PRAGMA

There is a lot of easy, casual, pleasant, leisurely reading in the world.

There’s none of it in PRAGMA.

In Section I, DANGER FLAGS, you learn a concept that is simple but critically important: before a person does something bad, there’s often predictable signs that they were going to do it. Observe and learn from historical cases of bad things happening from as far back as the Punic Wars and the assassination of Julius Caesar, to as recent as three Cold War episodes. The end goal is to be able to spot people who are likely to do bad things, and to mitigate against those — and likewise, to spot dangerous elements in one’s own character and work to improve those, to be more trustworthy and reliable.

In Section II, LIMIT BREAKS, study and analyze what the limits are that hold us back from making a terrific life. Ask, how do we break through those limits? Learn the elements of time on large and short scales, action, automation, project success rates, bottlenecks and constraints, perception, combinations, success and failure, and getting right to the heart of an issue. Limit Breaks contains a lot of immediately practical items that can be put into action right away for higher effectiveness.

Finally, in Section III, LINGUA FRANCA, drill deep into the nature of thought and communication. Cultivate a healthy skepticism of words and look to trace the underlying meaning of them. Many words have changed meanings, many important concepts don’t have words associated with them, and language has been a chief battleground across history for shaping how people think, communicate, and act. Sort your language out, in order to be able to think more clearly and lucidly.

Pragma contains hard and dark truths, explorations about some of the hardest topics on the planet — and the ones most dangerous to us if neglected. There’s certainly easier and more casual reading in the world… but perhaps very little reading as practical and profitable to the reader.

If you want to immerse in hard practical lessons, if you want to become a stronger and more clear thinker, if you want to embrace the difficult truths in the world, if you want to be more pragmatic across all your affairs — this is the book for you.