Hi!
It's good to have you and I hope you will find useful insights here. Grab something to drink and explore my last findings. At the end of this newsletter, I've put my question to You and I'm very curious to hear your approach.
Book
It's been a long time since I read a book that hasn't been written in the last 50 years. Frédéric Bastiat wrote his essay "What is Seen and What is Not Seen" in 1850. I approached him with a certain amount of distrust, but wrongly. Written lightly, intriguingly and most importantly - you can learn a lot from it.
It is less than 100 pages long - it turns out that it is possible to present and support your thesis in a concise manner. Currently, a book of fewer than 250 pages is not considered a book, but a booklet.
It is a great suggestion for a nice evening and therefore it is not worth revealing spoilers - the author himself will do it much better. The book oscillates in economic and philosophical terms, but I would advise you to not skip it in advance if these are not generally your favorite subjects. These categories are simply too broad.
It's free and you can find it here for example.
Useful websites
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Set of guides for better thinking. They provide tools for better thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making. Tools in a sense of mental models.
https://untools.co/
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Sometimes I am replacing listening to the music while working with various background noises that make it easier to concentrate. You can choose one source, or mix them. My most frequent choice is a coffee shop, rain, fireplace, or train. The browser extension works the best for me, but the main source is still a website (free version is enough). There are also plenty of other apps out there. Learn more on my Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMx5Ux4JEKa/
https://www.noisli.com/playlists
Equipment
Why I've changed Kindle for a tablet with Android and e-ink screen?
The first reason is changing the display size for 7,8". It is a size that is comparable with average book dimensions therefore it's making a huge difference in the reading experience.
But the most important is that Android lets me run google translator, which I'm extensively using during reading. Not only for translating words, and whole sentences, but storing new words. In one of my recent articles I've shown a way for "Effortless learning and memorizing new words that came up on your way". Of course, that way was presented for computers or mobiles. Now I can do the same thing with my books.
Another useful feature is a split-screen - I can read original and translated books side by side. It's like having 2 old kindles at once in one device. There is also a possibility to run other apps, but you should be careful and remember that it's still e-ink, so not everything will run smoothly. But for example, the browser becomes usable.
I've chosen Onyx Boox Nova 3, so it also has a Wacom screen and pen for note-taking, but it wasn’t crucial for me - nonetheless, it’s working surprisingly well.
App
My wife enjoyed watching "Good Place" series on Netflix, so I joined her a couple of months ago. Despite the fact that it's a comedy with a marvelous and abstract sense of humor, I was influenced by it to read more about ethics and philosophy.
As I was reviewing the content of Khan Academy app last time, I spotted a course about it. Recently I started watching some lessons of this Wireless Philosophy - so far so good. I can recommend both, course and comedy.
Khan academy is a nonprofit that provides free educational courses in many languages - web and app. If you want to refresh your math, science, or economics foundation or you need some good resources for children, it would be my first choice.
Habit
I thought I will share the new habit I'm working on each month. It can serve as an inspiration for you, but always for me as a contract - I'm sharing it with you, so I hope to follow my assumption.
This time I'm focused on regular exercising. I'm doing my best to practice yoga each day, but I like its slow version, with long positions and stretching. As I need also to get a stronger body, I'm thinking about regular exercises too.
The plan is simple - after practicing yoga I will do: 1 repetiton of push-up, squat, pull-up with TRX, burpee.
Even though I can do way more, forming a habit is about starting simple. So simple you can do it no matter of external factors.
Keep your finger crossed!
The real question for YOU
As I'm reading a lot in my free time in the last few months, I've encountered that I cannot find the right position for reading to not hurt my back, neck, and spine. It's super uncomfortable for me to read paperback books, so I invested in a good ebook reader as mentioned earlier. That solves some inconvenience, but not all of them.
My initial research in that manner comes with one, but too idealistic outcome - change your position as frequently as possible. And this is not only about reading books but working as well. Nevertheless, it's hard to follow that rule, so I'm looking for other lifehacks - maybe you have some that you can share with me?
Besides that, I want to improve my future letters to you - if you want to send me your thoughts about this newsletter, I'm more than happy to hear them.
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