A review of 'The Laws of Trading' by Agustin Lebron, examining trading principles and their broader applications to decision-making and life. Longer summary

This book review analyzes 'The Laws of Trading' by Agustin Lebron, which explores trading principles and their applications to decision-making in various aspects of life. The reviewer discusses Lebron's insights on motivation, adverse selection, risk management, liquidity, edge, models, costs and capacity, possibility, alignment, technology, and adaptation, while drawing parallels to other fields and offering personal reflections. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander summarizes reader comments on his post about the academic job market, covering topics like hiring practices, historical context, and comparisons to other industries. Longer summary

Scott Alexander summarizes reader comments on his previous post about the academic job market. The comments provide additional information on academic hiring practices, historical context for the current state of academia, and comparisons to other job markets like programming and publishing. Many commenters offer practical advice for new PhDs, with a common theme being the importance of research and publications over other activities. The post also includes proposed solutions to academia's issues and numerous warnings about the difficulties of pursuing an academic career. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander discusses a study suggesting communication skills training for doctors may be ineffective, and shares personal observations on the nuances of doctor-patient communication. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses a study from the Journal of the American Medical Association that suggests intensive communication skills training for doctors may not improve patient outcomes and could even have negative effects. He relates this to his own experiences in medical training, sharing an anecdote about an attending physician with excellent communication skills who used an unconventional approach when delivering a cancer diagnosis. The post critiques the effectiveness of formal communication skills training in medicine and suggests that some aspects of effective doctor-patient communication may be difficult or impossible to teach. Shorter summary