The spring edition
Postcard #18
Hello and welcome back to another edition of THE POSTCARD, Unregistered’s fortnightly roundup of recommendations.
Thoughts, tools, and treats
It’s spring. While the state of the world remains worrying, it should be a little easier these days to turn to positive things and say yes to...
...bold action
The search for a new liberal narrative has begun. Mike Konczal reviews some ideas that aim at „future-oriented growth.“
...small things
35 tricks, life hacks, habits, rules, reminders, and other research-backed advice by health and wellbeing experts. Including dark-chocolate-covered nuts, coffee, and curiosity.
...cutting crap
Stop buying superfluous stuff and you will save money, have fewer things to maintain, and live more eco-friendly. Jancee Dunn tells you how.
...reading books
The benefits of deep reading include „developing a richer understanding of a topic, increasing your ability to pay attention itself, enhanced creative thinking, empathy, calm, and stability,“ writes Brad Stulberg. It also is „a competitive advantage in today’s knowledge-based economy.“ For those who want to start reading English literature, Henry Oliver has put together an incredible introductory syllabus.
...rethinking ordinary life
Six Substack writers created a mini-series about ordinary things: Bowen Dwelle on addiction, Joshua Doležal on planting, Lyle McKeany on mindfulness, Michael Mohr on routines, Dee Rambeau on the myth of the ordinary, Latham Turner on, well, the ordinary.
Noteworthy
„Cowen works best in places where the skeleton of economics presses through the soft flesh of daily life. This is one reason he spends so much time writing about restaurants: places where market mechanisms of almost textbook clarity intersect with strategic opportunities for maximising human pleasure. (...) One afternoon I found him in our hotel lobby holding his iPad close to his face, asking ChatGPT, ‚Where would Tyler Cowen recommend getting dinner near me?‘ A series of fried-chicken restaurants on the other side of the island appeared. He shrugged and made a disappointed noise; it hadn’t told him anything he didn’t already know.“
—Tyler Cowen, who says yes to markets, AI, and good food, portrayed by The Economist
A mystery link leading into the unknown
A wonderful two-and-a-half video about...
As always,
Dirk
P.S.: Feel free to send me pointers to articles, books, sites, pods, tools, and treats that could be interesting for this roundup. While I cannot promise to link them, I read and appreciate every hint.