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The Observe and Rapport Newsletter
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A weekly guide of my favorite books, articles, products, and lifestyle habits.
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November 17th, 2023 | by Kyle Brennan
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Thought of the Week
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"Aging is the aggressive pursuit of comfort."
I recently listened to human biologist Gary Brecka on the Joe Rogan Podcast. While some of his science may be debated, this line made me hit pause.
He said, "By age thirty, 95% of all men and women will never sprint again for the rest of their life."
We start aging quickly because we stop moving. The moment we're done with high school/college athletics and rec-league intramurals, we stop pushing ourselves and taking care of our bodies. At a certain point we all stop jumping, sprinting, squatting, and crawling like we did when we were younger.
I learned this lesson the hard way playing with my nieces and nephews. They're full of energy, but all I can think about is how my hips hurt and I can't run circles like I used to. My wife Lauren works in a hospital full of older people. She always says the most vivacious people are the ones who never stopped moving. Well into their 80's they were dancing, gardening, walking 10,000 steps, doing yoga, or swimming.
I don't want to end up old, achey, and too tired to play with my grandkids. I want to be full of energy and never worry about my health failing me. If aging is the aggressive pursuit of comfort then I want to aggressively pursue discomfort. This morning I started my day with Wim Hof breathing, sprints at the high school field, and a cold plunge. At night, I'll stretch for 15-20 minutes before I go to bed for 7-8 hours of good, quality sleep.
This isn't to say we should all go out and bust a hamstring at the local track. But it's a reminder that aging stems from atrophy. Keep your mind sharp and your body lean by challenging it with just a little discomfort every single day.
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What I'm Reading
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Barbarian Days is a memoir written about a man’s love of surfing - from his early days growing up in the 60s in LA and Hawaii, his dropout years traveling cheap and looking for waves in the 70s and 80s, and then his progress to respectability and fatherhood.
It was one of Barack Obama’s favorite books from 2016.
I wish I had one-tenth of the writing skills Bill Finnegan has. He is a New Yorker staff writer with a background in political and conflict reportage, and his talent for describing the water and waves and the adventurous life he lived astounded me. The watery descriptions are so vivid you can taste the salt.
I’ve only surfed once in my life (and loved it) so much of the somewhat technical descriptions of waves and swells lost me, but the narrative swept this (long - 470 pages) book along brilliantly and made me want to get back out there again šš»āļø
Rating: 3.4 / 5 āļøāļøāļø
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I’ve been following Nick from @bookthinkers for a long time and have always admired the passion he exudes for reading. Nick is clear in his message that we can grow our lives exponentially by exposing ourselves to new ideas through reading and learning.
Rise of the Reader explains that reading can not just be used as a form of entertainment but as an education that inspires us to change our behavior and flourish through experimentation and implementation.
In the second half of the book, Nick outlines his daily routines and how he has applied the lessons from the hundreds of non-fiction books he has read. The perfect book for people who are looking to better their lives!
Thanks for sending, Nick and congrats on your first book šš¼
Rating: 4.0 / 5 āļøāļøāļøāļø
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Song I'm Listening To
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I didn't think I was a Taylor Swift fan, but then I watched the Netflix documentary Miss Americana and I gained a much larger appreciation for not just her music, but her work ethic. It's not my preferred music of choice, but I can still get down to some of her hits. I didn't realize how good of a songwriter she was until I heard this beautiful acoustic/country version of her hit song Anti-Hero. Josiah and the Bonnevilles have some fantastic covers of other popular songs. Check them out on Spotify!
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How I'm Napping
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Yoga Nidra (aka Non-Sleep Deep Rest) is like a mental reset in the middle of your day. If I didn't get a good night's sleep, and I have an extra twenty minutes to spare, I'll turn off the lights in my office, put on a blanket, and play this 20-minute YouTube video.
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It doesn't put me to sleep every time (maybe half the time I fall asleep) but it doesn't matter. It puts you into such a deep state of relaxation that you feel 100% refreshed.
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Article I'm Reading
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If you're like me, you understand that AI is supposedly going to take over our lives in the next few years, but have absolutely no idea how. This article by Bill Gates was the first that put it into practical terms for me. AI will essentially be a personal algorithm for our lives. In the same way your TikTok and Instagram feed knows your interests better than you know yourself, your personal AI will be integrated across all of your devices, apps, and calendars to help you better optimize your healthcare, education, productivity, and entertainment and shopping experiences.
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"An agent will be able to help you with all your activities if you want it to. With permission to follow your online interactions and real-world locations, it will develop a powerful understanding of the people, places, and activities you engage in. It will get your personal and work relationships, hobbies, preferences, and schedule. You’ll choose how and when it steps in to help with something or ask you to make a decision."
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Hat I'm Loving
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I love hats and probably have way too many of them. I saw this hat pop up a few times and thought it had a different sleek and fashionable look to it compared to the usual snapback trucker hats I tend to wear. The company is also named after the Danish concept of hygge [pronounced hue-guh], which, after studying abroad in Denmark, is something I'm always trying to incorporate more into my life.
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I also have a 15% off coupon code. Use code KYLEBRENNAN at checkout for 15% off.
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My Latest Article
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Recently, someone posed a question at a group dinner:
What is the best $100 purchase you ever made?
Warren Buffett famously says that his single best investment wasn’t a stock that earned him millions of dollars, but rather a public speaking course by Dale Carnegie. The lessons he learned from that one course paid dividends he’d use for the rest of his career.
A purchase is something bought with the intent to consume it. An investment, on the other hand, produces dividends — in the form of wealth, health, quality of life, or self-improvement — often of far greater value than you expected.
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Quote I'm Pondering
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"What makes life worth living? No child asks itself that question. To children life is self-evident. Life goes without saying: whether it is good or bad makes no difference. This is because children don't see the world, don't observe the world, don't contemplate the world, but are so deeply immersed in the world that they don't distinguish between it and their own selves."
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Keith and Kyle sit down to discuss The Manson Murders, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the current cultural relevance of Dostoevsky’s classic novel “The Idiot”, and Kyle’s new tattoo.
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Check Out My Amazon Favorites Bookstore
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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 ;)
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Kyle's Published Work
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33 Life Lessons on My 33rdĀ Birthday
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Thirty-three was a big one. Mostly because I became a dad. Our daughter was born on New Yearās Eveāāāa fitting arrival for a kid destined to reset everything. Itās been a beautiful, if slightly sleep-deprived blur ever since. Iāve only been āDadā for less than ten months, but if Iām being honest, Iāve been preparing for the role for over …
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Depth Over Downloads: Why Spending Time with Books Still Matters
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Everyone wants faster information. But no one asks if faster information leads to better understanding ā or a better life. In the age of AI and tweet-sized wisdom, weāve confusedĀ informationĀ withĀ transformation. But thereās a massive difference between knowing what a book says and beingĀ changedĀ by it. The Delusion of Instant Learning In a recentĀ interview, political journalist Ezra Klein admitted he once believed …
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The Jack Reacher Approach to Never Being Caught Off Guard
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Thereās no difference between a pessimist who says, āOh, itās hopeless, so donāt bother doing anything,ā and an optimist who says, āDonāt bother doing anything, itās going to turn out fine anyway.ā Either way, nothing happens.ā ā āYvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia I donāt read much fiction, but Iāve always been hooked on Lee ChildāsĀ Jack Reacher. Heās not your typical …
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