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Ali Almossawi

@almossawi.bsky.social

42 followers 12 following 67 posts

📖 You've probably spotted me writing at a cafe in San Francisco. Author of Bad Arguments, Bad Choices (Penguin), Loaded Language, Pointless Work.

Posts Replies Media

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Read issue no. 62 of The Critical Thinker: almossawi.substack.com/p/mcnamara-f...

almossawi.substack.com

Measuring Something Doesn’t Make It Important

The McNamara fallacy

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Throwing the baby out with the bathwater. lnkd.in/p/g2vaEsbt

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

This week’s issue is a survey of some of the teeth we see on screen and in print. And how they can contribute to lowering a person, evoking menace, and evoking ridicule. Read issue no. 61 of The Critical Thinker: almossawi.substack.com/p/bad-teeth-...

almossawi.substack.com

How teeth shape the way we feel about people

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I added a glass effect to the menu on mobile, and took the opportunity to make the overall design sleeker. #checkyoshelf … before you wreck yo shelf

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from." —Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men) Read issue no. 60 of The Critical Thinker: almossawi.substack.com/p/counterfac...

almossawi.substack.com

Counterfactual Thinking

Plus, Aristotle’s Peripatetic School

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

This week’s issue is about how understanding is built, not sent, and brings together three ideas from different disciplines: the Kuleshov effect from filmmaking, implicatures from language, and why-questions from Feynman. Read issue no. 59: almossawi.substack.com/p/understand...

almossawi.substack.com

Understanding is Built, Not Sent

Plus a map of the cafes I write from

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

The San Francisco cafes where 5 books, 59 essays, and 2 manuscripts largely came together. I hadn't realized until I mapped it out that coupling a project with a place has helped with discipline over the years. www.linkedin.com/posts/almoss...

The San Francisco cafes where 5 books, 59 essays, and 2 manuscripts largely came together. I hadn't realized until I mapped it out that coupling a project with a place has helped with discipline o...

The San Francisco cafes where 5 books, 59 essays, and 2 manuscripts largely came together. I hadn't realized until I mapped it out that coupling a project with a place has helped with discipline over ...

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

The World Cup and Cognitive Biases Plus, A Field Guide to Thinking Clearly enclosed for paid subscribers Issue no. 58: almossawi.substack.com/p/world-cup-...

almossawi.substack.com

It Was Obvious England Would Lose to Argentina

Plus A Field Guide to Thinking Clearly for paid subscribers

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

This week's issue is about Paul Grice’s concept of the Cooperative Principle and his four maxims of communication: be informative, truthful, relevant, and clear. almossawi.substack.com/p/grice-maxi...

almossawi.substack.com

Grice’s Maxims

The case for direct communication

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

I have a tendency to assume all historic figures lived at the same time and hung out at the same cafe. The sequence of who sat in whose classroom can be pretty interesting. Did you know Socrates taught Plato? And Plato in turn taught Aristotle? And Aristotle in turn taught Alexander the Great?

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

This week’s issue is about daydreaming, boredom, and how letting the mind wander can lead to creative breakthroughs. ✨ Read issue no. 56: ✨ almossawi.substack.com/p/daydreamin...

almossawi.substack.com

The Distractions We're Remembered By

Daydreaming, boredom, and creative breakthroughs

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Be wary of prepositions.

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Substack has stats. But does it have dapper stats? 😎 almossawi.com/substack-dap...

Substack Dapper Stats

Substack has stats. But does it have dapper stats? Classify your topics and get stats and visualizations for your Substack publication.

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

almossawi.substack.com/p/pictures-o...

almossawi.substack.com

Pictures of Facts

The Rashomon effect; edited reels in Glass Onion, Memento, and Rashomon

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

The world around us as an edited reel. (Or as Wittgenstein put it, “We make to ourselves pictures of facts.”)

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Our minds as a non-linear video editor interpreting the world.

