|
|
|
|
|
The Observe and Rapport Newsletter
|
A weekly guide of my favorite books, articles, products, and lifestyle habits.
|
|
August 16th, 2024 | by Kyle Brennan
|
|
Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox every week?
|
|
Thought of the Week
The Cy Young Award, one of the most prestigious honors in MLB, is given annually to the best pitchers—one from the American League and one from the National League. The selection process considers several key factors, including ERA, wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, and other complex statistics.
|
In a typical season, a starting pitcher might take the mound 30 to 34 times. But the key to maintaining a low ERA isn't about striking out every batter. Even in a league filled with exceptional talent, the best pitchers will inevitably give up dozens of base hits and home runs. The real key is avoiding disastrous outings - ones where a pitcher gives up 10 runs in a single inning.
|
What earns a pitcher the award is his average performance across those 30 or so starts.
|
In almost every facet of life, being perfect isn't realistic. What is achievable is minimizing the disastrous outcomes. The ones that leave us in ruins of self-sabotage.
|
Increasing our baseline average doesn't necessarily require great results in every outing. It's far easier to keep the really really bad results to a minimum. For example,
|
- Lowering golf scores doesn't require more birdies, it's about scoring fewer double and triple bogeys.
- Losing weight isn't about more salads, it's about fewer nights devouring everything in sight
By consistently reducing the horrendous results, our baseline naturally rises. Over 3-6 months, it's a complete game changer.
|
We're never going to be optimal in every single area. But when we accept our imperfections and learn to treat them as part of the process, the results will come.
|
|
What I'm Reading
|
|
As she did in River of Doubt, Candice Millard once again combines the story of an exceptional man with a dangerous adventure. River of Doubt, one of my favorite books from the last year, detailed Teddy Roosevelt’s harrowing journey through the uncharted tributaries of the Amazon jungle. This story, however, chronicles the search for the source of the Nile River undertaken in the 1850s by Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke.
Sir Richard Francis Burton was a British adventurer, author, poet, and soldier. He spoke 29 languages, wrote a textbook on sword fighting, made the trek to Mecca as a disguised Muslim, translated the Kama Sutra and other erotic texts, and led two expeditions to discover the source of the Nile. Alongside Speke, whom Burton constantly clashed with, and Sidi Mubarak Bombay, a former slave, Burton embarked on a mission led by the Royal Geographical Society to claim its prize for England.
I’m fascinated by books like these because they reveal what drives individuals to risk their lives and face profound dangers in pursuit of the unknown. It’s incredible to consider the bravery of explorers from a time when survival depended solely on their own abilities and courage. The thought of them navigating treacherous conditions with minimal equipment and limited scientific knowledge is almost unimaginable.
I may not be giving this book a fair review, since I was constantly comparing it to the River of Doubt. It was nowhere near as entertaining, but nonetheless an interesting read into the personalities and history of British conquest in the mid-19th century.
Rating: 3.7 / 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
|
|
|
I’m not going to lie, I had to pause reading this book halfway through to watch the movie.
This book was a puzzle. As much as I love spy novels, I found the plot of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy rather challenging to follow. I now understand that this book is part of a series, but I went in thinking it was fine reading on its own.
The story follows George Smiley (le Carré’s most famous protagonist), a retired intelligence officer working for MI6 (often referred to as “The Circus”) on a quest to discover a mole within the organization.
I guess I was expecting it to be a bit more action-packed a la James Bond, but the plot turned out to be almost entirely dialogue-based. I had trouble keeping the characters straight and navigating the central theme. The story falls more on the side of psychological mind games than action and weaves various perspectives to form a mysterious narrative for the reader.
To be clear, I didn’t hate it. I had never read any of John Le Carré’s work before but I knew him to be a legendary novelist. He certainly is a great writer of sentences, and I probably should have checked out some of his other works (particularly the George Smiley series) before diving in.
That said, I watched the movie and still found it to be quite difficult to follow. I think if I hadn’t read the book I would have been a bit lost.
Personally, I found it a bit dull for the type of espionage novels I’m used to. It’s a slow burn that involves a lot of analysis of the lingo and hidden messages within the dialogues of multiple characters with code names.
Rating: 2.3 / 5 ⭐️⭐️
|
My Latest Article
|
|
Last month, I was invited to give a speech to a group of young men. Instead of dishing out the usual “advice I’d give my younger self,” I chose to tackle something more immediate and relevant:
Why not talk about the advice I still need to hear at age 31?
This led me to identify five crucial soul-building instructions that I must constantly remind myself of. These insights aren’t just reflections from the past — they’re the things we kinda all know, but often fail to remember in the throes of life.
|
Map of Independent Bookstores
|
|
Although buying books on Amazon is ultimately more economical (especially with the volume of books I buy...), there is something special about purchasing books in person rather than simply clicking "Buy Now."
|
The map on this site currently lists more than 6,000 independent bookstores across the US.
|
NYT's Best New Books of Every Type
|
Quote I'm Pondering
|
|
“To whom do you award the right to decide which speech is harmful or who is the harmful speaker? To whom would you delegate the task of deciding for you what you could read?”
― Christopher Hitchens
|
|
|
|
|
|
Keith and Kyle sit down to discuss cryptocurrency, the brutality of Japanese imperialism during WW2, and the deeply philosophical inferences conveyed in the film “The Matrix”
|
Books discussed in this episode:
|
|
Check Out My Amazon Favorites Bookstore
|
|
|
Browse my favorite book selections hand-curated by me. I also earn commissions so if you buy anything, those earnings get reinvested right back into this fancy newsletter ;)
|
|
  
|
Reminder to share this newsletter with friends and family! Subscribe link here
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kyle's Published Work
|
|
|
|
|
|
33 Life Lessons on My 33rd Birthday
|
|
|
|
Thirty-three was a big one. Mostly because I became a dad. Our daughter was born on New Year’s Eve — a fitting arrival for a kid destined to reset everything. It’s been a beautiful, if slightly sleep-deprived blur ever since. I’ve only been “Dad” for less than ten months, but if I’m being honest, I’ve been preparing for the role for over …
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Depth Over Downloads: Why Spending Time with Books Still Matters
|
|
|
|
Everyone wants faster information. But no one asks if faster information leads to better understanding — or a better life. In the age of AI and tweet-sized wisdom, we’ve confused information with transformation. But there’s a massive difference between knowing what a book says and being changed by it. The Delusion of Instant Learning In a recent interview, political journalist Ezra Klein admitted he once believed …
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Jack Reacher Approach to Never Being Caught Off Guard
|
|
|
|
There’s no difference between a pessimist who says, ‘Oh, it’s hopeless, so don’t bother doing anything,’ and an optimist who says, ‘Don’t bother doing anything, it’s going to turn out fine anyway.’ Either way, nothing happens.” —Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia I don’t read much fiction, but I’ve always been hooked on Lee Child’s Jack Reacher. He’s not your typical …
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
