Every week, I look forward to Tim Ferriss' Five-Bullet Friday emails, in which he shares five things he is “enjoying or pondering.”
In the space of a week, I come across many great stories, interviews, images, ideas, products, etc. I decided to take a page from Ferriss (imitation being the highest form of flattery, as the saying goes) and begin saving some of my favorite things to share once a week.
Tim has Friday covered masterfully, so I chose Monday, a day that many of us have a hard time facing (especially in August). For now, I’m calling these posts Monday Kickstarts; choosing what to share will be a challenge and maybe the best part?
I hope you enjoy this first list.
Images
Two mind-boggling structures won the week for me:
- From @dezeen on Instagram:
"A curved golden bridge held up by two giant hands, designed by TA Landscape Architecture, has opened to the public near Da Nang in central Vietnam. See more images of the bridge on dezeen.com/architecture."
#Architecture #Bridges #Vietnam
- From @designboom, also on Instagram:
"@juergen.mayer.h's metropol parasol snakes through #seville's urban center. a dense fabric of organically woven and undulating panels compose the space and starkly contrast the medieval environment that surrounds it. 📸 by @nicanorgarcia."
Radio/podcasts
NPR – Weekend Edition with Scott Simon (August 11, 2018)
This English major still struggles with math, but stories like this one draw me in (and make me wish I had not told myself a tall tale growing up — i.e., that I would never be “good” at math).
- Terry Tempest Williams: "Beauty is not optional–it is a strategy for survival"
A Phone Call with Paul podcast
If you’re up for a deep, thoughtful, thought-provoking almost-hour, I think you’ll enjoy this conversation.
This interview was a great example of connection … kismet? (not sure I can come up with the right word) between interviewer and subject. Paul Holdengraber, Director of LIVE from the NY Public Library (and one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter), interviews writer, conservationist and activist Terry Tempest Williams. (I have long admired her; I had a chance to hear her speak at an environmental writing conference when I was twenty-something and working for an environmental research institute in Washington.)
As the website sums it up: “In this episode of A Phone Call With Paul, Paul Holdengraber plays music from Terry Tempest Williams’ childhood and talks to her about beauty, the twin elements of joy and sorrow, and the power and importance of the human voice.”
There were many snippets I found myself scrambling to write down, including this one: “I love the paradox that our voices are born out of solitude, and silence is a conversation.”
We have so many things competing for our attention now – so many crazy headlines every hour, not just every day – and I don't take nearly enough deep dives into "big life" topics like those Holdengraber and Tempest Williams waxed poetic about in this interview.
READING
- The Oldest Treasures From 12 Great Libraries
From Atlas Obscura (one of my favorite sources of intriguing stories)
If you love treasures and history and libraries, I think you’ll enjoy this one:
“In the history of writing, bound books as we know them today arrive fairly late, so there are no actual ‘books’ on this list. Instead, this is a wondrous collection of illuminated manuscripts, papyrus scrolls, and clay tablets.”
(One of these treasures is “the earliest surviving cookbook in the West.”)
- Best "truth is stranger than fiction" story of the week
Associated Press
Here's the full story: Man who jumped out of freezer and died was cold-case suspect
Daily habit (+ product)
- “Five-Minute” journaling
I’m giving another shout-out to Tim Ferriss for this one; Ferriss has talked many times in his podcasts about his habit of beginning and ending his day with “five-minute” journaling – jotting down short entries in the morning and at the end of day. The company Intelligent Change makes a Five-Minute Journal ($22.95) inspired by Ferriss’ approach, and it’s become a valuable part of my routine.
See the photos to get an idea of the prompts and format; the quotations are my favorite part of the design. (Apologies for the large photo size; technical glitch with the platform that I hope to resolve later.)
If you’d rather not buy a journal, you can easily make your own, of course. (I don’t get anything if you buy one from Intelligent Change.)
I hope you found something on the inaugural Monday Kickstart list that struck your fancy – have a great week.
~Carla