A weekly outpour of 5 of the things I consume every week. A coalescence of art, podcasts, articles, essays, newsletters, movies, web series and any other form of media you can imagine.
Hello nerds! In this information era what we digest is what we reflect. Here's a flux of information you might find interesting.
1. Zen kōans: unsolvable enigmas designed to break your brain - Puqun Li by TED-Ed (Animated Video)
A koan is a riddle or puzzle that Zen Buddhists use during meditation to help them unravel greater truths about the world and about themselves. Koans may seem like paradoxes at first glance. It is up to the Zen student to tease out their meaning and to understand by the spirit and by intuition. A lullaby of perception, beautifully illustrated, watch this video to learn more about how Koans amplify your imagination.
2. In Defense of Browsing by Curbed (Essay)
Probably one of the masterpieces I read this week! Often I am inquired by many on why is it important to maintain diversity in interests and nothing summarizes it better than this article. Whilst being slaves to our feed and being fed recommendations by the Algorithm Lord, we are in an constant enigma to keep consuming the same content without having the liberty to wander aimlessly.
Spontaneity is learning. Browsing is research.
3. How To Enjoy Coffee by Psyche (Long Essay)
Smooth like chocolate or fruity like a berry, coffee has as many tastes as wine or beer – you just need to know your beans
I have been reading Aeon since I was in college and Psyche is a digital magazine from Aeon that illuminates the human condition through psychology, philosophy and the arts. I have always been intrigued by coffee as a subject and its history, so much that I read a 700 pager book on it. This essay summarises all you should know about coffee if you are a coffee enthusiast.
4. Incidental Comics by Grant Snider (Illustration Art)
A treat to the eyes and to the soul! I have always admired comic art because of its capability to propound multiple ideas in a single illustration- beautiful to look at and lucid to understand and Grant Snider does just that. His comics have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The Kansas City Star, The Best American Comics 2013, and all across the internet. He is also the author and illustrator of many children's picture books. Check out his website whenever you feel overwhelmed and need a break to slow down.
5. The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday by Typesense (Blog)
As much as I find self-help not so helping, I read it just to get constant reminders about the same things- to be in discipline. A short humble story by the founders of Typesense which is an open source typo tolerant search engine on how they bootstrapped this idea and about how it is imperative to show up in the direst of circumstances. It reminds me time and again of this quote by Chuck Close:
“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up to work”.