Derek Sivers
Founded CD Baby in 1998 and sold it in 2008, giving the proceeds to a charitable trust for music education. Since then a writer and speaker: five books and 550+ articles, published first at sive.rs, which they hand-code and keep free of advertising.
Derek Sivers did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
Latest Bluesky
What they believe
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The rule of volume contradicts the common instinct that a more expensive surgery is better than a cheaper one.
We’re used to using price as an indicator of quality, so our instinct says that the $20,000 surgery in Switzerland is better than the $2000 surgery in India, but the rule of volume disagrees.
sive.rsSaid 3 Sept 2026This on korrents
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Changed their mind Publishing only on your own site, and making people come to it, is the considerate way to share your work.
Now I was acting like the record producer in New Jersey, making everyone come to my website. It was inconsiderate.
Said 12 Mar 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Feed
As its own page →Hiding
18 October
23 September
22 September
13 September
3 September
From one piece Bangalore India hospital flow 2 beliefs · sive.rs
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Their words
It’s not orderly. But neither is water flowing in a stream. It flows around obstacles. Everything is opportunistic, selfishly taking the effective path, exploiting available gaps. It’s natural.
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korrents.com
The rule of volume contradicts the common instinct that a more expensive surgery is better than a cheaper one.Their words
We’re used to using price as an indicator of quality, so our instinct says that the $20,000 surgery in Switzerland is better than the $2000 surgery in India, but the rule of volume disagrees.
31 August
18 August
27 July
12 July
30 June
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7 June
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Usesrcmnd.app
GrapheneOSTheir words
Pixel 10 phone running GrapheneOS
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Usesrcmnd.app
Surly PreambleTheir words
Surly Preamble bicycle, modded electric
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Usesrcmnd.app
Void LinuxTheir words
Void Linux on my desktop
+ 12 more
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Lovedrcmnd.app
RatpoisonTheir words
Ratpoison wm ♥ st terminal
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Usesrcmnd.app
NginxTheir words
Nginx web server
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Usesrcmnd.app
OpenSMTPDTheir words
OpenSMTPD email server
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Usesrcmnd.app
RadicaleTheir words
Radicale to privately self-host my contacts and calendar, synced to my phone
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Usesrcmnd.app
FirefoxTheir words
Firefox browser with uBlock Origin and Link Hints
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Usesrcmnd.app
mpvTheir words
Everything but Firefox in the terminal, so command-line tools like mutt for email, ffmpeg and mpv for audio/video, mupdf for ebooks, and ssh everywhere.
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Usesrcmnd.app
SkritterTheir words
Skritter and Wenlin for learning Chinese.
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Usesrcmnd.app
VultrTheir words
Vultr basic $10/month public server
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Usesrcmnd.app
Bunny CDNTheir words
Bunny CDN for m.sive.rs media files
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Usesrcmnd.app
NetimTheir words
Netim domain registrar
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Usesrcmnd.app
KagiTheir words
Kagi for ad-free spam-free search
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Usesrcmnd.app
OpenRouterTheir words
OpenRouter via llm in the terminal
21 May
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From one piece Netizen 2 beliefs · sive.rs
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korrents.com
Not monetizing what you put online now reads as strange behaviour that has to be explained.Their words
Slowly the culture around me changed, so now it seems I need to explain my strange behavior — why I don't monetize everything like everyone else.
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Their words
Like picking up trash where you walk, even if the rest of the world is full of litter. You keep doing what you can to make things better.
12 March
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korrents.com
Publishing only on your own site, and making people come to it, is the considerate way to share your work.On changing their mind
I was acting like the record producer in New Jersey, making everyone come to my website. It was inconsiderate.
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korrents.com
Your own site stays the master source even once the work is syndicated everywhere else.Their words
My own site is the master source of everything I make. But now it's also shared everywhere, so we can meet in your city instead of my little town.
6 March
3 March
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korrents.com
Long stretches of being disconnected -- no internet, no phone, no people -- are what make creative work possible.Their words, before
All the best, happiest, and most creatively productive times in my life have something in common: being disconnected.
Their words now
Media silence creates a vacuum, which your own thoughts expand to fill.
From one piece Offline 23 hours a day 3 beliefs · sive.rs
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korrents.com
Long stretches of being disconnected -- no internet, no phone, no people -- are what make creative work possible.Their words
Media silence creates a vacuum, which your own thoughts expand to fill.
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Their words
Every day or two, I bring my laptop into town to get online for an hour. The time limit keeps me super-focused.
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korrents.com
Solving a problem yourself, without searching or prompting, is a form of exercise -- the help makes you weaker.Their words
My brain feels stronger because I work through the problem instead of prompting it away.
9 February
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 46 beliefs, 3 changed minds — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
The rule of volume contradicts the common instinct that a more expensive surgery is better than a cheaper one.
We’re used to using price as an indicator of quality, so our instinct says that the $20,000 surgery in Switzerland is better than the $2000 surgery in India, but the rule of volume disagrees.
