Her last book, Animal Madness: Inside Their Minds was a New York Times bestseller and was translated into seven languages. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Wired, California Sunday, and National Geographic as well as on Radiolab, National Public Radio, and many other media outlets. She splits her time between rural Alaska and her family’s commercial citrus and avocado ranch in Southern California.

Her new book is What Looks Like Bravery: An Epic Journey Through Loss to Love.

Enter Laurel… 

Life is nothing if not an endless buffet of dishes that are comprised of both disappointment and joy. For better or worse, I’ve had a lot of stuff happen that has given other people the chance to show up for me (or not). Things like deaths of close family members, bad diagnoses, natural disasters, divorce, but also the smaller stuff that sometimes hurts just as much: deaths of pets, breakups, lost jobs, a project turning out way worse than I had hoped, and more. Along the way, I’ve learned a bit about what feels good and what doesn’t in the wake of a big or small crisis. Obviously, it’s not the same for everyone, but here are 10 recommendations for how to show up for someone going through something shitty that I’ve learned firsthand:

1. The best way to show up for someone is to just show up. Don’t overthink what you’re going to do or say—or unleash the dreaded but well-intended “Let me know if I can help” (which only puts the burden on them). Just do something. Anything. Even if it’s sending a postcard that says “I’m so sorry.” Many more people than you’d think become frozen and don’t act during hard times because they’re scared of doing or saying the wrong thing. When in doubt, just admit that you are stumped. As in “I heard about XYZ. I have no idea what to say or how to support you. Just know that I’m thinking of you.” 

2. Make it easy for the recipient of your act-of-kindness to receive it. Avoid making someone do any work. For example: Drop things off without coming inside and requiring someone to host you (unless they specifically ask for a visit). Offer help that doesn’t require them to share their schedule or hide a key (unless they offer). Instead, leave something on their doorstep that won’t spoil immediately (or if it will, stick it inside a cooler), send them something in the mail, or send an email with your thoughts but tell them in bold letters that you do not expect a reply. When you text or call, don’t ask for updates, and be sure to tell them you are not expecting a return phone call or text. You should also be crystal clear that they should not write you a thank-you note for anything you send their way. Odds are, when the storm passes, you will hear from this person, but if you don’t, assume that your kindness was appreciated.

3. Food is love. Just try to bring/send things that can be frozen and eaten later so they’re less likely to go to waste. I like Spoonful of Comfort, but there are a million options. Gift cards for grocery stores or food delivery can also be great. But if this requires the use of an app, make sure the recipient or someone they spend time with has the app installed on their phone and knows how to use it. 

4. Distract them… fruitfully. Being a tiny bit avoidant during a crisis is extremely underrated. Refusing to focus on what is going on 24/7 doesn’t mean someone is in denial, it just means they might need to give their nervous system a break. TV is a great way to do this, but our infinite buffet of streaming services can be overwhelming. So offer someone a bespoke list of uplifting things to watch (I’ve found that podcasts and books are often too much to focus on). The series Ted Lasso is a great example of a crowd-pleaser, but the options are endless and should be tailored to the people you’re writing a list for. When my mom was dying, we watched Indian Matchmaker on Netflix, and it was perfect. A friend of mine swears by the Paddington movies. But maybe the person who’s getting your list is comforted by action movies or competitive cooking shows or the real-estate-reality genre. Just try to focus on their taste, not yours, and if they don’t have Amazon Prime or Apple TV+ or what-have-you, offer to get it for them.

5. Gift a subscription to a meditation app. Personally, I could not have gotten through the last few years without the Calm app. Even when doing a meditation was too much, listening to the music or nature sounds or the sleep stories has been fantastic. You can give someone a 30-day subscription or a full year. Other options are Relax Meditation, Bettersleep, and Headspace. As with the other stuff that requires some semblance of tech-savvy, make sure they can install it and know how to use it.

6. Thoughts are better than prayers. Unless you know someone specifically wants you to pray for them, don’t offer yours. Personally, despite being a very secular person, I love when people offer to pray for me or my loved ones—but I may be in the minority. To someone who is not religious, it can feel patronizing or belittling of their pain. A better phrase is “You’re in my thoughts.” 

7. Refrain from silver linings. These are sentences that start with “At least…” or “Luckily….” The only thing worse than having a hard thing happen to you is having people try to force you to see the positive before you’re ready. Better options include “This is so hard.” “Tell me how you’re feeling, if you feel like it.” Or, best of all, just make kindly I’m-listening noises while they talk to encourage them to keep going.

8. Stuff. I know it’s very American to suggest capitalistic solutions to emotional pain, but here we are, and I do love stuff, lol. The following have brought me and folks I adore pleasure when things have felt overwhelming:

• Nodpod Weighted eye mask: Sleep can be elusive when you are worried that life as you know it is over. Spending 34 dollars on an eye mask may seem insane, but it’s so soft, and the weight is magical. It’s like a lullaby for your face. 

• Kneipp bath oils: There is something about turning your bathwater green or blue or purple and sinking into a cloud of non-fussy, herby scent that pauses your shrieking internal voices for a second. These oils aren’t cheap, but they’re not super expensive either. I prefer the sampler packs so I can customize them to my mood. My favorite scents are Beauty Secret, Lavender, and Goodbye Stress.

• A birdfeeder. Truly any kind that works for their yard/balcony/window (and is visible from a favorite area of the home) is great. Wildbirds Unlimited has good options and they can tell you what food is best for a given area, but don’t overthink this. If the feeder ends up being for squirrels, that’s fine too. They’re very entertaining (see this unicorn feeder if you doubt me). A feeder is nature’s streaming service and will provide endless hours of programming that remind you that you are part of something larger and that whatever you are going through is part of the cycle of life, even if it feels like crap.

9. Invite someone on a walk. A friend or acquaintance going through a hard thing may not have the stamina or desire to go out to a restaurant or attend even the smallest of gatherings. It takes too much energy to explain what’s going on in their life… and crises have a way of making people enraged by the small talk often required at such events. A walk is easier. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to—which makes it low-lift social time, and it also gets someone a bit of fresh air.

10.  Be the last one to leave. Whether it’s a death, divorce, breakup, lost job, pet gone missing, a life-altering diagnosis, a home destroyed, or something else—the person or people you’re showing up for will really appreciate your showing up again six months or a year or many years(!) after the fact. In the wake of a loss, the field can be crowded, but with every passing day, the world seems to remember what happened less and less. Life moves on, as it should. But that doesn’t mean the loss is any less acute for the person or people who suffered it. Send someone a text on the birthday of their lost loved one. Or on any holiday whatsoever. Share memories of the person, place, or creature without being asked. Remind someone that what mattered to them still matters to you. That it always will.  

*** 

Showing up for someone else is the best medicine for YOU. I am a dog who needs a job or I’m liable to chew off my tail. And my favorite job is making someone feel marginally less alone. Maybe yours is fixing bikes or being good at returning phone calls or thrifting things your friends will love. All of these count. I’m not always great at showing up for others, and like most acts of service, it comes from a selfish place (wanting to feel good and less alone myself), but that doesn’t make it suspect or any less valuable. We all need meaning in our days. Being the kind of person who is useful in a crisis (whether it’s via frozen lasagna, a handwritten note, offering rides or childcare, or taking a heartbroken friend on a walk to feed pigeons or scream at the sky) is something we should all aspire to—the type of gift that gives both ways.

Laurel Braitman is the author of What Looks Like Bravery: An Epic Journey Through Loss to Love. Her website is LaurelBraitman.com. 

The post How to Show up for Someone in a Crisis: 10 Recommendations appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

DISCLAIMER: The following content, including the NFT Insider Trading Policy, does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Readers should work with an attorney to determine whether the policy is applicable to or appropriate for their particular situation. The NFT Insider Trading Policy is provided “as is”; no representations are made about the content.

Furthermore, there are risks involved in making any investment in cryptocurrencies/NFTs. None of the information presented herein is intended to form the basis of any offer or recommendation or have any regard to the investment objectives, financial situation, or needs of any specific person, and that includes you, my dear reader. Caveat lector!

Now that we’ve covered that…

I began diving into the Wild West of NFTs a few years ago. For me, NFTs were a convenient, muggle-friendly onramp for learning about new technologies. It was also an excuse to break out the pencils and screw around again. I’d let my drawing languish for years, and, no matter what people said, JPEG mania was inspiring.

After a few months of exploration, I felt confident, and still feel confident, in a few things:

• Web3 and blockchain will change the world in incredible ways. Before you disagree, listen to this.
• The promise is both severely overstated (Utopia! No more governments!) and severely under-appreciated (It’s just another Dutch tulip craze! Right-click and it’s game over!).
• It’s the greatest creator, resurrector, and accelerant of artists that I’ve ever seen. Graphic artist and musician friends of mine, jaded after years of barely making ends meet, touring to pay mortgages, etc., are not just excited again (no small thing) but also making good money. TBD if DALL·E 2 and related tech helps or hurts them; I suspect it will be a lot of both.
• Legions of brilliant people are dedicating most of their waking lives to it¹. This is perhaps the most compelling case for being long web3.
• Last but not least, most of web3 is still an overwhelming garbage fire of junk, grift, and bad behavior. It’s fucking ridiculous. This is the most common case cited for being short web3.

For me, this all started off as a safari to a new Weird Wide Web, a sight-seeing tour of novelty. I do this with a lot of new tech, and I was a casual spectator. Then I began doing little experiments and considering bigger projects of my own. That’s when I got more serious about research, especially risks and pitfalls.

Some of the unsavory bits I noticed were clearly unethical and often illegal, like deliberate fraud. There are bad actors, to be sure. That said, I think the majority of folks are normally good actors, and these same people can slip up and do stupid things under certain conditions. Temptation and accidents run rampant in a world of ambiguity. Much of the mess appeared—and still appears—to be a byproduct of unclear rules, lack of agreements, or misaligned incentives.

I often ask myself “What positive constraints can we apply here?” I apply this to myself for creative projects, and I apply it in many aspects of my professional and personal life. This question also led directly to the document in this post.

Months before the Department of Justice got involved and began making headlines, I had already reached out to several of my NFT-fluent friends to ask if they had an NFT Insider Trading Policy I could read. I simultaneously reached out to exceptional lawyers for the same. I was looking for a document forbidding insider trading, including front running, that also laid out clear best practices. Much to my surprise, no one seemed to have a document that covered these bases, but several folks were able to suggest technical safeguards and other elements.

Gathering these, I then reached out to Aaron Wright, who kindly introduced me to Jeremy Goldman to help with drafting an original doc. Next, I worked with Jeremy and Zach Lewis to put together the below Insider Trading Policy. Of course, no document can prevent truly bad actors from doing bad things, but making clear and explicit agreements with good people can help you avoid a lot of headache.

It’s probably not the world’s first such document, but I certainly couldn’t find one, even with a half dozen law firms and hundreds of friends in tech. It was a huge pain in the ass.

My assumption is that this hurdle might also pose a huge pain in the ass for others. Huge pain in the ass = friction to action = less action, so I’m trying to remove some of the hassle. Also, it’s my belief that the sooner the web3 community polices itself and does it well, the less regulators will feel the need to drop the hammer. Things are going to get cleaned up one way or another (à la “medicine” in the old Wild West), so do we want to be proactive, or do we want to force the hand of the government to smite sloppy fools with a blitzkrieg, probably setting up hasty, problematic laws in the process? I suggest we try the former. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of CryptoPunks, or so my grandpappy told me.

For all of these reasons and more, I’m making the below NFT Insider Trading Policy available. You are free to share it, modify it, distribute it, read it at your wedding, turn it into rap lyrics, etc. It is now the property of the web. Be free!

I have just two important requests:

1) Please reread the disclaimer. In fact, it’s so nice, I’ll simply post it twice:

DISCLAIMER: The following content, including the NFT Insider Trading Policy, does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Readers should work with an attorney to determine whether the policy is applicable to or appropriate for their particular situation.  The NFT Insider Trading Policy is provided “as is”; no representations are made about the content.

2) Please let us know how this can be improved! No doubt, there are great points that can be added. Technology and grift also evolve. We’d love constructive feedback, which is valuable for everyone. Please leave a comment on this blog post, or let me know on Twitter using hashtag #NFTITP (ITP = Insider Trading Policy). As usual, don’t be a dick. If your tone is lame, your comments will be deleted from the blog, and you’ll get 100,000 lashes in the afterlife.

That’s it!

I hope some of you find the below helpful. The first line would be completely redrafted based on your company name/entity, if you use one.

Until next time, please be kind and stay safe, frens.

Tim

###

¹ To be fair, legions of fools also appear to be dedicating their lives to it.

NFT Insider Trading Policy

1. PURPOSE

Top-Secret Project LLC, a North Dakota limited liability company (“Company”) has adopted this NFT Insider Trading Policy (“Policy”) to help ensure that (a) Company and any Insiders (defined below) connected to any project involving the creation, marketing, distribution, and/or sale of non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) by or on behalf of Company (“Project”) comply with applicable laws, (b) any distribution of NFTs by Company to Insiders in connection with a Project is conducted fairly and on equal footing with distributions to the public; and (c) Company, the Project, and Insiders do not have even the appearance of improper insider trading.

2. SCOPE

1. “Insiders” include all directors, officers, and employees of Company, and any other individuals Company may designate because they may have access to material nonpublic information concerning a Project (“Inside Information”), including any artists, developers, project managers, contractors, consultants, or other individuals who are providing services in connection with Company or the Project, as well as all of the employees, representatives, affiliates, family members, and others in the households of the aforementioned individuals.

2. This Policy applies to any and all transactions involving NFTs issued by or on behalf of Company, including minting NFTs and both primary and secondary sales.

3. GUIDANCE

A. Generally Prohibited Activity. As a general matter, an Insider may not use or disclose to any third party any Inside Information about Company or a Project to the advantage of the Insider or any other person in connection with the purchase, sale, or other transaction involving an NFT.

B. Specific Rules and Prohibitions. Without in any way limiting the foregoing general prohibition, the following is a non-exhaustive list of specific rules and prohibitions under this Policy:

1. NFTs must be allocated to token holders, including Insiders, at random.
   
2. Randomness must be verifiable to the public through the use of NFT provenance hashing or other technology.
   
3. No buying or selling NFTs on the secondary market (including through any peer-to-peer transactions) until seven (7) days after such NFTs are first made available to the public.
   
4. No buying or selling NFTs on the secondary market (including through any peer-to-peer transactions) within five (5) days of any announcement or planned announcement relating to the Project that an Insider knows about in advance and is material.
   
5. No engaging in any activity that may be considered “front-running,” “wash trading,” “pump and dump trading,” “ramping,” “cornering,” or fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative trading activity, including, without limitation, engaging in any of the following activities for the purpose of creating or inducing a false, misleading, or artificial appearance of activity or value in any NFT:
   
   • facilitating the trading of any NFT at successively lower or higher prices;
   • executing or causing the execution of any transaction involving the NFT which causes no material change in the beneficial ownership thereof;
   • participating in, facilitating, assisting, or knowingly transacting with any person or persons for the purpose of artificially, unfairly, or deceptively influencing the market price of an NFT; or
   • otherwise artificially, unduly, or improperly influencing the market price for any NFT in any manner, including without limitation, on or through social media.
     
6. No “tipping” of Inside Information to any person or entity.
   
7. No use of rarity snipers (e.g., Rarity Sniper, Trait Sniper, rarity.tools, icy.tools) or similar services at any time in connection with any Project by or in collaboration with Company.

4. DETERMINING WHETHER INFORMATION IS MATERIAL AND NONPUBLIC

A. Definition of “Material” Information

1. There is no bright line test for determining whether particular information is material. Such a determination depends on the facts and circumstances unique to each situation and cannot be made solely based on the potential financial impact of the information.

2. In general, information about Company or a Project should be considered “material” if:

• A reasonable purchaser of NFTs would consider the information significant when deciding whether to buy or sell NFTs; or
• The information, if disclosed, could be viewed by a reasonable purchaser of NFTs as having significantly altered the total mix of information available in the marketplace about Company or the Project.

3. While it is impossible to identify every type of information that could be deemed “material,” the following matters shall be considered material:

• Rarity tables.
• The rarity of each individual trait, layer, or element included in the Project.
• Upcoming airdrops.
• Upcoming announcements by or on behalf of Company.
• Upcoming events by, in collaboration with, or on behalf of Company.
• Potential, future, and ongoing collaborations and partnerships
• Potential and future utility (including, without limitation, any products, benefits, services, privileges, rights, or opportunities) to be offered to NFT holders.
• New key members of Company or Project team, including executives, officers, directors, employees, contractors or investors.

B. Definition of “Nonpublic” Information

Information is “nonpublic” if it has not been made known to the general market of purchasers or potential purchasers of NFTs through a widely circulated news or wire source or social media channel operated by Company or authorized by Company to make such information public.

5. REMEDIES FOR VIOLATIONS

Failure to comply with this NFT  Insider Trading Policy may constitute not only a breach of contract with Company, but also may violate applicable criminal and civil law.  See, e.g., Department of Justice, Former Employee Of NFT Marketplace Charged In First Ever Digital Asset Insider Trading Scheme, June 1, 2022, at https://bit.ly/3SwXn8m; Department of Justice, Three Charged in First Ever Cryptocurrency Insider Trading Tipping Scheme, July 21, 2022, at https://bit.ly/3A6Scos.

In the event that Company determines that an Insider violated the NFT Insider Trading Policy, the Insider agrees, upon Company’s instruction, to immediately disgorge and transfer to Company, or any recipient of Company’s choosing, any and all NFTs or profits gained as a result of such violation as well as any compensation Insider received from Company under their applicable contract. 

Insider agrees to promptly pay and fully satisfy any and all sanctions, fines, losses, judgments, or expenses, including, without limitation, costs of settlement and attorneys’ fees, incurred or sustained by Company as a result of Insider’s failure to comply with this Policy.

The foregoing remedies are in addition to any other remedies, both legal and equitable, available to Company under the law. 

CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE
INSIDER NFT TRADING POLICY

I hereby certify that I have received, reviewed and will comply with Company’s Insider NFT Trading Policy.

Name:  __________________________________

Signature ________________________________

Company: _______________________________

Title: ___________________________________

Date: ___________________________________

The post Why I’m Open-Sourcing an NFT Insider Trading Policy for the Web3 Community appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

The following is a guest post from A.J. Jacobs (@ajjacobs), a bestselling author, journalist, and human guinea pig. It is excerpted from his new book The Puzzler: One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life. A.J. has written four New York Times bestsellers, including The Year of Living Biblically (for which he followed all the rules of the Bible as literally as possible) and Thanks a Thousand (for which he went around the world and thanked every person who had even the smallest role in making his morning cup of coffee possible). He has given four TED talks with a combined 10M+ views. He contributes to NPR and The New York Times and wrote the article “My Outsourced Life,” which was featured in The 4-Hour Workweek. He was once the answer to one down in The New York Times crossword puzzle. 

You can find my interview from 2016 with A.J here, and you can find last week’s interview with A.J. here.

Please enjoy!

Enter A.J…

My father was the one to introduce me to math puzzles.

He didn’t focus on the traditional kind. His were weirder than that, more homegrown. My dad’s greatest joy comes from baffling unsuspecting people—strangers, friends, family, whomever—and he often accomplishes this with math-based hijinks.

One time, when I was about eight years old, I asked my dad how fast race cars went. This was before Google, so my father was my version of a search engine.

“The fastest ones get up to about 50 million,” my dad said.

Even to my unschooled mind, 50 million miles per hour seemed off.

“That doesn’t sound right,” I said.

“Yes it is,” he said. “50 million fathoms per fortnight.”

I just stared at him.

“Oh, you wanted miles per hour?” my dad said. “I thought you meant in fathoms per fortnight.”

As you might know, a fathom equals six feet, and a fortnight is two weeks. My dad had decided that fathoms per fortnight would be his default way to measure speed, on the probably correct theory that no one else on earth had ever used that metric. I thanked him for this helpful information.

So, as you can see, I was exposed to recreational math early on, leaving me with a mixed legacy—a love of numbers, a healthy skepticism about numbers, and paranoia.

For this puzzle project, I’ve bought a dozen books with math and logic brainteasers. Reading these books often induces a mild panic. How would I know how many spheres can simultaneously touch a center sphere? I can’t even figure out where to start. What’s the entry point?

To remedy this problem, I decided to consult one of the world’s experts on math puzzles, hoping to learn some of her methods. Tanya Khovanova greets me on a video call. But before I’m allowed to ask her anything, she has a question for me.

“I have two coins,” she says, in a Russian accent. “Together they add up to 15 cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are the two coins?”

My palms begin to sweat. I did not expect a pop quiz.

Maybe she’s talking about foreign coins? Maybe rubles are involved, I say?

“Not foreign coins,” she says. “American currency.”

I employ one of the puzzle-solving strategies that I do know: Look closely at all of the words and see if you have fallen for any hidden assumptions.

Two coins.
Add up to 15.
One of them is not a nickel.

That last phrase is kind of ambiguous. She didn’t say “neither of them are nickels.” So . . . what if one is not a nickel, but the other one is?

“A dime and a nickel?” I say, tentatively. “Because the other one is a nickel?”

“Okay. You passed the test. So you can continue,” she says, smiling.

This is a relief. Because Tanya is a fascinating character. She is a Russian émigré who is now a lecturer at MIT. She writes a popular blog about the world’s twistiest math and logic puzzles (it’s called simply Tanya Khovanova’s Math Blog). And she has cracked pretty much every great math puzzle ever created. We’re talking coin puzzles, matchstick-arranging puzzles, river-crossing puzzles, math equation puzzles.

Tanya is on a mission. “I am very upset at the world,” she says. “There is so much faulty thinking, and puzzles can help us think better.”

