Reading List

I should read more, but here are some recent articles I've read and thought others might enjoy. Feel free to ask me on a free consultation call about how this sort of thing is powered. It can be really handy for curating and sharing content.

James Kindred
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December 2023

2 December 23

Alaïa teams up with Rare Books Paris to curate a stylish library

By Tianna Williams

There is always an air of romanticism to perusing the shelves of a bookstore, a sentiment that Alaïa has delved into with its latest partnership with Rare Books Paris.

1 December 23

Word of Mouth: Art and Culture on the Faroe Islands

By Austa Somvichian-Clausen

The Faroe Islands, a small Nordic nation located in between Iceland and Norway, is a destination at glorious odds with itself. Just a hundred years ago, roads and cars did not exist across its eighteen mountainous islets.

November 2023

28 November 23

Environmental photographer of the year 2023 – in pictures

By Matt Fidler for The Guardian

A termite-snatching drongo, cows wading through flood water and a coral glowing like a Christmas tree are among the winning photos from this year’s environmental photographer of the year competition

22 November 23

El Anatsui’s Turbine Hall hangings turn rubbish into treasure

By Jon Everall

Along the south bank of the Thames opposite St Paul’s Cathedral, Tate’s fourth gallery was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in May 2000. Immediately, what was so astounding was the sheer scale of the building.

21 November 23

let it grow: compostable iPhone case blooms with basil and flowers when planted after use

By matthew burgos | designboom for designboom

Retail iGreen Gadgets has created a compostable iPhone 13, 14, and 15 Pro cases named iGreen Cover that grow basil, daisies, and forget-me-nots when the user plants and recycles them instead of discarding them after use.

14 November 23

Rich People Are the Big Barrier to Stabilizing the Climate

By Tom Athanasiou for The New Republic

In 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its first report on global warming—and by so doing started the clock on our collective response.

14 November 23

Tim George’s incredible photos capture the rapidly vanishing world of pubs in the East End

By Dom Carter

Pubs are a vital part of London’s cultural history; nowhere is this more evident than in the East End. But while the area used to be brimming with the best independent breweries in the country, the sad fact is that these communities, buildings and histories are under threat.

11 November 23

Lucky Find at Auction Identifies Man on Cover of ‘Led Zeppelin IV’

By Claire Moses for The New York Times

On Nov. 8, 1971, Led Zeppelin released its iconic fourth studio album, which was untitled but is widely known as “Led Zeppelin IV.

8 November 23

Seven Japanese designers working with neglected materials at Designart Tokyo

By Max Fraser for Dezeen

Furniture crafted from driftwood, “dresses” made from thousands of wood pieces and lamps 3D printed from tatami-resin were some of the highlights of Designart Tokyo.

7 November 23

‘Say High’: Gotham’s new campaign aims to celebrate and destigmatise cannabis

By Katy Cowan

Hitting street and subway posters plus digital screens this week, the ads are centred around how it greets customers at its flagship store in Lower Manhattan’s East Village.

3 November 23

Who Invented the Measurement of Time?

By Stephanie Pappas for Scientific American

In modern times, clocks underpin everything people do, from work to school to sleep. Timekeeping is also the invisible structure that makes modern infrastructure work.

3 November 23

An Apocalyptic Meditation on Doomscrolling

By Erik Davis for MIT Press

As far as I can make out, the term “doomscrolling” started making the rounds in 2019, and became, for obvious reasons, far more infectious in 2020. We’ve had two more years of pandemic, and a yearish of whatever this next thing we are in is, and the term does not seem to be losing much luster.

2 November 23

Remote working: The Digital Nomad Surge

By Become an for The Conversation

For eight years I have studied digital nomadism, the millenial trend for working remotely from anywhere around the world. I am often asked if it is driving gentrification. Before COVID upended the way we work, I would usually tell journalists that the numbers were too small for a definitive answer.

2 November 23

How to Advance Humanity

By Fábio Lucas for Medium

Growing up with the ability to share anything I want with whomever I want has warped my view of communication. For millennia, the sole way to communicate information among humans was the movement of humans.

October 2023

29 October 23

Small groups, well organized

By Seth Godin for Seth's Blog

And those are the two challenges of anyone seeking to make an impact. First, we get distracted by the inclination to make the group as big as we can imagine. After all, the change is essential, the idea is a good one. It’s for everyone.

28 October 23

Falling into Autumn

By Paula Goodbar for Medium

Autumn has always been my favorite time of year. It’s time to put away the tank tops and flip flops and bring out the comfy sweaters and leggings. I find my favorite blanket for the sofa, grab a book and brew up an aromatic cup of tea on chilly evenings to shake off the day.

24 October 23

Could This Be the Final Frontier for Renewable Energy?

By See full for CNET

With 70% of the Earth’s surface covered by oceans, wave power could be one of our largest energy resources. If you’ve ever been knocked off your feet by a big wave, you’ve felt a smidgeon of that power.

23 October 23

Inside Fran Lebowitz’s Digitally Unbothered Life

By Sophie Vershbow for Esquire

When I wrote “New York Person” at the top of my Instagram bio years ago, I only had one “New York Person” in mind: Fran Lebowitz.

21 October 23

Complex or complicated?

By Seth Godin for Seth's Blog

Complicated problems have a solution, and the solution can often be found by breaking the complicated portions into smaller pieces. And complicated problems often have an emotional component, because there are parts of the problem we don’t want to look at closely, or deal with personally.

