I have a growing iOS list of things to do/watch/see/hear. Figured I would post it here, as well as why I’m looking forward to them.
We’re going to spend a lot of “slow time” this Fall when we leave Brooklyn, so I’m excited to move through this list, and share them with my 14 readers.
What I’m Reading This Fall
- Robert Reich – The System: Who Rigged it, How We Fix It. After seeing what happens in a decade when we don’t hold every person in an office, community, or national administration accountable, I’m going to pick up Reich’s book. As outspoken as he is, he wasn’t given enough credit for the country’s labor participation in the 90’s, and also isn’t criticized enough for not closing the gap between minority median incomes in the Clinton years. Excited to read a bit of fire and brimstone aimed at self-identifying capitalists who don’t understand the roots of capitalism, its strengths, its weaknesses, why we adopted it, and how to return to responsible regulation.
- Bob Woodward – Rage. Ugh. This will probably jump to the top. Depending on what else he gleaned from his eighteen interviews with an over-matched 45th President of the United States, this could potentially be the most important book of my lifetime.
- Katherine Eban – Bottle of Lies. The worst time to read about the corruption behind the generic drug boom is probably right now. But… I’m a glutton for punishment.
- Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu – The Book of Joy. This book came highly recommended from a friend of mine, when I mentioned that COVID was emotionally taxing me. Trying to end the year on a bit of hope.
What I’m Watching This Fall
- Chef’s Table BBQ (Full Season). My favorite Netflix original series. There’s probably nothing I want to eat more than ribs in the Fall.
- Homeland (Final Season). I’m a sucker for action and espionage, and the solid reviews of the last season look worth watching. I’m not especially into plot-driven shows, but the early two seasons did a good job blurring the line between character building and advancing a plot.
- The Wire. (Rewatch). Need some Bunk and McNutty back in my life.
What I’m Listening to This Fall
- Hidden Brain – NPR. Shankar Vendatam turns his popular 2009 book into one of the best podcasts out there right now. Vendatam is more than just a soothing voice. He covers deeply interesting topics on human psychology, and the experts that study them. Should be much higher than the 57th most listened to podcast on Apple. (Also… yikes. Scrolling the “quality” on that list is depressing.)
- The JJ Redick Podcast with Tommy Alter – Ringer. I can’t be objective about a Duke player producing a podcast that effortlessly weaves basketball, burgers, and behavioral economics into a coherent behind-the-scenes look at the life of an NBA basketball player, and I don’t need to. This is one of the hottest podcasts on the planet right now, and listening to podcasts from January (pre-pandemic), March (“We’re in bad shape, but we hope to get going by May”), and July (The NBA Bubble) is legitimately interesting.
Fantastic recent episodes to get your feet wet: the episode following the murder of George Floyd and the episode where he brings on Hasan Minhaj and Malcom Gladwell to discuss mentors. My favorite of 2020, however, is the most recent episode that featured Bomani Jones. Check it out.
- Song Exploder – Hrishikesh Hirway. Really valuable gimmick on this podcast: Each week a famous musician breaks down the lyrics and music of a song they wrote or composed. To the surprise of no one, I listened to Closing Time first.
- Hardcore History – Dan Carlin. Haven’t started listening to this yet, but the reviews of his “Wrath of the Khans” season are universally strong.
I would ask what you’re listening to, but I don’t want to add any more to this list.
Enjoy!