One Thought

The Art of Nonconformity is run by world-traveller Chris Guillebeau. The site focuses on independent living, travel, and entrepreneurship. On it, Chris chronicles his quest to visit every country in the world — of which there are about 200, depending on how you count. He’s visited more than half of them.

I love Chris’s writing style. His travel keeps what he says grounded in real-world experience and provides plenty of interesting stories. He’s also an expert networker and social media user — I’m amazed at how quickly he’s risen to internet fame.

Derek Sivers is a musician and the founder of CDBaby, an online store for independent musicians. He blogs mostly on entrepreneurship and marketing, with a focus on music.

Derek is one of the guys (along with Seth Godin — see below) who have turned me on to marketing. (It’s not as bad as you might think.) He writes short and engaging posts, and he knows a lot about the music industry. He’s one of those guys who seems to communicate, either in-person or over the net, with hundreds of people per day. I’m impressed.

Seth Godin is already pretty well-known. He keeps a blog, writes books on business and marketing, and speaks at conferences like TED. He’s an engaging writer and speaker.

Seth’s blog is interesting, but I’m actually a bigger fan of his books. They’re short and expensive, but they’re full of insights on leadership, community building, and earning people’s attention (rather than buying or demanding it). Check out Purple Cow and Tribes. Seth’s books get bashed on Amazon for various reasons, but I’ve found them very helpful.

Talent Is Overrated, written by Geoff Colvin, argues that virtuoso performance (in pretty much anything) is the result of thousands of hours of focused practice. Talent — meaning any genetic disposition to do well without putting in the work — is much less important.

I loved this book. Colvin does not merely speculate or pontificate: he provides plenty of evidence to support his view. Talent tends to be imputed after-the-fact, when someone has already shown themselves capable of great work. Colvin shows that early talent (as judged by instructors) is a bad predictor of later success.

The best predictors are, by far, practice hours and what he terms practice “deliberateness.” Deliberate practice involves identifying and isolating weaknesses and working to overcome them. It requires intense focus and determination, and it’s not usually very fun. Colvin describes in detail how a number of sports stars, writers, and performers have used it.

Brain Rules, written by molecular biologist John Medina, is a breezy summary of the practical findings from the last few decades of brain research. It’s organized into sections on exercise, attention, memory, sleep, and so on. The book’s section on exercise is illuminating: Besides the obvious physical benefits, exercise — well, mostly aerobic exercise — has a big positive impact on cognitive performance and mood. It also increases neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to learn new things.

Medina also discusses the brain’s need for breaks in attention. He relates that to his teaching (and, in particular, lecturing) experience. He argues in support of taking a short afternoon nap and against multi-tasking. There’s a lot in this book, and I found almost all of it extremely interesting.

Ensiferum are an awesome Finnish viking metal band. (Well, now that I look at their Wikipedia page, I see they describe themselves as “heroic folk metal” — go figure.) The band is cheesy and over-the-top, but not in an annoying way.

Every Ensiferum album opens with an epic folky passage that would fit perfectly in movies like Braveheart and Lord of the Rings. The music that follows is usually heavy and fast, highly melodic, and upbeat. Vocals vary from harsh and raspy to clean and deep.

Primordial are one of the most emotionally compelling bands I’ve come across in the past year. They’re a metal band from Ireland, but their recent output has been straying into hard rock territory. I saw them live earlier this year and was blown away by their vocalist. The guy’s been touring with this band for almost 20 years, and he sounds like he’s singing the last show of his life every time.

I’m having trouble describing Primordial’s music. It’s heavy, epic, and emotionally intense. Check out the song “Empire Falls” on their MySpace page.

Star of Ash is the work of Norwegian musician Heidi Tveitan. I discovered her only because she’s the wife of Vegard Tveitan (aka. Ihsahn), the brilliant force behind symphonic black metal band Emperor.

Heidi Tveitan’s music is best described as cinematic. It’s atmospheric, moody, and often haunting. Her most recent album, The Thread, should be listened to as a single unit. Its songs tell a story and flow into one another. Though mostly instrumental, the album is punctuated by beautiful vocal performances from Tveitan and others.