What to Read Next: July 11, 2025
Issue #384, featuring an ode to experience
Happy Friday, readers!
Today’s newsletter is coming to you just a few hours later than usual because I’ve been soaking up some lake time in Longville, Minnesota. Tubing, swimming, kayaking, birding — it’s been great. I highly recommend spending some quality time on a lake this summer. This week’s edition of the newsletter features:
A review of Christine Rosen’s The Extinction of Experience
A book recommendation to help make sense of the human and political complexities of natural disasters
5 Things: Link and Opinions
The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World by Christine Rosen
Perhaps the most nefarious effect of smartphones on our society is that they remove us from the present moment — our devices not only interrupt real-life experiences, but even keep us from having them in the first place.
Though author Christine Rosen weaves plenty of reasoning and science into her arguments, more potent for me were actually the emotional and tactile appeals to relying less on our devices and simply being more here.
Instead of using GPS, look at a map beforehand, drive around, and see what happens (I’ve been doing that as we learn our way around Duluth). Rather than immediately looking up the answer to a question that comes up in conversation, just leave it be (and look it up later if you can’t get it out of your head). Consume analog media. Sure, take pictures and video of what you’re doing, but it only takes a few (rather than dozens from multiple angles). Heck, even just leave your phone behind more often.
You just feel the difference when you experience life this way versus when it’s mediated through a (very small) screen. Life feels more tangible and your head feels less cluttered. This bit from Moby-Dick, which I’m reading right now, actually captures the sentiment quite well. Ishmael is musing on what it’s like to be at the mast-head — that small platform at the top of the ship’s tallest mast where lookouts watch for whales:
“a sublime uneventfulness invests you; you hear no news; read no gazettes; extras with startling accounts of commonplaces never delude you into unnecessary excitements; you hear of no domestic afflictions; bankrupt securities; fall of stocks; are never troubled with the thought of what you shall have for dinner.”
I don’t know about that last bit — dinner is a constant thought in our household of five — but the rest of it deeply resonates.
Christine Rosen’s defense of the real world stands out and will be one that I recommend for a long time to come.
In the News: Disaster in the Heart of Texas
This section offers a book recommendation based on recent headlines, to help you make sense of the world with a bit more depth and context rather than just clickbait.
Rising Tide by John Barry
What happened in Texas last weekend is unfathomable and utterly horrifying. The aftermath for those families and communities is something I cannot imagine. On a political and societal level, though, the repercussions are actually something we’ve seen again and again. There are questions about blame, there are discussions about change, there are heroes and there are grifters — as it always goes with natural disasters. John Barry’s Rising Tide chronicles the Mississippi River flood of 1927 that displaced hundreds of thousands of people and killed thousands; it’s as much about the human causes and consequences as it is about the disaster itself. A fascinating and highly recommended read.
5 Things: Links and Opinions
As noted above, I’ve been re-reading Moby-Dick and am enjoying it so so so much. It’s not easy, but the language and the story and the philosophy are all just incredible. And it’s one of those books that really rewards re-reading (this is my second time through). I can’t say for certain just yet, but I think it’s going to land in my all-time Top 5 after reading it this time. TED has a series of videos convincing you to read classic books and though they’re all worth watching, I especially enjoyed this one.
I’ve been a regular visitor of thegreatestbooks.org for many years, but I’ve only recently started taking advantage of their user account and list features. It’s a site that aggregates lists of the “best” books and gives you ever-evolving mega-list. For book list nerds, it’s a dream come true.
I’ve taken to watching documentaries in 30-minute chunks while I work out. This week’s was Downfall: The Case Against Boeing. I was blown away by how awful Boeing came across in the wake of two crashes in the span of five months across 2018 and 2019. I knew it was bad, but I didn’t know the details very well and I’ll never look at the company the same way.
Speaking of documentaries: our son Graham, who just turned 10 this week (how?!), is recommending Camp ALEC, a short documentary on Disney+ about a sleepaway camp for non-speaking kids. It’s a very sweet story.
Finally, it’s worth plugging these kids’ swim goggles, which have gone over very well and have been easier to get on/off than anything else we’ve used. They’re getting more use this summer in Minnesota than ever before!
Thanks so much for reading. Be good to each other.
-Jeremy