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Issue no. 54: The Handmade Things We Value Reflections from a shop in Kyoto almossawi.substack.com/p/the-handma...

almossawi.substack.com

The Handmade Things We Value

Reflections from a Kyoto shop

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Issue no. 53 of The Critical Thinker is out. Known knowns and unknown knowns. almossawi.substack.com/p/on-not-kno...

almossawi.substack.com

On Not Knowing What We Know

Plus, the Big Five US publishers over time

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

10 years ago, I started a side project to visualize the big five US trade book publishers. This weekend’s little project was to add the ability to go back in time and to search for imprints. almossawi.com/big-five-pub... #publishing

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

almossawi.substack.com/p/plato-alle...

almossawi.substack.com

You Must Leave the Cave to See the Cave

In Book 7 of Plato’s Republic, prisoners are chained inside a cave, forced since childhood to stare at a wall. Behind them, a fire casts shadows of moving objects. It’s all they ever see.

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Reposted by Ali Almossawi

Josh @jcmrva.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

January reads: @almossawi.bsky.social @dergullen.bsky.social

A pile of books:

The Voyage of Horace Pirouelle by Philippe Soupault
With Their Hearts in Their Boots by Jean-Pierre Martinet
Rakkóx the Billionaire & The Great Race by Paul Scheerbart
The Confession of a False Soul by Ilarie Voronca
Recitatif by Toni Morrison
An Illustrated Book of Loaded Language by Ali Almossawi
Every Rock, Every Half-Truth Under Reason limited 2 CD edition album by Kayo Dot
Trouble in the Swaths by Boris Vian
The Door by Magda Szabó
The Rim of Morning by William Sloane
Madre De Dios by Rosalie Parker
Third Instar by David Gullen
Family Matters by Gaurav Monga
Tomorrow, When I Was Young by Julie Travis
The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker
Mirror Dead by Magda McQueen

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

How does a cohesive group react when a dissenting voice speaks up? In this week’s issue: what groupthink is, why we’re susceptible to it, and four things to do when we’re stuck inside one. ✨ Read issue no. 50: ✨ almossawi.substack.com/p/groupthink...

almossawi.substack.com

Conformity at the expense of independent thinking

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Moral exclusion. ✨ Read issue no. 49: ✨ almossawi.substack.com/p/moral-excl...

almossawi.substack.com

Moral Exclusion

Plus, what's the Mandela Effect?

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

As I’m mid-research for an upcoming book project, I’m realizing that no two books are written by the same person.

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

The spectrum is interesting when crafting villains. Subhuman, inhuman, lesser human, superhuman.

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Morning doodles.

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Issue no. 47 is out. almossawi.substack.com/p/wishful-th...

almossawi.substack.com

Wishful Thinking: Why We Believe What We Want to Believe

And is that always a bad thing?

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Next week's issue will be on the science behind wishful thinking.

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

How would you draw confirmation bias as a graph? How about the Dunning-Kruger effect or the sunk cost fallacy? In this week’s issue: what if we had shapes of thinking, a la Kurt Vonnegut’s shapes of stories? ✨ Issue no. 46 of The Critical Thinker ✨ almossawi.substack.com/p/shapes-of-...

almossawi.substack.com

What if Kurt Vonnegut Had Done “Shapes of Thinking” Instead

Plus, what's a halfalogue?

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

I got into data visualization in 2011. I always wondered how great it would be if I could one day be on a website and somehow ask my browser to explain the data graphic I was looking at. #chatgptatlas

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Reposted by Ali Almossawi

koenfucius @koenfucius.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

The top-8 cognitive biases that can derail the unwary investor—summarizing Barry @ritholtz.bsky.social’s conversation with @almossawi.bsky.social : buff.ly/oqQpK5q

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

This week’s issue (issue no. 44) looks into how ownership clouds our judgment through the endowment effect, the IKEA effect, and the not-invented here (NIH) bias. almossawi.substack.com/p/the-endowm...

almossawi.substack.com

The Endowment Effect: Owning Something Makes It More Valuable?

