Happy New Year!
Welcome back to The Three Things, the weekly update of three links, podcasts, videos, or books you can’t miss from Michael Schechter, Howie Goldfarb, and me!
This is the 14th edition and you may notice I’ve added “books” to what you can expect here. You’ll see why when you get to my selection.
For those of you new to this series, The Three Things arrives in your inbox on Sunday mornings (unless you don’t suscribe, but that can easily be fixed if you hurry over and enter your email address or add to your RSS feed) so you have some extra time to spend perusing the obscure content we’ve curated for you (and one another) before your week begins and deadlines, meetings, and work takes over.
The Generational Podcast – Curiosity and Analytical Thinking with Dr. Drang
Michael on Analytical Thinking. I’m an unabashed fan of Gabe Weatherhead’s Generational podcast (and his site Macdrifter for that matter… and Gabe himself, now that I think about it). Not only is Gabe a natural conversationalist, but the subject matter is always right up my alley. His format and his guest choices (with one notable exception) offers a perfect mixture of tech and thoughtfulness. The latest episode with Dr. Drang is no exception… actually scratch that, it is an exception… it’s even better than usual. While some of you may not be into the geekier parts about scripting, their earlier conversation surrounding the relationship and differences between curiosity and analytical thinking is well worth your time.
Howie on Thinking Globally. What a bizarre article, but it highlights how easy it is to be micro- vs macro-focused. The world is big: Nearly seven billion people and counting. It is way too easy to look at a You Tube video and see 25 million views and say wow! Or, as this article shows, three million crazies tuning in to TV or radio and think, “How can so many listen or view?”
That is easy when you compare with 300 mil people in the United States, but we are global now. There are probably three billion people- or more – with Internet access. YouTube has almost a billion unique viewers. Then things are in perspective and you see how little these numbers actually are. Sometimes it makes you sad because you realize Justin Bieber has fewer fans than you think he should. And in the case of this article you are happy knowing that less than a percent of people are truly crazy. Yes, still too many. But not so many you start spying on your neighbors.
Gini on Fiction. It won’t come as a surprise to you that I love fiction. Not only does it transport you into a world that lets your imagination run wild, it helps your creative thinking (and writing) skills immensely. I read a ton of fiction – to the tune of a book a week. But it took me my entire holiday break to read 11/22/63, Stephen King’s masterful story about going back in time to change the outcome of Kennedy’s assassination. I am not a Stephen King fan, but I loved this book. It’s a must-read for anyone who loves history, loves storytelling, and loves a good twist on facts.
Now it’s your turn. Is there a podcast, video, book, or article you think we need to see?