Bangalore India hospital flow Said 3 Sept 2026
A disorderly flow where everything opportunistically takes the effective path and exploits gaps is natural, like water flowing around obstacles.
It’s not orderly. But neither is water flowing in a stream. It flows around obstacles. Everything is opportunistic, selfishly taking the effective path, exploiting available gaps. It’s natural.
Bangalore India hospital flow Said 3 Sept 2026
Contributing to the internet without monetizing it is still the right way to be online, even after the surrounding culture stopped doing it.
Like picking up trash where you walk, even if the rest of the world is full of litter. You keep doing what you can to make things better.
Netizen Said 3 May 2026
Show 43 more
Not monetizing what you put online now reads as strange behaviour that has to be explained.
Slowly the culture around me changed, so now it seems I need to explain my strange behavior — why I don't monetize everything like everyone else.
Netizen Said 3 May 2026
Your own site stays the master source even once the work is syndicated everywhere else.
My own site is the master source of everything I make. But now it's also shared everywhere, so we can meet in your city instead of my little town.
I was inconsiderate but now I'm everywhere Said 12 Mar 2026
Solving a problem yourself, without searching or prompting, is a form of exercise -- the help makes you weaker.
My brain feels stronger because I work through the problem instead of prompting it away.
Offline 23 hours a day Said 3 Mar 2026
A hard limit on how long you are online is what makes the time online focused.
Every day or two, I bring my laptop into town to get online for an hour. The time limit keeps me super-focused.
Offline 23 hours a day Said 3 Mar 2026
Long stretches of being disconnected -- no internet, no phone, no people -- are what make creative work possible.
Media silence creates a vacuum, which your own thoughts expand to fill.
Offline 23 hours a day Said 3 Mar 2026
Nobody actually decides on the facts -- emotion decides and facts rationalise, so you find whatever truth is useful to you.
Emotion decides. Facts rationalize. You'll find whatever truth is useful.
What is “the truth” really for? Said 20 Jan 2026
One good story outweighs a mountain of evidence, because most emotions cannot be argued with.
You'll ignore a mountain of evidence if you hear one good story against it or just feel yourself leaning the other way.
What is “the truth” really for? Said 20 Jan 2026
Facts deployed as weapons in an argument can win the exchange without settling the disagreement.
Facts can win a battle but not a war.
What is “the truth” really for? Said 20 Jan 2026
No belief is true: the moment something is proven it stops being a belief and becomes a fact.
No beliefs are true. If a belief was proven true, it would no longer be a belief.
Beliefs are not facts Said 5 Jan 2026
Anything introduced with “I believe” is, by that fact alone, not something everyone can see to be true.
Whenever someone says, “I believe …”, then whatever they say next is not true.
Beliefs are not facts Said 5 Jan 2026
When something repulses you, steer into it to learn more about it instead of avoiding it.
If you notice that something repulses you and you have like a revulsion response to something, steer into it to learn more about it instead of avoiding it.
sive.rs Said 14 May 2025
As much as possible, one should avoid predicting the future and instead wait for it to become the present and reveal what is actually needed.
As much as possible, try to not predict what the future may hold, but just wait as long as possible for that future to become the present and show you what it actually needs.
sive.rs Said 14 May 2025
Hell yeah or no is a situational tool for when overwhelmed by too many options, not a constant life approach everyone should always use.
the tool is used when you are overwhelmed with too many options. You've said yes to too many things, and you need to raise the bar all the way up so that almost everything doesn't pass the bar. It's a tool for a certain situation so I rarely use it. I would not call it a approach to life that everyone should use all the time.
sive.rs Said 14 May 2025
How something is presented completely changes a person’s experience, enjoyment, or frequency of use of it.
How you present something to somebody completely changes their experience of it, their enjoyment of it, or even how often they're going to use it.
sive.rs Said 14 May 2025
Biological age is moot; people from about 17 with an adult mind until senility or dementia are all pretty much equal.
Your actual biological age is really moot. Anybody over the age of, I don't know, 17 that has a pretty adult mind, all the way up until you're senile and getting Alzheimer's or dementia, anything between there, we're all pretty much equal.
sive.rs Said 14 May 2025
Kids have their own lives and parents should not try to apply their rules to them.
But it's a great reminder that our kids have their own life, that we should not try to apply our rules to them.
sive.rs Said 14 May 2025
When you start a business, you get to make all the rules and decide how things should work without following norms.
So the idea is when you start a business, you get to make all the rules now. You can, like in this little part of the world, you get to decide how things should work. You don't have to follow norms.
sive.rs Said 14 May 2025
If money is the only thing holding someone back from what they want to do, they are not thinking clearly; there is always a way around it.
The point is that if you think that money is the only thing holding you back from what you want to do, you're not thinking very clearly. There's always a way around it.
sive.rs Said 14 May 2025
Changing one's mind is life; stopping flip-flopping means being a dead fish.
I love changing my mind. If I stop flip-flopping, that means I'm a dead fish. Changing my mind is life.
sive.rs Said 14 May 2025
Writing your thinking down in public is a form of life after death -- for human readers and for the language models that will read it too.