Consider probability, she says. We are terrible at thinking probabilistically, and puzzles about odds can help us learn. They could teach us, for instance, the folly of playing the lottery. “The situation is unethical. I think that lottery organizers should spend part of the money they make on lotteries to educate people not to play the lottery.”

Tanya has been fascinated with math since her childhood in Moscow.

“The first thing that I remember, it wasn’t a puzzle, it was an idea. I remember that I was five years old and we were on a vacation in a village, and I was trying to go to sleep and I was thinking after each number there is the next number, and then there is the next number. At some point, I realized that there should be an infinity of numbers. And I had this feeling like I’m touching infinity, I’m touching the universe, just a euphoric feeling.”

Being a female Jewish math genius in 1970s Soviet Russia was not easy. She faced sexism and anti-Semitism. Tanya says the test for the prestigious Moscow State University—the Soviet equivalent of MIT—was rigged against Jews. Jewish students were given a separate and more difficult test. The problems were called “coffin problems,” which translates to “killer problems.” Tanya studied with other Jewish students and managed to pass the unfair test.

In 1990, Tanya left Russia. She moved to the United States and married a longtime American friend. She worked for a defense contractor near Boston but hated it because “I thought it destroyed my karma.” She started teaching as a volunteer at MIT before they hired her as a full-time lecturer.

Her philosophy: puzzles should be used more often in teaching math. First of all, they entertain us while teaching us how to think rigorously. And second, puzzles can lead to genuine advances in mathematics—topics such as conditional probability and topology were originally explored in puzzle form.

Math Puzzles 1.0

The very first math puzzles—at least according to some scholars—date back to Egypt’s Rhind Papyrus, about 1500 B.C.E. They’re closer to problems than puzzles, since they don’t require much ingenuity. But the unnamed author did try to spice them up with some whimsical details, such as in Problem 79.

Problem 79. There are seven houses.
In each house there are seven cats.
Each cat kills seven mice.
Each mouse has eaten seven grains of barley.
Each grain would have produced seven hekat (a unit of measurement).
What is the sum of all the enumerated things?

Arguably the first book with actual twisty and turny math puzzles came several centuries later. The ninth century Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne was a puzzle addict, and he hired a British scholar named Alcuin of York to be his official puzzlemaker. Alcuin’s book Problems to Sharpen the Young introduced, among other things, the first known river-crossing problem. Here it is:

For river-crossing problems, you need to realize that you must take a counterintuitive step backward before continuing forward. You must think outside the box.

Way Outside the Box

Tanya reminds me that “thinking outside of the box” wasn’t always a cliché. The origin of the phrase is an actual puzzle: Connect all the dots in this diagram using just four straight lines:

The answer:

Nowadays the phrase is overused and is often a punchline, as in the cartoon of the cat thinking outside its litter box. But it’s still an important concept: to find a solution, you often have to break expectations.

“My students have taught me as much as I have taught them about this,” she says.

“How do you mean?” I ask.

She tells me to think about this puzzle: “You have a basket containing five apples. You have five hungry friends. You give each of your friends one apple. After the distribution, each of your friends has one apple, yet there is an apple remaining in the basket. How can that be?”

The traditional answer is: you give four friends an apple, and then hand the fifth friend the basket with the apple still in it. So each friend has an apple, and there’s still one in the basket.

“For that answer, you have to think out of the box,” says Tanya. “But my students have come up with answers that are even farther out of the box.”

Their suggestions include:

One friend already has an apple.
You kill one of your friends.
You are narcissistic and you are your own friend.
The friend who didn’t get an apple stops being your friend.
An extra apple falls from the tree to the basket.
And Tanya’s favorite: The basket is your friend. We should not discount people’s emotional connection with inanimate objects.

“The lesson my students taught me is that I’m good at thinking outside the box. But I realized, I’m inside my own bigger box. And maybe we all are.”

How to Solve Problems

But how do you get yourself to think outside the box? How do you approach a math problem? I know how to start a jigsaw puzzle (the edges, usually) and a crossword (look for plurals and fill in the Ses). But how do you approach a math problem?

After talking to Tanya and another great math puzzle expert, Dartmouth professor Peter Winkler, I’ve come up with a list of tools for math and logic problems. Here are three of my favorites.

1) Reverse it.

When confronted with a problem, try reversing it. Turn it upside down.

Sometimes quite literally, turn it upside down.

Such as this problem:

What number belongs in the blank in this sequence:
16 06 68 88 __ 98
(It’s 87. Turn the page upside down to see why.)

There are other puzzles that require you to reverse your thinking in a slightly less literal way. Like this one:

A man is imprisoned in a ten-foot by ten-foot by ten-foot room. The walls are made of concrete, the floor is made of dirt, and the only openings are a locked door and a skylight. The man has a small shovel and starts to dig a hole in the floor. He knows that it is impossible to tunnel out of the prison cell, but he continues to dig anyway. What is the man’s plan?

Pause here if you want to figure it out yourself.

The solution is: The man wasn’t just digging a hole. He was also doing the opposite: building a little mountain of dirt. And his plan was to climb the mountain and get to the skylight.

I love reversing my thinking. Earlier this week, I was cleaning up the trail of clothes left by the males in our family (including me) that littered our apartment. I picked up an armload of clothes, then went to the hamper in my bedroom and dumped the clothes, then went back out. But wait. What if I . . . took the hamper with me. If I bring the hamper to the clothes. I’d save myself several trips. As Will Shortz once suggested, I took a bow.

2) Figure out the real goal.

One of my favorite brainteasers comes from Martin Gardner, who wrote a famous monthly column about math puzzles in Scientific American for three decades, starting in 1962. He died in 2010, but he still has tons of devotees, hundreds of whom attend a biannual event, the Gathering 4 Gardner, where they talk puzzles, paradoxes, and the genius of Martin.

Martin posed this puzzle in his book Entertaining Mathematical Puzzles:

Two boys on bicycles, 20 miles apart, began racing directly toward each other. The instant they started, a fly on the handlebar of one bicycle started flying straight toward the other cyclist. As soon as it reached the other handlebar, it turned and started back. The fly flew back and forth in this way, from handlebar to handlebar, until the two bicycles met.

If each bicycle had a constant speed of 10 miles an hour, and the fly flew at a constant speed of 15 miles an hour, how far did the fly fly?

Pause here if you want to try it yourself, spoilers ahead.

So how to solve this? Most people’s first instinct—including mine—is to trace the back-and-forth path of the fly and try to add up the distance.

With this method, you’d try to calculate the distance from Biker 1’s handlebars to Biker 2’s handlebars. Then the fly would make a U-turn, so you’d calculate the next distance, from Biker 2 to Biker 1. And so on until the bikes met.

This turns out to be a highly complex computation involving the speed of the bikers, the speed of the insect, and time and distance. The operation is called “summing an infinite series.”

This calculation is impossible to do in your head. Well, practically impossible. Legend has it that the brilliant Hungarian mathematician John von Neumann was once asked this brainteaser at a party, and, to the amazement of the quizzer, gave the correct answer by summing the “infinite series” in his head, no calculator needed.

Von Neumann was too smart for his own good. If he had paused for a moment, he might have realized there’s a much easier way to solve this problem.

Which brings me back to the strategy: What is the real goal?

You want to phrase the problem in the simplest possible way. Strip the problem to its basics, and you’ll realize you are looking for one thing: the distance the fly can fly in an allotted amount of time.

You can ignore the fly’s back and forth switch of directions. You can ignore the handlebars. They’re irrelevant. You just need to know how far the insect can go in the time it takes the bikes to meet.

Which turns out to be a pretty easy calculation:

If each bike was going at 10 miles per hour, and they were 20 miles apart, then it would take the bikes one hour to reach each other.

So the fly was buzzing around for one hour. What is the distance the fly can cover in one hour? Well, it’s going 15 miles per hour. So the answer is fifteen miles.

We often complicate problems when there’s an easier method right in front of us. I think this is true in more than just math puzzles.

I’m not sure if this is exactly analogous, but it’s staring me in the mirror, so let me tell you about one example. Recently, I was faced with the puzzle of how to cut my own hair. During quarantine, I couldn’t go to the barber, and Julie claimed she wasn’t qualified. I had to do it myself using YouTube tutorials.

My first attempt to cut my own hair had mixed results. The front turned out okay, but the harder-to-reach back of my head was a disaster, filled with uneven patches.

So I paused. I rephrased the problem. The goal is not to cut my hair flawlessly. The goal is to look respectable on Zoom. And on Zoom, no one ever sees the back of my head.

So the simplest solution: Just cut the front of my hair and leave the back alone to grow wild and free. Puzzle solved! Though for the first time in my life, I do have a mullet.

3) Break it down into manageable chunks 

One type of logic puzzle—often called Fermi Problems—provides excellent training for solving some real-life problems. A Fermi Problem is one like this: “How many piano tuners are there in New York City?” You have to estimate the size of something about which you are totally ignorant. 

If you just take a wild guess without reflecting, you’ll probably be off by orders of magnitude. Instead, as David Epstein explains in the psychology book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, the best method is to break the problem down into parts you can reasonably estimate.

As Epstein writes: “How many households are in New York? What portion might have pianos? How often are pianos tuned? How long might it take to tune a piano? How many homes can one tuner reach in a day? How many days a year does a tuner work?” 

You won’t guess it exactly, but you’ll be much more likely to be in the ballpark. As Epstein writes, “None of the individual estimates has to be particularly accurate in order to get a reasonable overall answer.”

Epstein calls it an important tool in his “conceptual Swiss Army knife.” I too find it helpful when reading statistics from dubious media sources, or listening to wild cocktail party speculation. 

Breaking problems into chunks even works when trying to motivate yourself. Take the puzzle of how I can get my lazy butt to walk the treadmill for a few minutes a day. If I say to myself, “You have to walk on the treadmill for an hour today,” I will delay this task forever. So I break it down. I put the big picture out of my mind. First, I tackle the subgoal of putting on my sneakers. I can do that. Then the subgoal of turning the treadmill on. I can do that. And just step onto the rubber belt for just five minutes. I can do that. And eventually, I’m walking and realize this isn’t so bad. I can do this. I stay on for the full hour.

Excerpted with permission from THE PUZZLER: One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life by A.J Jacobs.  

The post The Path to Better Thinking Through Puzzles and Riddles appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

The below 37 documentaries have shaped my thinking and changed my behavior over the last several years. I revisit them often.

They were all featured in 5-Bullet Friday, my free weekly newsletter, which I send out each Friday to ~1.5–2M subscribers. Each edition describes the coolest things I’ve found or explored that week in five short bullet points. This often includes books, gadgets, tricks from experts, articles, and weird stuff from all over the world.  

I hope you enjoy the following gems as much as I have…

March 4, 2022

The River Runner (Netflix, Amazon, more options). This jumped to the top of my to-watch list, thanks to Brad Ludden of First Descents, a world-class waterman in his own right and associate producer on this film. Here’s the trailer. Kudos to director Rush Sturges (@rushsturges), writers Thayer Walker (@inkdwell), Corinna Halloran (@corinnahalloran), and the whole team. This Outside feature by Thayer and Scott Lindgren, the documentary’s protagonist, became a model for the film: “After a Hard Diagnosis, One Athlete Learns to Soften Up.”

January 7, 2022

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Amazon, Apple TV). Description: “Werner Herzog’s award-winning 2011 doc is a thrilling study of 32,000-year-old cave paintings recently discovered in Southern France.” It has 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, and you can watch the trailer here. 

December 17, 2021

The Alpinist (Amazon, Netflix, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play). If you want an incredible infusion of wonder and adrenaline, this doc delivers. It’s stunning. Description: “Marc-André Leclerc climbs alone, far from the limelight. On remote alpine faces, the free-spirited 23-year-old Canadian makes some of the boldest solo ascents in history. Yet, he draws scant attention. With no cameras, no rope, and no margin for error, Leclerc’s approach is the essence of solo adventure. Nomadic and publicity shy, he doesn’t own a phone or car and is reluctant to let a film crew in on his pure vision of climbing…” Even if you don’t watch the full doc, be sure to watch the short trailer here. Special thanks to Peter Mortimer (@SenderFilms) and Nick Rosen (@finsterbone) for including audio from The Tim Ferriss Show in this beautiful film.

November 26, 2021

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (Amazon, YouTube, Apple TV) from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville. I watched this on a flight and deeply appreciated the nuanced portrayal. The archival and outtake footage alone make it well worth watching. The official description: “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain is an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef who lived his life unabashedly became a world-renowned cultural icon.” Find the trailer here. There are certainly lessons to be learned from the light and the dark, and this film raises important questions for me. For example: How can you safely learn from—or emulate—certain characteristics of tortured outliers without also inadvertently absorbing beliefs and behaviors that contributed to their deep inner pain? Tony’s story is inspiring, incredible, and tragic, and this film does an admirable job of capturing all three.

November 5, 2021

Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski. This doc is amazing and bizarre on multiple levels. Here’s the description: “Artists in LA discover the work of forgotten Polish sculptor Stanisław Szukalski, a mad genius whose true story unfolds chapter by astounding chapter.” The documentary was produced by Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio) and his father George DiCaprio. You can find the trailer here. Thanks to Snapping Turtle for the recommendation.

October 8, 2021

Let Things Rot from the Fungi Foundation. This is gorgeously shot, and it’s worth a five-minute break for the visuals alone. From the description: “The Fungi Foundation is proud to present ‘Let Things Rot,’ a new documentary short directed by Mateo Barrenengoa in collaboration with mycologist and foundation founder Giuliana Furci (@giulifungi). Filmed in Chile’s Araucanía Region, the short delves into fungi’s crucial role as a decomposer, inviting the viewer to reconsider rotting through a new, poetic perspective.”

September 10, 2021

Searching for Sugar Man (Amazon, iTunes/Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube). I’ve had dozens of friends recommend this over the years, and I finally watched it last night. It’s SPECTACULAR. It was exactly the feel-good pick-me-up that I needed. The film’s accolades include 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, a BAFTA Award for Best Documentary, and an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, just to mention a few. Here’s the official description: “Searching for Sugar Man tells the incredible true story of Rodriguez, the greatest ’70s rock icon who never was. After being discovered in a Detroit bar, Rodriguez’s sound struck two renowned producers, and they signed a recording deal. But when the album bombed, the singer disappeared into obscurity. A bootleg recording found its way into apartheid South Africa, and over the next two decades, he became a phenomenon. The film follows the story of two South African fans who set out to find out what really happened to their hero.” Watch the trailer here.

August 20, 2021

Bird by Bird with Annie. I’ve loved Anne Lamott (@AnneLamott) and her work for more than a decade, and ever since I had her on the podcast, I’ve gone even deeper into the Annieverse. This documentary had just the right blend of humor, humanity, and insight to help me with some difficult emotions this week. Description: “Perhaps best known for her widely celebrated book on writing, Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott is one of the rare artists who can teach us not only how to write, but how to live. From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock (Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision), BIRD BY BIRD WITH ANNIE offers an intimate portrait of the writer and her craft, interweaving the story of Lamott’s life—in itself a deeply moving tale of addiction and redemption, grief and joy, intellect and faith—with a year’s worth of interviews, public lectures, and readings, and footage of the writer at work, focusing particularly on Lamott’s candid, humorous, and disarmingly straightforward advice on the struggles and joys of writing. In the end, the author’s genuine reassurance and guidance concerning the actual process of writing—which has little resemblance to its glorified image—becomes a stirring call to action that celebrates the potential of each individual, the silencing of our inner critics, and the courage to create something honest, meaningful, and real. Poignant and inspirational, BIRD BY BIRD WITH ANNIE takes us deep into Anne Lamott’s intoxicatingly brave world, one in which writing is a means of finding out who we are, how we live, and why we’re here.” You can find the trailer here.

July 16, 2021

Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball. [Update: currently unavailable for viewing.] This documentary really brings back the memories. It tracks high school competitors and coaches in one of Japan’s deepest passions: baseball. The school uniforms, practices, buildings, customs, etc. are all nearly exactly what I experienced as a 15-year-old exchange student in Tokyo. Natsukashii naaaa! Deep bow to reader Ethan Jacobs (@ethanajacobs) for the suggestion.

June 4, 2021

Magical Death. [Update: currently unavailable for viewing.] It’s a common fiction that indigenous use of psychedelics is entirely focused on healing. In reality, while healing is one common and legitimate use, psychedelic plants have also been weaponized for warfare for centuries, if not millenia. Stated uses include night-vision enhancement, attempts at divination of enemy locations, and “remote attacks.” This video shows an example of the last. Whether or not you believe such things are possible, it demonstrates that human nature—warts and all—is cross-cultural. Description: “A documentary film by anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon that explores the role of the shaman within the Yanomamo culture, as well as the close relationship shamanism shares with politics within their society.” Plant medicine does not automagically mean peaceful or harmonious ever after. Humans love power.

March 9, 2021

RBG. Description: “At the age of 85, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a lengthy legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. Explore her unique and unknown personal journey of her rise to the nation’s highest court.” May she rest in peace.

February 12, 2021

“Philip Roth: Unmasked” (Amazon, iTunes, PBS). I greatly enjoyed this deep dive into the life, craft, and humor of Philip Roth. My quest to learn more about Philip was sparked by Joyce Carol Oates, one of the most decorated and prodigious American writers of the last century, who spoke about him during our podcast together. Here’s the official description of this interview-rich documentary: “American Masters explores the life and career of Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning novelist Philip Roth, often referred to as the greatest living American writer. Reclusive and diffident, Roth grants very few interviews, but for the first time, allowed a journalist to spend 10 days interviewing him on camera.”

January 29, 2021

Guardians of the Amazon. “As the Amazon rainforest faces a crucial tipping point amidst the increase of illegal logging activities, Dan Harris (@danbharris) and his team embed with the Guardians, a small indigenous group taking up arms to hunt down illegal loggers and fight for their land.” For a taste of the action, see the trailer here. This is a topic I care a lot about. For another way to help preserve the ecosystems of the Amazon, which includes both the lungs of the planet and indigenous communities, take a look at the Amazon Conservation Team. For my interview with the co-founder, Mark Plotkin, ethnobotanist and protégé of the legendary Richard Schultes, please click here.

November 20, 2020

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. This film was just what I needed after a rough day. Short description: “A groundbreaking summer camp galvanizes a group of teens with disabilities to help build a movement, forging a new path toward greater equality.” It has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and won the Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Award earlier this year. You can find the trailer here.

October 23, 2020

Sour Grapes (Amazon, YouTube, iTunes). This film scores ~95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and both the story and its cinematic telling are simply fantastic. Here’s the description: “Controversy erupts when an unassuming young man floods the American wine market with fake vintages valued in the millions, bamboozling the wine world elite, in this humorous and suspenseful tale of an ingenious con on the eve of the 2008 stock market crash.” This is a hilarious and nearly unbelievable case study in factors that make humans vulnerable to deceit, hubris, and more.

September 25, 2020

Burden of Dreams (Amazon, iTunes, The Criterion Channel). This documentary was recommended to me by one of the most phenomenal artists I know, Dustin Yellin, whose wild podcast with me just got released today. Burden of Dreams is a strange and captivating film. It’s a showcase of tackling the impossible, being unrealistic, and failing above others’ successes. On so many levels, the compulsion, single-mindedness, and all-or-nothing drive of legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog makes no sense. And yet… to me, parts of his journey, and parts of his worldview, make all the sense in the world. This is a bizarre one that will only appeal to a small fraction of you, but here’s the official film description, edited for length: “For nearly five years, Werner Herzog worked on one of the most ambitious and difficult films of his career, Fitzcarraldo, the story of one man’s attempt to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle. Documentary filmmaker Les Blank captured the unfolding of this production, including a sequence requiring [the pulling of] a full-size, 320-ton steamship over a small mountain.”

September 4, 2020

The Work. This documentary tore my heart apart but simultaneously gave me tremendous hope. It strikes me as particularly important for men (or those who want to better understand men) to watch, but the intensity isn’t for everyone. It’s exhausting to watch. Check out this short trailer, and you’ll see what I mean. As one reviewer put it, “The Work is a ‘prison film’ but not as you know it, and yet it is perhaps the most emotionally draining the genre has ever seen…. Set in Folsom prison, a group of men from the outside participate in a group therapy session with convicts, many of them violent offenders. In the space of four days, prisoners and free men alike engage in a weekend of deeply intimate conversations in which they reveal their darkest fears, dangerously repressed memories, and their most complex feelings. The resulting drama is a fascinating exercise in emotional exorcism.” So you’re not caught scratching your head at my recommendation, note that the first 20–30 minutes seem somewhat slow. It picks up at around the 30–35-minute mark.

August 21, 2020

The Last Dance. After weeks of three close friends texting me repeatedly about this series, I finally bit the bullet. I was hesitant, as I’ve never followed basketball nor been drawn to it, but… this is easily one of the best television series of any type that I’ve ever seen. It’s spectacular. Here’s the official description, but it doesn’t reflect the intensity and magic of what you’ll see: “This docuseries chronicles the rise of superstar Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls, with unaired footage from an unforgettable 1997–98 season.”

Huge kudos to director Jason Hehir; the executive producers, including Mike Tollin, John Dahl, Connor Schell, Peter Guber, and Libby Geist; and everyone else who helped create this series. How they digested the overwhelming volume of footage they did to make such tight art is beyond comprehension. The Last Dance was recently nominated in three Emmy categories: Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program, Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program, and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.

