Friday Recs | March 22nd

Weekly recommendations on what to read, watch, listen to, and think about

Autumn is arriving in Australia, which means I can wear pants outside!

It also means your late-March recommendations are here, are they’re particularly late-March for all my late-March afficianados.

(Not really. They’re just regular, really good recommendations that are date-independent.)

• Jack Dixon
  at
  Longevity Minded
  wrote a great piece last week on using “mental bookends” to make hard things easier. go check it out.

• I’m still in love with

  Can we read?
  , the newsletter all about creating a culture of reading in homes with children. I would pinpoint her most recent post, but it’s all great

• Sherry Ning
  is still killing it over at
  Pluripotent
  , with last week’s essay titled “Ramble #3: Death by Ambition”

• Elin Petronella
  must know I’m reading, thinking, and teaching about creativity a lot at the moment, because she just put out a thought-provoking essay titled “Why bother about creativity?”

• I recently rediscovered my love for the music of St. Vincent (aka Annie Clarke), who has more than a few absolutely amazing, wonderfully strange songs

• Want a danceable banger about surveillance capitalism? You got it.

• I’ve long been a Harry Nilsson fan, but somehow missed this breezy hit

• Soft and gentle and whispery may not be your vibe, but if it is then check this out from Jon Foreman and Joy Oladokun

• I just recently completed a rewatch of the comedy series The Good Place with my wife. That’s a recommendation in its own right…

• …but it also leads me to another recommendation, which is John Stuart Mills’ classic essay Utilitarianism, which I’m reading at the moment and which, when combined with my rewatching of The Good Place, led me to suddenly exclaim: “Oh no. I’m turning into Chidi.”

• Finally, I have surely recommended it before or at least mentioned it on Still Human, but the book 4,000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman is just short of scripture in my eyes. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

It’s official — I’m now a permanent resident of Australia. As in, my permanent visa has been approved (my first two years here constitute “provisional” status, the assumption being that if I kill someone or punch a kangaroo they’ll send me back to the U.S.)

This is more than just a symbolic moment for me. Sure, it represents a feeling of settlement in a place I deeply love and have come to call home. But it also means that I can now benefit from domestic scholarship — masters degree and (maybe, we’ll see) PhD here I come!

I’m 31 years old and have loved learning my entire adult life. Now, for the first time, I’m going to formally, officially be considered a student.

I believe self-directed learning is the kind of learning that matters most, but damn, it feels good to be a capital-s Student for once.

What have you been reading, watching, listening to, or doing? Let us all know in the comments!

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