My Top-10 Articles

By David Perell

What the Hell is Going On: This is the most popular essay I’ve ever written. In it, I outline how shifts
in media are impacting commerce, education, and politics. It’s basically a short book.

The Ultimate Guide to Writing Online: I run a writing school called Write of Passage, and this essay is
the best introduction to my philosophy of writing. If you want to start writing but don’t know where
to begin, this essay is just for you.

Peter Thiel’s Religion: This 15,000 word essay is a simple, detailed, and easy-to-understand
introduction to Peter Thiel’s ideas. But in a way that’s never been done before. While most people
focus on his intellectual influences, I wrote about his Christian worldview.

Grow the Merry-Go-Round: Cities are breeding grounds for innovation and professional
opportunities. But in America, cities aren’t growing as fast as they should because of housing and
transportation constraints. In this essay, I demonstrate how we can help people move to cities.

Why Did the Boeing 737 Max Crash: Here’s a new perspective on the Boeing 737 Max crashes.
Instead of focusing on small details, I took a big-picture look at the history of Boeing. Turns out, the
problems at Boeing began all the way back in 1997 and this essay tells the story.

Learn Like an Athlete: Study athletes and you’ll see how regimented their improvement plans are.
Knowledge workers should imitate them. Like athletes, they can improve their skills with strict
learning plans and three-month sprints.

The Magic Moment: There’s a special moment in your creative process, right after you have an
epiphany. In an instant, your intuitive mind transfers knowledge to your conscious ones, and your
veins start rushing with excitement. I call this the Magic Moment.

Why You Should Write: Words are the atomic unit of the internet.
With the stroke of a pen, you can build your network, improve your thinking, and create opportunities
for yourself. Best of all, writing is free and available to everybody with an internet connection.

The Never-Ending Now: Social media has change our relationship with history and information. We
consume more information created in the past 24 hours than at any time in human history. By
magnifying the influence of the present, we’ve distorted our perception of history.

The Singapore Story: Everybody should spend more time studying the economic growth in Southeast
Asia. Singapore is my favorite example. It leaped from a third-world country to a first-world one in
less than half a century, and this article outlines the strategies Singapore used to make their leap.

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