I'm trying to thoroughly write my thought processes, values, and worldview, so that you can remember it, re-create it and improve upon it.
Come and get me (both you and AI) Said 6 Dec 2024
A personal website is an autobiography, and everyone should have one.
A personal website is an autobiography. I wish everyone had one. The more we share, the better.
Come and get me (both you and AI) Said 6 Dec 2024
Wealth is what you have divided by what you want, so the reliable way to become wealthier is to want less.
Once you have some, the easiest way to increase your wealth is to decrease your needs.
Wealth = Have ÷ Want Said 27 Sept 2024
Earning more is an outer game you do not control; wanting less is an inner game you do.
Making money depends on other people, so it's harder. It's not entirely under your control. It's an outer game.
Wealth = Have ÷ Want Said 27 Sept 2024
Removing your own ability to retreat is how you make yourself follow through on a hard change.
I forbid myself from anything too tempting or addicting. I keep no cookies in my home. To prevent myself from falling off the wagon, I strap myself to the mast.
Why I let go of my U.S. citizenship Said 20 Apr 2023
Writing one sentence per line, for your own eyes, improves prose more than any other habit.
I've been doing it for twenty years, and it improved my writing more than anything else.
Writing one sentence per line Said 20 Jun 2022
A sentence that cannot justify a line of its own should be deleted.
Delete any sentence not worthy of its own line.
Writing one sentence per line Said 20 Jun 2022
Weak openings like “I think” should be cut, and a sentence started on its subject and verb.
Chop the weak beginnings, like “I think” and “Whether or not”. Start with powerful subjects and verbs.
Writing one sentence per line Said 20 Jun 2022
Everything you write that matters belongs in plain text files, because they are the only format that stays portable, non-commercial and readable for a lifetime.
That's why I only use plain text files. They are the most reliable, flexible, and long-lasting option.
Write plain text files Said 2 Mar 2022
Storing your own writing in a company's proprietary format is a mistake, because you will outlive the company.
You will outlive these companies. Your writing should outlive you. Depending on companies is not an option.
Write plain text files Said 2 Mar 2022
Plain text is the only format guaranteed to be readable on devices that do not exist yet.
Every device, including ones long gone, and ones not invented yet, can read and edit plain text.
Write plain text files Said 2 Mar 2022
Nothing you depend on to write should require an internet connection.
Don't depend on any tool that needs an internet connection.
Write plain text files Said 2 Mar 2022
A plain text file and a basic editor are everything anyone needs in order to think and write well; the extra tools add nothing.
Plain text files and a basic text editor are enough. This is everything you need for great thinking and writing.
Write plain text files Said 2 Mar 2022
Code and files generated by tools are pollution: hand-writing them is worth the effort because the bloat slows everything down for everyone.
I prefer coding everything by hand, because I don't like the huge piles of garbage that the automated generators create.
Digital pollution Said 15 Oct 2019
Generators emit thousands of lines where ten would do, and that waste is why people think their phone is slow.
These programs that generate a website, app, or file for you spit out thousands of lines of unnecessary junk when really only 10 lines are needed.
Digital pollution Said 15 Oct 2019
Say no to anything that is not an enthusiastic yes, because a life full of half-hearted commitments leaves no room for the things worth doing.
If you're not feeling “Hell yeah, that would be awesome!” about something, say no.
If you're not feeling “hell yeah!” then say no Said 3 Jun 2018
The hell-yeah rule is for people who are already overwhelmed; someone starting out should say yes to almost anything.
Though it's good to say yes when you're starting out, wanting any opportunity, or needing variety, it's bad to say yes when you're overwhelmed, over-committed, or need to focus.
If you're not feeling “hell yeah!” then say no Said 3 Jun 2018
Do almost nothing, and do the few things you take on all the way.
Refuse almost everything. Do almost nothing. But the things you do, do them all the way.
If you're not feeling “hell yeah!” then say no Said 3 Jun 2018
The feeds businesses design to be addictive are obstacles to anyone whose aim is to make something.
Every business wants to get you addicted to their infinite updates, pings, chats, messages, and news. But if what you want out of life is to create, then those are your obstacles.
Disconnect Said 27 Jul 2016
Consuming what everyone else consumes gives you no advantage; focus is the rare and valuable thing now.
You get no competitive edge from consuming the same stuff everyone else is consuming.
Disconnect Said 27 Jul 2016
Build the product for yourself first: if it truly serves you, plenty of other people like you will want it too.
When you make it a dream come true for yourself, it’ll be a dream come true for someone else, too.
Make a dream come true Said 4 Jul 2011
Everybody's own ideas seem obvious to them, so what is obvious to you may be amazing to someone else.
Everybody’s ideas seem obvious to them. I’ll bet even John Coltrane or Richard Feynman felt that everything they were playing or saying was pretty obvious. So maybe what’s obvious to me is amazing to someone else?
