THESE THINGS MIGHT PLEASE YOU
Your time’s precious but I can recommend spending a little of it on one or more of the following:
Heavyweight
A brilliantly original – and brilliantly human – podcast that shows what can be gained from a concerted attempt to make sense of the past.
> https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/heavyweight
The Blindboy Podcast
This plastic bag-disguised writer/musician/podcaster riffs on whatever has interested him that week, drawing connections between things (recently: historical ‘glass psychosis’ and why Taiwan is key to the development of AI) in monologues that are full of humour, insight and commendable good sense. Also does interesting interviews.
> theblindboypodcast.ie
The Marginalian
With The Marginalian, Brooklyn-based digester of interesting things, Maria Popova, offers weekly servings of thoughtful, inspiring and consoling content from across the arts and beyond.
> themarginalian.org
The Empathy Museum
A series of inventive participatory projects designed to promote empathy: hear someone’s story while wearing their shoes, read a book recommended by a stranger, borrow a person to talk to…
> empathymuseum.com
Tim Clare
A Norwich-based writer who generously offers galvanising help to the Not Yet Writing community, free of charge. Tim’s two podcast series – 100 Day Writing Challenge and Couch to 80K Writing Boot Camp – can help you break free of doubt and put words on the page.
> timclarepoet.co.uk
Humans of New York
Street-shot photographic portraits of passing strangers in NYC; the content of the ‘straight in there’ mini-interviews is reliably compelling.
> humansofnewyork.com
The Book Hive
The Norwich bookshop where I buy most of my reading material – proud to Do Different, and full of the kind of book that unexpectedly jumps onto your Want To Read Next list.
> thebookhive.co.uk
Eat the Seasons
No, we shouldn’t be eating strawberries in the UK in February. Useful information on when to eat what – and on helping reduce the air miles of many of the products in your weekly food shop.
> eattheseasons.co.uk
Public information films
One of the National Archives’ evocative portals into the (familiar but often now pretty weird-seeming) past: lots of ‘We Know Best’ kind of stuff, including 1945’s Coughs and Sneezes through to the iconic ‘Charley Says’ films of the 1970s and the Alarming Headstone of the 1987 AIDS campaign.
> nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/
The Black Narcissus
The blog of an old friend of mine, Neil Chapman, The Black Narcissus features unapologetically subjective thoughts about perfume, as well as interesting insights into Neil’s life working as an English teacher in Japan. His book, Perfume: In Search of Your Signature Scent, is also excellent.
> theblacknarcissus.com