March 28, 2020

DOSED. Highly recommended. I first saw an advanced screener of this film last summer, after which I reached out to the filmmakers with encouragement and feedback. It’s one of the best and most beautifully shot docs I’ve ever seen about psychedelic medicine. It showcases the struggles, misfires, and successes in the concrete jungles near Vancouver instead of in an Amazonian jungle. For me, it was quite emotional, as it shows opioid/opiate addiction firsthand, and my aunt died of a Percocet and alcohol overdose roughly 1.5 years ago. I’ll say it again: highly recommended, and the ending will lift you up. Here’s the official description: “After many years of prescription medications failed her, a suicidal woman turns to underground healers to try and overcome her depression, anxiety, and opioid addiction with illegal psychedelic medicine such as magic mushrooms and iboga. Adrianne’s first dose of psilocybin mushrooms catapulted her into an unexpected world of healing where plant medicines are redefining our understanding of mental health and addiction.”

January 17, 2020

Mike Wallace Is Here. This doc found me at exactly the right time. I’m in the midst of studying many different types of interviewers (Terry Gross vs. Larry King vs. Joe Rogan vs. Charlie Rose vs. James Lipton, etc.) to improve my own game in 2020. Mike is an archetype of the Southern Tiger Claw kung-fu style of interviewing, kicks to the balls included. He can be brutal. And while I wouldn’t duplicate all aspects of his approach, I think there is much to learn. Some of the clips in this doc are tense beyond words. The footage of Mike with Ayatollah Khomeini, as but one example, will make your stomach do flips. Here’s the official description: “For over half a century, 60 Minutes’ fearsome newsman Mike Wallace went head-to-head with the world’s most influential figures. Relying exclusively on archival footage, the film interrogates the interrogator, tracking Mike’s storied career and troubled personal life while unpacking how broadcast journalism evolved to today’s precarious tipping point.” You can find the trailer here. Highly recommended.

December 7, 2019

The Rise of Jordan Peterson (Vimeo, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play; if outside the US, Vimeo is likely easiest due to geo restrictions). I did not expect to like this documentary as much as I did. Prior to watching it, I knew very little of Jordan Peterson (@jordanbpeterson). Here’s the one thing I did know: some friends are fascinated by him and feel he is a brilliant seeker of truth, while others erupt into rage at the mere mention of his name and paint him as an anti-liberal antichrist. I watched this film with a close friend who is both impressed by and skeptical of Jordan, depending on the subject matter and year in question, as Jordan (like all of us) changes over time. In the end, we felt that this documentary—which includes a lot of diehard fans and diehard detractors—pulled off something quite difficult: it painted a compelling picture of a complex, gifted, and imperfect human, complete with paradoxes and uncomfortable questions that linger. My friend and I ended up discussing specific scenes and directorial decisions for days afterward.

Here’s the official description: “A rare, intimate glimpse into the life and mind of Jordan Peterson, the academic and best-selling author who captured the world’s attention with his criticisms of political correctness and his life-changing philosophy on discovering personal meaning. Christened as the most influential public intellectual in the western world, University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan Peterson skyrocketed to fame after he published a controversial viral video series entitled ‘Professor Against Political Correctness’ in 2016. Within two years, he sold more than three million copies of his self-help book, 12 Rules For Life, and became simultaneously branded by some as an academic rockstar selling out theatres around the world, and by others as a dangerous threat to progressive society.” [Update: You can find my interview with Jordan Peterson here.]

November 16, 2019

Dealt (Amazon, Hulu, Google Play) directed by Luke Korem. This absolutely blew my mind, and I don’t want to spoil it with description. Trust me and watch the short trailer here. Truly amazing. I can’t remember the last time I finished a documentary, only to want to immediately watch it again. I also can’t remember a doc that made me as emotional as this did, pushing me from laughter to tears. It’s a masterful visual biography. [Update: You can find my interview with Richard Turner here.]

November 8, 2019

From Shock to Awe (Vimeo, iTunes, Amazon). If you liked Trip of Compassion, or if you have an interest in psychedelics, ayahuasca, veteran affairs, or healing, take a look at this documentary. I’ve watched it 3x already and highly recommend it. Here is the description: “An intimate and raw look at the transformational journey of two combat veterans suffering from severe trauma (PTSD) as they abandon pharmaceuticals to seek relief through the mind-expanding world of psychedelics.” Even if you don’t watch the film, the two-minute trailer is worth checking out.

July 5, 2019

SOMM (on Amazon and iTunes). I first heard about this doc in blog comments after I interviewed the brilliant and well-tattooed Richard Betts. Richard passed the infamous Court of Master Sommeliers’ Masters Exam on his first attempt, becoming the ninth person in history ever to do so. It’s a Mount Everest BITCH of a test, and only 269 people have passed—in total and globally—over the last 40 years(!). I put off watching this film because I feared it would be too highfalutin for this Long Island boy. Now, having seen it, I’m sorry I didn’t watch SOMM ages ago. It’s a wonderful, brutal, endearing, and hilarious (especially the ball-busting scenes during study sessions) story of a few young men trying to find their place in the world by tackling something incredibly difficult. The editing is spot on, and you’re really cheering for these guys by the end. I loved it.

Here’s the official description: “Four men will do anything to pass the most difficult test you’ve never heard of. The Court of Master Sommeliers is one of the world’s most exclusive organizations with an exam that covers every nuance of the world of wine, spirits and cigars. How much do you think you know about wine? SOMM will make you think again.”

June 21, 2019

The King of Kong. This doc was originally recommended to me by the world’s most interesting man, Kevin Kelly. I’ve watched it every year or two since. The movie is like a real-life Spinal Tap about becoming king of the nerds. Trust me; it’s well worth the watch. Here’s a shortened description: “In the early 1980s, legendary Billy Mitchell set a Donkey Kong record that stood for almost 25 years. This documentary follows the assault on the record by Steve Wiebe, an earnest teacher from Washington who took up the game while unemployed.”

May 24, 2019

Pressure Cooker. This is a real tearjerker, a life-affirming story of a teacher in Philadelphia who trains at-risk high school students to win full scholarships to culinary school. She epitomizes the kind of tough love that I think we need more of in this country, *especially* in these infantilizing times. Official description: “Infamously blunt, Wilma Stephenson runs a ‘boot camp’ teaching Culinary Arts at Frankford High, disciplining her students into capable chefs and responsible students. But behind her tough exterior is a teacher who cares passionately about getting the best out of her kids.”

May 17, 2019

One Strange Rock (“Gasp” episode, specifically). This series is truly incredible. Executive produced by the acclaimed filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (director of Black Swan, producer of The Wrestler, and much more) and hosted by Will Smith (@willsmith), it is unlike any documentary series I’ve ever seen. If interested in digging deeper into Darren’s creative process, you can listen to my interview with him: “Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky — Exploring Creativity, Ignoring Critics, and Making Art.”

May 3, 2019

Kumare. This is one of my favorite documentaries of the last five years. The tagline says it all: “The True Story of a False Prophet.” It blends reality and illusion into an amazing narrative, providing many practical philosophies along the way. Here’s the official description: “A provocative social experiment-turned-documentary, KUMARE follows American filmmaker Vikram Gandhi as he transforms himself into a wise Indian guru, hoping to prove the absurdity of blind faith.”

April 5, 2019

David Hockney: The Art of Seeing. Thanks to reader Jonathan Weitzman (@Epigenetique) for pointing me to this documentary via Twitter. Here’s the description: “David Hockney, widely considered to be Britain’s best-loved living artist, has taken over the Royal Academy [RA] in London with his exhibition A Bigger Picture, made up of recent works depicting the landscape of his native Yorkshire. In this programme, Andrew Marr, a friend of Hockney’s and an amateur painter himself, is in conversation with the artist, both at his home in Bridlington and in the galleries of the RA.”

March 15, 2019

Trip of Compassion. I first watched Trip of Compassion about six months ago, when I was sent a link to a private video. This documentary affected me so deeply (and immediately) that I flew to Tel Aviv, met the filmmakers, and offered to help launch the film digitally worldwide, which I just did this week on this page. Everything I am doing for this film is 100% pro bono, and all proceeds go to the filmmakers. Why would I do this? This quote from an actual patient in the film might give you an idea: “I felt like I went through 15 years of psychological therapy in one night.” Trip of Compassion documents one unusual approach to healing trauma that might astonish you—an innovative treatment involving the psychoactive drug MDMA (commonly known as “ecstasy”). As you will see firsthand, if the therapy is well designed, true rebirth and transformation can happen in a matter of weeks and not years. If you’ve ever felt held back, felt defective in some way, or felt that you’re not living up to your full potential, this film will give you hope. I highly, highly recommend watching and sharing this film. The world needs it.

February 1, 2019

In Search of Greatness. This brand-new doc thematically fits into a lot of the reading I’m currently doing. The official description: “Through the eyes of the greatest athletes of all time, In Search of Greatness is a cinematic journey into the secrets of genius. From award-winning filmmaker Gabe Polsky (@gabepolsky), this groundbreaking feature documentary includes original interviews with Wayne Gretzky, Pelé, and Jerry Rice. It also features Muhammad Ali, Einstein, David Bowie, Serena Williams, and Michael Jordan, among others.” You can watch the trailer here. Gabe’s earlier Red Army doc is also fantastic.

January 18, 2019

Tim’s Vermeer. I first saw this film in 2014, and I decided it was worth a revisit, given my renewed interest in art. It’s absolutely marvelous. Here’s a description from Wikipedia: “Tim’s Vermeer is a documentary film, directed by Teller, produced by his stage partner Penn Jillette and Farley Ziegler, about inventor Tim Jenison’s efforts to duplicate the painting techniques of Johannes Vermeer, in order to test his theory that Vermeer painted with the help of optical devices.”

December 21, 2018

The Price of Everything, directed by Nathaniel Kahn. I watched this film after both my brother and a close friend raved about it. It is often hilarious, sometimes nauseating, and always entertaining. Here’s the description: “With unprecedented access to pivotal artists and the white-hot market surrounding them, The Price of Everything dives deep into the contemporary art world, holding a mirror up to our values and our times — where everything can be bought and sold.” You can stream it on HBO, and there are a few screenings coming up in early 2019 around the U.S. Personally, I hope to learn much, much more about art and the art world in 2019. If you might have lessons to share or a lot of experience, please let me know! Just direct a tweet at me (@tferriss) and include #timart so I can find you. Thanks!

December 14, 2018

Rivers and Tides. I first learned of Andy Goldsworthy through Johns Hopkins’ medical staff, who introduced me to one of his amazing books in their session room used for psilocybin studies. This classic documentary complements the book and shows his art (and the artist) in process. It won’t resonate with everyone, and it’s a bit odd, but it will strike a chord with many. This is especially true if you’ve spent some time in non-ordinary states. Before watching, I suggest seeing one of his books or at least looking at images of some of his artwork in nature.

December 7, 2018

Pick of the Litter. This feel-good documentary was recommended to me by my mom. It is a little sappy at points, but the training for avoiding automobiles and refusing to follow owner commands is incredible. Fair warning: some of you will shed a tear or two. The official description: “Pick of the Litter follows a litter of puppies from the moment they’re born and begin their quest to become guide dogs for the blind. Cameras follow these pups through an intense two-year odyssey as they train to become dogs whose ultimate responsibility is to protect their blind partners from harm. Along the way, these remarkable animals rely on a community of dedicated individuals who train them to do amazing, life-changing things in the service of their human. The stakes are high, and not every dog can make the cut.”

November 2, 2018

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? This was repeatedly recommended to me by my good friend Kevin Rose. I finally had a chance to watch it, and I wasn’t disappointed. It was particularly reassuring that Mister Rogers basically took the good TV playbook of the time and did the exact opposite, which helped lead to mega-success. Description: “Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is a 2018 American documentary film directed by Morgan Neville about the life and guiding philosophy of Fred Rogers, the host and creator of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. The trailer for the film debuted on what would have been Rogers’ 90th birthday, March 20, 2018. It received acclaim from critics and audiences and has grossed $22 million, making it the highest-grossing biographical documentary of all time.” (Wikipedia) If you don’t have time for the entire movie, at least watch this amazing clip.

October 26th, 2018

Free Solo, a new documentary in theaters now, should have been titled WHATTHEFUCKOHMYGODHOLYSHIT. I think everyone in the audience lost at least a pound through palm sweat alone. It chronicles free-solo climbing phenom Alex Honnold as he prepares for the ridiculous, the death-inviting, the absolutely impossible: climbing “El Capitan,” the legendary 3,000-foot monster in Yosemite National Park, without any ropes. Beautifully directed and produced by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, this is one movie that will not let your mind wander one iota. Go see it on the biggest screen you can find. At the very least, watch this trailer.

***

You can subscribe to 5-Bullet Friday here—five short bullets about other interesting things I’ve discovered.

The post My 37 Favorite Documentaries — Features and Short Films That Cover High Performance, Overcoming Failure, Creative Process, Psychedelics, Trauma, and Much More appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

They were all featured in 5-Bullet Friday, my free weekly newsletter, which is a short email of five bullet points sent out each Friday to ~1.5–2M subscribers. Each edition describes the five coolest things I’ve found or explored that week, often including books, gadgets, tricks from experts, articles, and weird stuff from all over the world.  

I hope you enjoy the following gems as much as I have…

“Language can become a screen which stands between the thinker and reality. This is the reason why true creativity often starts where language ends.”
— Arthur Koestler

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”
― James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son

“People fall so in love with their pain, they can’t leave it behind. The same as the stories they tell. We trap ourselves.”
— Chuck Palahniuk

“The truth knocks on the door and you say, ‘Go away, I’m looking for the truth,’ and so it goes away. Puzzling.”
— Robert M. Pirsig

“Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.”
— Yousuf Karsh

“A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.”
― Winston Churchill

“I will have to remember ‘I am here today to cross the swamp, not to fight all the alligators.’”
— From The Art of Possibility by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander

“Our bodies are apt to be our autobiographies.”
— Frank Gelett Burgess

“Anytime you’re practicing renunciation, you’re deluded. How about that! You’re deluded. What are you renouncing? Anytime you renounce something, you are tied forever to the thing you renounce. There’s a guru in India who says, ‘Every time a prostitute comes to me, she’s talking about nothing but God. She says I’m sick of this life that I’m living. I want God. But every time a priest comes to me, he’s talking about nothing but sex.’ Very well, when you renounce something, you’re stuck to it forever. When you fight something, you’re tied to it forever. As long as you’re fighting it, you are giving it power. You give it as much power as you are using to fight it.”
— Anthony de Mello, Awareness

“If we can forgive what’s been done to us… If we can forgive what we’ve done to others… If we can leave our stories behind. Our being victims and villains. Only then can we maybe rescue the world.”
— Chuck Palahniuk

“All of our miseries are nothing but attachment.”
— Osho

“Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”
— Maya Angelou

“Those who do not weep, do not see.”
— Victor Hugo

“What do you despise? By this are you truly known.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

“To the economically illiterate, if some company makes a million dollars in profit, this means that their products cost a million dollars more than they would have cost without profits. It never occurs to such people that these products might cost several million dollars more to produce if they were produced by enterprises operating without the incentives to be efficient created by the prospect of profits.”
— Thomas Sowell

“A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.”
― Ludwig Wittgenstein

“You remain awake at night and perform your devotions. Also awake at night are dogs, better than you. They bark and in no way can they be stopped. They go and sleep on the dung heap, better than you. They do not leave their master’s door, even if they get beaten with slippers, better than you. Bulleh Shah, buy yourself something for the journey, or else the game will be won by the dogs, better than you.”
― Bulleh Shah

“A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”
— Herbert Simon

“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”
— Max Planck

“Of all sexual aberrations, chastity is the strangest.”
— Anatole France

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”
— Anne Lamott

“I believe no man was ever scolded out of his sins.”
— William Cowper

“The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours.”
— Amos Tversky

“No person would give up even an inch of their estate, and the slightest dispute with a neighbor can mean hell to pay; yet we easily let others encroach on our lives—worse, we often pave the way for those who will take it over. No person hands out their money to passersby, but to how many do each of us hand out our lives! We’re tight-fisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should all be the toughest misers.”
— Seneca the Younger

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
— Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) (alternatively attributed to Sir Mark Young and/or Bernard Baruch)

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
― Epicurus

“Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed. He’s making sure your imagination withers. Until it’s as useful as your appendix. He’s making sure your attention is always filled. And this being fed, it’s worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what’s in your mind. With everyone’s imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world.”
— Chuck Palahniuk

“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.”
— Richard Feynman

“It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover.”
― Henri Poincaré

“To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.”
— Henri Poincaré

You can subscribe to 5-Bullet Friday here. Each week, I share one carefully selected quote in addition to four short bullets about other interesting things I’ve discovered.

The post 30 Quotes I’m Pondering and Revisiting appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

Before we live on Mars, will we need to prove that we can live underground?

This thought experiment and possible path is found in futurist Amy Webb‘s (@amywebb) new book The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology, coauthored with microbiologist and geneticist Andrew Hessel. Renowned computer scientist Rana el Kaliouby describes the book as a “roadmap for this interdisciplinary field of synthetic biology that is forever reshaping life as we know it.” 

Part Three of the book explores different futures in the form of fictional, speculative scenarios.

These scenarios describe how the world may develop, given what we know to be true today. These are near-term plausible developments, reasonable extensions of current trend lines, not sci-fi. They are also opportunities to rehearse the future, and these structured thought exercises are used by everyone from military strategists to CEOs. 

Scenario #4, “The Underground,” is excerpted from The Genesis Machine with permission and with light edits for length.

Please enjoy! 

The Underground

For decades, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, had been insisting that humanity’s best shot at long-term survival was to eventually become a multiplanetary species. He cited elevated levels of carbon pooling in the Earth’s atmosphere, extreme droughts, and the loss of biodiversity as precursors to a looming catastrophe. He began development on a program called Starship in 2016, which was intended to ferry cargo and, eventually, one hundred passengers between the Earth, Moon, and Mars. By 2021, NASA contracted SpaceX to develop a modified Starship vehicle for its Artemis program. Musk focused on building the core infrastructure that would eventually be required to sustain life, whether on Earth or on the Moon, Mars, or even beyond. But Musk realized he could not build an off-planet living environment on his own. Ever the showman, and with his personal fortune approaching $1 trillion, Musk announced an audacious contest called the Colony Prize. He’d award $1 billion to any team that could build and operate an underground, airtight colony of one hundred people for two years. In other words, the ultimate Mars simulation.^1,2,3

Musk knew that for humans to thrive off-planet, regenerative systems would need to be developed at a scale never before achieved.⁴ The International Space Station once housed as many as thirteen astronauts on board, but typically only six or seven lived in the ISS at once. Colonists also needed to grapple with long periods of confinement. The typical ISS mission was about six months.⁵ NASA astronaut Scott Kelly had spent nearly a year in space. Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov held the record for a single mission, spending an impressive 437 days on the Mir station in the 1990s.⁶ A better example for understanding a hundred-person enclosed society was a submarine––but even here the longest submerged and unsupported mission topped out at 111 days.⁷ Winning the Colony Prize would require keeping the doors sealed tight for more than 700 days.

The contest rules were simple by design. Entrants were to outfit and assemble airtight canisters into a closed living environment. Those canisters, which would begin as empty, modular self-contained spaces that would fit into the cargo bay of a rocket, could be configured as living quarters, science labs, farms, schools, water treatment systems, manufacturing facilities, and anything considered necessary to support a community. Colonies were encouraged to include facilities to support concerts, sports, and other forms of recreation.⁸ Once configured and loaded with supplies, the doors would be sealed and the mission clock started. The goal wasn’t to reinvent Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome. It was to invent entirely new networks of modular structures—using something akin to the Minneapolis Skyway System, the world’s largest contiguous system of enclosed structures and bridges—that could scale to eventually become a city. Over time, such a plan would replicate some aspects of life in the days before extreme weather became our new normal.

In addition to container reconfiguration plans and simulations, contest entrants were told to submit a list of potential colony inhabitants, justification for their selection, and a detailed plan to ensure quality of life. There was an important caveat: the colony couldn’t just be made up of a bunch of carefree early twenty-somethings who, back in the halcyon days of the aughts, might have attended Coachella. Every colony had to mirror the full spectrum of society: a mix of families, couples without children and single people. The prize was intended, in part, to test population expansion in a closed system. That meant that facilities to manage pregnancy, delivery, and infant care, as well as various health issues and the various stages of life, had to be built.⁹

There were no requirements or quotas to ensure diversity of thought, ideology, race, ethnicity, nationality, or culture. Nor were there stipulations to prevent certain people from being excluded from a colony. If a group could prove in simulation that its plan could support life for two years, and if they could explain how inhabitants would work, attend school, receive medical attention, cultivate resources, and maintain balance within the colony, they’d be eligible to advance.

Selected teams would have eleven years to build, refine, and live within their structures. In the event of a system failure or need to make major changes to a configuration, any colony was allowed to reset the clock and start again, provided they had enough time remaining within the eleven-year limit.¹⁰ There was no limit to how many colonies could win the $1 billion award on successful completion.

Colonies would receive support from Musk’s various companies—SpaceX, Tesla, The Boring Company (his tunnel and underground infrastructure company), Chia (the energy-efficient blockchain and smart transaction platform), NovoFarm (an indoor, precision agriculture company), Neuralink (the implantable brain-machine interface company), and Programmable Matter (maker of materials that can shape-shift to respond to the environment or user input).^11,12,13 Feasibility studies and infrastructure pathfinders had been completed, so a crucial aspect was location: future Mars colonies would need to be built underground. Mars lacks a magnetic field and radiation levels on the surface are dangerously high. The surface is cold. Building underground would provide radiation shielding and thermal insulation.^14,15,16

Tunnels would be made by The Boring Company. Its automated Prufrock V machines could “porpoise,” meaning they could be launched from the surface, tunnel underground at a rate of almost one mile a day, and then surface after completion. Tesla produced stainless steel cylinders that fit neatly into these tunnels. They were like shipping containers, except that they were shaped like canisters of Pringles chips and had electric drive systems so they could move slowly under their own power. The interior of the canisters could be customized to house virtually anything, such as private quarters, hydroponic farms, or surgical facilities. They could operate independently for a short period, but they would typically be linked together to form more complex systems, the most straightforward configuration being a chain, like a subway train. Tesla also built solar and battery systems, while SpaceX handled transportation and communications with its Starlink satellites. The companies had installed systems on the moon under its contract with NASA. Colonies would have plenty of electricity and bandwidth.