Obvious to you. Amazing to others. Said 21 Nov 2010
The first thing to do in a new language is to imitate its accent completely, before the words.
But it seems the first thing I’d want to do when first learning a new language is to imitate the accent completely, to get that sound in my mouth, to sound as native as I can.
Are foreign accents a reflection of identity? Said 21 Oct 2008
Keeping a foreign accent is a choice about who you are, not a limit on what you can hear or say.
This guy may be in France, but obviously holds strongly to his identity as an American, so he’ll say the words correctly, but keep the American twang that he knows as his voice.
Are foreign accents a reflection of identity? Said 21 Oct 2008
Beliefs others hold too
Build the product for yourself first: if it truly serves you, plenty of other people like you will want it too. 6 hold this
When you make it a dream come true for yourself, it’ll be a dream come true for someone else, too.
Make a dream come true Said 4 Jul 2011
Your own site stays the master source even once the work is syndicated everywhere else. 2 hold this
My own site is the master source of everything I make. But now it's also shared everywhere, so we can meet in your city instead of my little town.
I was inconsiderate but now I'm everywhere Said 12 Mar 2026
Solving a problem yourself, without searching or prompting, is a form of exercise -- the help makes you weaker. 2 hold this
My brain feels stronger because I work through the problem instead of prompting it away.
Offline 23 hours a day Said 3 Mar 2026
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 60 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Uses OpenRouter
Uses Kagi
Uses Netim
Show 57 more
Uses Bunny CDN
Uses Vultr
Uses Skritter
Uses mpv
Everything but Firefox in the terminal, so command-line tools like mutt for email, ffmpeg and mpv for audio/video, mupdf for ebooks, and ssh everywhere.
sive.rs 7 Jun 2026
Uses Firefox
Firefox browser with uBlock Origin and Link Hints
sive.rs 7 Jun 2026
Uses Radicale
Radicale to privately self-host my contacts and calendar, synced to my phone
sive.rs 7 Jun 2026
Uses OpenSMTPD
Uses Nginx
Loved Ratpoison
Uses Void Linux
Uses Surly Preamble
Uses GrapheneOS
Uses Pixel 10
Uses Kensington Expert Mouse
Kensington Expert Mouse since 1995
sive.rs 7 Jun 2026
Uses Focal Bathys
Uses AT5040
Uses StudioBricks One Plus
Studiobricks One Plus sound-proof recording booth
sive.rs 7 Jun 2026
Uses Onyx Boox Go 6
Loved Keychron Q3
Keychron Q3 keyboard with Kailh Midnight Pro silent switches ♥
sive.rs 7 Jun 2026
Loved LG DualUp Monitor
Loved Fight Club
Fight Club: I liked it the first time years ago, but watching a second time when you already know the end reveal? Elevates it from good to great. So many brilliant details in the screenplay.
x.com 21 May 2026
Liked You’re Not Listening
Being a great listener when people speak. Deep insights about understanding, connection, helping people express themselves, overcoming assumptions, the ethics of gossip, and more. Specific techniques for the support response, encouraging elaboration, and keeping it balanced. You can’t be ethical without being a good listener. When people say, “I can’t talk right now,” what they really mean is “…
sive.rs 25 Feb 2026
Loved Waste Books
Tweets from 1765-1799 by a 4’9” hunchback physicist, friends with Goethe and Kant, admired by Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, etc. Such wonderful random thoughts, beautiful perspectives on thinking for yourself, observing nature, language, freedom, philosophy, religion, and more. Hundreds of initial insights, especially inspiring because they’re undeveloped.
sive.rs 3 Sept 2025
Liked The Invention of the Jewish People
Fascinating subject. Countries are made of stories. Kings didn’t need their subjects to agree, but nations do. So to build a nation, they need to make a story that helps people feel a shared identity, nationalism, and what distinguishes them from their neighbors. Back-creating a history. Founders of Israel did this brilliantly.
sive.rs 10 Oct 2024
Loved rsync
Then use free and lovely rsync to synchronize: rsync -av --delete desktop:/home/me /home/
sive.rs 31 Aug 2024
Liked Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions
Cultural psychology, studying emotions through the lens of culture. Your emotions are created by your culture. You should not be too sure that you share the emotional experiences of individuals from other cultures. Culture and emotion make each other up. Great insights!
sive.rs 5 Apr 2024
What others say about Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions →
Liked China’s World View
Senior academic advisor to the Chinese Communist Party feels most political tensions come from a misunderstanding of China’s world view, hence the subtitle “demystifying to prevent global conflict”, and his intrinsic desire to explain. I love its insights and historical context, especially around “Respect-centered diplomacy” and how the CCP is structured.
sive.rs 10 Mar 2024
Uses Hetzner Storage Box
$10/month for zfs.rent + €10/month for Hetzner.
sive.rs 27 Feb 2024
Uses ZFS.rent
$10/month for zfs.rent + €10/month for Hetzner.
