What TNW is reading (week 8)

Ah, welcome welcome. I see you enjoyed last week’s edition and are back for more. Well we won’t disappoint. For the uninitiated (go back and start at post one, please) the team at TNW has made a New Year’s Resolution to read a bit more. So every week, a select number of our team will be sharing with you what’s currently living on their nightstand, or saved in Pocket, or is sitting in that browser tab begging to be read.

This week we have insights into the world of an agony aunt, a year in the life of a frontman in a death metal band and a thought-provoking examination of just how little time you have on this earth to do the things you need to do. Happy reading.

The Tail End – Wait But Why

The smart people at Wait But Why never fail to amaze with their writing about life, science and anything in between.

We don’t have a lot of time to spend during our lives and to make that fact even more harsh, we only get one shot. Tim Urban uses visual representations of a 90-year long life to explain that for every day you’re alive, you’ll always be in the tail end. Things won’t go on forever, so you better make sure every day counts.

A great read on something a lot of people tend to forget.

– Juan Buis, Global Brand Marketing

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar – Cheryl Strayed

You’re probably reading the title and rolling your eyes but if you feel like you need some wise life advice, you must read Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed.

It’s a collection of her best responses from her online advice column “Dear Sugar” featured on The Rumpus from 2010 to 2012. She answered letters pertaining to just about anything life throws our way.

Strayed relates her responses to personal experiences so each column feels like a piece of her memoir. She’s humble, honest and compassionate but doesn’t dive into pathos despite the sad topics. It’s not a page turner since each answer is dense and you need to stop and reflect but it’s well-written and easy-to-read.

I’m already looking forward to reading Cheryl Strayed’s actual memoir, Wild.

– Laure Albouy, PR for Index.co

An interview with John McPhee, The Art of Nonfiction No. 3 – Paris Reviews

This is a fascinating interview with acclaimed American writer John Angus McPhee (born 1931). It starts off with a question on the subject of solitude and weaves itself through his tenure at Time and the New Yorker, to teaching nonfiction at Princeton. While conversational, the topics of the interview are varied, mirroring McPhee’s eclectic writing repertoire.

It’s a long, engrossing read that will make you pause and think. Both the interviewer, Peter Hessler, and McPhee are eloquent and expressive. As a fan, it’s absorbing to learn more about his life and the steps that brought him to where he is now. As a writer, it’s compelling to read his process from ideation to writing to after. As a reader, it’s just a great read.

– Jennifer Ho – Content Marketing for Index.co

Confessions Of A Heretic: The Sacred And The Profane: Behemoth And Beyond – Adam Nergal Darski

I picked up this book after catching the tyrants of Death Metal, ‘Behemoth’ play in Utrecht a couple of weeks ago. As a senior fan of Behemoth I felt obliged and intrigued to give Confessions a read.

This book is a collection of memoirs which circle around frontman Adam ‘Nergal’ Darski. Many of the questions and answers were compiled by a close friend over the space of a year.

Many of which Adam himself was unaware of its documentation. So unlike an autobiography, the book feels more like walking through someone’s mind.

Like a fly on the wall, you’re given the chance to learn his experiences with music, relationships, art, childhood, politics, his battle through leukemia – and of course his controversial views towards religion.

Even if you’re not a fan of Behemoth, Adam’s outlook on life (especially when faced with death) is truly inspirational and thought provoking.

– Ashley Evans, Illustrator

This is a #TNWLife article, a look into the lives of those that work at The Next Web.