Some of the Things I Read, Watched, and Listened to in 2021

December 29, 2021

For the past few years, I glance at my bookshelf, YouTube history, Instapaper archive, and Spotify podcasts to reflect on the media I've consumed that year. Here are some items from that list. If it's on here, I'd recommend it.

I was going to title this "Best of 2021", but I truly don't know if they are the "best" because best for me may not be best for you. I think all "best" lists are random and are just on there because they were the only ones the author could remember when they were writing it. Therefore, here are some of the interesting things I consumed in 2021.

Books

  1. Talking to Strangers by Malcom GladewellContinuing the theme of most of Gladewell's works, this book seems to contradict his thesis from Blink. Nonetheless, its packed with case studies and interesting anecdotes explaining the misconceptions and dangers of talking to strangers. The first time I tried reading this book in 2019, I didn't think it was very good. I thought it had too many stories and not enough reflection. Evidently, I was much more receptive this time around.

  2. Quiet by Susan CaineIf you're an introvert, I recommend you read this book to understand yourself more. If you're an extrovert, I recommend you read this book to understand your quiet friends better.

  3. Think Again by Adam GrantThis book has been monumental for me in 2021 as I've made it a value of mine to not tie my identity to my beliefs. I hope to always be open to evidence about a topic and quick to change my mind, if that's the smartest thing to do. For a quick primer, check out this mini-essay.

  4. Benjamin Franklin and Einstein by Walter IsaacsonThe best way to understand creativity, history, and science is to read about the lives of those who made drastic impacts on the subjects. Getting a very, very comprehensive understanding of the life of Ben Franklin, coupled by the deeply scientific life of Einstein made these two biographies remarkable. At times, I did admit to getting bored as Isaacson shares a lot of detail, but that's part of what makes a good biography.

Articles

  1. "The Big Lessons From History" by Morgan HouselEvery monumental event that has happened in the last 100 years have two things in common. First, they instantly move the world in a new direction. Second, they surprised everyone.

  2. "The Pygmalion Effect: Proving Them Right" by Farnam StreetYour expectations influence your performance.

  3. "Choices" by The Etymology NerdExplains the origins of the word "choices." It's rather intriguing.

  4. "Hemingway’s Advice on Writing, Ambition, the Art of Revision, and His Reading List of Essential Books for Aspiring Writers" by Maria PopovaThe title says enough :)

  5. "Writing is Thinking: Learning to Write with Confidence" by Steph Smith"Learning to write in a way that will make people listen is a powerful skill that I hope all people gain access to."

YouTube Videos

  1. Introduction to Human Behavioral BiologyFrom the YouTube description, "Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky gave the opening lecture of the course entitled Human Behavioral Biology and explains the basic premise of the course and how he aims to avoid categorical thinking."

  2. Henry Thomas Audition for E.T.Incredible performance on an audition tape from Henry Thomas, the main character in E.T.

  3. Newton's Three Body ProblemFrom the YouTube description, "In 2009, researchers ran a simple experiment. They took everything we know about our solar system and calculated where every planet would be up to 5 billion years in the future. They ran over 2,000 simulations, and the astonishing variety in results revealed  that our solar system may be much less stable than it seems."

  4. How the Rich Avoid Paying TaxesI never understood how the rich avoid paying taxes until this video. (Not political, simply an explainer on how it works.)

  5. Does Time Exist?A video guaranteed to make you question life and the existence of nearly everything. TED-Ed videos are phenomenal.

Podcasts

Unfortunately, finding my podcast history proved to be challenging. So instead of recommending specific episodes, I'll recommend certain shows that I listened to almost every episode of.

  1. Work Life by Adam Grant

  2. The Armchair Expert by Dax Shepard and Monica Padman (This is a recent addition)

  3. Hidden Brain by Shankar Vedantam

  4. Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladewell

  5. Sh*t You Don't Learn in School by Steph Smith & Calvin Rosser

  6. Indie Hackers by Courtland Allen