sive.rs 27 Feb 2024
Liked Arabs
3000 years of factual Arab history, and personal insights from this Oxford Brit who lived in Yemen for 37 years, translates classical Arabic, and clearly cares a lot. Huge and thorough but really wonderful for those with the interest. I loved his writing style and poetic asides. Read my notes here for a taste. What a great book.
sive.rs 3 Feb 2024
Liked The Vagabond’s Way
Best travel book I’ve ever read! Shook my soul many times. Tiny “daily meditation” format, with lots of quotes from others, but wow what wonderful insights. They make me yearn to travel again. Love love love these ideas and perspectives so much.
sive.rs 15 Nov 2023
Liked Finite and Infinite Games
So abstract. Maybe the most abstract book you’ll ever read. Compares “finite” games with rules and winners, versus “infinite” games without winners where we can play with the game itself. Is it about a job versus a calling? Religion versus spirituality? A story versus story-telling? Who knows. Thought-provoking if you can apply the metaphor to whatever concerns you.
sive.rs 10 Oct 2023
Loved You Can Negotiate Anything
Everything is negotiable. Challenge authority. You have the power in any situation. This is how to realize it and use it. A must-read classic from 1980 from a master negotiator. My notes here aren’t enough because the little book is filled with so many memorable stories — examples of great day-to-day moments of negotiation that will stick in your head for when you need them. (I especially loved…
sive.rs 2 Aug 2023
Liked How Minds Change
The psychology of how and why we believe. How we learn and change. The craft of doubt and persuasion. Insights into the social definition of truth. Epistemology. Certainty is a feeling not based on facts. Well-written with a nice balance of story-telling and deeper dives.
sive.rs 30 Jul 2023
Liked How Religion Evolved
Great anthropology! So many insights into religions, tribes, friendships, organizations, the evolution of minds, superstition, and more. Got me thinking most about friendships.
sive.rs 20 Jul 2023
Liked Nothing & Everything
I love this book so much. It's the joy of nihilism. Nothing is true. Everything is permitted. I agree completely. I would give it a 10-out-of-10 rating but I disliked the whole second half of the book. So just read the first half. See my notes here. If you like my book “Useful Not True”, you should read this.
sive.rs 22 Jun 2023
Liked You Look Like a Thing and I Love You
A funny book explaining the basics of AI! The subtitle is How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It's Making the World a Weirder Place. A great introduction to AI. With a cute cartoon mascot. The title is from her training an AI to write romantic greeting cards.
sive.rs 18 Jun 2023
What others say about You Look Like a Thing and I Love You →
Liked City of Gold: Dubai
So well-written! Absolutely fascinating history of Dubai. An exciting page-turner. It gave me so much admiration for the city and its visionaries.
sive.rs 17 Jun 2023
Liked The Righteous Mind
Brilliant insights into human nature. Moral reasoning, inventing victims, emotional reactions, the elephant (emotions) and its rider (explanations). Intuition reacts then logic confabulates a reason. Survival of the fittest applied to groups. Understanding religion and tradition. Great from start to finish.
sive.rs 28 May 2023
Liked Write Useful Books
How to write a non-fiction book so useful to people that they recommend it to others. A great step-by-step methodology from someone experienced, who’s done it successfully a few times already.
sive.rs 25 Sept 2022
Liked Wild Problems
How to improve your HUGE major life decisions, like whether/who to marry, whether to have kids, where to live, career paths, and such — where you can’t use the usual checklist/data approach. This economist addresses self-identity, “deepest self”, and “something I was meant to do”. You can’t use a pro/con checklist with an item that says “lose respect for myself”.
sive.rs 12 Sept 2022
Liked Relationship Handbook
Best philosophy of love relationships I’ve ever found. Like meditation teaches you that moods pass, this experienced marriage counselor says this applies to relationship communication as well. When angry or insecure, don’t vent, don’t share that. Let the feeling pass. Your anger doesn’t reveal some real truth. Everyone in a romantic relationship should read this.
sive.rs 16 Aug 2022
Liked Awaken the Giant Within
This 1992 book changed everything about my life. It’s my Bible. Most of my beliefs come from it. I read it many times at a formative age, but re-read it now 30 years later, taking notes. It’s not a perfect book. It’s too verbose and full of expired American references. But its core messages are the wisest, most effective life philosophy I’ve ever encountered. You choose how you feel. Your emoti…
sive.rs 22 Jun 2022
Loved The Listening Book
Everyone should read this book of little essays about listening. It teaches your ears to pay more attention. It calls your attention to sounds you hadn’t noticed. It’s beautifully written, and makes your life better. I read it twice, 24 years ago, and reading it again this week, it was even better than I remembered.
sive.rs 3 Sept 2021
Liked How Buildings Learn
I’ve read this book three times since 1999, and gifted it many times to others. It’s changed the way I look at buildings. I read it again now because I’m building a new house. Its main idea is that all buildings are predictions, and all predictions are wrong, so design to make them easy to change. I think of it metaphorically in life: assuming my predictions about what I want will probably be w…
sive.rs 2 Aug 2021
Liked Getting Things Done
Classic book with near-cult following. How to manage every last itty bitty tiny thing in your life. Keep your inbox empty. Re-read 16 years later. Still great.
sive.rs 30 Apr 2021
Liked Several Short Sentences About Writing
The 2nd-best and most-radical book about great writing. It tells you to focus entirely on the sentence, an approach that was already my favorite, which is why I bought this book. It recommends you boldly eliminate transitions and conjunctions, split compound sentences, don't save your point for the end, and revise by deleting. This is the first book I've seen printed as one sentence per line —…
sive.rs 28 Mar 2021
What others say about Several Short Sentences About Writing →
Liked Skin in the Game
Taleb is always filled with surprising ideas and confrontational bragging. Ignore the hot air and gather the gems. Great thoughts around putting your ass on the line with consequences — not just thinking things in theory but doing things in reality — in the real world.
sive.rs 15 Aug 2020
Liked This Is Marketing
A must-read for every entrepreneur. A holistic, generous, human, emotional, long-term, story-driven approach to your business. The world would be a much better place if businesses were led this way. You'll have a competitive advantage if you do this, since so few do.
sive.rs 2 Aug 2019
Liked Atomic Habits
I was doubtful, but everyone kept telling me it’s awesome, so I reluctantly read it. Holy crap! It’s GREAT! Feels like the definitive masterpiece on the subject of how to make good habits and break bad ones. Very focused on helping you take action. Very relatable and inspiring.
sive.rs 29 Dec 2018
Loved The Courage to Be Disliked
Wow. A profound little philosophy book from Japan, communicating the psychology of Alfred Adler - a rival of Freud. Told as a conversation between an angry student and a patient teacher. A little book so good that I rushed home from other activities to keep reading it, and finished in a day. A surprisingly fresh perspective on how to live. (The “disliked” part is not the point, so don’t let the…
sive.rs 25 Jul 2018
Liked Thinking in Bets
Amazing point: Would your belief in something stand up to the question, “Wanna bet?” If you had to gamble significant money on that belief, would you still feel 100% about it? Or maybe more honestly 60%? This creates healthy skepticism encouraging you to seek the best information instead of just defending your belief. Now objective accuracy wins instead of argument. Combine with “The Biggest Bl…
sive.rs 2 Jun 2018
Recommends OpenBSD
But if you’re experienced, like to “look under the hood”, and prefer software that does the minimum necessary, OpenBSD is for you.
sive.rs 20 Apr 2018
Liked 12 Rules for Life
A unique thinker with strong opinions presented as indisputable fact. More surprisingly interesting ideas than almost any book I've ever read. Extremely thoughtful, but occasionally abruptly concludes with an unsupported point. It has a conservative “this is how it is” certainty. It’s a broad collection of thoughtful insights on life, mixed with a lot of Bible interpretation.
sive.rs 10 Apr 2018
Loved Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives
Awesomely creative think-piece. 40 very short fictional stories about what happens when you die. The framework is inspiring for anyone: coming up with 40 different answers to any one question. But they’re also just brilliant ideas and powerful little fables. I just read it a 2nd time and love it even more now.
sive.rs 27 Sept 2017
What others say about Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives →
Liked Sapiens
I resisted reading this popular history of mankind, because it came out when I had just finished “Guns, Germs, and Steel” and “Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches”, on the same subject. But wow - this book is at its best when the author is sharing his personal perspective about binding myths, humanism, and other ways that “truths” are not true. And you get an interesting history of the world along wi…
sive.rs 15 Aug 2017
Liked Happy
Brilliant and profound yet totally entertaining philosophy book by one of my favorite people. Gives an approachable overview of past philosophies and shows how they apply to your life today better than the harmful pop-self-help-positivity stuff. Amazing perspectives on desires, death, relationships, anger, and how being present doesn’t matter as much as the story you tell yourself afterwards. H…
sive.rs 5 Mar 2017
Where they publish
Site sive.rs The master source. Everything they make appears here first.
Hand-coded, no advertising, no tracking, and the first place everything lands — articles, their tweets, the books, notes on 430+ books they have read, and the NowNowNow and Tech Independence projects. Their own line for it: “Everything I do is here on this site.”
Link verified 3 Sept 2026.
Blog sive.rs/blog Their articles: short, heavily edited, usually under two minutes to read.
550+ articles since 2007 on deciding what to do, saying no, money, travel, programming and owning your own tools — plus the chapter-a-day serialisations of their books. Their own description of the feed is “my best edited short writing”. Has an Atom feed.
Recent
- Bangalore India hospital flow 3 Sept 2026 I just spent many days in a hospital in India.
- Building without predicting 18 Aug 2026 On a podcast, I briefly mentioned that I’m building my dream house without predicting - by living in a bare cabin in the woods, then adding only what I find I actually need.
- Prepare your “no” and keep it handy 14 May 2026 Someone asks you to do something, and you feel that pressure to answer immediately.
Show 17 more
- My life was changed by four sentences in four books 12 May 2026 Last week someone asked why I prefer books.