Plus, revisiting a picture book for grownups thanks to a nudge by Veo 3

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

This week’s issue (issue no. 44) looks into how ownership clouds our judgment through the endowment effect, the IKEA effect, and the not-invented here (NIH) bias. almossawi.substack.com/p/the-endowm...

almossawi.substack.com

The Endowment Effect: Owning Something Makes It More Valuable?

Plus, revisiting a picture book for grownups thanks to a nudge by Veo 3

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

How people use ChatGPT, from the paper released earlier today: www.nber.org/system/files...

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

HarperCollins imprints, under HarperCollins Leadership and Thomas Nelson, updated. Thanks, Josey Hill. almossawi.com/big-five-pub... @harpercollins.bsky.social

The Big Five US Trade Book Publishers

With all the imprints out there, it's sometimes difficult to know which imprint belongs to which of the big five publishers.

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

In this week’s issue, I summarize two studies that looked into the effects of self-fulfilling prophecies on our intellectual abilities and, more interestingly, on our physiology. ✨ Read issue no. 43 of The Critical Thinker ✨ almossawi.substack.com/p/how-self-f... #criticalthinking

almossawi.substack.com

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Our Invisible Sidekick

Plus, what's so interesting about Torpenhow Hill?

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Why do we spot flaws in other people, but miss them in ourselves? (Follow me for more marriage tips.) Read issue no. 42 of The Critical Thinker almossawi.substack.com/p/why-we-spo...

almossawi.substack.com

Why We Think Only Others Get It Wrong

Plus, San Francisco’s little libraries, writers throwing shade, and the strangest cafe in town

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Least delusional AI founder interviewed by Veo 3-generated interviewer.

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

A couple of updates as I prepare to move Check Yo Shelf (the easy bookshelf scanner) from closed beta to soft launch.

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

The shortest academic paper? The shortest letter to a king? The shortest ad campaign? The shortest story? This week’s issue is about pithiness. ✨ Read Issue No. 41: Pithiness ✨ almossawi.substack.com/p/pithiness

almossawi.substack.com

The shortest letter, paper, ad, story, issue

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Everyone on the waitlist should have received an invite by now. Reach out if you didn’t. #checkyoshelf

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

San Francisco’s tiny libraries: checkyoshelf.com/explore/c/sa... I wasn’t able to visit them all during that one weekend, so I’ll be going back to several spots over the summer when I have a bit more time. #sanfrancisco #littlefreelibraries

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Have you seen those matchbox-looking traps, where an insect is lured into a box by an enticing smell, only to realize once they’re inside that their feet are stuck and their fate is sealed? ✨ Read Issue No. 40: Dark Patterns: How Deceptive Design Tricks Us almossawi.substack.com/p/design-dar...

almossawi.substack.com

Dark Patterns: How Deceptive Design Tricks Us

Plus, what's so insidious about a roach motel?

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

My favorite little free library so far. Eight more to visit today. I’ve lived in San Francisco for 13 years, and there were neighborhood I’d never been to. Thanks for all the recommendations. ❤️📚

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Added the option to quickly jump between your shelf, the editor, and covers.

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Driving around San Francisco, making stops at all the little free libraries. Planning on getting to most of them over the long weekend. I ran into someone who asked what it was for. I said I was working on a website for them. Let me know if there are any you’d recommend.

Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Nintendo store SF about to open.

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Just added collections, so you can now share individual shelves or a bunch of them. #checkyoshelf

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

You'd be able to use it on the Little Free Libraries around town. There are 50+ of these in San Francisco. #checkyoshelf

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Ali Almossawi @almossawi.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

How did Nestle break into Japan by playing on people’s nostalgia? More in this week’s issue on imperfect memories, reminiscence bumps, and our tendency to recall positive memories over negative ones. ✨ Read issue no. 39: ✨ almossawi.substack.com/p/nostalgia-...

almossawi.substack.com

Back in My Day; How Nostalgia Messes With Our Minds

What’s a reminiscence bump? And how Nestle broke into Japan.