Colony Prize teams were allowed to use this research to support their designs. Digital plans, models, and specifications were available online, and empty canisters were available for purchase from Tesla for $250,000 each. The big challenge for teams would be putting together, populating, and operating complete systems.

Musk made it clear, in his instructions to those vying for the Colony Prize, that ambition would be rewarded:

The goal is to create habitable places not just to live but live well. Build the colony where you and your family can thrive, with the right kind of people, and consider how it might continue to grow to become fully self-sustaining.

Colonists were required to self-fund their plans, including paying the salaries of those developing the colony and salaries for the colonists themselves. The $1 billion prize for successful colonies would be used to reimburse investors, pay out bonuses, and possibly fund further expansion. Musk believed that this model would incentivize and promote cooperation among various colonies, which would create a flywheel for innovation and accelerate a space-based economy, plus provide real-world experience on governance and operations.

The sheer magnitude of the prize—along with the weather on the surface [of Earth], which had become extremely unpleasant—catalyzed an enormous global investment in closed living system R&D. The only example that came close was by then fifty years old: the Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona, which completed construction in 1991.¹⁷ Originally intended to demonstrate the viability of closed ecological systems, Biosphere 2 was ultimately plagued with problems. Too little food, poor oxygen circulation, and a power struggle over the project’s management and administration doomed the experiment. No one since had tried to integrate the tremendous progress that had happened since then in vertical farming, manufacturing, sensor systems, and biotech into another closed system.

While there were tens of thousands of applications, only 180 proposals passed the initial rounds of filtering. They came from North America, Western Europe, United Korea, China, and India in what became known as colony-forming units, or CFUs. Getting started required that CFUs produce detailed plans and models for water regeneration, biofoundries, medical treatment, oxygen generation, and carbon capture. Doing so required real ingenuity and extensive computer-aided modeling. Ultimately, seventy-two CFUs had built skilled teams and secured land for their colony and surface operations. All of them had secured enough funding—ranging from government grants to investment from private companies to checks written by wealthy donors—to begin building.

Tesla began shipping thousands of canisters and power systems to colonies, which included such varied locales as Bloomington, Indiana, and Humboldt, Iowa; Dalmeny, Saskatchewan, and Edmonton, Alberta (Canada); Hwaseong (United Korea); Beizhen and Dadongzhen (China); Harda (India); Rumuruti (Kenya); and Knutsho (Norway). Along with partners, teams began customizing canisters and linking them together to form what, from a distance, could be mistaken for high-tech hamster enclosures, setting them up on the surface first and testing them extensively in preparation for moving underground.

While the prize rules did not limit the number of awards, it did set strict performance milestones. To meet milestones, colonies had to engineer microbes, including bacteria, that enabled crops to fertilize themselves. Sustainable indoor farms, which included climate-controlled environments, cloud-based AI systems, agricultural sensors, and collaborative robotics, were required to prove they could maintain safe levels of nutrition, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and hydration. Teams also had to design, build, test, and deploy DIY vaccines and therapies to manage any novel pathogen that might arise in the enclosed environment. Auxiliary products intended for everyday use—such as intelligent packaging made of polymers that effectively self-destruct or “unzip” when exposed to light, heat, or acid—were necessary to meet stringent waste management criteria.

At first, the teams struggled to meet their milestones. Creating a sustainable canister for one family to survive for a few years was hard enough. Scaling it to an entire community, and having some semblance of normal life deep underground was a far more complicated endeavor. Colony teams quickly realized the best strategy was cooperation, since there was no cap to the number of winners. Once they started sharing what they’d learned, the engineering of key colony systems evolved incredibly quickly. It didn’t take long for the teams to arrive at configurations that computer simulations predicted would support 100 people, then 150, then almost 200. They all also realized that it was important to build in some redundancy. Things go wrong, such as equipment failures. And sometimes things go right. Colony populations were expected to grow during the mission experiment.

By January 2043, just six years into the experiment, the first colony, Endeavor Sub Terra, announced that it was ready to seal the doors and start the mission clock. Endeavor Sub Terra’s community (ESTers, as they became known) was situated just east of the Arizona State University campus, beyond the Maricopa First Nations Community. (Ironically enough, Biosphere 2 had stood nearby the Arizona State campus, too.) It was sponsored in part by the university and the state government, which provided land and generous tax incentives. ESTers were carefully selected from the large community that had formed to build the Arizona colony. Many were families with kids, though there were young couples and people in various other relationship configurations. They’d all been living and working in the canisters for some time already. Going on the clock just meant not going outside for more than 730 days.

Its canisters were moved underground; the tunnel was sealed and filled with gases that closely matched the Martian atmosphere composition. Power and communication systems simulated the expected kilowatts and also transmission delays, which ranged from three minutes to as long as twenty-two minutes, depending on the relative positions of the planets.

ESTers were the first colonists to seal themselves off from the surface, but because of the extensive information and infrastructure sharing, most of the others were close behind. By the spring of 2044, all seventy-two colonist teams had moved underground.

CFUs devised and used different economic and governance systems. Some paid colonists as full-time employees, who earned salaries for the time they spent working on the prize and living in the community. Like the International Space Station, there was nothing to buy or sell. Salaries earned were deposited into colonists’ bank accounts for their use back on the surface. Other colonies developed universal basic income (UBI) models, where all inhabitants received a set of credits to start with in the form of community digital tokens. Gradually, community members would use these tokens as currency— to pay for goods and services while they lived in the colony.¹⁸

There were detractors. Some people referred to the colonies as “ant farms,” “hamster cages,” and “self-filling prisons.” But the colonists shrugged off the barbs. They believed their canisters and tunnels were great places to live, work, and raise a family. The environment was free from pathogens. Extreme surface weather events weren’t even noticed underground. Tunnels proved safe during the firenados that were ravaging large swaths of North America and Western Europe in the summer of 2044.

The colonies excelled at bioengineering. Their life science canisters were equipped with the best biofabs, including sequencers and synthesizers. Those in charge of developing organisms needed for vertical farms and recycling systems invented novel approaches, and they adapted and evolved their local, natural ecosystems as time passed. They also designed special surveillance systems to detect any contaminations or mutations.

The underground colonies provided refuge from perilous surface storms, but the experiment didn’t change basic human nature. Before sealing, psychographic data were collected on all community members to ensure they could withstand living in an enclosure with just 99 other people, but no one accurately predicted the ideal community composition. Neurodiverse candidates were allowed, though people with panic disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or who were prone to depression, were strongly discouraged. Those who had anger management issues, or who displayed signs of narcissistic personality disorder, were typically excluded. Still, some community leaders bent the rules, or outright broke them. Wealthy donors expected access and privileges in return for their investment, which often meant jumping the line in front of more qualified or suitable candidates. Some donors even bought their teenagers a colony stint, hoping it would land their kids at more prestigious colleges later. Others thought it would be the ultimate status vacation, or a way to boost traffic to their virtual media channels, and insisted they make the list.

There were also failures. In some colonies, vicious politicking, infighting, and scandal plagued inhabitants the minute the doors closed. In Visionary Valley, for example, the funders were determined to manage the community as they would a business. Within two months, the colony imploded. The funders had insisted that only they should know the lock codes to key resources, such as food and water stores. They also built a colony-wide surveillance system that could be viewed using only their own biometric authentication. This wasn’t known to colony members in advance, who realized, once they were all underground, that a hierarchical system was in place that mirrored the power and wealth imbalance they’d endured on the surface.

The colonists attempted a coup, but they were effectively living in a panopticon, and there was no way for them to take over. Disgusted and enraged, they broke the seal on Visionary Valley and vowed never to return.

In every community, some colonists struggled with social isolation, the abrupt change of lifestyle, and restricted movement. Several felt a sense of persistent unease, which led to difficulty concentrating and sleeping. For others, depression and anxiety were more acute. Those colonists became easily frightened and developed paranoia. Some had violent outbursts or became detached from family members and friends. Colonists gave that condition a name—traumatic below- surface syndrome, or TBSS—and there was no easy way to treat it.

The most successful colonies were those that acknowledged humanity’s basic physiological and safety needs. People wanted to feel a sense of purpose and belonging, and there were plenty of jobs to do within each community. A few UBI programs were successful, but most digital token systems weren’t perfect. Colonists blew through their initial allotment fast, and there was no bank to lend them additional credits. They had to borrow from neighbors, which caused friction, as it always has. In one colony, a sudden surge in demand for strawberries led to inflation, temporarily causing the prices of all produce to spike.

Flat power structures rarely work; some people will always want to lead, and others never do. Many colonies developed a modified social democratic system of government favoring consensus. Colony administrators rotated through positions, which wasn’t always perfect, but incentivized administrators against leaving a mess for their successors. Several colonies experimented with letting AI systems run everything.

Endeavor Sub Terra, the first to go on the clock, was also the first to win the $1 billion award in early 2045. Musk and the Colony Prize would eventually award fifty-five of the seventy-two teams. He considered it to be the best return on investment he’d ever made. Humanity had built the technical and social foundation for becoming a multiplanetary, spacefaring species—one that could scale indefinitely when given access to energy and raw materials. In addition to producing net surpluses of food, water, and other necessities, many colonies had reached economic escape velocity: the research, systems, and products they created were earning them a lot of money on the surface. If they wanted to, they could reinvest and keep growing. Which is why many ESTers decided to remain underground even after the mission ended.

They had developed an airlock and decontamination system that would enable colonists to pop back up to the surface on occasion to visit old friends or to enjoy one of the few days of good weather. They agreed to wearing or ingesting sensors, colony-wide testing, and quarantines to ensure that no one brought a virus or other pathogen back into public areas in the enclosure. They purchased their own tunneling machines and additional canisters to accommodate another two thousand people—but they already had a third growth plan underway for millions of colonists, with new underground neighborhoods, geothermal generators, massive bioreactors, and even an underground ocean. It may not have been his intention, but Musk’s Colony Prize had seeded the largest investment in sustainable communities that humanity had ever seen.

Around the world, surface ecosystems were rewilding as struggling farms and towns were abandoned for the underground. Buildings, roads, and homes were left to degrade naturally, eroded by sunlight, water, and vegetation. Nature and natural systems were bouncing back faster than anyone predicted, which required a new generation of naturalists and ecologists to study Earth’s dramatic new ecosystem shifts. For the first time in over a century, the CO2 levels in the atmosphere began to drop.

ESTers could see a future of flexible living: a way for people to live well on spaceship Earth or, if desired, off-planet. A personal module could be shipped to Mars and connected to a colony.

Sometimes ESTers would visit the surface at night. Lying on the ground, and without any light pollution, they would marvel at the canopy of stars above them. The stars seemed to whisper as they twinkled: Come, humans, explore!

Mars, and other planets, were waiting.

Excerpted from THE GENESIS MACHINE: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology by Amy Webb and Andrew Hessel. Copyright © 2022. Available from PublicAffairs, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Footnotes:

1. Mike Wall, “Elon Musk, X Prize Launch $100 Million Carbon-Removal Competition,” Space.com, April 23, 2021, www.space.com/elon-musk-carbon-removal-x-prize.

2. Eric Berger, “Inside Elon Musk’s Plan to Build One Starship a Week—and Settle Mars,” Ars Technica, March 5, 2020, https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/03/inside-elon-musks-plan-to-build-one-starship-a-week-and-settle-mars.

3. Morgan McFall-Johnsen and Dave Mosher, “Elon Musk Says He Plans to Send 1 Million People to Mars by 2050 by Launching 3 Starship Rockets Every Day and Creating ‘a Lot of Jobs’ on the Red Planet,” Business Insider, January 17, 2020, www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plans-1-million-people-to-mars-by-2050 -2020-1.

4. Mike Wall, “Elon Musk, X Prize Launch $100 Million Carbon-Removal Competition,” Space.com, April 23, 2021, www.space.com/elon-musk-carbon-removal-x-prize; Eric Berger, “Inside Elon Musk’s Plan to Build One Starship a Week—and Settle Mars,” Ars Technica, March 5, 2020, https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/03/inside-elon-musks-plan-to-build-one-starship-a-week-and-settle-mars; Morgan McFall-Johnsen and Dave Mosher, “Elon Musk Says He Plans to Send 1 Million People to Mars by 2050 by Launching 3 Starship Rockets Every Day and Creating ‘a Lot of Jobs’ on the Red Planet,” Business Insider, January 17, 2020, www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plans-1-million-people-to-mars-by-2050-2020-1.

5. “Astronauts Answer Student Questions,” NASA, www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/569954main_astronaut%20_FAQ.pdf.

6. Eric Berger, “Meet the Real Ironman of Spaceflight: Valery Polyakov,” Ars Technica, March 7, 2016, Valeri Polyakov held the record for a single mission, spending an impressive 437 days on the Mir station in the 1990s.

7. “Longest Submarine Patrol,” Guinness Book of World Records, www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/submarine-patrol-longest.

8. Jackie Wattles, “Colonizing Mars Could Be Dangerous and Ridiculously Expensive. Elon Musk Wants to Do It Anyway,” CNN, September 8, 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/09/08/tech/spacex-mars-profit-scn/index.html; Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, “Elon Musk’s First Name Shows Up in 1953 Book About Colonizing Mars,” CNET, May 7, 2021, www.cnet.com/news/elon-musks-first-name-shows-up-in-1953-book-about-colonizing-mars.

9. Ali Bekhtaoui, “Egos Clash in Bezos and Musk Space Race,” Phys.org, May 2, 2021, https://phys.org/news/2021-05-egos-clash-bezos-musk-space.html.

10. Sean O’Kane, “The Boring Company Tests Its ‘Teslas in Tunnels’ System in Las Vegas,” The Verge, May 26, 2021, www.theverge.com/2021/5/26/22455365/elon-musk-boring-company-las-vegas-test-lvcc-loop-teslas; Kathryn Hardison,“What Will Become of All This?,” American City Business Journals, May 28, 2021, www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2021/05/28/tesla-2500-acres-travis-county-plans.html; Philip Ball, “Make Your Own World with Programmable Matter,” IEEE Spectrum, May 27, 2014, https://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/robotics-hardware/make-your-own-world-with-programmable-matter.

11. Neuralink website: https://neuralink.com.

12. Chia website: https://www.chia.net.

13. NOVOFARM website: https://www.f6s.com/novofarm.

14. Sean O’Kane, “The Boring Company Tests Its ‘Teslas in Tunnels’ System in Las Vegas,” The Verge, May 26, 2021, www.theverge.com/2021/5/26/22455365/elon-musk-boring-company-las-vegas-test-lvcc-loop-teslas.

15. Kathryn Hardison, “What Will Become of All This?,” American City Business Journals, May 28, 2021, www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2021/05/28/tesla-2500-acres-travis-county-plans.html.

16. Philip Ball, “Make Your Own World with Programmable Matter,” IEEE Spectrum, May 27, 2014, https://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/robotics-hardware/make-your-own-world-with-programmable-matter.

17. “What Is Biosphere 2,” Biosphere 2, University of Arizona, https://biosphere2.org/visit/what-is-biosphere-2. [Ed. note: If that link doesn’t work, go to https://biosphere2.org/about/about-biosphere-2.]

18. Our thinking about the EST economy and governing structure was loosely informed by Norway and Sweden. Interview with Dr. Christian Guilette, Scandinavian Faculty at University of California, Berkeley, April 23, 2021. 

The post The Surprising Path to Life on Mars: First, Go Underground? appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

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The below descriptions originally appeared in my free newsletter, “5-Bullet Friday,” which I send out every Friday. It’s a short email of bullet points that describe the five coolest things I’ve found or explored each week. “5-Bullet Friday” often includes books, gadgets, quotes, experimental supplements, and useful stuff from all over the world. To sign up and join 1.5+ million other subscribers, please click here. It’s easy to unsubscribe anytime.

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MY FAVORITE AND MOST IMPACTFUL READS FROM 2021

What I’m reading (longer) — (week of December 28, 2020)
The Art of Seeing Things: Essays by John Burroughs, edited by Charlotte Zoë Walker (@czwalkergil). How do you sharpen the eye and mind? How can you more fully experience the vibrant details of nature? John Burroughs writes beautifully on these and many other topics. He can be heavy on the bird references, but the essay that is the namesake of this volume—“The Art of Seeing Things”—is simply outstanding.

What I’m reading (shorter) — (week of December 28, 2020)
“100 Tips for a Better Life” by Conor Barnes (@Ideopunk). This is a surprisingly good list, despite the generic headline. Thanks to Ryan Holiday (@RyanHoliday) for the recommendation.

What I’m reading (longer) — (week of January 4)
Of Wolves and Men by Barry Lopez. This is probably my favorite nonfiction book of the last five years. I received it as a Christmas gift, I devoured it in one week, and nearly every page is covered in highlighter. It’s truly that phenomenal. Barry’s mastery of structure and the written word echoes of John McPhee, and the beauty of his prose reminds me of Mary Oliver. Repeatedly, I found myself saying aloud, “Wow. How does someone DO this?” Here’s the description, edited for length: “Humankind’s relationship with the wolf is the sum of a spectrum of responses ranging from fear to admiration and affection. Lopez’s classic, careful study won praise from a wide range of reviewers, became a finalist for the National Book award, and forever improved the way books on wild animals are written. Of Wolves and Men explores the uneasy interaction between wolves and civilization over the centuries, and the wolf’s prominence in our thoughts about wild creatures. Drawing upon an impressive array of literature, history, science, and mythology as well as extensive personal experience with captive and free-ranging wolves, Lopez … immerses the reader in its sensory world, creating a compelling portrait of the wolf both as a real animal and as imagined by different kinds of men. A scientist might perceive the wolf as defined by research data, while an Eskimo hunter sees a family provider much like himself. For many Native Americans the wolf is also a spiritual symbol, a respected animal that can strengthen the individual and the community. With irresistible charm and elegance, Of Wolves and Men celebrates careful scientific fieldwork, dispels folklore … explains myths, and honors indigenous traditions, allowing us to understand how this remarkable animal has become so prominent for so long in the human heart.”

What I’m reading (shorter) — (week of January 4)
“What Is Death?” (Sunday New York Times) by BJ Miller (@bjmillermd). Dr. BJ Miller has helped more than 1,000 people to die. He is a hospice and palliative medicine physician as well as author of A Beginner’s Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death. When people ask about episodes of my podcast that deeply affected me, I often mention my podcast with BJ, which was hilarious, heart-wrenching, and transcendent. I still remember many of the lessons, even though it was recorded in 2016. His new NYT piece is an outstanding revisitation of death, alongside the opportunities that lie within our collective and individual experiences of COVID. Here’s a sample: “The cumulative effect [of COVID-19] is shock fatigue or numbness, but instead of turning away, we need to fold death into our lives. We really have only two choices: to share life with death or to be robbed by death.”

Book I’m reading — (week of January 18)
Art Is the Highest Form of Hope. Special thanks to the amazing Susan Cain (@susancain) for sending this beautiful book to me, which is full of bite-size philosophy and much-needed imagination. These days, a little light goes a long way. From the description: “Advice, strong opinions, and personal revelations by the world’s greatest artists—exclusively researched for this new book.”

Essay I’m reading — (week of January 18)
“Still Alive” by Scott Siskind, better known as “Scott Alexander” (@slatestarcodex). This really struck a chord, and if you are considering growing your audience or “platform,” make this essay part of your required reading. This bullet will be a bit longer and more heated than usual, as it reopened old wounds.

Some of my dear friends are journalists, and they’re wonderful people. They measure twice and cut once. They are thoughtful, unrushed, and considerate, despite organizational pressure and incentives to be the opposite. That takes extraordinary discipline, and it’s fucking hard. It isn’t the path of least resistance, and I admire the hell out of them for doing what is right, despite the uphill path. This includes some amazing humans at the NYT. This praise doesn’t mean that they write fluff pieces; it means they aim to be fair and humane and take the time necessary to think about ethics and the Golden Rule.

That said, there is a great-to-terrible spectrum for any professional group, including surgeons, elementary school teachers, politicians, hot dog vendors, and, yes, even journalists. There are people in all walks of life who are spiteful, narcissistic, harried, or simply uncaring. They do what is easiest and best for them personally, and what is expedient, without thought to those vulnerable to their mistreatment. Perhaps it’s from fatigue, perhaps it’s from outside pressure, perhaps it’s from ill will, but the outcomes are often the same. Sadly, there are journalists who earn a living by repeatedly earning trust and betraying it; they are a minority, but they clearly exist. I don’t say this about anyone referred to in Scott’s essay, as I’m not in the know, but based on my personal experience with hundreds of interviews over 10+ years, plus other authors’ similar experiences. There are great people in the unlikeliest of places, and there are bad apples at even the best publications. Don’t assume a good masthead means you are in safe hands.