- Geography is four-dimensional 5 May 2026 Forty years ago, a family moved from India to Canada, and raised their children with “Indian values”.
- Netizen 3 May 2026 I can relate to the original meaning of this old term that means to be good citizen of the internet.
- I was inconsiderate but now I’m everywhere 12 Mar 2026 When I was in the music business, there was a record producer who lived in New Jersey, but refused to come into New York City.
- About my book notes 6 Mar 2026 At sive.rs/book I have a collection of my notes from the 420+ books I’ve read since 2007.
- Offline 23 hours a day 3 Mar 2026 Last month, I moved into my new home in the woods.
- What next? 9 Feb 2026 I have so much more to say on this subject, but this book is done now because I believe short books are useful.
- Reframing death 8 Feb 2026 For the last three years, my boy and I have had a pet mouse.
- You are what you pretend to be 7 Feb 2026 Your outside doesn’t need to match your inside.
- Keep tuning and adjusting 6 Feb 2026 When I got my first guitar, the nice man at the shop put on new strings and tuned it.
- Take the first step immediately 5 Feb 2026 I spent basically my whole life in America, and had no desire to travel or be anywhere else.
- Why your choice is wrong 4 Feb 2026 No matter what choice you make, someone will tell you it’s wrong.
- Talk with friends to solidify it 3 Feb 2026 After you privately internalize a belief, talk about it with friends.
- Private journal to internalize it 2 Feb 2026 Once you find a viewpoint you want to adopt, a great tool to internalize it is a private journal.
- No new instructions for the computer 1 Feb 2026 You load the program into the computer, and it begins its calculations.
- From explorer to self-leader 31 Jan 2026 Picture the stereotype of an explorer, hundreds of years ago, on an expedition to uncharted lands.
- How to decide and make the best choice 30 Jan 2026 You can do anything.
Link verified 3 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Newsletter dereksivers.org Their Substack: the same articles, for people who read there.
A mirror for readers who live in Substack. Nothing original appears here — it is the sive.rs articles again, under the same titles.
Link verified 3 Sept 2026.
x.com @sivers Short posts, syndicated from their own site rather than written here.
The short-form feed: a line or two, usually pointing at something new on their site. Since 2026 they mirror everything outward deliberately — the article explaining why is “I was inconsiderate but now I'm everywhere”.
Recent
- To understand Türkiye and Turkish worldviews a bit, this book is a good quick start: 23 Sept 2026 sive.rs
- When walking a city, what do different experts notice that you don’t? Fun book on this: On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz. My notes: 22 Sept 2026 sive.rs
- Very good China book, following four real women in current China: Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang. My notes: 22 Sept 2026 sive.rs
Show 17 more
- Best food I’ve ever eaten: When in Finland go to https://t.co/s7NPfixYKI and order SHANGHAI TACOS WITH HALLOUMI. I had them every day for four days. 13 Sept 2026
- Bangalore India hospital flow: 3 Sept 2026 sive.rs
- Notes from Bangalore, India, where I spent most of two weeks in a hospital, and the rest with friends: 31 Aug 2026 sive.rs
- Building without predicting. (The story of how I built my perfect home.) 18 Aug 2026 sive.rs
- I write to see what I can write. I code to see what I can code. 27 Jul 2026
- 16 conversations in super-multicultural Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: 30 Jun 2026 sive.rs
- India tech friends: I just bought my ticket to IndiaFOSS in BLR Sept 26-27: https://t.co/v7ir8MW2Ka Want to meet? Email me: 12 Jun 2026 sive.rs
- Fight Club: I liked it the first time years ago, but watching a second time when you already know the end reveal? Elevates it from good to great. So many brilliant details in the screenplay. What else in life is better the second time? 21 May 2026
- Prepare your “no” and keep it handy: 14 May 2026 sive.rs
- My life was changed by four sentences in four books : 13 May 2026 sive.rs
- Geography is four-dimensional: 6 May 2026 sive.rs
- 1993 communal internet shaped me: 4 May 2026 sive.rs
- I’m not autistic, but my heroes are. 29 Apr 2026
- I have so much more to say on this subject, but this book is done now because I believe short books are useful. So the conversation continues on the website: 28 Apr 2026
- For the last three years, my boy and I have had a pet mouse. We got her from a pet store, and he’s carried her in his hand through so many adventures in forests, beaches, and playgrounds. Drawings and stories for and about her. You’ve never seen a mouse so loved.... 27 Apr 2026
- Since we moved from city to rural land, to a house where the bathroom and kitchen are outside, my boy observed: “This year there are way more full moons.” 27 Apr 2026
- My favorite LLM prompt: “List the top cities in {COUNTRY}, and anthropomorphize each one, listing the good-natured stereotypes and jokes that other people in {COUNTRY} say about people in this city.” 27 Apr 2026
Link verified 3 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Mastodon @d@sive.rs The same short posts, served from their own domain over ActivityPub.
