and innumerable times more"?”

— Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, §341

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

— Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, ch. 64

“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”

— Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, ch. 56

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

— Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, ch. 33

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

— Carl Jung, Attributed (paraphrase of Aion / collected works)

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”

— Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections

“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.”

— Carl Jung, Letters, Vol. 1

“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.”

— Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason

“Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.”

— Immanuel Kant, Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim

“Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own reason — that is the motto of enlightenment.”

— Immanuel Kant, Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment?