For the first time, you can now buy the best new ideas on LessWrong in a physical book set, titled:

A Map that Reflects the Territory: Essays by the LessWrong Community

It is available for pre-order here.

The standard advice for creating things is "show, don't tell", so first some images of the books, followed by a short FAQ by me (Ben).

The full five-book set. Yes, that’s the iconic Mississippi river flowing across the spines.

FAQ

What exactly is in the book set?

LessWrong has an annual Review process (the second of which is beginning today!) to determine the best content on the site. We reviewed all the posts on LessWrong from 2018, and users voted to rank the best of them, the outcome of which can be seen here.

Of the over 2000 LessWrong posts reviewed, this book contains 41 of the top voted essays, along with some comment sections, some reviews, a few extra essays to give context, and some preface/meta writing.

What are the books in the set?

The essays have been clustered around five topics relating to rationality: Epistemology, Agency, Coordination, Curiosity, and Alignment.

Are all the essays in this book from 2018?

Yes, all the essays in this book were originally published in 2018, and were reviewed and voted on during the 2018 LessWrong Review (which happened at the end of 2019).

How small are the books?

Each book is 4x6 inches, small enough to fit in your pocket. This was the book size that, empirically, most beta-testers found that they actually read.

Can I order a copy of the book?

Pre-order the book here for $29. We currently sell to North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Israel. (If you bought it by end-of-day Wednesday December 9th and ordered within North America, you'll get it before Christmas.) You'll be able to buy the book on Amazon in a couple of weeks.

How much is shipping?

The price above includes shipping to any location that we accept shipping addresses for. We are still figuring out some details about shipping internationally, so if you are somewhere that is not North America, there is a small chance (~10%) that we will reach out to you to ask you for more shipping details, and an even smaller chance (~6%) that we offer you the option to either pay for some additional shipping ...

satya

satya