Economist Alex Field wrote that by 1941 the U.S. economy was producing 40 percent more output than it had in 1929, with virtually no increase in the total number of hours worked. Everyone simply became staggeringly more productive.

Who do I think is smart but is actually full of it?

What’s different now is the size of the global economy, which increases the sample size of potential crazy things that might happen. When eight billion people interact, the odds of a fraudster, a genius, a terrorist, an idiot, a savant, a jerk, or a visionary moving the needle in a significant way on any given day is nearly guaranteed.

“The excess energy released from overreaction to setbacks is what innovates!”

Good stories create so much hidden opportunity among things you assume can’t be improved.

What Sapiens does have is excellent writing. Beautiful writing. The stories are captivating, the flow is effortless. Harari took what was already known and wrote it better than anyone had done before. The result was fame greater than anyone before him could imagine. Best story wins.

Who do I look up to that is secretly miserable?

Thirty years later, Perkins would be appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt as secretary of labor—the first woman member of a presidential cabinet. Appalled by what she witnessed at the Triangle fire, and how preventable the deaths could have been had the employees had better working conditions—as simple as fire escapes and unlocked

Electricity becoming a “willing servant”—introducing washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators—freed up hours of household labor in a way that let female workforce participation rise.