Cosy Sunday Reads V.03
This week: Learning about cells / Looking over the shoulder of famous leaders / Facing obstacles / Exploring consciousness and it's contents / Flying over Turkey
Bonjour,
In the past months, life has been full of contrast. On the one hand, our society is still coping with a spreading epidemic, forcing countries to apply further lock-down measures. On the other hand, the discovery of promising vaccines has been flooding the news. Meanwhile, most western countries celebrate the election of a more moderate president in the most influential country on earth. At the same time, his predecessor seems to be unable to concede his loss, revealing to the world just how deep a chasm can be created in a united nation.
While these are times of extremes around the world, I would like to share with you some timeless content impartial of these troubled times. I hope you will enjoy the following selection of media as much as I have.
Video: Kurzgesagt - How large can a bacteria get? (11:04 min watch)
Why are organisms made of billions of cells and not of one large single cell? Why did cells decide to group up to form larger organisms? In their new video, Kurzgesagt (“In a nutshell”) delivers a straight forward explanation for why all large organisms are comprised of smaller individual cells. The visualisation of how physics and chemistry guided the development of organisms and how it is still embedded within humans amazed me.
Screenshot from the website Blog: Sriram Krishnan - List of internal memos from business, politics & sports(ca. 10-30 min each memo)
Wouldn’t it be interesting if we could have been there when Bill Gates decided Microsoft’s strategy for the internet? Or when Zuckerberg decided to buy Instagram? Just to have a peek into their thinking about the world at the time. Well, now you can! The following website collects internal memos (emails, blog posts, speeches etc.) from leaders in business, sports and politics. In those PDFs, you get to experience thought leaders guide the decisions that shaped world-leading organisations. I only read a handful, but can already recommend most of them (Zuckerberg, Ben Horrowitz, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates).
Book: Ryan Holiday - The obstacle is the way (4 hours read - 224 pages)
Given the ups and downs of life, we all face them: Problems - Challenges - Obstacles. They can drain our energy, questions our ideas and motives, and take away all our hope. But obstacles are a necessary part of life. Only by facing them, we grow.
This book by Ryan Holiday can be a motivator in challenging times. I have been reading it in the past months when I was facing several challenges. It gave me the right mindset to endure and charge forward when necessary. If you are in a tough spot, I highly recommend this book to you. If you are currently having a blast and enjoying life, then this book might not resonate with you as much. That’s fine! I will surely pick it up again in the future when facing another obstacle.
App: Sam Harris - Waking up (10-20min per session)
More than a year ago my good friend Elliott recommended me to look into Sam Harris and his meditation app “Waking up”. I had been sporadically meditating with the app “headspace” but never managed to developed a regular practice. For over a year now I have been meditating regularly. Sometimes even as long as 1 hour at a time.
Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, philosopher and author. I would describe his approach to meditation as “mindfulness for the non-spiritual”. Given his scientific background and years of experience with many different schools of mindfulness, he communicates a compelling framework for how to think about the mind. Meditation is often stated as a tool to become a calmer person. For me, however, meditation had a profound influence on many aspects of my everyday life. In a future blog post, I might further describe these aspects. For now, I will leave you with a strong recommendation to give Sam’s entry course a try.
Music Video: Cercle - Ben Böhmer above Cappadocia
Similar to the last edition of the Cosy Sunday Reads, I’d like to share a set from Cercle with you. Ben Böhmer has been one of my personal music discoveries of 2020. Cercle has now given Ben Böhmer a special stage for his dreamy deep house tunes. Flying over Cappadocia, Türkey, they deliver an audio-visual experience made for goosebumps. On my first playthrough, I was so mesmerized by the scenery and music that I just sat there in awe for an hour. Maybe this video will also give you some relief of the grey fall and winter months.
I hope you enjoy this collection of pieces. Feel free to share the newsletter with friends and family, if you feel like it:
Sunday quote:
“There is no such thing as a normal period of history. Normality is a fiction of economic textbooks.” — Joan Robinson