Maria Konnikova

2 months ago | mariakonnikova.substack.com | Maria Konnikova

This week, I’m going to do something a little different. Olga Khazan, a wonderful journalist for The Atlantic—and a fellow Substacker—has just released her second book, ME, BUT BETTER. The book is so good. It’s insightful, thought-provoking, and very funny. And it’s about a topic I’ve spent many, many years researching and thinking about: personality. You know my thoughts on personality psychology are…idiosyncratic, to say the least, influenced as they are by my graduate advisor, Walter Mischel.

2 months ago | mariakonnikova.substack.com | Maria Konnikova

Last week, Nate and I devoted a chunk of our weekly podcast to a discussion of an old childhood game: rock, paper, scissors, or RPS. RPS is a mixed-strategy equilibrium game, likely dating back to the Han Dynasty in 200 BC, where it was played to illustrate the principle of flow. A mixed-strategy equilibrium is an inherently unstable one: no one approach is dominant, and the best strategy is to randomly cycle through the options. The game is in a state of constant flux.

2 months ago | mariakonnikova.substack.com | Maria Konnikova

Last week, I flew back to Vegas from the snowy East Coast, just in time for the start of the Wynn Millions series. I jumped into one of the opening events, a $600 buy-in with a cool half-million guarantee, and settled in for a day at the tables. The tournament area at the Encore is surrounded by slot machines, and it wasn’t long before a gentleman at my table made a joke about running over to one of them to try his luck in between hands.

Feb 10, 2025 | mariakonnikova.substack.com | Maria Konnikova

This week, my family is celebrating quite the occasion: my grandmother’s hundredth birthday. Someone who lived through World War II as an adult. Who witnessed first-hand Stalin and Khruschev and Brezhnev and everything those names meant. Who came to the United States as an immigrant seeking protection from a frightening autocratic regime (which teetered on autocracy even as it seemed to tilt toward democracy), applauding her adopted country and everything it had to offer.

Feb 1, 2025 | mariakonnikova.substack.com | Maria Konnikova

When I was 23, I moved into a reverse duplex apartment: bedroom downstairs, kitchen upstairs, and in between, a beautiful wooden staircase. It was evening, I’d been working upstairs, and I decided that it would be nice to have a mug of hot tea. What can I say, it’s my Russian side coming out—the one that craves black tea at all hours of the day.