Malcolm Gladwell says curiosity is a habit, not a trait
Here's the best things I found on the internet this week!
Hey newsletter family,
I was inspired this week by some comments made by the great Malcolm Gladwell — my hero in the writing/journalism profession — during a wide-ranging and fascinating conversation on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast. Boom, bonus item! Anyway:
“I think of curiosity as a habit, not a trait,” Gladwell said. “…By that distinction I mean people are not naturally curious or not naturally curious, there are people who have cultivated the habit of curiosity and those who have let it lie fallow. What you’re describing (writing every day) is a way of institutionalizing the habit of curiosity. If you are required to write something every day, you’ve put yourself in a position where you’re forced to think about and look for things to write about every day…I think all successfully curious people do that in one form or another.”
In a nutshell, that’s why I do this newsletter. Putting together this list of the best content on the internet each week requires me to go out and find the best stuff, then actually read/watch/consume it! Talk about a great habit to develop.
And lucky for you, I’m making it even easier to “institutionalize” your curiosity. All you gotta do is click the links below, and check out the most interesting, thought-provoking, craziest or most entertaining things from across the internet this week! Enjoy.
What’s the coolest story or thing you found on the internet this week? Reply to this email and shoot me a link. Would love to hear from you.
This is the very first time in this newsletter I’ve recommended a musical album, but it’s definitely one of the best things I discovered on the internet this week. Honestly, this the first release from relatively unknown country music artist Nicolle Galyon took my breath away. The depth of the storytelling and poetry of the lyrics are incredible, and I recommend even to those who aren’t normally fans of ballad-heavy country music.
A new study by U.S. Census Bureau and Harvard University researchers finds that more than two-thirds of young adult millennials live in the same area where they grew up, and more than 80% live within 100 miles. The so-called “radius of economic opportunity” in the U.S. is much smaller than we thought.
This week’s Long Read of the Week is a profile of Jay Duplass. Frequent readers of this newsletter know my reverence for Mark Duplass, his brother, and the way the two bootstrapped their way into becoming successful actors/writers/directors/producers. Recently, the brothers “split up” creatively, and here Jay Duplass gets very vulnerable with the New York Times about his ability to fulfill his individual ambitions…or not.
When satire gets too close to reality — remember that scene from Don’t Look Up where Jennifer Lawrence goes off on live TV because the anchor said they wanted to put a positive spin on the apocalypse? This real life TV news clip mirrors the movie spoof almost perfectly.
This week at the Newport Folk Festival (yes, THAT festival), 20 years after her last live show and almost seven years since a brain aneurism almost killed her, a 78-year-old Joni Mitchell sang “Both Sides Now” and brought almost everyone to tears.
In Moscow (of course), a chess-playing robot grabbed and broke a 7-year-old boy’s finger who was playing too fast against him. “This is of course bad,” said the president of the Moscow Chess Federation.
Just a quick clip of a big crowd getting absolutely HYPED over a darts game. To be fair, it is the world championships and the guy threw a perfect 501 in nine total throws.
Writer/director Nancy Meyers (It’s Complicated, Something’s Gotta Give, Father of the Bride, The Holiday) is known for one thing in her movies above all else — her immaculate interior design and decoration. Fittingly, this Architectural Digest tour proves that the interiors of Meyers’ own home are even more incredible.
Thanks for reading and sharing! On Friday we’ll be talking about Nope and The Gray Man. Can’t wait!