I’m 34 years old and I’m still making lists like this? Yes, yes I am.
The reason why is simple: I like reading about other people’s favorites — books, travel destinations, movies, music, apps, whatever — and these types of posts generally have high interest and engagement. Although I’m breaking the mold. No photos. Just text (3,000+ words). For the hardcore among us.
Note: All links below open in a new window so fill up those tabs! And Amazon links are referral links.
Books
Favorite non-fiction book I read in 2015:
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
If I could give one book to every human on Earth and I had to choose it today this would be it.
With a caveat.
There were a couple glaring logical fallacies towards the end of the book that I’m surprised the author made considering what the book is about. The common Ad Hominem fallacy known as Guilt by Association along with a bit of a straw man were particularly grating. Goldacre says he is wary of GM (genetically modified) crops because, among other things, “If you really want to dig deeper, Monsanto is also very simply an unpleasant company (it made Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, for example).”
This book is nearly 10 years old so maybe Goldacre has updated his stance based on the evidence. You don’t decide to stop sleeping because at some point in time you had a nightmare. And you don’t disregard GM crops because of one company’s past. Additionally, Monsanto isn’t the only company doing GM work so using them as a straw man for GM is disingenuous. It’s also an old, tired, and incorrect argument constantly used by people on the left. If you think Monsanto is inherently evil you’ve spent too much time watching one-sided, misinformed, documentaries that agree with your regressive worldview.
Save for that misstep Bad Science is great. Read it if you care about anything at all.
Buy it here.
Favorite fiction:
The Martian by Andy Weir
I know, I know. I know. Really. I know. I’m rarely a fan of science fiction, but The Martian is as good as the hype. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I hear it’s also great and I’ll see it eventually.
Buy it here.
A few other books (of the 50+ I read this year) you might like:
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
I read most of this in a hotel room while waiting for my clothes to dry in Bologna, Italy. It’s too long for my regular taste (nearly 800 pages), but even so, it kept my attention. (Every time I left my hotel I’d get soaked with snowmelt and I only have one pair of shoes. So I spent a lot of time inside reading.)
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
I’m surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed science fiction this year. This one will be particularly fun for you if you’re a child of the 80s.
Dreams From Bunker Hill by John Fante
The fourth (and last) in the Arturo Bandini series. If I were you I’d start with Ask The Dust, though. If you’re a Bukowski fan then this series is a must read since Fante heavily influenced Bukowski. “Fante was my god.” – Charles Bukowski
An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments by Ali Almossawi
Give this book to everybody along with the previously mentioned Bad Science. It’s free to read online, but I supported the cause and bought a copy.
Creating Change Through Humanism by Roy Speckhardt
Although I’ve been following the American Humanist Association (of which Mr Speckhardt is the Director) for years I’ve never considered myself a humanist. I always felt like it was a bit of a cop out. Or a cloak. Hiding behind the term atheism, which I prefer not to hide. But after reading this book (which I purchased after participating in this Reddit AMA with Mr Speckhardt) I guess I am a humanist atheist.
Creating Change Through Humanism is an account of the challenges that face non-believers in a world of believers, along with a historical breakdown of where humanism began and how it’s growing. More importantly it’s an account of how to create change through positive action. It’s not about proselytizing or deconverting, but about being out in the open and doing good things for the sake of doing good things. For humans, animals, the Earth and the universe alike. Hopefully all can appreciate that message whether they think atheists like me are amoral creatures who will burn in a fictional hell or not.
Music
Metric – Pagans In Vegas (spotify, amazon)
I briefly dated a girl about 10 years ago whose favorite band was Metric. And because of that I never listened to them. “Metric? Sounds like pretentious indie rock. No thanks.” Come to find out I love pretentious indie rock. Ha.
In September this album came up on Spotify’s new releases list, I hit play, and I’ve been obsessed with the band ever since. Emily Haines writes what I describe as perfectly relatable lyrics and the music is the type I wish I had the talent to compose. Next month when Spotify sends me my most listened to tracks of 2015 I’m going to guess the top 20 will be dominated by Metric.
