Getting started
TL;DR - I’m starting a newsletter. Will share thoughts and links.
Back in the mid-2000s I was an obsessive user of del.icio.us. Every web page I came across that was vaguely interesting I bookmarked using the social bookmarking site.
I did this partly as an extension of my own, flawed memory, and partly as a possible aid to others. Who those others were, I had no idea, if they even existed at all. But I liked the idea that out there maybe there was someone who was benefiting from what I was bookmarking. Solipsistic? Probably. But I also had a sense that I was contributing towards a greater good. I knew that I certainly gained from being able to follow the reading of the thinkers who used Delicious - like Clay Shirky or Tim O’Reilly. It influenced me to write my Masters thesis on the power of socially-derived linked data.
The Delicious community fell apart slowly after Yahoo! bought it in 2005 but I carried on using it until about 2012, amassing 1000s of links.
And when I found something I really liked and that I thought someone I knew would be interested in, then I sent it to them directly as well. I still do. Can’t help myself. I saw this and thought of you. Is it annoying? Probably. But maybe it’s helped them from time to time. And it has frequently provided a good opportunity to stay in touch.
Many of the people whose writing I have gradually found myself following are link-sharers. They find interesting stuff and then share it with others in the hope that they find it interesting too. They write their own content too, but sharing what they’ve read is an integral part of what they do. For example:
- shares regular lists of 10 things he’s found interesting recently.
Benedict Evans shares great content on Technology (and a range of other areas) in his weekly newsletter.
- , Head of Research at Eka Ventures, shares news on investments in Consumer Healthcare and Climate in the Eka Ventures newsletter, as well as links to interesting reports, and her own research.
Russell Davies suggests sharing things you find interesting with other people in his book Do Interesting.
For a while now I’ve been thinking “I need to write”. By which I mean - I need to get my writing out there and share with other people. I have been writing for many years - I’ve kept a journal for 10 years, and written a novel. But none of this has ever seen the light of day. Sharing things that I find interesting with other people, accompanied by some thoughts of my own, seems a good first step towards sharing something larger of my own creation. Scroll to the end for the first batch of interesting links.
Hopefully, you will find some of what I have to share of interest. I’m likely to cover:
Data & Analytics
Mergers & Acquisitions and Investing
Consumer Healthcare
Languages
Books - fiction and non-fiction
Japan
Physical activity - running, swimming, swim-run, sailing, skiing, dance, meditation
Puzzle and strategy games
I’d like to say that at some point I’ll narrow my focus, but the reality is that I have always been interested in a wide range of topics, so I suspect I will range!
I’ll try to write weekly, although it may be less frequent.
I’d love to hear your thoughts - so please do respond and tell me what you think.
And please do feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested.
Thank you!
Some things I’ve found interesting in the last week:
Interview with Tim Spector, the founder of Zoe, in the FT (free to access): Link
New Yorker article on managing knowledge workers in the new normal: Link
Private equity groups need to sell assets in order to move forward, and are getting increasingly creative to do so (FT article - behind paywall): Link
I’ve just signed up to read The Mountain in the Sea, described as a speculative thriller, and winner of the Locus Best First Novel award, with a few friends by the end of February. If you’d like to read it at the same time too (and maybe meet up to discuss) then drop me a line: Link
We have been playing the tabletop game Kingdomino on repeat at home - quick, simple and addictive: Link
I’m doing a Vipassana retreat in the near future - I reread this piece by Craig Mod to remind me what is in store: Link