This entire essay by Scott can serve as a cautionary tale about public exposure, fame, privacy, and living life. The “don’t kick me in the balls” section speaks to deeper truths and risks of the spotlight. Personally, I’ve been misquoted by tier-one newspapers and even threatened by one writer at a newspaper of record. Why was I threatened? Because I asked that he only include my answers if he quoted them in full, instead of pulling single sound bites out of context, which he’d done before. This was for an online piece, so there were no space constraints. He got very upset and wrote directly, “You are not in control,” and proceeded to explain the power dynamic. Endearing, eh? I immediately saved and drafted that exchange as a just-in-case blog post, which I still have. Thankfully, I didn’t need it then, and I can only guess that he realized the liability of explicitly typing what he did. That’s an edge case. There are tougher cases that don’t leave as obvious a paper trail. For example, I’ve had fact-checkers at a magazine famous for fact-checking *not* make the corrections I provided via phone, which resulted in a grossly inaccurate profile that will sit in Google results for years and probably decades. Lesson learned: only do fact-checking via email. For these reasons and more, I rarely do print interviews any longer, and if I do, I use email or insist on also having recordings of the conversations. Pro tip: ensure you ask to record on your side and have your own audio (via Skype, QuickTime, Zoom, or other), as I’ve also had several writers promise to send their audio and then never do so, despite multiple follow-ups. As Mike Shinoda (@mikeshinoda) says in Fort Minor’s “Get Me Gone”:

“After that I made it a rule:

I only do E-mail responses to print interviews

Because these people love to put a twist to your words

To infer that you said something fucking absurd

…

Now I’ve got the interviews on file

Which people said what, which number to dial”

Again, in the world of media, as in any group of humans, there are the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are some beautiful humans and some deplorable humans, and a vast majority fall somewhere in between, depending on which side of the bed they wake up on. Plan accordingly. And if you want more scary bedtime stories, alongside some tactical points, consider reading 11 Reasons Not to Become Famous.

Fame, even micro-celebrity, is like a razor-sharp scalpel with no handle; it easily cuts both ways.

[Just for the hell of it, I turned the above bullet into a short blog post here.]

What I’m reading — (week of January 25)
Meet the 19-Year-Old From Kazakhstan Who Remixed ‘Roses’ Into a Hit (NYT). Sometimes it seems impossible to beat the odds. And sometimes the ruts seem too deeply dug. But when you come across someone like Imanbek Zeikenov, you gain a little hop in your step and a little optimism in your spirit. From the NYT: “Imanbek Zeikenov [@realimanbek] is 19 years old and lives with his parents in the small village of Aksu in Kazakhstan. He studied railway engineering at school, and until last December, held a day job at his local train station. But everything changed in the summer of 2019, when he discovered a song called ‘Roses’ by the Guyanese-American rapper and singer Saint Jhn.”

What I’m reading (short) — (week of February 8)
Ketamine for Depression: What the Treatment Reveals About the Brain by Lauren Tanabe (@lauren_tanabe). This is one of the best pieces on ketamine therapy that I have read. It covered some familiar ground for me, but it also surfaced several possibilities and combinations that I’d never considered. One such combination is ketamine plus rapamycin, an immunosuppressive drug widely used for organ transplants, which also happens to have profound life-extension implications in many species:

“He [Chadi Abdallah, MD] and his colleagues recently published a study that found that giving rapamycin, an anti-inflammatory drug, to people prior to intravenous ketamine, prolonged the antidepressant effects; at two weeks, remission rates were higher in the pre-treatment group. Rapamycin may have protected new connections by reducing inflammation, but it does other things too that could potentially explain the findings. For example, it can increase autophagy, ‘the process through which cells remove toxic materials and dead elements in tissues,’ says Abdallah. In other words, it helps to clear the neurons of any junk, which may also help to preserve new synapses.”

What I’m reading (long) — (week of February 8)
About This Life: Journeys on the Threshold of Memory by Barry Lopez. I have fallen in love with Barry Lopez’s writing. If you’re new to his work, I would suggest reading Of Wolves and Men or Arctic Dreams first, as they are nonfiction at its best. About This Life is a mostly autobiographical collection of essays. In descending order, my favorites thus far are: “Learning to See,” “Orchids on the Volcanoes,” and “Apologia.”

What I’m reading — (week of February 15)
The Moth Presents Occasional Magic: True Stories About Defying the Impossible. I love The Moth (@themoth), and you get a snapshot of pure genius and pure emotion in this collection of short stories (i.e., hit talks). I’ve been reading 1–3 chapters per night, right before bed. Here’s the description: “Carefully selected by the creative minds at storytelling phenomenon The Moth, and adapted to the page to preserve the raw energy of stories told live, onstage and without notes, Occasional Magic features voices familiar and new. Inside, storytellers from around the world share times when, in the face of seemingly impossible situations, they found moments of beauty, wonder, and clarity that shed light on their lives and helped them find a path forward. From a fifteen-year-old saving a life in Chicago to a mother of triplets trekking to the North Pole to a ninety-year-old Russian man recalling his standoff with the KGB, these storytellers attest to the variety and richness of the human experience, and the shared threads that connect us all. With honesty and humor, they stare down their fear, embrace uncertainty, and encourage us all to be more authentic, vulnerable, and alive.”

What I’m rereading — (week of February 22)
The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr. I’ve long been fascinated by Mary Karr (@marykarrlit), and I originally picked up her book on the craft of memoir writing after a recommendation by Michael Pollan. It applies to much of life, and I’d consider it a philosophical guide in many respects, replete with the dead serious (e.g., how to communicate past abuse) and spit-up-your-coffee funny (e.g., catshit sandwich metaphors). If you work with the written word in any capacity, I highly recommend. For more Mary, check out my recent podcast interview with her.

What I’m reading — (week of March 1)
The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life by Boyd Varty. This is a wonderful and short book. It found me at exactly the right time, and I read it in two afternoons. Here is my favorite tracker maxim from its pages, from Renias Mhlongo: “I don’t know where we are going, but I know exactly how to get there.”

Articles I’ve been reading, all themed around NFTs — (week of March 8)
“Banksy Work Physically Burned and Digitized as NFT in Art-World First” and “The Non-Fungible Token Bible: Everything you need to know about NFTs” (especially sections 1, 2, and 3, as a lot has happened since this piece was published).

“NFTs are a dangerous trap” by Seth Godin. Quick note and questions related to Seth’s post — The current energy costs of crypto/blockchain appear to be enormous. For the crypto-literate engineers out there: How should we think about the promise and feasibility of Proof of Stake as a remedy, and how much of the energetic costs might that mitigate? The creator of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, recently discussed concrete timelines for some related scaling here. One more question for the same engineers: Do you expect most “modern” blockchains moving forward to use PoS, as Top Shot has done, to name just one example? How else might we otherwise think about solutions for the known problem of ecological/energy costs? If you have thoughts, please let me know on Twitter @tferriss and use #blockchain so I can find responses. Thank you.

Last, if you want a very quick definition of NFTs, you can listen to this 90-second clip from Katie Haun.

Book I’m reading — (week of March 15)
The Overstory by Richard Powers. This unusual novel has been recommended to me multiple times. I made two attempts but put it down each time because the first pages made little sense to me. Finally, it was Hugh Jackman who, during our conversation on the podcast, gave me the best advice on how to approach this book: “Stick with it. It works on you in the way nature does. It’s patient, and it’s in no rush. It’s slow and it’s steady and it’s true.” Now, I’m in the middle and enjoying it tremendously. Here is a shortened description: “The Overstory, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of―and paean to―the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond.”

Articles I’m reading (short) — (week of March 15)
“Oregon Is Blazing a Psychedelic Trail” or “Can Magic Mushrooms Heal Us?” (The New York Times) by Ezra Klein (@ezraklein). Both links go to the same article, as it has had two headlines. The subheadline is “A very promising mental health experiment is taking shape in Oregon,” and the entire piece is excellent. Five-minute read.

“Sounding the Alarm on Compass’s Interference with Oregon’s Psilocybin Therapy Program” by David Bronner. This combines well with the above to provide a fuller picture of what is at stake and what is possible.

What I’m reading — (week of March 22)
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (@charliemackesy). This short and beautiful book was gifted to me by my mom. “This book is for everyone, whether you are eighty or eight,” as the Introduction puts it. It looks like a children’s book, and you can read it in 30 minutes, but it’s replete with wisdom for adults. To give you an idea of how popular this book has become, it has 88,245 ratings on Amazon and an average of 5 stars.

What I’m reading — (week of March 29)
“Lost in Thought” by David Kortava for Harper’s Magazine. I would have dismissed this article were it not for my personal experience with retraumatization and breakdown at a silent retreat in 2017. I recount this experience at roughly 12:11 of my podcast episode on healing from childhood abuse. This is a very well-researched piece on the largely ignored risks of meditation and, more specifically, the enhanced risks of longer retreats for some populations. I still regularly meditate, but I do find there to be a point of diminishing returns, as well as a point (i.e., extended retreats) where the risk-benefit ratio can change dramatically.

What I’m reading (short) — (week of April 5)
“The Four Buddhist Mantras for Turning Fear into Love” by Maria Popova (@brainpicker). Thanks to JZ for the recommendation.

What I’m reading (longer) — (week of April 5)
“This Oddball Chef Wants to Serve You Wild Animals” by Daniel Duane (@danielduane) for Outside. Josh Skenes and I became friends circa 2011, just before the creation of The 4-Hour Chef, and he appears extensively in its pages. I love his unorthodox approaches to both cooking and life. He’s still pushing the envelope. Trigger warning (pun intended): if you’re vegetarian or vegan, this article might not make for the most compatible reading. But if it whets your appetite, you can find more wild tales from Josh in my podcast interview with him.

Article I’m reading —  (week of April 12)
“A Tiny Particle’s Wobble Could Upend the Known Laws of Physics” (The New York Times). The subheading gives you the gist: “Experiments with particles known as muons suggest that there are forms of matter and energy vital to the nature and evolution of the cosmos that are not yet known to science.” To dig deeper, or if you have issues with the above link, visit this link and see the accompanying short video.

Breaking news that I’m exploring —  (week of April 12)
“Magic mushroom compound at least as good as antidepressant in UK study” (Reuters) and “Psychedelic drug worked for depression as well as common antidepressant, small trial finds” (NBC News). These articles discuss the first head-to-head comparison of psilocybin therapy and the antidepressant escitalopram, also known as Lexapro. There is a lot of confusing media coverage, but the above two pieces are well done. What is the simple summary? Below is a snippet of how one researcher uninvolved with the study, Dr. Alexandre Lehmann (Scientific Director at PSFC, Cognitive Neuroscience PI at McGill University), put it. I’ve bolded an important contrast that is under-discussed in the buzz online:

“Results published in one of the world’s top medical journals [The New England Journal of Medicine] demonstrate that two sessions of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy were as effective in treating depression over the course of six weeks as daily intake of SSRI antidepressants combined with psychotherapy. Additionally, remission rates were twice as high in the psilocybin group as in the escitalopram group. Furthermore, psilocybin appeared to outperform escitalopram on a number of secondary outcome measures. However, in secondary measures, the methodology used does not allow to assert this with the highest statistical standards.

…

“Even if psilocybin turns out to be ‘only just as good’ as SSRIs, but can provide long-term relief after a few doses, with fewer side effects, and be effective in the estimated 30% of patients who do not benefit from SSRIs … ” that would be a very big deal, indeed.

As Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris (@RCarhartHarris), the lead author of the paper, elaborates in the NBC coverage: “The receptors SSRIs work on seem to inhibit responses in the brain, particularly stress responses, and we think that takes the edge off so you can tolerate stress better. … With psychedelics, it’s almost the opposite. It’s almost like a brutal confrontation with the root of your suffering, which can allow people to better understand where their depression stems from.”

What I’m reading — (week of April 19)
“I was hospitalized for depression. Faith helped me remember how to live.” by Michael Gerson (@mjgerson) for The Washington Post. If you prefer video, you can watch the original sermon here.

What I’m reading — (week of April 26)
“99 Additional Bits of Unsolicited Advice” by Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly). It’s Kevin Kelly’s birthday this week, and he is arguably the real-life most interesting man in the world, so I jumped on this piece as soon as it was published. For more KK life tips, see his “68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice” from 2020.

What I’m reading and celebrating —  (week of May 3)
“MDMA Reaches Next Step Toward Approval for Treatment” by Rachel Nuwer (The New York Times). This is a very big deal, and the results further reinforce why I became involved with these Phase 3 trials, the first conducted on psychedelic-assisted therapy. Huge thanks to all of you who supported the campaign! Thus far, the data represent a home run. Here are just a few highlights, and bolding is mine:

“Two months after treatment, 67 percent of participants in the MDMA group no longer qualified for a diagnosis of PTSD, compared with 32 percent in the placebo group.

MDMA produced no serious adverse side effects. Some participants temporarily experienced mild symptoms like nausea and loss of appetite.

‘This is about as excited as I can get about a clinical trial,’ said Gul Dolen, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the research. ‘There is nothing like this in clinical trial results for a neuropsychiatric disease.’”

…

“An estimated 7 percent of the U.S. population will experience PTSD at some point in their life, and as many as 13 percent of combat veterans have the condition. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs spent $17 billion on disability payments for over one million veterans with PTSD.

For the approximately half to one-third of people who do not find relief through treatment, PTSD can become chronic, lasting years or even a lifetime.

The 90 participants who took part in the Phase 3 trial included combat veterans, first responders, and victims of sexual assault, mass shootings, domestic violence, or childhood trauma. All had severe PTSD and had been diagnosed, on average, for more than 14 years. Many had a history of alcohol and substance use disorder, and 90 percent had considered suicide. The trial included data collected by 80 therapists at 15 sites in the United States, Canada, and Israel.”

What I’m reading —  (week of May 3)
Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch by Dan O’Brien. From the description: “For twenty years Dan O’Brien struggled to make ends meet on his cattle ranch in South Dakota. But when a neighbor invited him to lend a hand at the annual buffalo roundup, O’Brien was inspired to convert his own ranch, the Broken Heart, to buffalo. Starting with thirteen calves, ‘short-necked, golden balls of wool,’ O’Brien embarked on a journey that returned buffalo to his land for the first time in more than a century and a half. Buffalo for the Broken Heart is at once a tender account of the buffaloes’ first seasons on the ranch and an engaging lesson in wildlife ecology. Whether he’s describing the grazing pattern of the buffalo, the thrill of watching a falcon home in on its prey, or the comical spectacle of a buffalo bull wallowing in the mud, O’Brien combines a novelist’s eye for detail with a naturalist’s understanding to create an enriching, entertaining narrative.”

What I’m reading (funny but not practical) — (week of May 17)
“Dear Bill and/or Melinda” (The New Yorker). This caught me off guard and made me laugh out loud. The funniest part—and least funny part—is how many emails I actually receive that are some version of this.

What I’m reading (not funny but very practical) — (week of May 17)
“Introduction to Effective Altruism [EA].” I wanted to reread the basics of EA, as it’s been a few years since my podcast with Will MacAskill, one of the originators of the movement. This review came about because I was invited to join a psychedelics-focused Ask Me Anything (AMA) on the Effective Altruism Forum, alongside Michael Pollan (@michaelpollan), bestselling author of How to Change Your Mind, and Dr. Matthew W. Johnson (@Drug_Researcher), professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins. Huge thanks to the community for all of the wonderful questions. I learned a lot and had a blast.

What I’m reading — (week of May 24)
“Amazon, Walmart…..Chinese potting soil…..and the 34th Amendment….” by Deep Throat. This one is long but well worth the time.

What I’m reading — (week of May 31)
Mike Tyson says psychedelics saved his life, now he hopes they can change the world (Reuters).

Autobiography I’m reading for the first time — (week of June 7)
The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss by Dennis McKenna, PhD (@dennismckenna4). This has been on my to-read list for years. It’s a blast to finally dig into Dennis’s stories of family, experimentation, revelation, and life lessons.

Sci-fi and fantasy I’m revisiting — (week of June 7)
Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang. I’ve previously recommended Ted’s incredible collection of short stories titled Stories of Your Life and Others. Despite the fact that Ted started off as a part-time science-fiction writer with a full-time technical writing job, he is the equivalent of Martin Scorsese or Wayne Gretzky in the sci-fi world—he has won four Hugo, four Nebula, and four Locus Awards, among others. The hit film Arrival (94% on Rotten Tomatoes), one of my favorite recent movies, is based on one of Ted’s short stories. Gizmodo has written that “the arrival of a new piece of short fiction by Ted Chiang is always cause for celebration and parades and wild dancing.” Exhalation, his newest collection, may be even better than his last. It’s just ridiculously good.

Article I’m rereading — (week of June 7)
“The French Burglar Who Pulled Off His Generation’s Biggest Art Heist” (The New Yorker). After my previous mention of the Sour Grapes doc in 5BF, my brother, who’d also read The Billionaire’s Vinegar, said, “Oh, if you like that, I have something you’ll really like.” He sent me this New Yorker piece. It blends theft and art in more ways than one.

What I’m reading — (week of June 14)
Quotes from the writings of John Steinbeck. John is a master, and his hilarious Travels with Charley: In Search of America is one of my favorite reads of the last several years.

What I’m reading — (week of June 21)
“Psychedelics Weren’t As Common in Ancient Cultures As We Think” by Manvir Singh (@mnvrsngh) for VICE. This is a great piece, and it taught me a lot. I don’t agree with every sentence or every sentiment, but if you only read things you totally agree with, you’re reading the wrong stuff. This article points out a number of seductive narratives, historical fallacies, and other fictions that spread easily throughout the psychedelic ecosystem. As iconic physicist and Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman famously said, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” Many of the compounds that psychedelic practitioners want to have millenia-old indigenous roots simply do not; 5-MeO-DMT from the Sonoran Desert toad (often referred to as “bufo” or “toad”) is one such example. As chemist and filmmaker Hamilton Morris texted me via SMS: “There is absolutely no evidence of B. alvarius smoking before the publication of Ken Nelson’s pamphlet [in 1983], the evidence for any form of indigenous use of B. alvarius is highly speculative, and I find none of it convincing. … The smoking of B. alvarius venom among Seri people appears to be a modern practice that is almost universally attributed to outside influences.” For more thoughts on toad-derived 5-MeO-DMT, please read this. That all said, there appears to be good evidence, including some confirmation with carbon dating, suggesting human consumption of select hallucinogens and other psychoactive plants from 1,000+ years ago. For those who’d like to dig deeper, I encourage reading the above VICE piece, as well as these three sources as a counterpoint:

“Chemical evidence for the use of multiple psychotropic plants in a 1,000-year-old ritual bundle from South America”

“Radiocarbon Dating of Atacama (Chile) Snuff Trays: An Update on Stylistic and Chronological Correlations”

“The oldest archeological data evidencing the relationship of Homo sapiens with psychoactive plants: A worldwide overview” (Despite a few typos, this last publication does a nice job of explaining different types of direct and indirect evidence.)

What I’m reading (short) — (week of June 28)
“How do you ask good questions?” by Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen). Tyler always impresses me. His succinct answers linked above will make you a better thinker and, by extension, a better conversationalist. For more Tyler, find our long-form chat here.

What I’m extremely excited about — (week of June 28)
“Harvard Lawyers Will Study the Legal Questions Around Psychedelic Treatment” (VICE)
“Harvard Law School Launches First-Ever Research Initiative on Psychedelics and the Law” (The Harvard Crimson)

This has been in the works for a while, and I really hope people read the full articles. In the meantime, here’s the short version…

Law and regulation determine the rules of the game. This is true in nearly all fields. Right now, the good actors in the psychedelic ecosystem have one arm tied behind their backs, and the bad actors have few checks and balances. The next 1–3 years will be a critical window, within which this nascent field can be shaped for enhanced innovation or stymied innovation; for more affordable access or more monopolistic, expensive access. And despite research advances, as Mason Marks, senior fellow at the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School, has said, “You can advance the science as much as you want, but unless you change the law and the regulation, you’re still going to be constrained by … outdated policies from the 1970s that have been effectively hamstringing psychedelics research for half a century.” So how do we change things for the better? There are many possible levers, but it helps all of them to have a great team assembled outside of the private sector—one with incredible credibility, excellent high-leverage focus, and proper resources.

It is my hope that the brand-new Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School, a first of its kind, will become a trusted source and force on the playing field of evidence-based psychedelics law and policy. This could affect a lot. As written in The Harvard Crimson piece, “POPLAR will focus on areas including ethics in psychedelics research and treatment, the intersection of psychedelics and intellectual property law, federal support of psychedelics research, increased access and equity of psychedelics, and the function of psychedelics in mitigating trauma.”

Special thanks to Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt), the founder and CEO of Automattic and a founding developer of WordPress, for joining me in this initiative and providing half of the funds. He has been a long-term supporter of many key initiatives in the space, including the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.

Be sure to check out the official Harvard POPLAR website, which includes a description of the team and more: The Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR).

If you only read one full article, take a look at this VICE coverage.

Other mentions and coverage: I. Glenn Cohen, Mason Marks, Petrie-Flom Center, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Marijuana Moment, Psilocybin Alpha.

Absolutely excellent article that I’m reading — (week of July 5)
“How Should We Do Drugs Now?” (NYT Opinion) by Michael Pollan (@michaelpollan).

What I’m reading — (week of July 12)
“Terence McKenna’s Memes” (VICE). I first read Terence McKenna when I was 15 and 16 years old, reading The Archaic Revival and Food of the Gods, respectively. Both had an impact on my trajectory. The Irish bard of psychedelics loved wordsmithing and enjoyed controversy. Two of my favorite memes from the above linked article are Worry is preposterous; we don’t know enough to worry and Nature is not mute; it is man who is deaf.

What I’m reading and sharing — (week of July 19)
“In The Light Of Dying Stars” by David Alder. If you have any interest in psychedelics or the psychedelic ecosystem, I consider this story to be required reading. It’s an impressive combination of prose and illustration.

What I’m reading — (week of July 26)
“Corrections to Misinformation Being Spread about MAPS and IPCI” by David Bronner. I consider MAPS and IPCI to be two of the clear good guys in the psychedelic ecosystem. I know the founders and leadership well. There appears to be a smear campaign afoot, and the claims are ridiculous and unfounded. Nearly everything devolves into a zero-sum game if we let human nature run reflexively without pause. It takes extra effort—sometimes a lot of effort—to remain on guard against our lesser instincts.

