Hi, I’m Gary Isaac Wolf
I’m an independent writer and researcher focused on helping people make empirical discoveries in everyday life.
In 2007 I co-founded the Quantified Self, a users group of self-trackers and toolmakers. Previously I was a contributing editor at Wired magazine, the founding Executive Editor of Wired Online and Wired News, and a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University.
Right now I’m writing a book called Personal Science: Learning to Observe. My book has five co-authors! They are my long time colleagues and collaborators Steven Jonas, Martijn de Groot, Sara Riggare, Thomas Blomseth Christiansen, and Jakob Eg Larsen.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I’m gary@antephase.com and @agaricus on Twitter.
Empirical Methods, Personal Questions
Quantified Self Show&Tell
Documentation of self-research projects (458 talks with transcriptions as of 9/2021).
Get Help With Self-Research
I moderate the QS Forum actively, but the main value comes from the regular cast of characters.
Spaced Repetition
An essay about meeting memory researcher Piotr Wozniak, inventor of Supermemo.
Two fascinating QS talks by Steven Jonas about his use of Supermemo.
- Memorizing My Daybook: Trying to Create Explicit Knowledge of Every Calendar Day
- Memorizing “Trivial” Information: Using Geographical Facts As a Lattice For Knowledge.
Experience Sampling
Experience Sampling: A Comedy: A book review of Describing Inner Experience? Proponent Meets Skeptic by Russell T. Hurlburt and Eric Schwitzgebel
This QS Show&Tell argues that daily recall is just as good as experience sampling, and a lot less work: Ulrich Atz Compares Experience Sampling with Daily Recall In Measuring Stress
Another QS Show&Tell using experience sampling, this time for an art project: Danielle Roberts pings herself every two hours.
Measuring Mood and Emotion
This is a lightly updated of a post prompted by talks at QS Meetups about “happiness tracking” apps: Measuring Mood and Emotion.