Must listen track: Celebrate
Coheed and Cambria – The Color Before The Sun (spotify, amazon)
I saw Coheed live back in 2006 at UCF Arena in Orlando, FL. Although they were good live performers I was not a fan back then and only went because I got free tickets. It wasn’t until a couple years ago and I found their album Afterman (thanks, again, Spotify!) that I actually listened to their work. If you like stories — concept albums — with your music then this is a band you might like. The new album doesn’t follow the storyline of their other albums (it’s difficult to follow the whole story anyway since it encompasses other mediums than just music), but it’s still outstanding.
Must listen track: You Got Spirit, Kid
The White Buffalo – Love and the Death of Damnation (spotify, amazon)
Possibly my favorite musician of the past few years. Every album is listenable through and through. This new one continued that trend. I’m such a fanboy I’ve done a couple bad covers of The White Buffalo songs on youtube (1, 2). Sorry you had to hear that. (Note to self: Add voice lessons to the bucket list.)
Must listen track: Modern Times
Film
Montage of Heck
I wouldn’t recommend this for anybody except Nirvana fans. It’s well done and surprisingly — considering Kurt Cobain killed himself over 20 years ago — reveals new insights into the man.
That’s the only film I watched in theatres, and I don’t recall any new standouts that I watched elsewhere. I’ve seen a bunch of movies via Amazon Prime, but there’s no watch history that I can look back on. So I’ll share one of my favorite movies that I didn’t see in 2015: Once. (Related to Once: We’re going to see Glen Hansard live in February! The last time I saw him was in the top 5 live shows I’ve been to in my life. He is outstanding.)
Apps
I use the following almost daily.
Player.fm
This is the type of app that I wish I could pay for because I want it to prosper. Just let us all send you $10 or something, man!
It is the best Android podcast listening app. Bonus: you can also listen to your subscriptions through a web browser on other devices.
Here is my public Player.fm profile.
TunnelBear (referral link)
If you’re looking for an easy to use and effective VPN then TunnelBear is it. Particularly useful if you travel. I pay for the Grizzly (yearly) plan.
Bonus: if you’re from the US, travel internationally, and want to still use Amazon Prime Video then this is your ticket since Prime Video won’t work without a US-based IP address.
Spotify
I’ve been a paying member since they launched a few years ago. On the one hand Spotify is great because it has saved me a lot of money since I’m grandfathered into the old $5/month plan and I rarely buy music anymore. (I used to spend a few hundred dollars per year on music.) On the other hand, Spotify is probably hurting independent artists whose fans don’t buy albums anymore and that’s not good. So I still buy music that friends release and I’ll buy something if it’s unpopular and amazing, just to support art. (Alan Gogoll comes to mind.)
That said, Amazon Prime Music has stepped up its game and I’m about ready to quit Spotify altogether. I find more value in the $99/year I spend on Amazon Prime (12 book borrows per year, 12 indie book downloads per year, large selection of music/movies) than the $60/year I spend on Spotify and I can only see Amazon doing better in the coming years. (Do I have to disclose that I own AMZN here? OK, disclosed.) When their apps first came out they weren’t very good. It was difficult to find newly added albums, for example. But recently they’ve gotten much better. And I can download songs to my phone for listening offline, which I can’t do with my particular Spotify plan. If you’re worried that Amazon Prime Music “only” has 1 million+ songs and Spotify (and its ilk) allegedly has 30 million+ don’t be. Most of what you listen to is probably on Amazon Prime (they even have T.Swift!) and Spotify (they don’t have T.Swift!) has even stated that many of their tracks have never been listened to. If you need a new release that Amazon Prime doesn’t have — they can be slower with new releases — you can just spend the $10, own it, and still save in the long run.
A note on these music apps: I realize there are free ways to download music and also free apps (like Spotify free). But I don’t want to steal from artists and I don’t want to listen to advertising if I can help it.
Cinch
Simple window resizing. It’s more useful than it seems.
Telegram
I like this much better than Whatsapp. Too bad almost everybody I know is on Whatsapp and almost nobody I know uses Telegram except my wife. I much prefer chatting via computer than phone and Telegram lets you send/receive messages across all devices. e.g. My wife can message me from her phone to my computer, and vice versa.
