Food, Meetings, Wall Street, Philanthropy & Minimal Housing
If you're in Canada, I hope you enjoyed the long Thanksgiving weekend, and if you're elsewhere I hope you're having a great week!
I was on vacation last week, and while I didn't finish everything I hoped to (does anyone, ever?), I did enjoy lots of golf, cycling, and surfing here in Nova Scotia, and tried to think about work as little as possible.
I did manage to get a little more reading and catching up done than usual, and here are some of the highlights:
Book Notes I Added:Food Rules - Michael Pollan
This should be compulsory reading. Michael Pollan—one of my favourite writers—distills everything he's learned about food, diets, and eating, into 160ish pages, with 64 rules for eating well. He even gives a 7-word summary: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."
Articles I'm Reading:
- Daniel Ek Interview - The Observer Effect - This is a long interview, with lots of great stuff which I'm still working through. One example: "A great meeting has three key elements: the desired outcome of the meeting is clear ahead of time; the various options are clear, ideally ahead of time; and the roles of the participants are clear at the time."
- A Columnist Makes Sense of Wall Street Like No Other (See Footnote) - Emily Flitter, NYT - I haven't been a reader of Matt Levine (though I've now subscribed), but I enjoyed this article, and what he does: explaining difficult concepts extremely well. The more I learn about writing and communication, the more it becomes clear that those who are most talented can do one thing very well: simplify. It may require a deep technical knowledge, or a lot of experience and practice, but it is an invaluable skill.
- Mmhmm, Five-Month-Old Video Startup Making Virtual Meetings More Fun, Raises $31 Million Pre-Launch - Alex Konrad, Forbes - Phil Libin, the founder of Evernote, has raised a Series A for his virtual meeting software. I suspect we'll see more startups around the remote work problem emerge over the coming months. As a larger trend, there tend to be groupings of successful startups that come out of periods of recession or volatility with the economy, and I feel like this could be one of those periods.
- Researchers gave thousands of dollars to homeless people. The results defied stereotypes. - CNN - Homelessness is an issue I'd like to spend more time on in the future, but this study is interesting. Based in Vancouver, they gave select homeless people a stipend, and compared their progress to others over 8-12 months. Beware some issues: they preselected candidates who were more likely to succeed, and it has yet to be verified. But its interesting nonetheless.
- The Inside Story of MacKenzie Scott, the Mysterious 60-Billion-Dollar Woman - Stephanie Clifford, Marker - Interesting profile of Mackenzie Scott, the author and philanthropist ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, who has recently donated $1.7B of her fortune.
Product I'm Eyeing:Paperlike iPad Screen Protectors
I haven't tried these, but they appear intriguing. They claim to give your iPad more of the feel of paper while using with the Apple Pencil. I may finally upgrade to the newest iPad Air (from my ancient iPad 4) when they become available, and this seems like an added benefit for those of us who would use it primarily for note-taking and drawing.
Articles I'm Reading:
Hinterhouse by Ménard Dworkind
I've been spending a lot of time learning about home design, as I start to think about building a place of my own, and this cabin built in Quebec is one of my most recent favourites. Simple, minimalist, and no doubt a modest budget for a building that still seems open, luxurious, and livable.
Have a great week!
Graham
