Nathanael Yellis

It takes a strong eye and a little courage to write about cultural trends. But Katrina Onstad gets a few just write in this fun NY Times Magazine piece.

This great book will help you build practices that generate ideas. Subtitled "The Natural History of Innovation," Steven Johnson finds seven core methods of innovation in nature and history, providing concrete suggestions for personal and organizational use.

Thanks to my friend and colleague David Azerrad, I have a print copy of the most recent Claremont Review of Books. The Lost Decade is masterful, a thorough understanding of our most recent decade and the choice facing America now. I strongly recommend it to those thinking politically:

From a job posting:

This is a video of someone presenting an unpopular, generally opposed idea. He does so with great skill, especially at the introduction. Notice how, in the first three minutes of the video, he summarizes the prevailing notion, explains it as a series of logical connections, and then provides a perspective that makes those logical connections unfathomable leaps. He's caught our attention and readied us to hear the rest of his case. Notice how long it takes him to say that what we think is wrong and how much force he brings to that statement. Something to consider the next time you face an unfriendly crowd.

I met Abigail Halpin at a PechaKucha in Portsmouth NH last June. She told the story of illustrating a children's book. I concluded two things: 1) you have to be really cool to illustrate a children's book and 2) peeks into the creative process are super cool.