Truths I remind myself of when I sit down to write. — 1. Ideas need space. Like water, air and the other elements. Create space. The ideas will come. 2. Don’t hedge. Don’t hem and haw. Don’t pre-empt criticism or apologise in advance. (So don’t say “perhaps you shouldn’t hedge in your writing” or “it is generally not good to hem and…

How to shoot for the moon and win — Wouldn’t it be fabulous if the most wonderful unlikely thing happened to you? If your novel got published or your start-up got funded or Keanu Reeves blew you a kiss through his car window? That’d be a good day. But what are the odds? How likely are you to hit…

On Modernity and the Age of Overwhelm — I. Visions Lying on a pitch-black field amidst a galaxy of stars Running through millet farms along an endless sunrise Drifting into new islands of consciousness on a sweltering afternoon My memories from boarding school are like the visions of some other life. Because it was some other life. My boarding school…

A micro-essay on the invisible skill that great writers have — A writer is as good as the best sentence they write, and as great as the best sentence they leave out. The best sentence you write signals your aptitude, which is the ability to write valuable things. All good writers have some aptitude for writing. But aptitude doesn’t make writing…

1) If you want to be wealthy, attitudes and behaviours > income and talent — This is a great read, and an easy recommendation if you enjoy non-fiction or are trying to define your philosophy when it comes to personal finance. Words in bold correspond to chapter titles. Introduction: Here is my one-line takeaway of the book: Your wealth depends more on your attitudes, behaviours…

A transcendental idea from the philosophy of consciousness — The obvious explanation for the world we experience is that the world, with its bright green leaves, rough stones and icy rivers is out there, and we apprehend it through our senses. But this view of reality, which philosophers call naïve realism, feels shaky on scrutiny. For, when we see…

Flinch: to shrink back from pain or perceived discomfort. This book is about being aware of the moment we flinch, and going towards what makes us flinch rather than away from it. We tend to flinch away. This book is about flinching forward. The kind of book this is If books are conversations, many non-fiction books…

How reading ancient works makes you a citizen of the future. — Even if it feels obvious in hindsight, the Covid-19 pandemic caught most of us by surprise. But it should not have. Because the history of our world is as much a history of pandemics as it is a history of wars and kingdoms. By some counts there have been 249…

On growing older and staying new — When I was 17, I had not yet closed the door on becoming a footballer, an actor, a comedian, a writer, an investment banker, an entrepreneur, a journalist, a monk, and a dozen other things. Now at 23, all but 3 or 4 of those ambitions have fallen away¹. …