This page talks about books, documentaries, blogs, links, games and more…...
Inspiring, educational, enlightening, and entertaining books. Perhaps you’ll like one too.
Inspiring documentaries and interviews.
The National Parks: America's Best Idea - 12 hours (6 episodes). Available on Amazon Prime & Apple iTunes. This PBS Ken Burns’ documentary shares the beautiful story of the people across America who had the foresight to create, preserve, and protect our National Park system.
Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies - 6 hours (3 episodes). Available on Amazon Prime & Apple iTunes. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Siddhartha Mukherjee, this PBS Ken Burns’ documentary provides an in-depth history of cancer and the brilliant people who have dedicated their lives to helping patients.
50 Years Off The Grid - 50 minutes. The story of 88-year-old Charles Bello and his wife, Vanna Rae, who in 1968 moved onto 240 acres of redwood forest in California looking to live a simpler life off the land. Charles constructed an architectural wonder and stewarded the land for over 50 years.
Meru - 90 minutes. An incredible story about the first ascent of the "Shark's Fin" route on Meru Peak in the Indian Himalayas. Apart from being a cinematic feat of the climbers capturing their own real-time footage at 20,000ft, Meru grapples with issues of purpose, life and death, responsibility, and resilience.
Bending The Arc - 100 minutes. An inspiring model for the tremendous amount of good that a small number of determined individuals can spread to the world. This documentary tells the story of Paul Farmer, Jim Kim, Ophelia Dahl, and others who created Partners in Health, an organization that redefined what it means to serve the most vulnerable people on earth, creating a preferential option for the poor, and saving thousands from tuberculosis and AIDs among other diseases. Tout moun se moun.
LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy on Failure - 9 minutes. An honest and refreshing interview with the founder of LCD Soundsystem about how he confronted failure and the decision to release his first track “Losing My Edge.”
Interview with musician Jewel on life, adversity, and mental health - 3hrs 40min. Available on Spotify and for no cost here. A powerful story of resilience unfolds starting at about 38 minutes.
Positive places on the internet.
Blogs
WaitButWhy - A deeply researched blog by Tim Urban that explores interesting topics in science and life. Below are some of my favorite:
The Story of Us - This is a 10-part series published between August 2019 and January 2020 about politics, the media, and public discourse in America. It is something I wish everyone would read.
The Cook and the Chef: Musk's Secret Sauce - This is the final post of a four-part series on Elon Musk and his businesses written in 2015. While the series itself is worth reading, the concept of the “Cook and the Chef” discussed in this post is what that I found so powerful. It describes the journey the most bold and creative individuals must take to pave their own path in life. The cook follows recipes. The chef creates them.
More from WaitButWhy:
Eliot Brusman's Blog - A collection of ~60 links to musical performances, documentaries, books, skits, quotes, and speeches, many of which are pretty sweet. If you're ever sitting on the internet, wondering where all the good stuff went, I think one of these could turn your day around.
Tim Ferriss' Blog - Author of the 4-Hour Work Week and other books, and host of a successful podcast with detailed show notes containing links to valuable sources.
The Marginalian (formerly BrainPickings) - Thoughtful commentaries on literature new and old from Maria Popova.
Education
Khan Academy - A non-profit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. YouTube channel offers lessons in math, biology, chemistry, physics, history, economics, finance, grammar, and many other topics.
Periodic Table of Elements - A digital and interactive version of the periodic table of elements.
Human Behavioral Biology: Robert Sapolsky, Stanford University - The power of YouTube. A free course consisting of 25 one-to-two hour lectures recorded at Stanford University in 2010. Robert Sapolsky, one of the leading neuroscience researchers on the planet, teaches us how our biology influences the best and worst of human behavior.
The Poetry Foundation - A robust database of the biographies and poems of poets new and old.
MathTutorDVD - Former NASA space shuttle flight controller Jason Gibson offers full courses in math, physics, chemistry, engineering. Full access for $20/month.
Finance
SEC Edgar - This portal is used by professional investors and research analysts to access the SEC filings of public companies. Annual (10K) and quarterly (10Q) reports and material events (8K) can be found typing a company’s name or stock ticker. This is the first step to doing your own investment research from first principles reasoning.
MSRB EMMA - The Edgar equivalent for state and local municipal entities.
Google Finance - Access to stock price history and news can be challenging for a non-professional investor. Google provides a simple platform (similiar to Yahoo) that allows you to view basic information and graphs of a stock without having to pay for a service.
Coin Market Cap - This site provides a good overview of the world of cryptocurrencies. Viewer discretion advised.
Nature
All Trails - The easiest way to find a good hike near you. Sign up for a free account.
NASA Astronomy Photo of the Day - Inspiring photos of space.
NYC Parks Tree Map - A detailed map of almost every tree in NYC. A great way to learn how to identify trees. Some of the most common trees in NYC are London plane, oak, maple, ginkgo, and linden.
History
NYC Municipal Archives Online Gallery provides research access to over 900,000 items digitized from the Municipal Archives' vast holdings, including photographs, maps, motion-pictures and audio recordings. Search for a landmark or specific address and discover photos from the past.
Skiing
Ski School - YouTube channel with dozens of short informative skiing tips for all levels.
InTheSnow has a similar channel with helpful videos.
Snow Forecast is the best place to check the latest temperature, wind, and snow conditions/forecasts on mountains throughout the world. The reports are accurate and detailed at various elevations for a given mountain.
Motion
There was a time when lifting weights, yoga, meditation, and acupuncture were considered strange activities in Western culture. Who knows what the next beneficial wellness practice to enter the mainstream will be? These are two relatively unknown, underpublicized, and developing practices that I find particularly different and interesting:
Revolution in Motion is a neurologically based exercise system comprised of precisely sequenced movement that harmonizes muscle and nerve functions. These are some movements on an exercise ball that are meant to restore your body: Frog | Dive | Squat Reach | Scissor | Twist | Cerebellar
MovNat (Movement Natural) is an organization I learned about in a book called Natural Born Heroes: Mastering the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance which explored parkour, fascia, and the Cretan bounce, among other things. This video demonstrates the founder’s vision of how our body’s were meant to move on a daily basis.
Fun games to play with people you love.
Ticket to Ride - Ideal for 3-4 players. A game of strategy, decision making, and economy of turns, players race each other across the map to connect the most numerous and/or valuable routes.
Original Game: The United States - A great introduction to the game.
Europe - Similar to the US with some minor complexities.
Rails & Sails: The World and The Great Lakes - The most complex version of the game with trains and ships.
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective - Ideal for 3-4 players. A game of reading/performing and critical thinking, players collaborate to solve the case using newspapers, maps, informants, and leads. Can you solve the case faster than Sherlock Holmes? Available on Amazon.
Chess.com - A longstanding website and mobile app that is excellent to practice, play, and learn the game of chess on your own, against friends, and with people around the world. It is free to play. There are monthly/annual subscriptions ($3-$8/month) available to unlock lessons and tactics that are worth the investment for anyone looking to learn chess or improve their game.