From
perell.com
Email Address
david@perell.com
Sent On
Fri, Oct 6, 2023 11:35 PM
Email Preheader Text
Hi friends, Each year, I read fewer and fewer books, but go deeper and deeper on the books I choose
HTML
[Read in your browser here.]() Hi friends, Each year, I read fewer and fewer books, but go deeper and deeper on the books I choose to read. It hit me yesterday when I realized that we're approaching the end of 2023, and I've probably picked up no more than ~10 books all year. I've been focused on [the most important book to me](, and reading other books that help me understand that one. Today's Finds â[John Fiorentino, on Having Good Ideas](): One of the hardest parts of doing creative work is simply explaining yourself. On the outside, the creative life can look lazy and undisciplined. You write. You walk. You travel. You order a latte, then a Diet Coke. You read random books. You talk to random people, just waiting for a spark. Isn't that a waste of time? Well, no. Because that's how the work happens. What looks like leisure on the outside can be excruciating on the inside. The idea-hunting instinct doesn't have an on/off switch. It's a 24/7, all-consuming craft. It's a simultaneous blend of bliss and torture. Working overtime is mandatory, and the pay is speculative. When others go out to dinner on Saturday for a relaxing night out, you scan the menu for font designs and feel the suede texture of your chair for inspiration. The clamor of the plates drives you nuts. So does the lack of sound panels on the ceiling. Next thing you know, you're lost in your head, designing a mood board for the restaurant you want to open someday while your date is wishing they'd swiped left. Though epiphanies arrive in a kinetic flash, the seeds are sown over years of [play and contemplation](=). â[Airlines are Becoming Banks](): One of my strangest note-taking hobbies is collecting old airline advertisements. And the TWA ads take the cake. The Pan-Am ones are a close second place. What strikes me most about these old advertisements is the glamour of travel. The colors were vibrant. The planes were spacious. The flight attendants were beautiful. The people were smiling and well-dressed. Not so anymore! Airlines have become financial institutions. The changes began with American Airlines after the [Airline Deregulation Act of 1978]( when they introduced their frequent flier program. A decade later, they introduced their first branded credit card. Almost half a century later, the major airlines have created opaque mini economies driven by points and credit cards â and these mileage programs are now more valuable than the airlines themselves. United's MileagePlus program was valued at $22 billion at a time when the company's market cap was only $10.6 billion. This shift in priorities is why airplanes themselves feel less like hotel lobbies and more like waiting rooms at a hospital. Next time your knee knocks against the seat back in front of you at 35,000 feet, youâll know the culprit for your bruise. â[How Louis C.K. Tells a Joke](=): Comedy is the art you can't fake. If you're good, you get a roar of laughter. If you stink, you get the haunting crickets of silence and indifference. A few things stand out about Louis' approach to the craft: a sensitivity to pacing, clear premises, comedic surprises, and deliberate rhythm. As the Nerdwriter says: "Telling a joke is like riding a wave of feeling." Unlike Seinfeld, [Louis doesn't write out his jokes](=). Instead, he writes down bullet points and tries them out on stage. â[Writing Wednesdays](: Steven Pressfield spent decades as a struggling writer, and didn't publish his first novel until the age of 52. But once the floodgates opened, he exploded. Now he's published 24 books. Writing Wednesdays is an exploration of the craft, topped by this lesson: âWhen you understand that nobody wants to read your shit, your mind becomes powerfully concentrated. You begin to understand that writing/reading is, above all, a transaction. The reader donates his time and attention, which are supremely valuable commodities. In return, you, the writer, must give him something worthy of his gift to you." If you're ready to dive in, I recommend "[The Most Important Writing Lesson I Ever Learned](," "[How to Be Inspired]()," or "[Write What You Don't Know](=)." â[Pop Culture Has Become an Oligopoly](: Two things are true. First, the Internet has led to decentralization like never before. People like myself can spin up a website and a newsletter, and bypass the approval of gatekeepers. But at the same time, pop culture is more centralized than ever. From movies to music, books to video games, the most popular content garners more attention than ever. Take movies. Before the year 2000, only 25% of top-grossing movies were prequels, sequels, spinoffs, remakes, reboots, or cinematic universe expansions. By 2010, that number had climbed to 50%. Now, itâs close to 100%. The gravity of the Internet leads to centralization, but savvy media consumers can learn from a wider variety of voices than at any other point in human history. How I Write
[[video preview]â](=) Marc Andreessen gave me a masterclass on how to think, learn, read, research, and write.
â
Hereâs what stuck out: - Read, read, read⦠then read some more.
â
- Many of your best ideas will emerge in fits of rage or frustration. Channel the fury. Smash the keyboard. Lean into the passion. Torch the page with your energy.
â
- Media formats are cyclical. Nietzsche wrote in aphorisms and Twitter is aphorisms-as-a-service. Hip-hop brought back poetry. Montaigne pioneered the essay format and blogs brought them back into vogue. You can [watch the full episode on YouTube](, or listen on [Spotify]( and [Apple](=). If clips are more your thing, start with Marc's advice to [stand out early in your career by writing](=). Take notes. Write the plan. Run point on the next internal memo. â â P.S. [You were made for more than this](=). Have a creative week, [David Perell Logo 2x]
Thanks for reading! If youâre serious about learning to write, [sign up for my 50 days of writing series.]() Iâll send you a series of emails about every aspect of the craft, from finding new ideas, to editing your writing, to building an email list. If you'd like to update your email settings, choose one of the options below. 1. [Click here]() to unsubscribe from Friday Finds only. 2. [Unsubscribe]( to be removed from all future mailings. That'll make me sad. But hey... I get it. You're busy. Just know that once you click this link you won't receive any more emails from me. If you want to opt-out of Friday Finds and don't see a link above to do so, just hit reply and let me know. I'll take care of it for you personally. 10900 Research Blvd Ste 160C PMB 3016, Austin, Texas 78759
EDM Keywords (181)
youtube
yesterday
years
year
writing
writes
write
wishing
website
wave
watch
waste
want
walk
waiting
voices
vogue
vibrant
valued
valuable
update
unsubscribe
united
undisciplined
understand
twitter
tries
travel
transaction
time
talk
switch
stuck
strikes
stink
stand
spotify
spin
speculative
spark
spacious
sown
smiling
silence
shit
shift
serious
series
sensitivity
send
seeds
see
scan
saturday
sad
roar
return
restaurant
removed
recommend
receive
realized
ready
reading
read
rage
publish
priorities
points
point
play
planes
people
pay
pan
page
outside
order
options
opt
ones
nuts
number
newsletter
movies
menu
masterclass
marc
many
mandatory
make
made
lost
listen
link
like
let
lesson
led
learning
learn
laughter
latte
lack
know
joke
introduced
internet
inspired
inspiration
inside
indifference
hit
hey
help
gravity
good
glamour
gift
get
gatekeepers
front
focused
fits
feel
fake
exploration
exploded
excruciating
ever
end
emerge
emails
editing
early
dive
dinner
deeper
date
culprit
craft
company
colors
close
clips
climbed
click
clamor
choose
chair
centralized
centralization
career
cake
bypass
busy
building
bruise
browser
books
bliss
begin
become
beautiful
back
attention
art
approval
approaching
apple
aphorisms
airplanes
airlines
age
advice
52
50
25
2023
2010
1978
100