20 October 23

The Cloud Is a Prison. Can the Local-First Software Movement Set Us Free?

By Gregory Barber for WIRED

A few years ago, the discussion forum Hacker News, where engineers collectively decide what other engineers should read, developed a quirk.

20 October 23

There are thousands of cities in the world, and there’s a reason none is in the shape of a line

By Benjamin Schneider for Fast Company

Somewhere in the Saudi Arabian desert, construction crews are hard at work on the longest, skinniest, tallest—and some might even say, most hubristic—city in human history.

16 October 23

BBC unveils the Moog Synthesizer – “the future of music” in 1969

By Mark Frauenfelder for Boing Boing

The instrument is made up of independent electronic units packed together into a compact console. There are oscillators which produce the sound, filters, amplifiers, and envelope generators to shape it. The sound can even be automatically triggered.

14 October 23

Decoding the overlap between autism and ADHD

By Ricki Rusting

Autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder often coincide, but the search for common biological roots has turned up conflicting evidence. Every morning, Avigael Wodinsky sets a timer to keep her 12-year-old son, Naftali, on track while he gets dressed for school.

11 October 23

One Great Rock Movie Can Change the World: An Oral History of ‘School of Rock’

By Angie Martoccio for Rolling Stone

It was 20 years ago this month that Jack Black put on a bow tie, walked into a prep school, and told a bunch of fourth graders to get the Led out.

9 October 23

Paper artist Lisa Lloyd explores the flow of emotions in dazzling new foil block printed sculpture

By Dom Carter

Three-dimensional paper artist Lisa Lloyd takes inspiration from the natural world when creating her beautiful paper sculptures. Previously, her work has been featured on the BBC, Countryfile and The Morning Show, while her latest piece, Flux, is set to appear at the upcoming Start Art fair.

7 October 23

Discogs’ vibrant vinyl community is shattering

By Natalie Weiner for The Verge

If you are a devoted vinyl collector, an obsessive music fan, or — as is often the case — both, Discogs is very nearly a lifestyle.

6 October 23

The History of the Pivot Table, The Spreadsheet’s Most Powerful Tool

By Dan Kopf for Pocket

Today, pivot tables are among the most important and commonly used tools in the spreadsheet wizard’s toolbox

6 October 23

Thoughts on the manual

By Seth Godin for Seth's Blog

We have more ways to offer instructions than ever before, but it’s not obvious that we’re getting better at it. Not just the operator’s manual, but every way we have to teach and offer instructions… Some (uncategorized) things to consider:

5 October 23

Great news — social media is falling apart

By Shubham Agarwal for Business Insider

Read in app Step into the ‘pluriverse’Online townsA healthier internet

5 October 23

59 Dos and Don’ts for Getting Dressed Right Now

By The Editors for GQ

For decades, GQ was the place men learned to dress themselves. We’d teach you how to talk to your tailor, introduce you to your next game-raising boots, and—crucially—lay down a handful of hard and fast rules about style that you, the reader, were meant to follow religiously.

5 October 23

I stop working by noon every day — and I’ve never been so productive

By Strategy Contributors for Business Insider

Focus has always been a challenge for me, but I’ve always felt there should be a better way. I’ve tried accountability groups, productivity apps and all sorts of other gimmicks for getting more done. But on their own, nothing seemed to work.

5 October 23

Why Do We Forget So Many of Our Dreams?

By Stephanie Pappas for Scientific American

If you’ve ever awoken from a vivid dream only to find that you can’t remember the details by the end of breakfast, you’re not alone. People forget most of the dreams they have—though it is possible to train yourself to remember more of them.

September 2023

6 September 23

What is an attosecond? A physical chemist explains the tiny time scale behind Nobel Prize-winning research

By Become an for The Conversation

A group of three researchers earned the 2023 Nobel Prize in physics for work that has revolutionized how scientists study the electron – by illuminating molecules with attosecond-long flashes of light.

6 September 23

The Daily Heller: Family Planning Made Modern

By Steven Heller for The Daily Heller

Rudolph de Harak (1924–2002) opened his studio in 1952 to make design that was driven by the virtues of modern order and simplicity rooted in geometry.

3 September 23

These 5 strong, relevant brands have stood the test of time

By David Salazar for Fast Company

Much like our news cycle, the tenure of a brand’s relevance has become much shorter in the past two decades. This makes maintaining an impact for more than 15 years an impressive feat. 

August 2023

12 August 23

Does this failed biscuit rebrand show designers sometimes get it wrong?

By Joseph Foley for Creative Bloq

Back in 2021, Choco Leibniz maker Bahlsen carried out a rebrand that won huge plaudits from the design community. The new look was clean, bold and modern. It even won a D&AD award. There didn’t seem to be anything not to like.

5 August 23

How to Stop Doomscrolling—With Psychology

By Kenneth R. Rosen for WIRED

The act of doomscrolling—spinning continuously through bad news despite its disheartening and depressing effects—and social media envy, like the fear of missing out, present greater risks to your health than were previously realized.

July 2023

5 July 23

3 workflows to help you get the most out of your database

By Nick Moore for Zapier

Effective database tools can organize and centralize all kinds of information, letting you turn raw data into insights you can use. Relying on manual input and output, however, can turn your database into a bottleneck.

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