A healthy information diet is more important than ever.

At the edges no.15

How many books are in your backlog that you plan to get around to "one day?"

We live in a world of infinite content. There are more books, movies, shows, songs, games, essays, and works of art than you'll ever see in one lifetime. And on top of that, we have never-ending “for you” feeds vying for our attention.

On the bright side, infinite quality exists, too. You have to look for it, pay attention to it, curate it. It takes effort. You have to maintain a healthy information diet¹. Less junk, more nutrients.

You get out what you put in

From Taste is the new intelligence: "what you consume, what you engage with, what you amplify—becomes a reflection of how you think."

Curation is a part of self-expression. Part of being yourself is curating your taste, which requires being intentional in what you read & watch, and reflecting on what resonates with you and why. What you consume shapes how you think. Output is a function of input.

Less junk

Remove as many ads as possible.

It's worth upgrading streaming services. Judiciously unsubscribe from email spam. Set up ad blockers or a Pi-Hole. You choose what you consume, not corporations. Gentle reminder that advertising works on everyone, especially people who think it doesn't work on them.

Keep your follows small and high quality.

You should avoid social media, but when using it, keep the number of accounts you follow small and high-quality. Don't let noise fill up your feed. You choose what you consume, not influencers. They are called influencers for a reason.

Have an outcome-focused approach to content

If you want to be entertained, watch entertainment. If you want to learn, study. Don't half-assedly listen to a podcast while you're doing dishes and tell yourself you're "learning." The whole genre of "infotainment" exists for the smart person who likes the feeling of learning, regardless if they retain any useful information. No judgment, liking that kind of stuff, I do, but I'm honest with myself that it's for entertainment purposes only.

More nutrients

Prefer Lindy content

If you had to guess, what percent of content you consumed today is less than one year old? Less than one month? Prefer content that has a long shelf life and took a long time to make. Books and essays over tweets and vertical videos.

Prefer uncommon content

Forage for cult-classics and hidden gems. More obscure sources lead to more original thinking. Hideo Kojima got ideas for the tone of Death Stranding from an album he found in an Icelandic record store. He hired the band to work on the soundtrack. Breakout videogame of 2025, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, is heavily inspired by a French sci-fi novel that didn't sell enough copies to warrant an English translation.

There is nothing wrong with consuming mainstream content; it's popular for a reason. But you'll be less inspired if that's all you ever see.

Recommendations over algorithms

Ask friends for recommendations, or read books that your favorite authors reference. My reading list for the last decade has been:

1. I see a recommendation for an interesting article or book

2. If I like it, I dig deeper into articles and books recommended in the piece.

3. GOTO 1

Don't let a few algorithms decide what you're going to consume. And be part of the solution! Share more about what you love! Support small-time creators! The world needs more recommendations, fewer algorithms.

Take time to process

Take time to reflect and integrate what you've learned, instead of jumping from one thing to the next. Instead of starting the next chapter of an audiobook on an evening walk, give yourself the space to think. It's overwhelming out there. We get exhausted if we don't give ourselves space to process all that we've seen.

1. This is the reason I bias towards works of art for blog images instead of AI-generated pics or memes.