Happy birthday! Lurker from Obsidian days, love the deeper dives, whys, and systems behind note-taking, research, and taking action, rather than just tool reviews you so often see out there.
I honestly don't think I could enjoy writing as much if I was just writing about how I write. Productivity articles from people who are productively helping people be productive gets a little recursive, even if I do worry they most readers only tolerate my weird niche interests since the Obsidian stuff is exponentially more possible. But I can't get good at taking and organizing notes if I'm not doing stuff with the notes!
Happy early birthday! Hope you have a good time in Salt Lake City.
Did you know that during WW2, the Japanese distilled Pine needles into fuel as part of rationing?
I read something that the Germans realized they were losing the war when their scouts noticed that Americans left their vehicles idling when not in use.
I wonder if you could write an article dealing with rationing different approaches, and how societies reacted to it.
I did not know that! I will have to look into it, rationing across cultures definitely sounds like the sort of thing that is up my alley and a good candidate for an article!
I will check these out, thank you! I've historically avoided biographies but lately I've been really enjoying them. Carter Beats the Devil looks delightful.
BTW, based on your positive comments at DSL, I read Ilona Andrew's The Inheritance. I really enjoyed it! In general, I am a fan of heroes that level up (I also enjoyed Worth the Candle and Practical Guide to Evil.) I guess that is the essence of the litRPG genre?
It's definitely a core component, yes! If you enjoyed that elements, may I also recommend "Dungeon Crawler Carl" by Matt Dinnaman and the Cradle series by Will Wight?
oh I’m so delighted to hear that you’re enjoying Readwise and the daily quote review! The new Themed Reviews are awesome — one of mine actually inspired the post I did about character & crisis.
One of the things the themed reviews have done for me, and that I didn't expect, is to uncover highlights I saved years ago that no longer resonate with me. I'm trying to let go of things I no longer need in general, and these have given me the permission to discard highlights that no longer serve a useful purpose for me.
I know I am intrinsically a digital hoarder, and discarding these highlights is both very hard and surprisingly freeing.
For distributed consciousness, I think Vernor Vinge’s Tines from “A Fire Upon the Deep” might interest you. Not sure if it fits your other requirements though.
Fluffy fiction recommendations (but read the blurbs and see if any appeal):
* The Wedding People by Alison Espach. If you read the premise it doesn’t sound very fluffy but I found it emotional and heartwarming and very cheering.
* The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice — don’t know if you can get this outside the UK but it’s like a warm bath of a book, a constant reread for me.
* Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis — my favourite book of the year so far about a luxury hotel on a spaceship, told as interconnected short stories.
Thank you! I think Espach might be the first creative writing professor whose books I've ever seen organically recommended other than Brandon Sanderson; I admit I'm curious to see it compares.
I'll probably start with Floating Hotel; I enjoy interconnected short story collections and they're so rare, alas.
Happy Birthday.
I'm another who has been following your work since your Obsidian days.
Hope you have a wonderful day 🥰
Happy birthday! Lurker from Obsidian days, love the deeper dives, whys, and systems behind note-taking, research, and taking action, rather than just tool reviews you so often see out there.
I honestly don't think I could enjoy writing as much if I was just writing about how I write. Productivity articles from people who are productively helping people be productive gets a little recursive, even if I do worry they most readers only tolerate my weird niche interests since the Obsidian stuff is exponentially more possible. But I can't get good at taking and organizing notes if I'm not doing stuff with the notes!
Happy birthday!!!
I've been following your work since Obsidian launched.
I'm always inspired by it.
Many happy returns!!!
Happy early birthday! Hope you have a good time in Salt Lake City.
Did you know that during WW2, the Japanese distilled Pine needles into fuel as part of rationing?
I read something that the Germans realized they were losing the war when their scouts noticed that Americans left their vehicles idling when not in use.
I wonder if you could write an article dealing with rationing different approaches, and how societies reacted to it.
I did not know that! I will have to look into it, rationing across cultures definitely sounds like the sort of thing that is up my alley and a good candidate for an article!
I am not sure I have anything directly hitting your gentle request, but here are some things that have served a similar purpose for me:
- Carter Beats the Devil by David Glen Gold (this might hit your request directly?)
- Steve Martin's autobiography Born Standing Up
- Mike Birbiglia's podcast Working it Out.
I will check these out, thank you! I've historically avoided biographies but lately I've been really enjoying them. Carter Beats the Devil looks delightful.
BTW, based on your positive comments at DSL, I read Ilona Andrew's The Inheritance. I really enjoyed it! In general, I am a fan of heroes that level up (I also enjoyed Worth the Candle and Practical Guide to Evil.) I guess that is the essence of the litRPG genre?
It's definitely a core component, yes! If you enjoyed that elements, may I also recommend "Dungeon Crawler Carl" by Matt Dinnaman and the Cradle series by Will Wight?
Happy Birthday, and a Thank You: I didn't know about Readwise until one of your recent posts and getting my daily quotes/notes makes me SO HAPPY.
oh I’m so delighted to hear that you’re enjoying Readwise and the daily quote review! The new Themed Reviews are awesome — one of mine actually inspired the post I did about character & crisis.
One of the things the themed reviews have done for me, and that I didn't expect, is to uncover highlights I saved years ago that no longer resonate with me. I'm trying to let go of things I no longer need in general, and these have given me the permission to discard highlights that no longer serve a useful purpose for me.
I know I am intrinsically a digital hoarder, and discarding these highlights is both very hard and surprisingly freeing.
Happy birthday!
For distributed consciousness, I think Vernor Vinge’s Tines from “A Fire Upon the Deep” might interest you. Not sure if it fits your other requirements though.
It sounds interesting! I definitely read other things than cozy fluff fiction, so don't worry I'll still check it out ^^
A very belated happy birthday! I'm busy with life & have stepped away from Substack for a bit but always enjoy reading something of yours!
Happy birthday! I've been reading Conquerors about the Portuguese age of exploration, and to put it bluntly, those guys were insane.
The Age of Exploration guys really put my complaints about airplane food into perspective 😂
Happy Birthday!
Fluffy fiction recommendations (but read the blurbs and see if any appeal):
* The Wedding People by Alison Espach. If you read the premise it doesn’t sound very fluffy but I found it emotional and heartwarming and very cheering.
* The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice — don’t know if you can get this outside the UK but it’s like a warm bath of a book, a constant reread for me.
* Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis — my favourite book of the year so far about a luxury hotel on a spaceship, told as interconnected short stories.
Thank you! I think Espach might be the first creative writing professor whose books I've ever seen organically recommended other than Brandon Sanderson; I admit I'm curious to see it compares.
I'll probably start with Floating Hotel; I enjoy interconnected short story collections and they're so rare, alas.
A “fluffy fantasy” recommendation that I read this last week, and enjoyed:
‘The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch’ by Melinda Taub
Thanks, I'll check it out!
Happy birthday Elanor 🥳🎂🎉
Happy Birthday! My Obsidian set up at work is a lot better thanks to your previous blog.
Happy Birthday!
I always loved your essays. Subsribed since Obsidian and now enjoy your work besides Obsidian.
Wish you all the best!💕
Happy Birthday! I, too, am a lurker from the Obsidian days. It shows that you enjoy writing, so please continue.
Happy birthday! My TBR thanks you.