Telegram has recently gotten a bad rep because of their amazing encryption and use amongst Islamists to organize terrorist attacks. I don’t think that should scare you off, but do what you will.
YouTubers
Not surprisingly, they’re mostly woodworkers or makers.
Make Something – David is a rocker / web designer turned woodworker. Great stuff. Watch: DIY Stereo Speaker Build
Jimmy Diresta – Jimmy can make anything. It’s wild what he’s able to do. Most of his videos have no talking, which is unique in the maker realm. Watch: Dracula’s Coffin Jimmy also reminds me a lot of my Dad. My Dad has always been able to build or fix anything, often without using plans or instructions. And I did not inherit that talent.
Darbin Orvar – Beyond being a good maker, Linn is a great storyteller. Watch: DIY Overhead Camera Rig
April Wilkerson – April makes a lot of practical and useful things. But mostly I like that she makes me feel like I can make stuff too if I just take it slow and work things out. Watch: DIY Fold down work bench
I Like To Make Stuff – Bob likes to make stuff and it varies from woodworking to electronics to other. Lots of cool projects. Watch: How To Make A Simple Work Table From 2x4s
Steve Carmichael – Steve is really creative and, as a musician, has done a few fun musical instrument builds. Watch: Make a 2×4 Acoustic Telecaster Guitar
Steve Ramsey – I think Steve Ramsey is the first woodworker I found on youtube. He focuses mostly on projects for beginners, which is nice for people like me. Watch: Step Stool From A Single 2×4
Bonus non-woodworker: Thunderf00t, even though he spends too much time talking about modern western feminism and how detrimental, misguided, and misinformed it is. His science experiments and pseudoscience debunking videos are great, but if I never see anything anywhere about professional video game complainers again it will be too soon. He does a lot of fun experiments, but I particularly like when he dissects the science or lack thereof in popular culture. Such as this: The stupidity that just won’t die! Super Cycleways and other snake oil.
Podcasts
StarTalk Radio – Still my favorite. If you’re not a fan of Neil deGrasse Tyson yet let’s never hang out. Just kidding. We can still hang out. If by hang out you mean listen to StarTalk Radio and not speak to each other.
The Skeptics’ Guide To The Universe – Steven Novella is one of my favorite bloggers and I’m not sure how he also has time to do this podcast and work as a clinical neurologist. For some reason I didn’t start listening to the Skeptics’ Guide regularly until this year even though it is precisely the kind of echo chamber I sometimes need in a world full of pseudoscience and in-your-face religiosity.
Blogs
Science:
Neurologica – Dr. Novella is a masterful communicator, but he writes so often that it’s difficult to choose a favorite. So I’m going to go with a recent essay: We Need Both Science and Critical Thinking. Related: I’ve listened to Your Deceptive Mind about 5 times now.
Sam Harris – He gets too involved with defending himself against people who hate him (thereby promoting them since he usually has the bigger platform), but he’s a great writer and orator when he’s on the offensive. The Fireplace Delusion is one of my favorite pieces.
Finance:
The blogs below are all what I would call intelligent-aggressive personal finance for the layman. Meaning, you don’t need to be special or hold a high paying job, but you have to be intelligent enough to understand basic economic principles and get aggressive about your finances.
Afford Anything – What a great name for a project: afford anything. I used to always say if you want something don’t say you can’t afford it, but figure out how to afford it. Paula Pant took it to a level I didn’t and I wish I had friends or acquaintances like her when I was younger. Thankfully, the internet has allowed me to pretend I do. Must read: Renting Is Throwing Money Away … Right?
Root of Good – If you’re of the mind that you can’t build wealth while working at a regular job then Root of Good will flip that script for you. Must read: Climbing the Roth IRA Conversion Ladder To Fund Early Retirement
Thanks to these blogs (along with Mr Money Mustache, Go Curry Cracker, Financial Samurai, and Mad Fiendist) for teaching me I did nearly everything wrong in my 20s. I now feel both better and worse about wasting hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars as an adult. This includes a massive chunk given to charities and people, which I would’ve been better off saving/investing and giving away in 30-40 years when it’d be really significant. Building wealth first and then giving it all away when it can make an impact is much more exciting to me now. (In my defense, I’ve already given away more than most people probably will in their lifetimes so I don’t feel bad about holding back on charitable giving nowadays. FFRF and Wikipedia will likely continue to get my cash, though.)
