Klotz, Leidy. _Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less_. First edition. New York, NY: Flatiron Books, 2021. # Progressive Summary The subtitle of the book could easily come from that famous quote of Oliver Wendell Holmes: "The Simplicity on the Other Side of Complexity." Klotz argues for the importance of substraction as a mental move. Unfortunately, we are biologically, culturally and economically pre-disposed to addition. What's great is that he explains the experimental sequence as a process of elimination. One of the most interesting parts is when he talks about Gestalt psychology. I now understand it as a theory about fields and forces, and that it suggests we should focus on removing resistances or forces. It's also incredible that he then turns towards the environmental crisis and the 1972 book Limits to Growth. # Key Points Set schemas predispose us to add. When we think in sets, we can't think of numbers less than zero. Shifting to distance schemas allows subtraction to enter our minds. Distance schemas arrange things on a number line. [[California longshoreman Leo Robinson helped to end apartheid]] 1. Subtract before improving (eg triage) 2. Make subtracting first (eg Jenga) 3. Persist to noticeable less (eg Springsteen's Darkness) 4. Reuse your subtractions (eg dougnut holes) Other principles: - Kurt Lewin - removing obstacles is better than adding forces - Koffka - the whole is other than the sum of its parts (transforming systems is not just about adding) Our compulsion to add created civilization - [[Monuments came before settlements]] # Resonances Csikszentmihalyi's Flow states - Easier to achieve through editing, because your options are already there in front of you Revising Prose - how to write clean prose Marie Kondo Degrowth Occam's Razor Synaptic pruning [[Reference Notes/Why We Sleep]] - when we sleep, our brain cells shrink, which makes room for microglial cells to come in and clean up unused connections between neurons. Doughnut economics - the doughnut is used as an example of re-using subtractions. Stuart Kauffman's TAP theory. Burning Man's Leave no Trace - the MOOP map made less visible. Also, burning art is a form of subtraction. Burners have come to understand how subtraction can be a game changer. Transience makes us appreciate things more. It contributes to immediacy. Perhaps the biggest thing that Burning Man removed is money. # Oppositions # Questions / Comments So much of human ingenuity comes from our combinatorial skill. There seems to be a balance to be struck between too many elements to work with, and too few. Take the 26-letter alphabet. It wouldn't work as well if there were far more letters than that. It's elegance and power comes from the limited set. Is there an overlap between subtraction and constraint? Just as we apply constraints to achieve effectiveness, can we use subtraction in a similar way? # Quotes