Summer Roundup (June and July 2023)
A collection of podcast and reading recommendations, cool people or projects I have found online recently, any new tools or tips, and some personal updates.
Here is a summer roundup of the best reads, podcasts, internet people + projects, and anything else I’ve discovered in June and July. I decided to combine June and July because of how busy things have been lately.
Podcast Recommendations
1.) Tim Ferriss - The Colin & Samir Show and “How I Built The Tim Ferriss Show to 700+ Million Downloads” - The Tim Ferriss Show
Some great insight on fame, podcasting, collecting good questions, and playing the long game.
2.) Christopher Nolan - Founders
After Tessa and I caught an Interstellar showing at the Alamo and then Oppenheimer, I was ready for some more Nolan content. David (host of Founders) nailed it again with this awesome episode detailing Nolan’s film school days and how he leveraged early success to do things his way.
3.) Paul Simon - Broken Record
A great check in with a legend. Malcolm Gladwell and Paul Simon talk critics, songwriting, and more.
4.) Andy Matuschak - The Lunar Society
Not sure how but I am just now exploring Andy’s work. Andy is great on topics like self-teaching, memory and spaced repetition, building products and experiments, tools for thought, and the future of reading. One example of his work is a new kind of book that is designed to help you master the material within it more effectively.
5.) David Eagleman - The Tim Ferriss Show
I was cleaning the house while listening to this episode having already written this roundup post. I had to come back and add this episode. David blew my mind. He is a neuroscientist who is launching innovative products to expand our senses, from a vibrating wrist band that allows deaf people to hear to Infrared vision that lets you see how long a car has been parked. Listen to this!
Reading Recommendations
1.) Don’t Call Yourself a Programmer - Patrick McKenzie
I started following Patrick on Twitter last year but only recently started reading through his posts. This one was a very practical (and opinionated) exploration of how to succeed financially as a… programmer. It generalizes to getting hired for any role.
I also really enjoyed this timely discussion he had with Ramit Sethi on getting your first freelance clients and what to charge.
2.) How Hackers Invented Kiteboarding - James Somers
James Somers was on my Coolest Folks I Discovered in 2022 list and his writing continues to wow me. Highly recommend this if you’re interested in design, invention, launching products, or software.
3.) How to do great work - Paul Graham
This essay deserves the intense praise it has been receiving since being published late last month. I emphatically recommend you read this if even the smallest part of you felt intrigued to know the answer to the question the title poses. This essay strings together many of the most valuable lessons Paul’s writing has taught me. After finishing it, my first impulse was to send it to everyone I love so that they too could gain the insights it presents.
4.) Specifying Spring ‘83 - Robin Sloan
A fantastic overview of an alternative protocol to Twitter, email, and other timeline based social media protocols. This inspired (at least in part) Twilight, the project listed below and is welcome company with my continued thinking of how to make the internet cooler.
Twitter, Cool People + Projects
Twitter has continued to be an amazing source of great reading, podcasts, and cool people. Despite the recent “X” shenanigans, there is nothing like it in terms of high quality information density.
1.) Twilight, a new project from @joodalooped
This is a new experiment from Judah that I am playing around with. It isn’t generally available yet but between the screenshot below and the piece from Robin Sloan recommended above, you will get a sense of how it works. I’ve been having fun with it so far and in general am just happy there is active experimentation happening with the internet.
You basically get to program your own “board” that becomes one “tile” among all the other boards other people have made. What results is a kind of “magazine rack” of eclectic designs showcasing whatever each maker wants to showcase. It is all done with a simple HTML editor. After reading the Robin Sloan piece I took inspiration from newspaper classifieds for my board (pictured above).
2.) Mythic II, a serene handmade computer from Keegan McNamara
Keegan started Mythic Computer Co. from his studio / spare room in his LA home. His goal is to challenge the idea of what a computer should be, elevating these essential tools to their rightful place in our homes and lives. He handmakes each one over a few months, making slight customizations to the functions available depending on the client. More to come on this!
3.) Ray, a new Chrome Extension I made for writers
All it does is add “Don’t Think” (and a photo of Bradbury) to your Wordpress or Substack post editors. It was inspired by a sign with the same words Bradbury had hanging over his typewriter for more than twenty years. The idea is to avoid over-intellectualizing or controlling what you want to say in order to make room for your authentic feelings. This is now available in the Chrome store.
Personal Updates
I’ve had an incredible summer already with some huge milestones, including getting married in early June! I feel I am doing exactly what I ought to be doing. My days are filled with creativity, interesting new people and conversations, coffee and (lately) nightly episodes of Succession with Tessa. Feeling very fortunate lately.
1.) Printernet
Printernet is a project I started last May that is my attempt to make reading all of the cool things I find online more enjoyable. You can read a more detailed explanation here, but basically I mail customers a beautiful one-of-a-kind print issue with five selections from their digital reading list.
This past week I sold five Printernet issues and started some fun work on Printernet Version 2, which will be a more automated and scalable version of the project. For now, check out the site and consider trying out our newest option, Printernet x Twitter. With this option you can connect your Twitter account and get a personalized issue based on who you follow, retweet, and the kinds of things you tweet about.
This project continues to be a ton of fun, even when it is incredibly arduous. I really enjoy picking the best essays for each customer, the process of designing the issues, and my trips to the local post office to get them shipped out. More to come!
2.) Freelance Coding / Polymathematics
Last month I successfully completed a challenge I gave myself to code for 30 days in a row and document the process. I wrote about that experience here. One of the goals of that challenge was to find new clients for freelance work through Polymathematics. Super happy to say that last week I got my first paid freelance coding gig and was able to use the creative programming site to help secure the job. It feels super rewarding to reach this milestone, especially since I am purely self-taught.
3.) Substack subscribers
One of my visions from this year’s Rough Draft is to gain at least 100 Substack / blog subscribers. So far, I’ve gained 51 this year, which is a *tad* behind schedule. But since new subscribers tend to come in spikes, I feel good about it. I am also super excited that last week I got my first paid Substack subscriber which is a wild feeling. Thanks Adam!
You can pay $5/mo to get extra posts and some additional benefits I am announcing soon! I began writing online in a more disciplined way in 2017. That year I wrote 3,000 words across 6 posts. This year I am already at 35,000 words across 25 posts. I like being reminded that it is still very early in my writing career and I am already feeling the fulfilment of playing the long game here. Thanks to everyone who has read, liked or shared a post of mine and especially thanks to all of you who subscribe!
That’s all for this one! Let me know if you read or listen to anything you think I’d like!