I’m so happy I found these finance blogs because they’ve inspired me to get serious about savings again. We’ve lived on about 30% of income for the past couple years without much change in lifestyle. At a certain point I had been living on 80-120%, not going into credit card or non-mortgage debt, but not making much headway for the future. I’d often dip into savings — a good year and a 20% savings rate results in significant savings — to fund dozens of failed projects (like this one and this one and this one!). Although I don’t regret failed projects — I’d rather try and fail than not try — I’m more mindful of the sunk cost fallacy and I hope I’ve learned to bail more quickly on my failures. Because I’d become incredibly stressed out when income dipped below expenses (to be expected, me thinks) and that’s no good. I’m much less stressed now, but I’d still like to smooth out my income by taking on more consulting projects, releasing another book or course, or working in a part time capacity for a good company. (Preferably all three. Got something? Let me know.)
Ideally, I’d like it if we could live on 10% or less of income, and that’ll mostly require increased income as opposed to decreased spending. Not that decreasing spending isn’t possible, but it will be easier for us to increase income instead. Like most people we spend most money on housing and food, but unlike probably most people we also spend a significant portion on books/education and travel. None of those expenses have enough room for improvement at this point in time to get to a 90% savings rate. If we quit traveling (a pretty hefty 1/3 of expenses this year) we’d get a lot closer, but that’s probably not going to happen while we’re still young enough to enjoy it. Although, to be honest, I don’t have many must-see places on my list anymore and I kind of prefer holding off on tackling the few that are left (e.g. the Amazon rainforest) so as to have something to look forward to. So this will mostly be up to my wife and the must-see places she has over the coming years.
The best lesson I’ve learned from these folks is to stop thinking about finances like average folks and look at the bigger picture. For example, if you work for one year and spend only 30% of what you earn that means you can take 2 years off from money-producing endeavors (or have built yourself a 2 year cushion) with no change in lifestyle. Work 5 years at the same rate of spending and you can take 10 years off with no change in lifestyle. Work 15 years and take 30 years off. I know that sounds simplistic, but when personal finance was presented to me like this I had a bit of an “aha!” moment. (But note: I want to work on projects until the day I die so retirement in and of itself is not the end goal.)
Anyway, all that to say it’s possible to aggressively save and build wealth without deferring life goals and bucket list type items. The blogs mentioned above helped pound this into my head so if you don’t think it’s possible or you’re unhappy with your state of finances then check them out. Warning: these blogs will probably piss you off at first and may make you feel dumb. That’s good. Use that.
Why’d you get me started? I almost just deleted all that since it should all be an essay for another day. But I guess this is testament to how much these blogs belong on this favorites list and how much they’ve affected me. Tangent over …
Miscellaneous
Jesus & Mo – This cartoon is spot on week after week. I support it with a small monthly donation on Patreon.
Life of Norman – My wife and I are big fans of Norman and his cat Norman. He’s a nice guy who’s maybe a little too proper and sometimes things don’t work out for him. But sometimes they do. Anybody can write a Norman story and the community will let you know if it’s good.
French press – We bought a cheap french press at Tesco and I’m surprised at how often we use it. Once per day, maybe more. And we now rarely waste time or money on coffee outside of the home. Of course, now I leave home even less than before. Win some lose some. (Also, I’m usually more a tea drinker than a coffee drinker, but I’ve grown to enjoy coffee over the past few years.)
Vegetable bouillon – Making vegetable broth is time consuming and I don’t like making it. But I love soup. These things are difficult to reconcile. Vegetable bouillon is the solution that I refused for years because of a misinformed opinion that it’s “unhealthy.” You know what’s actually unhealthy? Almost anything else in comparison to a cube of bouillon. A couple bags of various frozen veggies, a can or two of beans or a chunk of tofu (diced), water, cayenne pepper and a bouillon. Bring to a boil and eat. Tasty, simple, healthy. Difficult to top that.
And that does it for 2015. Thanks for reading. If you’ve made your own favorites of 2015 list share it in the comments.