| Sunday, 12 October 2025 |
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Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],
Good morning and welcome to the weekend—an entirely made-up construct that we look forward to, luxuriate in, and miss terribly.
I couldn’t write last week because I was in Goa on Saturday. We spent four days doing so little, and yet so much.
I read four books in four days. It’s amazing how fast you can read books when you don’t have distractions.
1. Breath, by James Nestor. A brilliant treatise on not just breathing, but also the human body, our brains, our mouths, and our developmental regression after thousands of years of evolution. I place it on the same pedestal as Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run. Both are incredibly well written, Gonzo-ish, and turn conventional wisdom on its head. A must read!
2. Advice on Upskilling, by Justin Skycak. A really thorough, no-nonsense approach to professional self-improvement via upskilling. Skycak manages to do the impossible—talk about upskilling at a non-specific level (thus, it could be applicable to math, gym, coding, writing) while also managing to be incredibly precise and detailed in his recommendations. He makes it available as both a free PDF or a free Google Sheet that is frequently updated.
3. Get Out of Your Own Way, by Mark Goulston and Philip Goldberg. The book’s description is pretty solid: “Practical, proven self help steps show how to transform 40 common self-defeating behaviors, including procrastination, envy, obsession, anger, self-pity, compulsion, neediness, guilt, rebellion, inaction, and more.”
4. Blue Moon, by Lee Child. Sigh, I think I am done with my Reacher love. I guess I must have read about ten Reacher novels by now. I’ve seen all three seasons of the TV series too. With Blue Moon, I feel like I’ve reached the limits of my cliche tolerance. It is just too formulaic, lazy and, well, cliched to enjoy. I still slogged through the book, but don’t think I’ll be buying or reading any more for a while.
I also managed two barefoot runs on the beach for about 3.5 kilometres each. The last time I tried it was back in 2022.
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