The frames we employ affect the options we see, the decisions we make, and the results we attain. By being better at framing, we get better outcomes.

In our thoughts, we frequently run through a myriad of possibilities of how the world might be different, playing the game of life several moves ahead. Counterfactuals are a way to see beyond the reality that surrounds us. Without this ability to imagine “what could have been,” “what has been,” and “what could be,” we would be forever stuck in the

The telephone was first thought about as a way to listen to music remotely: people would dial in to hear a concert. The phonograph was considered to be a way to communicate messages:

Put in the context of framing: as humans explain the world using causal frames, they are actually learning more about the world they are explaining, generating deeper and more accurate insights. Explaining the world to others leads to understanding it better oneself. The finding has direct application to education and parenting: get kids to explain

Each year, more than 700,000 people around the world die from infections that antibiotics once cured but no longer do. The bacteria have developed resistance. The number of deaths is rising fast. Unless a solution is found, it is on track to hit ten million a year, or one person every three seconds.

Frames help to do two tasks really well, which we outline in chapter 2. First, in novel situations or when circumstances change, our ability to choose a frame provides us with new options. Second, and at least as important, in situations that are familiar, frames focus our mind, thereby reducing our cognitive load. It’s an incredibly efficient way

The second element of our mental models is counterfactuals, which we examine in chapter 4. These are imagined alternatives to reality; hypotheses of a world in which one or several things are changed. As with causality, we think in counterfactuals all the time. They come naturally to us. Counterfactuals let us escape the cognitive here and now: we

She conceived of the problem in the right way. She applied a mental model, shifting her focus from the structure of the molecule (that is, the mechanism by which it worked) to its function (that is, whether it worked at all). By framing the problem differently, she and the team achieved a discovery that had eluded others.

Around the eleventh century, an innovation emerged. Books started to be produced with spaces between the words and rudimentary punctuation. It made reading easier in general, but especially silent reading—one could read a book on one’s own, without guidance.