This is my third installment of my top recs of the month, which has been an interesting self-experiment in maintaining a habit. Earlier this year, I shared how my habit to read ~25 books a year began with a simple goal of reading one book a month. Since I started that habit almost 10 years ago, now I can’t imagine not having a book to read every night. I hope writing becomes as second nature and something I get to do everyday.  

It’s worth remembering that all habits begin with simple building blocks of action that, when compounded together, yield big results. This is similar to one of my favorite quotes – “We overestimate how much we can accomplish in a year, but underestimate how much we can do in 10.” I hope 10 years from now, I’ll look back at everything I’ve written and think how extraordinary it was that I wrote so much. But looking forward, I know it all begins with an article, one by one. 

With that, here’s the best of what I’ve read, listened, or watched in the last month. 

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1. [Book] – Derek Sivers – Hell Yeah or No

Another month, and another new person I’m obsessed with. I first learned of Derek on Tim Ferris’ podcast ~two years ago, but decided to finally read his book this month, and now I’m hooked. All my takeaways could be a whole article, but two that I’m holding onto: 1) For those who find themselves stuck between wanting to pursue a creative passion or having a stable job, find balance by pursuing your creative passion with the rigor of a professional without the financial pressure by affording it through a normal job, and 2) Write what may be obvious to you but is (likely) genius to others. I love both of these so much because it gives me both permission and structure to pursue my craft. That, in itself, is the power of writing. You never know who will read what you’ve written and can have their life changed by it. This month, Derek Sivers, you did that for me, so thank you. I hope to do the same for others. 

2. [Article] Kyle Chan – NYT Opinion on China’s dominance

This article’s headline says it all: China will be dominant, and the US will be irrelevant. This was my most shared article this month. Not because this is a new idea, or because I’ve been wondering ever since I lived in Shanghai in 2018, if the decline of the US this century is similar to the decline of the British Empire. But because of this one stat from a report referenced in the article that blew my mind – China’s robot installation is almost 6x US, while the UK is less than 1% of US. If robots and AI are the future, which I talked about in March regarding Marc Andreessen’s podcast, then China is, without question, dominating. 

3. [Book] Malcolm Gladwell – The Revenge of the Tipping Point

I haven’t read a Malcolm Gladwell book since Outliers in ~2010s, and it wasn’t until reading this that I remembered why Gladwell is so brilliant. I’ve read plenty of “business-adjacent psychology” books explaining why the world is the way it is, but this was different. Gladwell is persuasive, original, and goes both deep and broad in explaining the negative consequences of social engineering and epidemics on society in a new way beyond “social media is bad.”

4. [Article] Derek Thompson – Something Alarming is Happening to the Job Market – The Atlantic

This was my second most-shared article this month, and it’s confirming everything I’ve been thinking about when it comes to AI, the decline of the job market, and what students need to do do prepare themselves. The most alarming stat is that last month’s recent-grad employment gap hit an all-time low, so today’s college graduates are “entering an economy that is relatively worse for young college grads than any month on record, going back at least four decades.” New article coming with all my thoughts on what students need to do to prepare themselves. 

5. [Movie] – Cinema Paradiso

This is one of the best movies I’ve watched in recent months. It’s from 1988, all in Italian, and reminiscent of everything I loved about Goodwill Hunting and The Holdovers—a story of a precocious kid and an older mentor who taught him the way of life. It’s beautiful, heartbreaking, and a perfect example of storytelling and characterization at its finest.

New recs to come for for next month!