A mental models app that makes them stick
Reading about mental models is easy. Having the right one come to mind when a decision is in front of you is the hard part. Doomscholar is built for that second part.
What a mental models app should do
- Explain each model properly. A one-line definition isn't enough to use an idea; neither is a 4,000-word essay you won't finish.
- Connect models to each other. The value is in the latticework — inversion next to pre-mortems, opportunity cost next to sunk cost.
- Make you remember them. Most of what you read is gone within a week unless something asks you about it again.
- Point to the originals. So you can check the explanation against the source.
How Doomscholar does it
- Layers. Every idea opens as a one-line gist, then the explanation, then how to apply it. A minute or an hour both count.
- The Scroll. One idea per swipe, tuned to the topics you pick — for the moments you'd otherwise spend scrolling.
- The lattice. Each idea links to the ones it connects to, across 38 collections.
- Review. A quick question after each idea, then spaced review at 1, 3, 7, 16 and 35 days, so it's still there next month.
- Sources. Every idea links to the books, letters and essays behind it. Explanations are written with AI assistance; the sources are there to check them.
- Private. No account, no ads. Your progress stays on your phone.
Start with the classics
- InversionSolve problems backwards. Ask how to fail, then avoid it.
- Second-Order ThinkingFirst-level thinking says 'and then what?' once. Second-level thinking keeps asking.
- Circle of CompetenceIt isn't the size of the circle that counts, but knowing where its edge is.
- Opportunity CostThe true cost of a choice is the value of the best alternative you gave up to make it.
- CompoundingSmall advantages, repeated, become enormous.
- Hanlon's RazorNever attribute to malice what is adequately explained by carelessness.
Or browse all 451 ideas, A–Z.
Topics
- Meaning & Self (90)
- Cognitive Biases & Models (79)
- Decision-Making (74)
- First-Principles Thinking (69)
- Craft & Deep Work (58)
- Power & Persuasion (54)
- Tech Adoption & Disruption (49)
- Markets & Narrative (47)
Questions
- Is it free?
- Yes, during the beta. No ads.
- Can I try it before installing?
- Yes — read today's eight ideas in your browser, and every idea page is open to read. Review and offline reading are in the app.
- Which mental models are in it?
- 451 ideas, from the classics (inversion, second-order thinking, circle of competence) to the primary sources behind them — letters, essays and papers.