What I’m reading — (week of August 2)
The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper. I absolutely LOVED this book, which I just finished yesterday. First published in 1826, the story and characters still come vibrantly to life in these pages. The poetic and over-the-top language of Cooper evokes beauty, horror, and hilarity in equal measure. This is an old book and certainly not politically correct by today’s standards, but it contains moving tales of love and loyalty that transcend race, gender, and creed. It’s one hell of a novel.

From the back cover (and edited to remove some spoilers): “A massacre at a colonial garrison, the kidnapping of two pioneer sisters by Iroquois tribesmen, the treachery of a renegade brave, and the ambush of innocent settlers create an unforgettable, spine-tingling picture of American frontier life in this classic eighteenth-century adventure—the most popular of James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales.

First published in 1826, the story—set in the forests of upper New York State during the French and Indian War—movingly portrays the relationship between Hawkeye, a gallant, courageous woodsman, and his loyal Mohican friends, Chingachgook and Uncas. …

Imaginative and innovative, The Last of the Mohicans quickly became the most widely read work of the day, solidifying the popularity of America’s first successful novelist in the United States and Europe.”

Note that the Kindle version I read contains a few dialogues in French without English translations, but this hiccup has little effect on the story. You can slog through it like a Yengeese (you’ll learn all about that term) and still be rewarded with a page-turner of an adventure.

Book I’m reading — (week of August 9)
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar (@tithenai) and Max Gladstone (@maxgladstone). This fast fiction read has won just about everything: the Nebula Award for Best Novella of 2019, the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novella, and more. DO NOT look at the Amazon description, any reviews, or any overviews of the plot. Just buy it and dive in. The less you know beforehand, the better, and its 150–190 pages will fly by. Try the first 20–30 pages, and you’ll see what I mean.

What I’m reading (short) — (week of August 9)
“Remember to Remember: Take Away Lessons from My Interview with Tim Ferriss” by Dennis McKenna (@dennismckenna4). I found this article to be a powerful reminder of powerful reminders. Even if you never hear our conversation, this short read has tremendous value. P.S. I’m part of a related panel that has been submitted to SXSW. If you’d like to see it happen, please upvote it here. The video intro is somewhat odd, so if you watch it, you can skip ahead to the 40-second mark.

Short book I’m reading — (week of August 16)
The Other Face: Experiencing the Mask, edited by Wendy Drolma and Brent Robison (@brentrobison). The short excerpt from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde alone makes the read worth it.

Description: “Assembled by a mask maker and a fiction writer, this eclectic mix of prose, poetry, and art explores the meanings and metaphors of the Mask. From historical overview to educated debate to fanciful imaginings, these writings traverse psychology, culture, and spirit to give us enlightening glimpses into a fundamental human condition.”

What I’m reading — (week of August 30)
The Artists’ Prison by Alexandra Grant (@alexandragrantstudio) and Eve Wood (@evewoodstudio). This book was given to me by fiction author Soman Chainani (@SomanChainani), and it was recommended to him by Laurence Fishburne. Here’s the description, edited for length: “Imagined through the heavily redacted testimony of the prison’s warden, written by Alexandra Grant, and powerfully allusive images by Eve Wood, the prison is a brutal, Kafkaesque landscape where creativity can be a criminal offence and sentences range from the allegorical to the downright absurd. In The Artists’ Prison, the act of creating becomes a strangely erotic condemnation, as well as a means of punishment and transformation. It is in these very transformations—sometimes dubious, sometimes oddly sentimental—that the book’s critical edge is sharpest.”

What I’m reading — (week of September 6)
“The Collapse of Wild Red Wolves Is a Warning That Should Worry Us All” by Jimmy Tobias (The Nation). Thanks to Ryan Holiday (@RyanHoliday) for the recommendation. This is a compelling story of a canary in the coal mine: wild red wolves. Even if you’re a hunter, as I am, it’s a critical preview of what’s coming for many other species if we don’t make important changes soon. It’s also a complete case study on many fronts.

What I’m rereading — (week of September 13)
“I Think You’re Fat” by A.J. Jacobs (Esquire, 2007). This is a classic, and it never gets old. Be prepared to laugh. To make it twice as nice, check out my podcast interview with A.J., in which we discuss his many extraordinary and hilarious experiments.

Article I’m reading — (week of September 13)
“Pharmaceutical companies should pay for raiding nature’s medicine cabinet” (The Lancet). Nature is the source and inspiration for many blockbuster medicines, but the ecosystems that provide the original molecules have received very little support in return. Imagine if someone were to take a public domain novel, add 5% new pages in the form of 10 illustrations and an appendix (i.e., make a small tweak to the molecule), copyright it, and earn millions of dollars. If the family of the original author were living in destitution, might it be viewed as a moral obligation for the new author to send at least a small portion of that income to the family of origin? I think so. This doesn’t make me anti-capitalist, as I believe capitalism is the best economic system we currently have (I invest in and support a lot of companies), but it does reflect a belief that greed constrained only by the law and uninformed by ethics is the path to moral bankruptcy. There are many companies that I believe could do a lot of good—and increase shareholder loyalty—with a more explicit commitment to reciprocity. I think such a move can increase both stock prices and positive impact.

Short article I’m reading — (week of September 20)
“We See As We Be” by Jamie Wheal. This is a hilarious, smart, and on-point read. If you’re dismayed by the hyper-polarity and “truthiness” of today’s discourse, or if you sense something isn’t quite right but can’t put a finger on it, this article might strike a chord.

What I’m reading — (week of September 27)
“It Is Obscene: A True Reflection in Three Parts” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (@chimamandareal), the award-winning Nigerian author of books including We Should All Be Feminists. She is one of Time’s “100 Most Influential People” (2015) and a MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant” recipient. This was sent to me by Ryan Holiday, who found it tucked away in Anne Applebaum’s piece on “The New Puritans,” which is also excellent.

Everyone should read this essay. It’s a taste of things to come on a much larger scale. Social media will breed more of this, and few people are immune.

Twitter threads I’m studying — (week of September 27)
The first two get decently technical. The last is a good overall primer.

1) “6529 ~1 month old Some of you know me from somewhere else My views on NFTs in the thread below” by 6529

2) “1/ Tokens are a new digital primitive, analogous to the website ” by Chris Dixon

3) “Had a call w a very smart investor who dismissed NFTs, trading cards, collectibles as Beanie Babies + I nearly fell out of my chair, but I get it, if you’re not tuned into the power of culture (esp internet culture) this all looks like a fad, a blip. I need to do a video on this.” by Alexis Ohanian

What I’m celebrating — (week of September 27)
“It’s official. I just received a U01 grant from NIDA to study psilocybin for tobacco addiction. To my knowledge it’s the 1st grant from the US government in over a half century to directly study therapeutics of a classic psychedelic. New era in legitimacy of psychedelic science.” This is a tweet from Dr. Matthew W. Johnson, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins. It is a HUGE deal and decades in the making. This has also been a primary hope/target of mine for the last several years. Congratulations, Matthew and team!

Additional coverage: Breaking News: US Gov to Fund Psychedelic Research For First Time Since 1970s.

And don’t miss the cover of the new issue of Newsweek:

“Magic Mushrooms May Be the Biggest Advance in Treating Depression Since Prozac.” This brand-new October 1st cover story includes the depression study originally sponsored by my 2016 CrowdRise campaign, which many of you contributed to. I put my own separate funding in as well, and it was my first-ever bet on a scientific study involving psychedelics. The article features the positive stories of research participants, as well as mentions of Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research team members Dr. Matthew W. Johnson (Associate Center Director) and Mary Cosimano (Director of Guide/Facilitator Services). Much has changed in a few short years!

What I’m reading — (week of October 4)
“Texas Is the Future of America” by Steven Pedigo (@iamstevenpedigo) for The New York Times. This article probably isn’t what you think it is. Based on demographic changes and more, I think it helps you to peek around corners into the near future.

What I’m reading — (week of October 4)
“34 Mistakes on the Way to 34 Years Old” by Ryan Holiday (@RyanHoliday). For more life advice recapped on birthdays, see Elder Jedi Kevin Kelly’s “99 Additional Bits of Unsolicited Advice” and “68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice.”

What I’m reading — (week of October 11)
“OpenSea: The Reasonable Revolutionary” by Mario Gabriele, founder and editor of The Generalist. Pair this reading with “Punks, Squiggles, and the Future of Generative Media” by Derek Edws and Stephen McKeon. If you think this stuff is crazy now, just wait…

What I’m reading and sharing widely (shorter) —  (week of October 11)
“Psychedelic therapy: a roadmap for wider acceptance and utilization” (Nature Medicine) by Mason Marks (@MasonMarksMD) and I. Glenn Cohen (@cohenprof), both associated with the Harvard Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School.

“A Strategy for Rescheduling Psilocybin” (Scientific American) by Mason Marks (@MasonMarksMD).

Art book I’m enjoying — (week of October 18)
Heaven. Description: “Masaaki Hatsumi: Dojo Giga | Heaven is an art book featuring paintings [and calligraphy] by the Bujinkan Dojo’s Head Instructor, Masaaki Hatsumi. Each of these artworks is like a koan—meditating on them helps us see from Sensei’s perspective.” I found the art and philosophies within—as well as wonderful Japanese wordplay—to grab my attention more than the martial arts. You can find buying options at the bottom of this linked page. It’s truly a beautiful book. そろそろ 日本 に いかなきゃ…

What I’m reading — (week of October 25)
“Revisiting The 4-Hour Workweek: How Tim Ferriss’s 2007 manifesto anticipated our current moment of professional upheaval” by Cal Newport (The New Yorker). This Instagram post from The New Yorker does a good job of teasing it: “In 2007, Tim Ferriss published a book called The 4-Hour Workweek. In it he argued that the busyness of the pre-recession 2000s—when everyone was acquiring mortgages to be repackaged into debt instruments, or typing furiously into suddenly ubiquitous BlackBerrys—was nonsense. If you concentrated on the efforts that actually mattered, Ferriss suggested, your professional contributions could be compressed into a handful of efficiently planned weekly hours. The rest was just for show. Ferriss’s book ‘delivered a prophecy that many were not yet receptive to,’ Cal Newport writes. ‘The pandemic has changed this reality.’”

Newsletter I’m subscribing to — (week of October 25)
The Microdose from Michael Pollan and the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. Description: “Every Friday, The Microdose will bring you a handful of brief takes on developments in the field of psychedelics, covering everything from scientific research and policy to business and culture. On Mondays, a second installment will offer a Q & A with a newsmaker in the field—it might be a person you’ve heard of or someone you need to know about. Our goal is to keep you up-to-date and informed, whether you’re in the field or simply curious. The newsletter is free to everyone.” The head writer is Jane C. Hu (@jane_c_hu), and Michael Pollan will also be making contributions. As a reminder, applications for the The Ferriss – UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellowship open on December 1st, so please mark it in your calendar if you’re an interested journalist.

What I’m reading — (week of November 1)
“Information for People Seeking Training in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy” from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (@MAPS). If you’ve wondered how you might become a therapist or facilitator who works with patients using psychedelic compounds, this is a good overview of current training options.

Book I’m rereading — (week of November 15)
Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality. This short book has completely captured me since it was first recommended to me by Peter Mallouk, who said it gave him durable peace for weeks at a time. I originally grabbed the Kindle version with low expectations. I devoured it in three days, and a shelf in my guest bedroom is now permanently stocked with copies for friends. It won’t resonate with everyone, but it found me at the right moment. I’ve now read it roughly a dozen times.

What I’m reading — (week of November 22)
“Brain in a Vat — Making Philosophy Manifest” by Steve Jurvetson (@jurvetson). If you want a glimpse of the future, take five minutes and peruse this. I also strongly suggest following Steve on Twitter. He has an uncanny ability to see around corners. For more from Steve, listen to my wide-ranging interview with him on quantum computing, nanotechnology, and much more.

What I’m reading — (week of November 29)
“The Ice” by William L. Fox with photographs by Shaun O’Boyle (@oboylephoto). Overview: “Governed by international treaty and dedicated to science, Antarctica is the driest, windiest, coldest, and highest continent on the planet. To photograph in such a place is tantamount to practicing art on another planet.”

What I’m reading (feature article) — (week of December 6)
“Steve Young Is an Athlete Who’s Actually Good at Finance” by Alex Sherman (@sherman4949) (Bloomberg Businessweek).

What I’m reading (short) — (week of December 6)
“Wolves make roadways safer, generating large economic returns to predator conservation” (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).

Recent breakthroughs I’m tracking closely — (week of December 13)
“The chase for fusion energy: An emerging industry of nuclear-fusion firms promises to have commercial reactors ready in the next decade.” by Philip Ball (@philipcball) for Nature. If you prefer video, check out this excellent overview by Matt Ferrell (@mattferrell), which covers the recent excitement in fusion: “Exploring Why This Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough Matters.”

Poem I’m rereading — (week of December 20)
“Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver. Take a few minutes and read this again. It’s worth the reminder. And if that’s too highbrow for ya, I’m also reading Pornhub Insights’ “2021 Year in Review,” which shares analytics like unusual search density in each US state. Louisiana is my favorite.

What I’m reading — (week of December 27)
“An Infamous Psilocybin Patent Has Just Been Challenged” by Shayla Love. The outcome of this particular situation will affect the entire psychedelic ecosystem. Whether you’re anti-capitalist or die-hard capitalist, the implications described in this article are important to understand. Highly recommended.

On a related note, here is one of the latest developments in a separate journal, and I’ve excerpted a key snippet: “Furthermore, revision is recommended on characterizations in recently granted patents that include descriptions of crystalline psilocybin inappropriately reported as a single-phase ‘isostructural variant.’ … In this article, we show conclusively that all published data can be explained in terms of three well-defined forms of psilocybin and that no additional forms are needed to explain the diffraction patterns.”

***

P.S. In 2022, would you like one reading recommendation each week? Sign up for “5-Bullet Friday” and join 1.5M+ people who read my free weekly newsletter. Each Friday, you’ll get a short email of five bullet points, sending you off to your weekend with fun and useful things to ponder and try. It’s easy to unsubscribe anytime.

The post My Favorite and Most Impactful Reads from 2021 appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

This guest post from Dr. Mark Plotkin (@DocMarkPlotkin) features an excerpt from his book Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets. I loved the chapter on how animals use medicinal plants so much that I published the audio version on the podcast. If you prefer the audio version, narrated by Mark, click here.

Mark is an ethnobotanist who serves as president of the Amazon Conservation Team, which has partnered with ~80 tribes to map and improve management and protection of ~100 million acres of ancestral rainforests. He is best known to the general public as the author of the book Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice, one of the most popular books ever written about the rainforest. His most recent book is The Amazon: What Everyone Needs to Know. You can find my first interview with Mark at tim.blog/markplotkin. 

Mark is also the host of the Plants of the Gods podcast, through which you can learn about everything from hallucinogenic snuffs to the diverse formulations of curare (a plant mixture which relaxes the muscles of the body and leads to asphyxiation), and much, much more.

Enjoy!

Enter Mark…

Biologists studying animals in the wild are typically discouraged from giving their study animal names so as not to anthropomorphize them; in other words, not to think of them as friends or pets. Jane Goodall — one of the greatest field biologists of all time — has always disagreed. I overheard a discussion between her and another biologist in the early 1980s. The zoologist asked her, “Why do you give your chimps names? Is that really scientific?”

Without missing a beat, Jane asked him, “Do you have a dog?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“Does your dog have a personality,” she asked.

“Of course,” he replied.

“Well,” said Jane, “I bet my chimps have at least as much personality as your dog!”

Many years later — when I was studying the history of wine as medicine in the ancient world — I mentioned the project to Jane. “You know that drinking alcohol wasn’t invented by humans, don’t you? Chimps periodically get drunk on fermented marula fruit, as do elephants and baboons and other species as well!”

As an ethnobotanist who studies how indigenous peoples find and use medicinal plants of the rainforest, this was a revelation. Could some of this medicinal plant wisdom been first learned of from the Animal Kingdom?

In the summer of 1980, I had the opportunity to wander in the once great rainforests of eastern Brazil. The early European explorers were awestruck by the beauty and diversity of these tropical forests, which stretched in an enormous unbroken arc from the easternmost tip of Brazil hundreds of miles south into what is now Paraguay and northern Argentina. However, what remains is a fragment of what once was: small, isolated pockets of forest, home to a handful of species: more than 96 percent of the original forest cover has been destroyed. And as I wandered through those distant patches of jungle, the sounds of trucks, bulldozers, radios, and human voices surrounded me on all sides, a constant reminder that our civilization was in the final throes of obliterating the little that was left.

The forest itself seemed almost empty; the large terrestrial mammals like the jaguar and the peccary that characterize the South American rainforest had been hunted out so thoroughly that I saw not even a pair of footprints. The haunting calls of the toucans and the piercing screeches of the macaws had long been stilled. Of course, these spectacular animals were not the only components that had been eliminated from these forests. In the course of preparing for my trip, I had combed through the early accounts of the first European explorers who had ventured into these jungles almost 500 years earlier; their reports were filled with tales of the tribal warriors who once dominated this complex landscape. Though the jungle had been reduced by over 90 percent of its original range, tribes like the Botocudos and the Tupinikin had been completely exterminated long before my arrival.

What is the medical legacy of these indigenous peoples, and the once great forests in which they thrived? All the commercial medicines derived from the rainforests of Africa, Asia, and the Americas were initially extracted from plants observed in use by local tribespeople. No major medical compound has ever been developed from an eastern Brazilian rainforest plant, and that is undoubtedly because the Botocudos and other tribes were obliterated before any ethnobotanical studies were ever carried out.

Without indigenous people to guide us, how best to determine which plants merit laboratory investigation? Of the 16 parks and protected areas in the country of Suriname in the northeast Amazon, for example, 12 have no indigenous peoples living within the boundaries or nearby, a situation increasingly common in the tropics. If we are to find the new and useful compounds that do occur in the plants, how best to proceed?

American aviators preparing to fly over the jungles of Indochina during the Second World War were taught that the best way to survive if shot down was to “eat what the monkeys eat.” While the overarching value of this advice was probably psychological (some monkeys have chambered stomachs capable of digesting leaves that would poison and possibly kill a human), this recommendation may ironically prove more beneficial for medicinal purposes. For we are learning that rainforest animals also know and use plants for therapeutic purposes. A most extraordinary example comes from research on an endangered species of primate in these same rainforests of eastern Brazil.

In the early 1980s, Karen Strier, then a Harvard graduate student in biological anthropology, traveled to the eastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais to conduct research on muriquis (also known as woolly spider monkeys), the largest and most apelike of the New World monkeys. Strier’s studies soon led her to some surprising conclusions. The diet of muriquis proved much higher in tannins than those of other monkeys. Because tannins comprise about 50 percent of the anti-dysentery drug Entero‐Vioform, the Harvard scientist wondered if the primates were modifying their diets to kill parasites or control the diarrhea that often accompanies parasite infestation. Subsequent investigation revealed that the muriquis in this forest were completely free of parasites — highly unusual for a rainforest primate. And several of these plants are identical to (or closely related to) species taken by Amazonian Indians to control parasites.

Prior to the onset of the breeding season, Strier noted that the muriqui’s diet consisted primarily of the leaves of two tree species rich in antimicrobial compounds. During that same time of year, the muriquis visit the “monkey’s ear” tree (so named because of the shape of the fruits) to feed. As a general rule, when monkeys find trees laden with edible fruit, they gorge themselves until little remains. Yet Strier wrote that the muriquis consumed a small portion of the fruits before departing, “as if they only need a taste to be satisfied.” Once back at Harvard, she learned that these fruits are rich in stimasterol, a chemical employed in the manufacture of progesterone, which is itself used in birth control pills. Plant hormones can affect animal fertility. Did the monkeys of this forest discover the birth control pills tens of thousands of years before their human cousins did?

Primatologist Dr. Ken Glander of Duke University has spent decades studying the howler monkeys of Central America and reached conclusions that parallel those of Karen Strier. Glander hypothesizes that the howler monkeys eat a selection of plants that allows them to determine the sex of their offspring! He has noted that female howlers consume certain plants before and after copulation that they do not eat at any other time. Over two decades of study, Glander found that some howlers bore only male offspring, while others produced only females, an outcome unlikely due to chance. “Female” sperm (those that carry an X chromosome) do better than “male” sperm (which carry a Y chromosome) in an acidic environment-and vice versa. Could female howlers be controlling the chemistry of their reproductive tract and, if so, why? Glander suggests that plant-derived estrogen-like chemicals may be responsible. He noted that males in a monkey troop often pass more of their genes to the next generation than females are able to do. This would explain why it is often advantageous for a female to produce more males or, if there already exists an overabundance of males, why female offspring are preferable.

The study of how animals use plants for medicinal purposes is termed “zoopharmacognosy” — but our observation of this phenomenon is, without question, an ancient practice. Who has not watched a dog swallow grass to induce vomiting when the animal has eaten something unhealthy it wishes to regurgitate? In a thought-provoking research paper, the brilliant ecologist Dr. Dan Janzen of the University of Pennsylvania wrote, “I would like to ask if plant-eating vertebrates may consume plants on occasion as a way of writing their own prescriptions.” And sometimes animals teach us by their wisdom, other times by their mistakes.

Fatal culinary errors made by North American cows in the early part of the 20th century, for example, led to the development of several blockbuster drugs. One Saturday afternoon in February 1933 in the middle of a howling blizzard, a Wisconsin farmer appeared in the office of chemist Dr. Karl Link carrying a bucket of blood. The man had driven almost two hundred miles from his farm near Deer Park to seek help from the state veterinarian headquartered at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. It was the weekend, however, and the vet’s office was closed, so the desperate farmer wandered into the first building he found where the door was not locked: the biochemistry building. The blood in the bucket he carried would not clot. Several of his cows had recently hemorrhaged to death, and now his bull was oozing blood from his nose. He had been feeding his herd with the only forage he had on hand: spoiled sweet clover. 

