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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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May 17th, 2024 | by Kyle Brennan
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Thought of the Week
I paused the episode when I heard him say something that resonated with me profoundly.
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"Enjoying my portfolio of enthusiasms is a form of wealth."
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Enthusiasm is the wealth money can't buy.
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You can have all the money in the world and a great portfolio of investments, but if you're not sustaining your enthusiasm and fulfilling your heart in other areas, it's not worth anything.
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I place a lot of significance on my enthusiams, and I take pride in maintaining a diversified portfolio of interests, whether it's spending time on my blog, this newsletter, my podcast with Keith, being a firefighter, learning jiu jitsu, dinners with my wife, or reading.
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Keep your life rich with things you can remain enthusiastic about in the worst of circumstances.
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What I'm Reading
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“This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.”
Amusing Ourselves to Death was written by Neil Postman in 1985, about how television altered the meaning of being informed by exclusively being interested in presenting show business, sensationalism, and in making money. It is a historical narrative that warns of a decline in the ability of our mass communications media to share serious ideas. In other words, TV is not informative media. It’s merely entertainment.
You can easily replace “television” in this book with “social media” or “mainstream media” and its message holds up to an incredible degree in today’s modern media culture. Postman even mentions that one-sentence news headlines could one day win journalistic awards. This was 30 years before the invention of Twitter.
In the introduction to his book, Postman said that the contemporary world was better reflected by Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, whose public was oppressed by their addiction to amusement, than by Orwell’s work, where they were oppressed by state control.
Postman sees television’s entertainment value as a present-day “soma”, the fictitious pleasure drug in Brave New World, through which the citizens’ rights are exchanged for consumers’ entertainment. ...
This book has me wondering about the pros and cons of technological advances that we consider ordinary and almost always for the better of our informed society. Multiple people on notable podcasts mentioned this book as a must-read, and after reading it myself, I can confirm just that. His predictions are scarily accurate in the age of social media and the internet.
Rating: 5 / 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Chart That Has Me Thinking
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Between TikTok, FanDuel, Reels, X, DoorDash, and Tinder, it's never been easier to access quick dopamine - the neurotransmitter that plays a crucial role in motivation, reward and pleasure-seeking. We've grown accustomed to receiving exactly what we want instantaneously. It's atrophied our tolerance for passive experiences like going to museums, having nice dinners, or playing a record on vinyl.
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As Ted Gioia writes, "The dopamine cartel is now aggravating our worst social problems—in education, in workplaces, and in private life."
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This chart highlights the importance of unplugging ourselves from time to time and connecting to the real world.
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Enjoy the simple pleasures.
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What I'm Watching
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A few years back, my cousin Michael told me that the best book he had ever read was a Japanese novel by James Clavell called Shogun. I added it to my Amazon wishlist but was always scared to make the dive due to the 1,312 page length!
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Thankfully, Hulu came out with a TV show that will take me way less time to watch. I'm a big fan of Japanese samurai culture and Japan is number one on my travel wishlist.
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Description from Hulu: Based on James Clavell’s novel, FX’s Shōgun is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village.
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What I'm Listening To
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The weather is getting warmer, the sun is out and absolutely nothing hits better than a rockin' country song. Rap sensation Post Malone teamed up with country icon Morgan Wallen for this sensational hit.
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Like it or not, country is the best music when the temperature hits 70°. Whether you're on the beach, taking a drive, or day drinking with your friends, I love nothing more than a simple four-chord country song about beers, blue jeans, and trucks.
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Fun fact: Post Malone once retweeted me on Twitter (something about Bud Light), causing my account to explode and I had to delete my account from college.
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Quote I'm Pondering
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You don’t want fame, you want respect.
Respect comes from living up to their standards.
You don’t want respect, you want self-respect.
Self-respect comes from living up to your own standards.
The same standards that you apply to other people.
- @naval [X[
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Keith and Kyle sit down to discuss the lack of public unrest during the election year, the accuracy of Aldous Huxley on predictions about cultural details in the future, why its important to look at societal dilemmas through an inverted perspective, and the current music, podcasts and books that they recommend.
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Books mentioned in this episode:
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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 33rd Birthday
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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 …
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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 — 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 …
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The Jack Reacher Approach to Never Being Caught Off Guard
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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 …
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