My Favourite Media - What I Watch, Listen To, and Read

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, and reading Julian’s post on the same topic motivated me to finish.

I plan to keep this up-to-date as my preferences change.

Please let me know what I should be watching/listening to/reading that isn’t here in the comments!

How I Consume Content

In general, I try to be as deliberate as possible in consuming content.

Here are some general principles:

• I try to avoid the news as much as possible: I don’t read news websites, I try to resist political Twitter, etc. There is very little information here that changes my life on a daily basis, or needs to be acted upon.
• I try to avoid starting new TV series. They are extremely time-consuming, and past experience has shown they can distract me for days at a time. When I feel like watching something, I’ll try to make it a single movie/documentary/etc.
• I try to avoid consuming for the sake of consuming. If I don’t feel like doing work, and want to watch something instead, I’ll try and watch sports, or a good movie, from my list of movies I want to watch (not a Netflix movie I know nothing about).
• Twitter and Instagram are definitely where I spend the most social media time. Instagram can be distracting, but also good for learning and inspiration, particularly if you’re into photography.
• Twitter can be a fantastic look into what many brilliant people are thinking, particularly in tech.
• Email newsletters are also a great way to stay up-to-date and have other people filter content for you, helping improve indiscriminate consumption.
• I try to read books by topic, and also like reading all of an author’s works together. You can learn more about how I read here.
• I wish I listened to more podcasts - I think they’re fantastic. The reality is, I just don’t currently find the time. I don’t usually commute, and can’t listen while I’m working.

What I Watch, Listen To, and Read

TV Shows (current):

• Billions - Fantastic acting and look into the world of finance in New York.
• Silicon Valley - Can verify it is scarily accurate.
• The Grand Tour - If you like cars, this is a very entertaining hour.
• Last Week Tonight - My only conscious dose of news, though the main segments are less trendy.

TV Shows (past):

• Peaky Blinders - Love the setting and acting.
• Californication - A classic about California life and challenging family dynamics.
• Dexter - Fantastic acting, interesting premise.
• True Detective - Great acting, great pacing and plot building.
• The Office - A classic.
• Archer - Some of the best dialogue out there.
• Sherlock - Great stories, equally good acting.
• House of Lies - Underrated, but extremely entertaining (and likely closer to reality than most would admit).

Podcasts:

• The Tim Ferriss Show - I just don’t find time to listen to more podcasts. This is very entertaining and a good range of topics & guests.

Films:

• The Departed - One of my favorite endings, full of great acting, and set in Boston.
• Seven - My favorite of the psychological thriller genre.
• Casino Royale - One of the biggest changes to the Bond francise in years, a dark, gritty look at how the Bond character was formed.
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - I generally love Guy Ritchie films, and the London underground setting.
• Snatch - Another Guy Ritchie classic.
• Seven Pounds - Will Smith struggling with life’s biggest questions.
• Shooter - Best sniper movie of the modern era; fan of the book too.
• Miami Vice - Got terrible reviews, but I love the Miami/oceanfront setting.
• Interstellar - Mind-blowing every time, particularly if you’re familiar with the physics portrayed in the movie.
• Fight Club - Another great movie in the psychological thriller area.
• 300 - Always inspiring.
• Like Crazy - One of the best romantic films I’ve ever seen. Won’t necessarily make you feel good, but much more realistic.
• Adventureland - My favorite feel-good summer flick.

Blogs:

• Nat Eliason - Consistently interesting content. SEO specialist, among other things.
• Julian Shapiro - Long guides are outstanding. Blog is very good too.
• Tim Ferriss - The person I follow most consistently across platforms.
• Ryan Holiday - Stoicism forms basis for a lot of his writing; also does marketing.
• Fred Wilson - VC offering regular, interesting content.
• Alex Iskold - My managing director at Techstars NYC, writes very clear content for startups.
• Wait but Why - Long-form blog posts about big questions and topics. Really like a series of shorter books.
• Farnam Street - A website dedicated to improving thinking. Great content on books, learning, and more. Based in Ottawa too!