This hemorrhagic disease had first been reported in the 1920s from both North Dakota and Alberta, Canada. While specialists determined that feeding the animals spoiled sweet clover was the cause of this malady, they were not able to cure it, nor were they able to isolate the compound in the clover that caused the problem. Their recommendations: destroy the spoiled forage and transfuse healthy blood into the hemorrhagic cattle, the same advice offered by Link. Unfortunately, however, the farmer lacked an alternative fodder to feed his herd, and he was unable to perform blood transfusions in rural Wisconsin during the Depression. 

Troubled by his inability to assist, Link mentioned the problem to German postdoctoral student Eugene Schoeffel. Schoeffel, an educated and idealistic fellow fond of quoting Goethe and Shakespeare, undertook the spoiled clover conundrum as a personal crusade. He and his colleagues analyzed the clover for seven years before identifying and isolating the cause of its lethality: a chemical they named dicumarol. They correctly hypothesized that if too much caused a hemorrhage, a minuscule amount might prove to be a useful anticoagulant. Today, dicumarol (and its synthetic analogues) are commonly employed in humans as anticoagulants, particularly for the prevention and treatment of pulmonary embolism and venous thrombosis. 

The clover analysis serves as an example of a single species yielding a multitude of products. Noticing that one of the synthetic analogues seemed to induce particularly severe bleeding in rodents, Link proposed testing it as a rat poison, thinking it might lack the obvious dangers of more toxic rodenticides like strychnine. Research on this compound was bankrolled by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation — acronym: WARF; when proved effective, it was named warfarin (despite the bellicose connotations, the name came from the acronym of the alumni group!).

In early 1951, an army inductee tried to commit suicide by eating warfarin. He failed to kill himself but did manage to induce a classic case of hemorrhagic sweet clover syndrome. The unhappy soldier was successfully treated with transfusions of normal blood and coagulants. This bizarre incident led to studies and eventual approval of warfarin (renamed Coumadin) as an anticoagulant for human patients. How many cardiac patients realize that their physicians are prescribing rat poison for their ills? 

Yet another aspect of animal behavior has led us to other therapeutic leads. A surprisingly wide variety of creatures ingest and store toxic natural compounds in their own bodies. They do this not for therapeutic reasons, but to employ the poisons for their own purposes, either to equip themselves with the ability to deliver a poisonous bite, or to deter predators from eating them. This is the case with the poisonous pufferfish. 

A deadly nerve poison, tetrodotoxin, occurs in dozens of pufferfish species. These fish concentrate the poison in their internal organs. Though the logical correlation is that humans would go to great lengths to avoid these toxic denizens of the deep, pufferfish are considered a delicacy in Japan. Chefs must undergo special training and then be licensed by the federal government before being permitted to prepare this sought-after delicacy. Despite the rigorous preparation, accidents do happen: every few years, a restaurant customer is poisoned. The result: general numbness, loss of muscle control, and, unless treated, death. Intrigued by the numbness typical of tetrodotoxin envenomation, Japanese physicians have used it as a treatment for pain caused by migraines or menstrual cramps. 

Scientists were surprised to find that the deadly bite of the blue-ringed octopus contained tetrodotoxin. Was it possible that the pufferfish and the octopus were creating the same poison? They found that neither the fish nor the octopus was capable of producing the poison — a bacterium known as Vibrio manufactured it. The fish and the mollusk were ingesting the microbe and then storing the poison in their internal organs to deter predators. In a way, the puffer and the octopus had done our research for us — of the millions of microbes in the sea, they had found one of the deadliest (with potent medical applications) and brought it to our attention, albeit in a most fatal fashion. 

The method of filching a poison from another species and using it for protection has helped us understand how dart poison frogs become toxic. Tropical American dart frogs contain myriad fascinating chemical compounds. Until recently, however, we were unable to determine how the frogs made the poison. When raised in captivity, these amphibians often failed to produce the same toxins. Specimens captured in the wild and placed in captivity may keep their alkaloids. But their progeny possess fewer or none of these alkaloids. 

Hawaii produced an even stranger phenomenon. Poison dart frogs were released in the Manoa Valley on the island of Oahu in 1932. When the descendants of these amphibian immigrants were tested in the lab 50 years after the original introduction, scientists found two of the same types of alkaloids that occur in the original species, which is native to Panama. Another type of alkaloid found in the Panamanian specimens was absent. And scientists found an entirely new alkaloid in the Hawaiian frog that does not occur in the Panamanian version! What is going on here? 

Poison dart frog authority Dr. John Daly hypothesized that: (1) the amphibians make the alkaloids themselves; (2) they made the alkaloids from something that they consumed; or (3) they collected and stored the compounds from a component of their diet, much as the pufferfish does with tetrodotoxin.

The answer to Daly’s hypothesis seems to be a combination of all three. Some of the compounds (or their precursors) are found in poisonous insects eaten by the frog: alkaloids are taken in and stored from beetles, ants, and millipedes. But it was not just a question of ingesting and sequestering any and all alkaloids: when ants containing two different alkaloids were fed to the frogs, the little amphibians stored only one alkaloid in their skin and apparently excreted the other. And, in some instances, the frogs were observed seeking out and consuming particular species of insects that harbored compounds that the frogs typically stored in their own skin. As with the octopus and the pufferfish, these little frogs were finding new and useful chemicals in nature long before we did.

In terms of intentionally using plants for medicinal purposes, the great apes of Africa represent the most sophisticated members of the animal kingdom. Harvard primatologist Dr. Richard Wrangham observed chimpanzees in Uganda’s Kibale Forest consuming a tropical daisy called Aspilia in the early 1980s. While chimps devour many plants in their largely vegetarian diet, Wrangham made note of the unusual behavior surrounding consumption of this species: the leaves of Aspilia were carefully chosen and then swallowed. Furthermore, the primates’ faces appeared to indicate severe distaste, like a child taking castor oil. Because chimps, like people, are prone to parasitic infections, Wrangham hypothesized that the monkeys were consuming these leaves for medicinal (rather than nutritional) purposes. 

Wrangham brought Aspilia specimens to the lab for analysis and received startling results: the plant contained a novel compound (which they named thiarubrine) that proved to have potent antibiotic, fungicidal, and vermicidal properties. Curiously, they also learned that this plant and related species are widely employed by African peoples for a panoply of medicinal uses: from treating cuts to cystitis to gonorrhea. This in turn raised another issue: was it the use of this plant by the chimps that led people to experiment with it in the first place? 

Ethnobotanists — scientists like myself who study people’s use of local plants — have long wondered how a culture learns which species harbor medicinal qualities. While the process of trial and error clearly plays a significant role in this process, might not the plants employed by animals offer a natural starting place for experimentation? 

The thiarubrine story had a bizarre footnote: when scientists retested Aspilia in the lab, they only found thiarubrine in the roots of the plant, which the chimps do not eat. African, European, Japanese, and American research teams have repeatedly confirmed that the primates consume only leaves. Why, then, are parasite-ridden chimps eating the leaves? Primatologist Dr. Michael Huffman, an American scientist who lives in Japan and works in Tanzania, found the answer in an ingenious bit of field research. Huffman and his colleagues found that the chimps’ droppings often contained both Aspilia leaves and intestinal worms that had been impaled on stiff tiny hairs (known as trichomes) on the leaf surface. Though the chimps were taking the leaves as “medicine,” it was not a chemical that killed the parasite, but a physical remedy that simply scraped out and impaled the offending organism. Huffman christened this process the “Velcro effect.” Because of this research, however, scientists had indeed discovered a new antibiotic. 

Huffman, who was inspired to choose a career in primatology by his childhood fascination with H. A. Rey’s Curious George, eventually collected concrete evidence that the chimps were employing other plants as chemical medicines rather than just botanical Velcro. Huffman has focused much of his field research in the Mahale region of Tanzania along the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, close to where the explorer Henry Morton Stanley found Dr. David Livingstone more than a century ago (and about 100 miles north of Jane Goodall’s famous site at Gombe Stream). There, Huffman’s guide and mentor is Mohamedi Seifu Kalunde, a soft-spoken elder of the local WaTongwe tribe. Kalunde is both a skilled naturalist and a renowned herbalist. Kalunde and Huffman were tracking a sick female chimp in November 1987 when the chimp stopped in front of a Vernonia bush of the daisy family, tore off a branch, and began peeling the bark. 10 years later, Huffman still vividly recalls the events that transpired: “Mohamedi said, ‘That is very strange. I don’t know why she is eating that because it is very bitter.’ I asked, ‘Do they eat it a lot?’ and he said ‘No.’ Then I asked him if his people made use of it and he said, ‘Yes. We take it for stomach problems.’” Vernonia represents one of the most important and widely used medicinal plants of the African continent. In Ethiopia, it is valued as a treatment for malaria; people in South Africa value it for amoebic dysentery. Tribespeople in the Congo use it for diarrhea, and the Angolans utilize it for upset stomach. In Kitongwe, the language of Huffman’s guide and mentor, Kalunde, the name for Vernonia is “njonso,” which means both “bitter leaf” and “the real medicine.”

As they watched the sick chimp, she finished peeling the bark and began chewing on the stem. She did not swallow it, however, but spit out the chewed remains, only ingesting the bitter sap. Huffman doubts the sap is an “acquired taste” consumed for gustatory purposes — the flavor is exceptionally foul. (Jane Goodall once performed an intriguing experiment, which probably has some bearing on Huffman’s observation: when she gave sick chimps bananas laced with the antibiotic tetracycline, they readily devoured them. However, when she offered the same drug-laden fruits to healthy chimps, they refused them.) Huffman and Kalunde continued to follow the sick chimp, which made a rapid recovery. Prior to consuming the plant sap, the chimp was suffering from constipation, malaise, and lack of appetite. A day later, she had made a spectacular recovery: the researchers had trouble keeping her in sight as she began climbing ridges at a rapid clip.

Of course, a single observation of a single sick chimp cannot be considered convincing proof in and of itself. Yet in December 1991, the research team made similar observations that added credence to their theory. Huffman and Kalunde observed another sick chimp eating Vernonia and managed to test their hypothesis. As they tracked the chimp, they collected samples of her droppings for laboratory analysis. At the time of the first collection, the stools contained 130 nematode eggs per gram. Less than 24 hours later, the egg level was reduced to 15 per gram and the chimp had resumed hunting, an energy-intensive exercise that she appeared unable to perform the day before. When the researchers calculated exactly how much of the plant the animal had ingested, they found that her dosage was almost identical to that taken by ailing tribespeople. The period of recovery — 24 hours — was identical for both people and chimps. And though the plant was common and available year-round, chimps tended to consume it only during the rainy season, when parasite infections are most prevalent.

Working with Japanese colleagues, Huffman had the plant chemically analyzed. Lab works revealed two types of chemical compounds that accounted for the plant’s medicinal use. The plants are rich in sesquiterpene lactones, chemicals found in many botanical species and known to have antihelminthic (anti-worm), anti-amoebic, and antibiotic properties. New sesquiterpene lactones found in these plants demonstrated significant activity against leishmaniasis (a common and disfiguring tropical disease) as well as the deadly drug-resistant falciparum version of malaria.

Appropriately, the first commercial use of these Vernonia extracts may be for animals rather than people. Huffman has been collaborating with colleagues in both Denmark and Tanzania to determine the efficacy of Vernonia extracts in killing a nematode known by the scientific name Osteophagostum stephanostomum (another instance in which the name is longer than the creature itself!). These nematodes (and their close relatives) cause significant loss of livestock, particularly in the tropical world. Current treatments, while effective, are often expensive by Third World standards, and therefore inaccessible. The quality of livestock husbandry in the tropics could be vastly improved by providing farmers with a plant they can grow and use to kill parasites and effectively.

Even if developed successfully, Vernonia would not represent the first example of a useful tropical plant finding its way into the medicine cabinet of the veterinarian rather than the physician. The fruit of the betel palm is the stimulant of choice in many parts of Asia, where local peoples chew it wrapped in a leaf of a local pepper vine. Alkaloids in the fruit provide a chemical stimulus, and some claim that betel is as addictive as tobacco. Several decades ago, chemists isolated an alkaloid from the palm, which they called “arecoline” because the scientific name for the palm genus is Areca. Although initially used by physicians as a human vermifuge (an antiparasitic agent), arecoline was eventually judged too toxic for our own species and it’s currently employed as a treatment for parasites in animals.

Animals often prove “tougher” than humans do; they don’t suffer the side effects some drugs cause in people. Few animals live as long as our species, so they theoretically won’t incur the deleterious effects that may result from taking a drug for many decades.

Hence, many of the drugs (both natural and synthetic) currently in development will be used for animals instead of people (or for both). The magnitude of the veterinary market is enormous, encompassing everything from domestic dogs and cats to zoo animals to cattle, pigs, sheep, and horses that serve as the bases for agricultural operations all over the world. The annual global annual value of veterinary drugs is estimated to be more than 29 billion dollars.

But some plants harbor compounds potentially useful both for human and veterinary medicine. Fig trees dominate some tropical forests, where their fruits serve as major dietary components for both birds and primates. Chimps use the trees for medicinal purposes as well as food. In western Amazon, the sap of one species is so highly valued as a cure for parasitic infections that it is bottled and sold commercially. The leaves of an African species are eaten by chimps in Tanzania probably because they contain proteolytic (protein-destroying) enzymes that kill nematodes, chimpanzees’ most common intestinal parasites. The young leaves — which the chimps eat — contain 600 percent more of the antiparasitic agent than do the older fig leaves, proving in this instance that these primates know their medicinal plants!

Fig sap is also consumed medicinally by another large mammal: the elephant. Presumably these pachyderms value it for its antiparasitic nature, much as local peoples use the plant. But fig trees aren’t the only medicinal plant consumed by the elephants. In the early 1940s, scientists observed Asian elephants devouring the fruits of legume Entada scheffleri before embarking on lengthy treks, leading researchers to hypothesize that the plant may serve as either a stimulant or a painkiller (or could it merely be pachyderm carbo-loading?). For example, a World Wildlife Fund ecologist spent much of 1975 tracking and observing a pregnant elephant in Tsavo Park in southern Kenya. The elephant had a standard routine of covering about three miles a day in search of edible plants. One day, the mother-to-be walked almost 20 miles and devoured an entire tree of the borage (forget-me-not) family. The scientist never observed this creature consume this species before or after this particular incident. Four days later, the elephant gave birth.

While this is not proof of cause and effect, the scientist soon stumbled across a most extraordinary parallel: pregnant women in Kenya prepare and consume a tea of the bark and leaves of this species to induce either labor or abortion! When Michael Huffman related this story to his colleague Kalunde, the Kenyan replied that his grandmother had taught him that WaTongwe women had employed this plant for the same purpose in the past. Huffman noted that the WaTongwe live in southwestern Tanzania, more than one hundred miles south of Tsavo, implying that the custom was probably the case in more than one elephant individual or population.

According to Huffman, Mohamedi learned most of what he knows about medicinal plants from his late grandfather, who gleaned insight into the potential utility of the flora by observing the behavior of the local fauna. Kalunde related the tale of a sick African crested porcupine that dug up and consumed the roots of a local plant known as “mulengelele.” The little creature soon recovered from bouts of diarrhea and lethargy, often the symptoms of a parasite infestation. Kalunde claimed that this led the WaTongwe to begin employing mulengelele to treat parasite infestations among themselves. Huffman cautions that this story may be merely an “interesting teaching device” to pass important information down from one generation to another and adds that medicinal plant use has never before been reported in porcupines. Can we afford to dismiss this as an allegorical tale for transmitting information to children and grandchildren, or should mulengelele be investigated in the lab?

This episode parallels an unforgettable experience I had in the northeast Amazon with a remarkable tribal group known as the Maroons. When slaves were brought to the Amazon in the 17th and 18th centuries, many managed to escape from captivity into the rainforest. There they coalesced into tribal societies very much patterned on the African cultures from which they had been captured and enslaved. They were warriors perhaps by nature but certainly by necessity, as they represented a severe threat to the plantation economy of the local colonies. (As long as there was a “home” in the forest for runaway slaves, servants on the plantation were that much more likely to take up arms and/or escape.) In Brazil, the Maroons managed to organize themselves into the city-state known as Palmares, which was eventually razed to the ground by white plantation owners and their henchmen. In Suriname, however, the Maroons were never conquered, and there these unique African-American cultures continue to thrive.

From an ethnobotanical perspective, the Maroons are endlessly intriguing in that they have an origin in and a relationship with the forest different from that of the local Amerindians. For example, they employ some plants for medicinal purposes that the Amerindians do not use. Because the Native Americans have lived in the forest for thousands of years and the Maroons have only been there several hundred years, it is tempting to assume that the latter know much less about the forest because they are relatively recent arrivals. I came to find out that such is not always the case.

I was visiting the capital of Paramaribo, sitting on the terrace of a bar overlooking the muddy brown Suriname River that flows gently past the city. With me was Chris Healy, an American raised in Suriname, who is an expert on Maroon art and culture. We were speaking about people, plants, and animals of the forest when he told me an exceedingly peculiar tale about the tapir, the largest mammal of the Amazon rainforest. According to Chris, the Maroons claim that tapirs eat the stems of the nekoe plant, defecate into forest streams, and eat the fish that rise to the surface, stunned by compounds in the plants. In fact, nekoe (known elsewhere in Latin America as barbasco or timbo) contains chemicals known as rotenoids that interfere with fishes’ ability to intake oxygen, causing them to float to the surface if nekoe has been added to the water in which they swim. Local peoples (both Amerindians and Maroons) take advantage of this phenomenon by throwing crushed nekoe stems into the river and catching the fish that rise to the surface. This plant serves as the source of rotenone, which is used as a biodegradable pesticide by organic gardeners and was valued by American soldiers during the Second World War to kill mites that had infested their clothing.

Thinking that the Native Americans know more about forest and its creatures than the Maroons do, I queried several Amerindian colleagues about tapirs and nekoe, but they steadfastly denied any connection between the two. However, several Maroons that I interviewed told me that tapirs consume nekoe, defecate the remains in forest streams, and so on. Does this mean that the Maroons learned of the fish-stunning capabilities of nekoe by observing tapirs? Or is this merely something on the order of a fanciful tale concocted to teach youngsters about the value of the vine, much as Huffman suggests may have been the case with the mulengelele and the African crested porcupine?

One of the reasons to suspect that the Maroons may well have learned from the tapirs is that so much more evidence of animal use of medicinal plants has come to light since scientists began searching for it over the course of the past few decades. As mentioned, chimps are the best documented group in terms of plant use for medicinal purposes. (It may be argued that their utilization of healing plants is somehow not particularly representative of the animal kingdom as a whole because these primates are so closely related to us: our DNA is more than 95 percent identical to that of chimps; chimps are more closely related to us than they are to the other great apes, gorillas and orangutans). The great apes are known to employ over 30 species of plants for medicinal purposes. This may well represent what scientists term an “artifact of collection,” meaning that the most attractive and conspicuous animals receive the most attention, hence we conclude that these species use more medicinal plants than other creatures.

In fact, the more we look, the more we find. Even the literature contains a long and extensive list of animals (mostly mammals, probably for reasons noted above) consuming botanicals for purposes that are presumably therapeutic. A recent paper in Science magazine by Jacobus de Roode noted that fruit flies lay their eggs in high ethanol foods (like the fermented marula fruits so beloved by Jane Goodall’s chimps) to deter predation by wasps. Wood ants add antimicrobial resins from pine trees to deter microbial growth much as the ancient Greeks added terebinth resin to wine to prevent spoilage. And sparrows and finches have been found to add cigarette butts to their nests to deter mite infestations, because nicotine is an effective insect repellant.

Yet another example is pigs, who are notoriously prone to parasite worm infestations. Wild boars in both India and Mexico often consume plants with known antihelminthic properties: pigweed in India and pomegranate roots in Mexico.

Yet, there is an unusual twist to this pig story. In India, local people extract and utilize a worm-killing medicine from the pigweed roots. But though pomegranate root bark is known to contain an alkaloid that kills tapeworms, neither the pig nor the pomegranate is native to Mexico: the Spanish conquistadors brought both to the New World. The pigs nonetheless selectively seek out and consume the roots of this tree as their ancestors once did in the Old World.

In the course of his decades of research on tropical plants and animals, the aforementioned ecologist Dan Janzen unearthed a paper published in 1939 that noted that the Asian two-horned rhino was observed eating so much of the tannin-rich bark of the red mangrove that its urine was stained bright orange. Tannins are a major component of some over-the-counter antidiarrheal preparations such as Entero‐Vioform. Janzen has noted that the concentration of tannins in the bladder of the rhino necessary to change the color of its urine was undoubtedly sufficient to have an impact on parasites in the creature’s bladder or urinary tract.

These animal-plant interactions have also been observed outside the tropics. Dr. Shawn Sigstedt, a laconic, Harvard-trained ethnobotanist, has focused his studies on the plants, animals, and peoples of American West. Sigstedt’s favorite plants are a small genus of herbs known as Ligusticum, but he is not the only one captivated by this somewhat nondescript little plant. When bears encounter the plant, they exhibit peculiar behavior: Ligusticum functions as an ursine catnip. Sigstedt once observed Ligusticum roots thrown into a brown-bear zoo enclosure, and a brawl ensued. The victor carried the roots to a corner of the cage, chewed them up, spit them out, and rubbed them all over his face and body. Both grizzlies and polar bears have proven similarly enamored of this little plant.