Their fediverse account is hosted on their own site rather than on somebody's instance, so the handle and the archive both survive any server going away. The web version of it is the tweets page at sive.rs/d.
Link verified 3 Sept 2026.
Bluesky @sive.rs The same short posts again, mirrored.
A mirror of the short posts, with the handle verified by their own domain. Nothing appears here that is not already on sive.rs.
Recent
- Istanbul Tűrkiye - 12 days in 10 neighborhoods, meeting up with 30 local people for 60 hours of conversation: 18 Oct 2026 sive.rs
- To understand Türkiye and Turkish worldviews a bit, this book is a good quick start: 23 Sept 2026 sive.rs
- When walking a city, what do different experts notice that you don’t? Fun book on this: On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz. My notes: 22 Sept 2026 sive.rs
Show 17 more
- Very good China book, following four real women in current China: Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang. My notes: 22 Sept 2026 sive.rs
- Best food I’ve ever eaten: When in Finland go to https://liemi.fi/ and order SHANGHAI TACOS WITH HALLOUMI. I had them every day for four days. 13 Sept 2026
- Bangalore India hospital flow: 3 Sept 2026 sive.rs
- Notes from Bangalore, India, where I spent most of two weeks in a hospital, and the rest with friends: 31 Aug 2026 sive.rs
- Building without predicting. (The story of how I built my perfect home.) 18 Aug 2026 sive.rs
- I write to see what I can write. I code to see what I can code. 27 Jul 2026
- 17 conversations in Jakarta, Indonesia: 12 Jul 2026 sive.rs
- 16 conversations in super-multicultural Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: 12 Jul 2026 sive.rs
- India tech friends: I just bought my ticket to IndiaFOSS in BLR Sept 26-27: https://fossunited.org/indiafoss/2026 Want to meet? Email me: 12 Jun 2026 sive.rs
- Fight Club: I liked it the first time years ago, but watching a second time when you already know the end reveal? Elevates it from good to great. So many brilliant details in the screenplay. What else in life is better the second time? 21 May 2026
- Prepare your “no” and keep it handy: 14 May 2026 sive.rs
- My life was changed by four sentences in four books : 13 May 2026 sive.rs
- Geography is four-dimensional: 6 May 2026 sive.rs
- 1993 communal internet shaped me: 4 May 2026 sive.rs
- I’m not autistic, but my heroes are. 29 Apr 2026
- What next? — (ch 60/60 of Useful Not True) — 29 Apr 2026 sive.rs
- Reframing death — (ch 59/60 of Useful Not True) — 28 Apr 2026 sive.rs
Link verified 3 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
YouTube @dereksivers Their own channel: articles and book chapters read aloud, and their talks.
Their own reading of their articles and of the chapters of Useful Not True, alongside the stage talks. Not the TED uploads, which are on TED's channel and are not theirs to publish.
Recent
Link verified 3 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Podcast Derek Sivers Their articles read aloud by them, one or two minutes each.
Their own voice reading their own articles — 387 episodes, most of them under two minutes. Distinct from the interviews channel below, which is other people's shows.
Recent
- What next? 9 Feb 2026
- Reframing death 8 Feb 2026
- You are what you pretend to be 7 Feb 2026
Show 17 more
- Keep tuning and adjusting 6 Feb 2026
- Take the first step immediately 5 Feb 2026
- Why your choice is wrong 4 Feb 2026
- Talk with friends to solidify it 3 Feb 2026
- Private journal to internalize it 2 Feb 2026
- No new instructions for the computer 1 Feb 2026
- From explorer to self-leader 31 Jan 2026
- How to decide and make the best choice 30 Jan 2026
- An awesome collection of great questions 29 Jan 2026
- Five tiny tales of reframing 28 Jan 2026
- Traits of useful perspectives 27 Jan 2026
- Expand your repertoire 26 Jan 2026
- Diamond in the trash 25 Jan 2026
- Answer great questions 24 Jan 2026
- Who chooses your (next) thoughts? 23 Jan 2026
- The most useful part of this book 22 Jan 2026
- Philosophies are instruments 21 Jan 2026
Link verified 3 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Interviews sive.rs/i 250+ interviews where they were the guest, each with audio and a full transcript.
Conversations they chose to sit for, kept raw and unedited on their own site — “I keep a raw unedited copy for authentication and sharing here” — so the words can be checked against the recording rather than against someone's write-up. Every episode has a transcript.
Link verified 3 Sept 2026.
Books sivers.com Five books, sold directly by them; all profits go to charity.
Their own bookshop, which is also where the linen and autographed hardcovers exist at all. Each book has its own page on sive.rs with the full text of many chapters posted as articles.
The books
- Useful Not True 1 Jan 2024
- How to Live 1 Jan 2021
- Hell Yeah or No 1 Jan 2020
- Your Music and People 1 Jan 2020
- Anything You Want 1 Jan 2011
Link verified 3 Sept 2026.
About the English under a post
Some people here publish in a language other than English. Where they do, this site shows a machine translation beneath the post, in this typeface — the site's own, not theirs.
The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.
Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.