Twitter:

• Paul Graham - Founder of YC offering lots of interesting positions, often related to tech.
• Naval Ravikant - Perhaps the best at offering Twitter-size wisdom.
• Nat Eliason - See above.
• Shane Parrish/Farnam Street - See above.
• Emily Best - Founder of Seed&Spark, passionate advocate for diversity/inclusion in tech, and a personal inspiration and friend (we met at Techstars Boston).
• Hunter Walk - Frank investor.
• Austen Allred - Founder of Lambda School, college alternative that is rapidly growing.
• Elon Musk - Founder of Tesla, SpaceX, Boring Company, etc.
• Julian Shapiro - See above.
• Riva-Melissa Tez - AI specialist & investor.
• David Heinemeier Hansson - Founder of Basecamp offering some contrarian work views.
• Mason Hartman - Web/graphic designer offering thoughts on tech.
• Julia Galef - Writer/speaker focused on rational thinking.

Instagram:

• Alex Strohl - Unbelievable landscape photographer.
• Jason Charles Hill - Wide range of landscapes.
• Olivier Martel Savoie - iPhone-only with one of the best eyes out there.
• Emilie Lula - Travel/landscape/lifestyle with beautiful warm tones.
• Aaron Brimhall - Distinct style.
• Chris Burkard - Fantastic landscape photographer.
• Sam Horine - Urban/landscape travel photographer.
• Jack Morris - Mix of lifestyle/urban/travel content.
• Adam Galla - One of my go-to style accounts.
• Kyle Kotajarvi - Stunning landscapes.
• Ted Gushue - Cars and lifestyle.
• Rodrigo Trevino - Landscape photographer.
• Garrett King - Very distinctive style with motorsports/landscape preference.
• Riley Harper - Stuntman’s account reminds us of how to live properly.
• Ivy Miller - Model who reminds us not to take life too seriously.
• Johannes Huebl - Second of my go-to style accounts. Husband of Olivia Palermo (for the ladies).
• Jeremy Jauncey - Travel/fitness/style content.
• Renee Hahnel - Landscape photographer with warm tones.
• Alexandra Taylor - Big range of landscapes.
• Ahmet Erdem - Based in Turkey, beautiful mix of landscape and urban.
• Tobias Hagg - Some of the best aerial photos around.
• Tyler White - Dark tone landscapes.
• Cath Simard - Outstanding landscape (specifically mountains) photographer.
• Max Rive - Surreal landscapes.
• Benjamin Everett - Some of the calmest, most clean landscapes I’ve ever seen.
• Jordan Hammond - Excellent variation in photos with bright colors.
• Callum Snape - Vancouver-based photographer with vibrant landscapes.
• Ben Blenner - Photographer and filmmaker with a wide range of work.
• Frans Lanting - National Geographic wildlife photographer.
• Paul Nicklen - Another National Geographic wildlife photographer.

Email Newsletters:

• The Hustle - Daily digest of what’s happening in tech and business.
• Mister Spoils - Daily email of IG accounts to follow, a product, a song, and a story.
• Farnam Street - Weekly email of new content on Farnam Street blog.
• Nat Eliason - Weekly digest of what’s interesting/new content.
• Seth Godin - Daily blog post on marketing/life/business.
• Benedict Evans - Weekly digest of what’s happening in tech.

Authors:

• Robert Greene - Long, life-lesson books interspersed with examples from history.
• Nassim Nicholas Taleb - Contrarian views on a wide variety of things, including predictions, forecasting, and more.
• Cal Newport - Productivity and work guru.
• James Clear - Expert in habits.
• Tim Ferriss - Wide-ranging productivity and learning expert.
• Dan Pink - Research-based books on a wide range of useful topics.

Books:

• Deep Work - Cal Newport
• Atomic Habits - James Clear
• 4-Hour Workweek - Tim Ferriss
• 4-Hour Body - Tim Ferriss
• Mastery - Robert Greene
• Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• The Checklist Manifesto - Atul Gawande
• Poor Charlie’s Almanack - Charlie Munger
• Others: Scar Tissue, Open, Skin in the Game, 48 Laws of Power, Principles, Fluent Forever, To Sell is Human

Other Sources:

• The Athletic - If you’re into sports, this is the best content I’ve found.
• The Economist - I no longer subscribe as part of my effort to cut out news, but if you have to read news, this is fantastic analysis, with a more Euro-centric feel (UK specifically).

What else should I be watching/listening to/reading that I’m not?

Let me know in the comments.