The Navajos of northern Arizona taught Sigstedt that the name for Ligusticum in their language translated into English means “bear medicine.” These tribal peoples value this plant as a treatment for many different ailments, treatments whose effectiveness is borne out by chemical analysis that documented the presence of compounds that are anticoagulant and antibacterial, as well as other chemicals that may combat both fungi and insect vermin. To the Navajos, the bear is a sacred creature; in their creation tales, these animals are considered experts in the use of medicines.

Sigstedt was a bit surprised that his findings were considered so astonishing when he began reporting them in the late 1980s. “After all,” he said, “deer and elk have long been known to chew aspen bark that contains compounds similar to aspirin. Why should bears be any less adept at using plants than these creatures?” He also feels that people’s amazement upon discovering that bears were using these plants may have more to do with our perception and categorization. “We tend to place a somewhat artificial barrier between food and medicine where an accurate description is probably better described as a complex mosaic.”

This epicurean animal behavior noted by Sigstedt has also been observed in tropical America. Coatimundis, long-nosed relatives of the raccoon, have been observed rubbing the resin of a tropical relative of myrrh into their fur, presumably to kill or repel lice, mosquitoes, ticks, or other noxious vermin. The capuchin monkeys of tropical America have similar practices but are known to utilize a wider variety of plant species. Capuchins have been observed rubbing eight different plants into their fur. Of these, four (Hymenaea, Piper, Protium, and Virola) rank among the most common medicinal plants used by tribal peoples of the Amazon, and at least two of these are used by the Native Americans to treat skin problems.

Capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica massage a mixture of Hymenaea resin and rainwater into their fur. The Suriname Maroons collect this same dried resin and make it into a tea to treat diarrhea or burn it to keep away flying insects. Laboratory analysis has revealed that this resin harbors compounds that repel insects, and anthropologists have observed these monkeys rubbing four other plant species into their fur as well. Peasants in the region use three related species to repel insects or treat skin problems. And the Trio peoples who live just south of the Maroons in the northeast Amazon have repeatedly told me they watch and learn medicinal species by observing the primates in their rainforest home.

As I said, birds appear to be making use of plants as both medicines and pesticides. Investigators were puzzled as to why penguins had almost no parasites or other harmful microorganisms in their digestive tract. Further field study revealed that the penguins were consuming blue-green algae on a regular basis, and these marine organisms are often loaded with potent chemical compounds.

Birds most definitely use plants for non-food purposes, which could conceivably lead us to new and useful compounds. Hawks have long been known to place sprigs of green leaves in their nests. Birders now note that hawks select only the live branches of certain tree species and replace the dead or dying leaves in their nests with fresh material every few days. The red-tailed hawk uses the leaves of the cottonwood and quaking aspen, while the bald eagle chooses sedge and the needles of the white pine. In a classic study of this phenomenon, Dr. Bradley McDonald and his colleagues found that seven species of raptors (hawks and their relatives) were using over 12 species of plants. Though other scientists have advanced hypotheses to explain this behavior, from camouflaging the nest to advertising nest occupancy, McDonald’s group tested these plants in the lab and found that all effectively repel insects (in this case, houseflies, although they suggest that these leaves are also noxious to other vermin like mites as well as bacteria). Because these birds are carnivores, the adults regularly carry dead or dying creatures to the nest to feed their offspring. The blood and decomposing flesh of these prey items attract a steady stream of insects and bacteria that have the capacity to weaken and kill the young birds. By using the green plants that they do, the adult raptors protect their offspring in what is probably the first-known ornithological case of preventative medicine and maybe even antibiotics.

Compared to the trees of the temperate forest, the chemical composition of rainforest tree leaves is relatively unstudied. In MacDonald’s study, he noted that antibacterial compounds had already been isolated from the leaves of one of these plant species before he began his study. Similar investigations of whether tropical birds employ local leaves for repellent and/or antibacterial purposes are now under way. But Neil Rettig, the foremost authority on the world’s largest eagle, the Amazonian harpy, has already observed these magnificent creatures applying live branches of the giant Mora tree in their nests in a similar fashion. And what might be an insect repellent for the birds might conceivably one day prove to be a safe and effective insect repellent or antibiotic for us. 

If we can find new painkillers from frogs, new stimulants from porcupines, new antiparasitics from penguins, new antibiotics from chimps, and new contraceptives from wooly spider monkeys, what else might be out there, in the forest, on the prairie, or inside the coral reef, being used by local species and awaiting our discovery of its benefit to our own species? What might have already been lost? When the Portuguese first arrived on the eastern shores of Brazil almost 500 years ago, the population of muriqui monkeys probably numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Now their population has been reduced to a few hundred individuals, and more than 90 percent of their once magnificent rainforests has been destroyed.

Who knows what we lost, either in terms of the actual chemicals, the species that produced them, or the primate knowledge of how to use them — not only for their benefit but, potentially, for ours as well? 

Excerpted and adapted from Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets by Mark J. Plotkin. Copyright © 2000 by Mark J. Plotkin. Excerpted by permission of Viking Adult, an imprint of Penguin Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Niccolò Machiavelli. Today, he is probably best known as a ruthless power monger, devoid of ethics and compassion. The phrase most often associated with him, “The ends justify the means” (which Machiavelli never actually wrote but probably would have heartily agreed with), has turned him into an apologist for sociopaths, tyrants, and megalomaniacs the world over. 

I think this is a gross misunderstanding of both the man and his work. The Prince does not condone random cruelty or tyranny or violence. It is a remarkably sober look at how people take power and how they can best hold on to it and grow it. Machiavelli was an incredibly clear-eyed original thinker who might just be history’s first true champion of real talk. For that reason, there could be no better guide for the workplace. 

In the five hundred years since Machiavelli wrote The Prince, a lot of things have changed: We have electricity, the combustion engine, computers, and antibiotics. We’ve even split the atom. People, though, haven’t changed one bit. And for that reason, Machiavelli’s advice about navigating the workplace has proven to be quite timeless.

Machiavelli’s strategies are powerful tools in the modern workplace, especially for women, people of color, and other often-marginalized workers. Here are 7 of my favorite Machiavellian power tips. 

#1 — Always Get the Truth, Even If It Hurts 

Part of seeing a situation clearly is having people you trust who can offer their outside observations. They can help you see what you don’t want to (or can’t) see. This means helping you assess different situations and colleagues and also giving you feedback. Machiavelli was big on feedback. “A Prince,” he writes, “ought always to take counsel” (Chapter XXIII). Machiavelli saw honest feedback as the primary way a prince could protect himself against flatterers and yes-men. (Machiavelli was death on flatterers and yes-men) “There is no other way of guarding oneself from flatterers except letting men understand that to tell you the truth does not offend you” (Chapter XXIII). Feedback feels like risky exposure, but Machiavelli saw it as powerful protection for a prince and a way to get necessary information. The ability to hear the truth—or the “truth” of people’s impressions and opinions—will make you stronger and smarter and help you succeed. Machiavelli was careful to say that you should not open yourself up in this way to just anybody. Ask the people who are key to enabling you to move up within a company; ask people you respect; ask the people you trust. 

#2 — Cultivate Your Network  

Having people you trust and people who can help you in the workplace is crucial (in life, too!). Building a network of people at work or in your profession is absolutely essential to building a career. You should have a mix of people: people who are high up in the company, people who are colleagues, and those who are more junior—also people at other companies who can make you aware of opportunities that come up outside of your bubble. Machiavelli preached the importance of a network hard. The smart prince, he writes, “is defended by being well armed and having good allies” (Chapter XIX). Having a strong network is essential to rising in any profession. Wall Street CEO Sallie Krawcheck says she always remembers advice she got from her friend Carla Harris (a senior banker at Morgan Stanley): “All the important decisions about your career are made when you’re not in the room. People decide to hire you, fire you, promote you, fund you, send you on the overseas assignment, all when you’re not there. So how do you ensure that you have someone in the room fighting for you? I would strongly argue that you need to have in place your Personal Board of Directors. Those are your mentors, your sponsors, your confidantes.” 

#3 — Stand Up for the Less Powerful 

This might sound like the antithesis of Machiavelli. After all, shouldn’t you suck up to powerful people and mercilessly crush those who have less power? I mean, NO OF COURSE YOU SHOULD NOT DO THAT! But, also, Machiavelli advised against it. 

One of Machiavelli’s main pieces of advice in a situation where you don’t have a lot of power is to stick up for other people who also don’t have much power. “The prince,” he writes, “ought to make himself the head and defender of his less powerful neighbors, and to weaken the more powerful amongst them.” The reason? Not only are you weakening the powers that be and creating a potential opening for yourself, but also the people you speak up for will be loyal to you and will fight for you and your ideas in the future. As Machiavelli puts it, “By arming them, those arms become yours” (Chapter XX). 

In fact, Machiavelli advises against speaking up on behalf of people who have more power than you. Don’t jump in if the boss gets interrupted by the intern in a meeting. The benefits of smacking down the intern are minimal, and you risk being seen as a suck-up and a bully. Also, your soul would probably die a little, and that’s never good. 

#4 — If It Comes Down to Being Liked or Respected… Choose Respect

This is a situation that happens to women at work a lot. Often, women in the workplace end up in a double bind: caught between qualities people associate with a “good woman” (being modest, compassionate, putting others first, soft-spoken, nurturing) and the qualities people associate with a good leader (being independent, firm, outspoken, assertive, not caring too much what people think). 

Machiavelli addresses this particular bind many times in The Prince. As it turns out, the prince is in a similar situation: it’s crucial that he be loved by his people, but the prince also needs people to fear his wrath, follow his laws, and, of course, pay his taxes. “Here comes in the question whether it is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved. . . . We should wish to be both; but . . . if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved” (Chapter XVII). 

Still, this approach comes with real consequences, especially for women. Where harsh or domineering men might be respected or tolerated in leadership positions, people often react very differently to an assertive or domineering woman. But sometimes getting the job done correctly involves being blunt, direct, and assertive. It might not be easy, and you will likely get pushback, but do it.

#5 — Watch Your Back

I can’t talk about Machiavelli without addressing some of the advice he gives about guarding yourself against nemeses. Machiavelli wrote a LOT about nemeses in The Prince. He thought the ability to spot troublemakers and toxic people was crucial for a prince: “The ruler is not truly wise who cannot discern evils before they develop themselves, and this is a faculty given to few” (Chapter XIII). Truly, it is not always easy to spot a troublemaker or a toxic person. But Machiavelli does point out a couple of things to watch for.

Beware the flatterer: Machiavelli saw flatterers as very dangerous to a prince. He even has an entire chapter in The Prince titled, “How Flatterers Should Be Avoided” (Chapter XXIII). This is not to say that if somebody compliments your work, you should respond with grave suspicion. But flattery can often be used to manipulate people, so make sure that’s not happening to you.

Beware the Debbie Downer: If someone you work with is extremely negative, it’s probably a good idea to keep your distance and to be careful what you say to them. “As soon as you have opened your mind to a malcontent,” Machiavelli warns, “you have given him the material with which . . . he can look for every advantage” (Chapter XIX). 

#6 — Avoiding Risk Is Risky — When in Doubt, Take Action

Asking for a raise or a promotion or applying for a new job or launching a new project requires enormous risk and vulnerability. Wanting to avoid that risk and the possibility of rejection is a big reason people (especially, statistically, women) shy away from negotiating or asking for more. But avoiding risk and waiting for “the perfect moment” is not a safe choice.

Machiavelli’s advice: when in doubt, take action. This advice probably came from his own frustration with the Florentine council’s constant waffling (they were his bosses). They never wanted to choose sides in the countless skirmishes and battles going on around them. It was, in fact, partially due to that very waffling that Florence lost its republican government and ended up back in the hands of a despot.

“I know that many say a policy of neutrality is the safest option,” he wrote in a letter to a friend. “I believe to the contrary that neutrality is an exceedingly dangerous path.” And for a prince, Machiavelli declares that waffling will lead “in most instances to their destruction” (Chapter XXI). 

#7 —  Embrace the Struggles that Arise; They Are Setting You Up for Success 

The professional world can be incredibly difficult and unfair, especially for women and other marginalized workers. It can involve an incredible amount of perseverance and struggle. That’s not okay or fair, but it does offer its own kind of gift. Machiavelli observed that princes who had to struggle for their kingdoms actually did better in the long run than the princes who had everything handed to them. “They who . . . acquire with difficulty . . . keep with ease” (Chapter VI). 

That might sound trite or saccharine, but Machiavelli was neither of those things, and he felt so strongly about the value of overcoming difficulties in helping to shape a prince, he has a rare Zen moment in The Prince of the “Things happen for me not to me” variety. “Fortune,” he writes, “especially when she desires to make a new prince great . . . causes enemies to arise and form designs against him, in order that he may have the opportunity of overcoming them. . . . Princes become great by vanquishing difficulties and opposition” (Chapter XX).

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Excerpted with permission from Machiavelli for Women: Defend Your Worth, Grow Your Ambition, and Win the Workplace.

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Sam Apple (samapple.com) is the author of the new book Ravenous: Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the Search for the Cancer-Diet Connection. It’s the story of a brilliant scientist in Nazi Germany and how the rediscovery of his long-lost metabolism research is fundamentally changing the way we think about cancer. The book emerged from a piece Sam wrote for The New York Times Magazine in 2016. An exclusive, unpublished excerpt from that article appeared on this very blog.

His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Wired, the Los Angeles Times, Financial Times Magazine, ESPN The Magazine, MIT Technology Review, and McSweeney’s, among many other publications. Sam teaches science writing and creative writing at Johns Hopkins University.  

What follows is a short guest post from Sam on how better noticing can make for better writing, including writing exercises (click that link to go down directly to the exercises) to help you develop your own noticing powers.

Enter Sam… 

When I tell people I teach a class at Johns Hopkins on “noticing,” they’re often surprised and a little confused. Noticing doesn’t sound like something that needs to be taught—let alone in a graduate writing program. It begins to make a little more sense, I hope, when I explain that the course is called “Noticing as a Writer” and that noticing in the way of a writer is different from the ordinary noticing we all do each day.

So what does it mean to “notice as a writer”? I like to define it as “the combination of close observation and insightfulness.” 

Close Observation

Close observation is easy enough to grasp. Let’s take an example: As I’m typing this sentence, I might look down and notice my hands moving over my keyboard. That’s “noticing” in the ordinary sense of the word—what you might think of as “first-order noticing.” To notice my typing hands in the way of a writer, I have to be far more specific. I might notice the rhythmic rise and fall of my knuckles or how the tendons on the back of my hand bulge and twitch with each keystroke. I might notice how some keys are almost silent while others respond to my fingertips with a pronounced—and somehow satisfying—clack.

Or I might notice a hundred other things. There is not one correct thing to notice about typing hands or anything else. For the writer, the aim is to notice in a way that makes the object of the noticing feel suddenly new, suddenly more interesting than it has any right to be. It’s not unlike how a good photographer can take a good photograph of almost anything by finding the right lens and lighting and angle. I sometimes describe the process as “seeking the extraordinary in the ordinary.” 

Let’s take an example from one of the greatest noticers in history, David Foster Wallace. In his famous commencement speech, “This is Water”—which is about the power of noticing—Foster Wallace recounts the experience of going to a grocery store on a stressful day. A less skilled noticer might write, “You go to the store and it’s crowded. The cashier looks angry and the shopping carts are broken.” Now see how the same moment comes alive in Foster’s prose through better noticing:

But anyway, you finally get to the checkout line’s front, and you pay for your food, and you get told to ‘Have a nice day’ in a voice that is the absolute voice of death. Then you have to take your creepy, flimsy, plastic bags of groceries in your cart with the one crazy wheel that pulls maddeningly to the left….

Not “the cashier was tired” but the cashier saying, “Have a nice day” in a “voice of death.” Not “the shopping cart was broken” but “the cart with one crazy wheel that pulls maddeningly to the left.” Earlier, I compared writing to photography; as Foster Wallace shows in these lines, one of the key skills is knowing how to zoom in. 

Let’s take another example from the wonderful writer Clare Sestanovich. In this passage from her short story “Old Hope,” Sestanovich’s narrator writes about living in a run-down house with a group of twenty-somethings. She might have written “the house smelled.” Instead, she noticed in the way of a writer and wrote this:

The house smelled of sweat and bike tires and something at the back of the oven being charred over and over again.

If there is not one correct way to notice, there are ways to go wrong. Beginning writers often mistake quantity for quality. If you do too much noticing all at once, you risk boring your readers. And if you try to pack too many observations into a single sentence, you risk becoming unintelligible. 

Take this sentence: Watching my own hands typing, I notice my wrinkled knuckles rapidly rising and falling over the rectangular keyboard with every soft tap of the black plastic keys, which give way to the soft pressure of my hurried fingertips. 

There are some good concrete details, but the sentence is too dense with description. The reader feels overwhelmed—and probably stops reading. 

Insightfulness

Great writing typically involves more than description or a simple narration of events. Writing is also a search for meaning. Sometimes an observation or image speaks for itself. But often writers need to be able to say something about what they’ve noticed. Let’s return to the typing example. Say I want to write about typing, and I’ve observed the frenzied movements of my fingers over my keyboard. That’s a good start, but it’s still first-order noticing. “Noticing as a writer” means taking your observations to new places. 

So I keep looking and letting my thoughts wander. Now, I notice that my fingers seem to be moving as if they have a mind of their own, that they somehow find the right keys even before I’m consciously aware that I’m searching for them. As I ponder this, it begins to seem almost as if my fingers are autonomous, as if I am passively watching my fingers type. I look at my hands again. They look different now, somehow alien. Instead of a curled hand connected to frenzied fingers, I see two little crabs scurrying across a beach. I look again. The tendons on the back of my hands suddenly resemble marionette strings; my fingers, dancing puppets. 

Maybe one image or metaphor is enough. That depends on what you’re writing and your audience. But now that I’ve wondered about the autonomy of my typing fingers, I’ve created the possibility of more wondering. I might now reflect on any number of subjects. I might wonder about free will or where creativity comes from. I might think about the neurological condition in which people do, in fact, feel disassociated from their own limbs. What started out as a simple observation about moving hands on a keyboard is now a meditation on what it means to feel like a coherent person. 

Let’s look at an example from Leave the World Behind, a great novel by Rumaan Alam. In a passage near the beginning of the book, a couple, Clay and Amanda, are driving on the highway with their children: 

Clay drummed fingers on the leather steering wheel, earning a sideways glance from his wife. He looked at the mirror to confirm that his children were still there, a habit forged in their infancy. The rhythm of their breath was steady. The phones worked on them like those bulbous flutes did on cobras.

Already Alam has moved from the close observation of his children gazing at their phones to the image of a cobra responding to a flute. In the next step, he pushes further, from imagery into insight:

None of them really saw the highway landscape. The brain abets the eye; eventually your expectations of a thing supersede the thing itself.

As with close observation, too much wondering can drag a piece to a halt or take it in too many directions. Not every insight belongs in a piece of writing, and most of what you wonder about will never appear in your essay or story or article. But the wondering that never makes it onto the finished page is still a critical part of the process. To get to the really good stuff, you have to allow yourself to wonder without restraints. Bad writing is the greatest source of good writing. Or, as I sometimes tell my students, profundity is hard work. 

Everything I’ve said so far applies to writing. But I write about science, and I’ve come to think great science also comes down to the combination of close observation and wonder. And just as good writing comes from bad writing, the best scientists I know often tell me that their breakthroughs have come from wondering about experimental findings that, at first, seemed entirely meaningless and irrelevant to their research. 

How You Can Become a Better Noticer—and Writer

I decided to teach “noticing as a writer” because I believe good noticing is the fundamental building block of all good writing. I also love that noticing is a skill that every student can get better at. It’s not unlike taking piano lessons. Not everyone who sits down at the piano for the first time has a great deal of natural ability, but almost everyone can improve with enough practice. 

For my class, I ask students to keep a “noticing journal” throughout the semester. Sometimes I ask them to notice objects or actions, as in the typing examples above. Other times, we apply the same observational and imaginative powers to our own lives and emotions. When we turn to the noticing of others, it can lead to remarkably empathetic writing. It is hard to truly hate people if you’ve spent enough time observing them and wondering about them. The celebrated fiction writer George Saunders captures this notion perfectly in this essay on “what writers really do when they write.”

I also have students perform a number of writing exercises I created to inspire better noticing. Following are a few you might try to improve your own writing.

Exercises

1. The German Word Exercise
It’s often said that the Germans have a word for everything. The most famous example is Schadenfreude —pleasure one derives from another’s misfortune. But there are countless others: Politikverdrossenheit—a disenchantment with politics—is a word that English could really use. Then there’s Kummerspeck—the excess fat gained from emotional overeating. It literally translates to “grief bacon.”

But, of course, there are countless subtle experiences and emotions that have not yet been named in any language. This exercise asks you to identify an experience or emotional state that hasn’t yet been named and to write a short passage about it. (Make the word up too!)

2. The “Seeking the Extraordinary in the Ordinary” Exercise
Find an everyday object in your home and describe it in exquisite detail while also reflecting on what the object means to you or makes you think about. 

3. The Alien Exercise
Imagine that you’re an alien arriving on planet Earth for the first time. You have to write a report on “the humans.” The idea is to help you look at daily life through fresh eyes. When done properly, almost everything we do can seem newly strange.

4. The Noticing Chain
Maybe the most important of all, this exercise involves noticing something—it can be anything—and writing it down in a few sentences. The aim is then to do a second noticing that builds upon the first—and to continue for at least ten steps, pushing the thinking further and further. Students are often amazed by where their thoughts end up by the fifth step.

5. Reading Like a Writer
If you want to improve your noticing—or any other aspect of your writing—you also have to read a lot and pay close attention to how professional writers do it. And if you need a place to start, you could (ahem) purchase a new book called Ravenous. 

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Afterword from Tim: If you decide to do one of the exercises, please post a sample in the comments below. For inspiration, you can find examples from Sam’s students on the following page.

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