To People Who Think

Things I Recommend

A running list of books, articles, films, tools, and places that have shaped how I think. Nothing here is sponsored — just things I genuinely believe are worth your time.

Books

  • Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman

    The best map I've found of how the mind actually works. Changed how I evaluate my own decisions.

  • The Master and Margarita — Mikhail Bulgakov

    Satirical, surreal, and deeply human. A novel about art, power, and the devil visiting Moscow.

  • Pilgrim at Tinker Creek — Annie Dillard

    The kind of nature writing that makes you see everything differently for weeks afterward.

  • The Remains of the Day — Kazuo Ishiguro

    A quiet, devastating novel about dignity, regret, and the stories we tell ourselves to keep going.

Articles

  • The Catastrophe of Success — Tennessee Williams

    A short essay on what happens when you get what you wanted. Written in 1947, still perfectly relevant.

  • Solitude and Leadership — William Deresiewicz

    On why the ability to be alone with your thoughts is the foundation of genuine leadership.

  • How to Do Nothing — Jenny Odell

    A talk-turned-essay about attention, resistance, and the radical act of just sitting still.

Films

  • Paterson — Jim Jarmusch, 2016

    A film about a bus driver who writes poetry. Nothing dramatic happens, and that's the whole point.

  • The Great Beauty — Paolo Sorrentino, 2013

    Rome, aging, beauty, and the search for something real underneath all the spectacle.

  • Columbus — Kogonada, 2017

    Architecture as emotional language. One of the most visually thoughtful films I've seen.

Tools

  • Field Notes notebooks

    Small enough to carry everywhere. The best thing for capturing ideas before they evaporate.

  • Are.na

    A visual bookmarking tool built for thinking, not performing. The anti-social-media.

  • iA Writer

    Distraction-free writing at its best. Markdown, focus mode, nothing else.

Places & Miscellaneous

  • Powell's City of Books — Portland, OR

    An entire city block of books. The kind of place where you lose an afternoon and gain a reading list.

  • The Long Now Foundation

    An organization dedicated to long-term thinking. Their seminars are excellent and free online.

  • Walking without headphones

    Not a product. Just a practice. Try it for a week and see what you notice.