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Lifehack: How to Read More Books
So on New Year’s Day I randomly decided that I would try some resolutions. Normally, I don’t make resolutions or, if I do, I give up before the end of January (like everyone else). And this year, I made an outrageously bold one: Read 52 books. I’m sure reading one book per week isn’t that…
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An Easy Way to Map Data in R with Plotly
A couple of years ago, I wrote The complete n00bs guide to mapping in R, my first adventure into R. While that tutorial still holds up, if you’re looking to make a state-level Choropleth Map, there really isn’t anything easier than working with Ploty in R. Once you get R and RStudio installed and set…
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Children’s Books for Nerdy Parents
A couple of months ago, my brother Peter shared a list of his favorite baby books. Though I don’t have any kids yet, my wife Marie and I enjoy buying books for our niece and nephew (and you guessed correctly, we will be the weird aunt and uncle that always get them a book each…
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What Three Months of Reading Business Books Taught Me
Over the last few months I read a bunch of books, mostly business-related. Here’s the business-y ones: Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration Blockchain Revolution: How the…
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Depression and Graduate School
Is depression in graduate school common? Yes. I’ve recounted my struggles with depression while in graduate school in an essay, Depression and Graduate School. If you’re dealing with chronic unhappiness, consider seeking out professional help. If you’re a graduate student there are likely free or low cost resources on campus. If you’re having suicidal thoughts…
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Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World
J.J. Abrams. Sir Richard Branson. Arianna Huffinton. Sheryl Sandberg. Peter Thiel. The blurbs on the back cover of Originals are impressive. The list of awards the book has won is impressive. Adam Grant’s research is impressive. But for a book on originality and creativity, Originals is shockingly formulaic and derivative. If you’re dying to get…
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Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind
When you work regularly, inspiration strikes regularly. (35) There’s a pervasive myth of the genius creative person. Breakthrough inventions, great pieces of writings, and works of art seem to come out of thin air. Created by an inventor, writer, or artist that stumbled upon the right inspiration at the right time. Anyone who has done…
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Between the World and Me
Here is what I would like for you to know: In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage. Between the World and Me (103) Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me is a powerful, raw, letter to his son about his life and coming of age, the horrors of systemic racism…
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Baby Books
My brother Peter and his wife have an adorable 14 month-year-old and we’re constantly getting her books. Thankfully, they love reading to her. Peter wrote up the following introduction and compiled the lists below (while at Med School!). It gave me lots of ideas for the next holiday… Building Your Baby’s Library Story telling is…
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Revisionist History
From the Vietnam War to inequality in higher education to free throw shooting in the NBA, Malcolm Gladwell tells a compelling story in each podcast while teasing out the deeper meaning. Gladwell’s podcast Revisionist History allows him to explore shorter story arcs that might not otherwise make it to a larger audience. Each podcast features…