Hello everyone,
It’s no secret that social media feeds are meant to grab your attention with the newest and flashiest pieces of content. In the edition on podcasts I described the strategy of avoiding following new stuff, but first digging through the older and time-tested (Lindy) content of an account. Another way to break free from the big-tech algorithms is to opt for following someone’s newsletter, as opposed to their social feeds. Newsletters are special in the sense that they offer direct access to your readers (as opposed to “borrowing” the reader from tech companies). The quality of the delivered information therefore matters more. Only the good stuff goes in newsletters.
Today I’m sharing with you some of the newsletters I follow, so I don’t have to follow their social media accounts.
(Side note: The Launch of Life-Goals OS has been slightly delayed. You can expect the official launch to be this Friday. I’ll send out a final message when it’s go time)
My favorite e-mail newsletters
You’re going to notice a theme with all of these recommendations and that is optimism and objectivity. News focusses on a very narrow part of the picture and has a bias towards negativity and pessimism. But, zooming out and taking a broader look at the situation is often far more helpful to enhance your worldview. (It’s likely better for your mental health and happiness too).
1. Pessimist Archive Newsletter
Keywords: History. Pessimism. Context.
Summary: Probably my favorite of the bunch. Pessimist archive finds news clippings of old newspapers that show the hysteria and pessimistic news items of the past. It illustrates that many of the problems we think are a product of our time are not new at all. Xenophobia, Information overload, Resource Scarcity and even hysteria over new toys that supposedly ruin the minds of our children (spoiler: teddy bears are evil). It’s very soothing and sobering to read. A sentiment shared by many people online:
2. Humanprogress.org
Keywords: History. Progress. Statistics. Living standards.
Summary: Human progress.org is what you wish the news would be. It reports on the breakthroughs in technology and innovation that are making the world better. They don’t just highlight feel good pieces. They collect and show the data illustrating progress.
3. Ben Evan’s newsletter
Keywords: Technology. Context. Signal vs noise. History.
Summary: Ben Evans has been in tech for a number of decades and he writes about what matters in tech now. Stepping back from the noise, he tries to work out what’s really happening, what matters, and what it might mean.
4. Andrew Huberman’s newsletter
Keywords: Health. Longevity. Progress. Tips. Practical.
Summary: Dr. Andrew Huberman and his team delivers the latest in neuroscience, health, and science-related tools to your inbox directly. It’s not dry scientific news, but always communicated in a way that you can practically derive lessons and practices from.
5. Julian Shapiro’s newsletter
Key words: Generalism. Self Development. Break-downs.
Summary: Julian Shapiro is hard to put in a box. He’s a successful start-up founder who’s heavily into self-fulfilment. He likes to pick a topic like startups, muscle building, non-fiction writing and break it down into in depth guides . His newsletter is sporadic, but always of high quality with interesting and diverse insights.
That’s a wrap
I’d love to hear what your favorite newsletters. Leave a comment on substack sharing your thoughts. Alternatively, drop me an e-mail!
If you'd like to see more insights in the meantime, be sure to follow me on Twitter → https://twitter.com/Edwindoit
See you next week!
Edwin