We recently had a scary electrical fire in our house (we caught it early and had minimal damage, still terrifying). As the fire chief looked around, he said something that stuck with me. “Thank god for old houses and heavy timber.”

He had a point. Houses built in the 1950s were tanks. If our house had been built in 2020, that fire would have spread in minutes, not hours. So why does it feel like the quality of things has declined?

Maybe because capitalism has gotten a bit too good at being efficient.

People (including myself) don’t know how to repair things like they used to, and why would you? It’s cheaper to replace. If you break a $400 espresso machine, getting it repaired will cost $280, plus a three-week wait. Or… you could click “Buy Now” and have a new one on your porch tomorrow for $320. We’ve built a system where doing the right thing is the dumb thing.

This isn’t good capitalism; it’s just efficient capitalism. It’s trained us to be users, not owners.

We’ve traded pride and self-reliance for the 24-hour dopamine hit of unboxing something shiny and new. And the manufacturers are in on it too. Why build a 20-year product when a 2-year lifespan keeps the cash flowing? They have ZERO incentive to build things that last. It’s not a bug, it’s a business model.

Efficiency and low cost have made disposability the default. The throwaway economy trains us to expect junk. We’ve traded longevity for convenience and craftsmanship for speed. But in business and life, quality always compounds.

Dan Brown remains one of the best fiction writers of our generation. He burst onto the scene with Angels & Demons in 2000, followed by The Da Vinci Code, and has since turned Robert Langdon (played by the legendary Tom Hanks) into one of modern literature’s most recognizable characters.

After an eight-year hiatus, Langdon is back. This time, the esteemed professor travels to Prague to attend a groundbreaking lecture by Katherine Solomon, a renowned “noetic” scientist on the cusp of discovering something extraordinary about the nature of human consciousness.

I love Dan Brown for two reasons:

The central theme of this book was something I’m super interested in too — this idea that consciousness isn’t generated by the human brain, but rather that it exists all around us. We merely tune into it, like radios set to individual frequencies. It’s one of those concepts that makes you pause mid-read just to think.

My only gripe is the length. At 677 pages, I found myself halfway through wondering, “How could there possibly be 300 pages of plot left?” The story is thrilling and imaginative, as always, but it for sure could’ve been tighter. Either way, I’m glad Dan Brown’s classic trademark of mystery, science, and symbology is back.

Link with paywall removed

Sometimes, I feel like the universe is subtly nudging me to check something out. I was scrolling through Twitter on Monday, and this article kept popping up with comments on how good it was. I’m joining to echo that statement. This is a beautiful piece about fatherhood, careers, addiction, and running. It took me more than an hour to read, and it’s undoubtedly one of the best articles I’ve read in a long time. Well worth reading.

Of all the strength metrics, grip strength is one of the most highly correlated with longevity. There are all sorts of cool ways to measure one’s grip strength, like this device, but Dr. Peter Attia’s clinic prefers to do it with a timed “dead hang”, i.e., hanging from a bar and seeing how long you can hold on.

Why is grip strength highly correlated with longevity? Well, for starters, it’s pretty difficult to be considered “strong” in the upper body if your grip is weak. If you have a strong grip, you likely have a strong hand, a strong forearm, a strong scapula, and so on, up the entire chain. So, the dead hang really is a proxy for measuring everything else—your actual grip, your scapular stabilization, the stability of your shoulder, etc.

Attia recommends a goal of a two-minute hang for men and 90 seconds for women over 40. Obviously, don’t go out and try to do two minutes on your first try. I did it the other day and barely managed 80 seconds before my hands cried for mercy. Start slow, focus on stability by engaging your scapula, and progressively increase the duration of your hangs.

As a bonus, you’ll get some fantastic spinal decompression and tension relief across your entire upper body—improving posture, making breathing easier, and increasing range of motion. It also makes me think of Wayne and Garth meeting Del Preston in Wayne’s World 2. “Sleeping like this will add 10 years to your life.” 😂

I will admit, this show is not going to blow you away. It’s not necessarily one of those shows you watch and immediately rave about to friends. It’s a bit corny and predictable, and the acting is not exactly out of this world. But, Lauren and I sometimes prefer to watch these types of shows vs. documentaries about serial killers before we drift off to a peaceful sleep.

The show follows a former PGA Tour pro named Pryce Cahill (Owen Wilson), who finds himself down on his luck, working at a defunct country club. That is, until he comes across a gifted 17-year-old with a golf swing like Tiger Woods. It’s got a bit of that Ted Lasso feel, but with more ups and downs, character flaws, and NSFW humor.

Bottom line: A solid show to unwind to, anxiety-free.

Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. He has a super unique sound that I love.

You’re probably familiar with his most popular song, The Less I Know The Better, but lately, these have been some of my favorite tracks.

Brainstorm some answers to these questions:

And which activity is the best blend?

h/t 3-2-1 Newsletter by James Clear

Keith and Kyle sit down to discuss the life of Frantz Schmidt, a sixteenth-century executioner in ⁠Nuremberg, Germany⁠. Based on Schmidt's unique journal, the book explores his public role in executing and punishing people, his private struggles with his profession and religious faith, and his attempt to gain honor and avoid the social stigma of being an executioner.  A rare, detailed look into the era's criminal justice, social customs, and even medical practices, challenging the common perception of executioners as monsters. 

📚 Books discussed in this episode:

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Thanks for reading!