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Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #656

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

Egypt’s New Capital is an Ozymandian Nightmare – Adam Something – YouTube. “Imagine you have crumbling infrastructure, and money to spend. You’d fix it, right? Not if you were a thinly-veiled military junta. You might instead build an entirely new capital, designed to house not just the puppet government and civil servants, but also the military, and let the old city crumble, creating a two-tiered world of leaders and servants. Adam Something is my new favorite educational YouTuber. With a background in civic design and some amazing snark, he’s the perfect person to take on Egypt’s construction aspirations. This is a brilliant skewering of an emerging human rights crisis.” (Alistair for Hugh).
The economics lessons in kids’ books – NPR. “The NPR show, Planet Money, had an idea: Call up economists and find what kids’ books do a good job of teaching economic concepts, then see what happens when they’re discussed in class. One of those books, Dr. Seuss‘ The Sneetches And Other Stories, deals with economic inequality. And when the children in this Ohio classroom pointed out the parallels between the fictional characters and systemic racism, the school district’s communications person stops the interview, saying she doesn’t ‘feel comfortable with [the] book being one of the ones featured’ because it is ‘about differences with race and everything like that’ rather than economics. I’ve linked to the story, but you can click to read the transcript, if you prefer. Shades of things to come as some states try to distort history.” (Alistair for Mitch).
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – Gallery of Winners and Finalists 2022. “The annual (since 2015) awards for photography of wildlife being derps.” (Hugh for Alistair).
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest – 2022 Grand Prize. “The annual (since 1982) awards for bad opening sentences to bad books we hope never get written.” (Hugh for Mitch).
Morgan Housel — The Psychology of Money, Picking the Right Game, and the $6 Million Janitor – Tim Ferriss. “I’ve been texting people whose opinions I trust when it comes to what books I should read next. My question is always: Can you name two books that you read last year that really impressed you? Clay Hebert said that I should read, The Psychology of Money – Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed And Happiness, by Morgan Housel. I had not heard of this book/author (even though it was a massive hit). I thoroughly enjoyed it (and devoured it). Earlier this week, I found myself having a coffee with Bob Glazer who brought up this podcast between the author and Tim Ferriss. It’s three hours long… and worth (almost) every minute. Grab a notebook and pen and dive in.” (Mitch for Alistair).
Rick Rubin and “The Creative Act” – Broken Record Podcast with Malcolm Gladwell. “This week, famed music producer and recordgiant, Rick Rubin (a personal fave) published his long-awaited book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. I can’t put this book down. In fact, I was just telling a friend that I might just highlight the parts that I don’t love, which might make reflecting on it easier. Here, Rubin is in conversation with Malcolm Gladwell. Fact is, you can float around and find many in-depth and awesome conversations with Rick Rubin (I could watch/listen to him talk all day). His perspectives on creativity, creating (anything), life, meditating, getting unblocked, and more are… well… sage and wise and life changing. I can’t recommend this new book enough. You won’t be able to put it down… and when you do, you will find yourself in a state of outpouring creative inspiration. Promise.” (Mitch for Hugh).