My “strengths finder” says I’m a “learner”. I usually don’t put much stock in such surveys, but this one is dead on. At any one time I have 10-12 podcasts going, at least one or two audiobooks, and then plenty of good ‘ole fashioned bound paper books. Don’t get me started on my Twitter rabbit-holes.
Here are five things I discovered or enjoyed this week.
Service I’m Enjoying
Readwise.io is quickly becoming one of my favorite services. You connect it to your Amazon account and it sends you a daily email with random highlights from Kindle books you’ve read. Repetition and review is one of the keys to retaining information. Readwise digs up gold from my past reads, things I have forgotten from so long ago.
You can also connect it to PDFs, Pocket, iBooks, and more. But I only use it for Kindle. It’s not free, but they have a generous trial period to let you kick the tires.
Podcast I’ve Started
I’m a fan of Ali Abdaal (I watch many of his Youtube videos while I’m on the stationary bike) and through him I found “My First Million” podcast. It’s been around for a while, and actually it’s morphed into kind of a different animal from it’s origin. I’m here for the O.G. episodes, where entrepreneurs tell you how they launched their ideas. One I found especially interesting is Episode 3, “Making Millions off an Email Newsletter?! Sam Parr from The Hustle Tells All“. It’s amazing how the smallest ideas can blow up.
I’m sure I won’t listen to every episode. But, again, I am sampling early episodes just to expand my idea of what is possible.
Book I’m Finishing
Two authors fill the bulk of my shelf space; N.T. “Tom” Wright and Wendell Berry. Berry’s collection of essays “What Are People For” is one of the best and most eclectic I’ve read (and I’ve read a lot). Here’s the official book blurb:
“Ranging from America’s insatiable consumerism and household economies to literary subjects and America’s attitude toward waste, here Berry gracefully navigates from one topic to the next. He speaks candidly about the ills plaguing America and the growing gap between people and the land. Despite the somber nature of these essays, Berry’s voice and prose provide an underlying sense of faith and hope. He frames his reflections with poetic responsibility, standing up as a firm believer in the power of the human race not only to fix its past mistakes but to build a future that will provide a better life for all.”
This has turned out to be the most highlighted and quoted Berry book I’ve read thus far.
Warning: If you haven’t read Wendell Berry before, prepare to have your mind tweaked, and to be more than a little challenged. It’s called “growing pains”.
Check out the book here (this is an Amazon Affiliate link, btw): What Are People For
Series I’m Watching
Through an interview on Tim Ferriss’ podcast with writer Michael Shur I discovered “The Good Place”. I’m sorry I waited so long to get here. The Good Place explores – unapologetically – the philosophy of moral ethics, which has the potential to be boring and impractical (one of the most heard lines in the show: “This is why people hate moral philosophy professors”) But Schur, a former SNL writer, and contributor to “The Office”, “Parks and Recreation” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” delivers the goods in a way that’s funny, but engaging.
My wife and I loved it and turned my philosophy-major son onto it, and also my mom and dad, who also enjoy it. Highly recommended. On Netflix.
Check out the trailer on YouTube here.
Quote of the Week
From Edward Abbey, via Wendell Berry
“Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.”