This year I’ve read a much wider range of content including many more essays and articles than only books and I’ve really enjoyed the variety.
Here are my three favourite articles and essays I came across this year.
The Great PowerPoint Panic of 2003
This piece really puts things into context. Today we look at PowerPoint (or Keynote or Slides) as a part of the professional furniture but it wasn’t always that way. The concerns raised then about it - many of which seem quite justified to me - are repeated throughout history with each advancement in technology, and we see a similar thing happening now with AI.
Inside the World of “The Great British Bake Off”
This article introduced me to the high standard of writing you often find in the New Yorker magazine. The topic is almost secondary. As a pretty average fan of Bake Off, the behind the scenes of quite an old series was still fascinating, and the attention to detail in the piece is excellent, which I now know is because of their incredible fact checking department.
I think about decisions in three ways: hats, haircuts, and tattoos
A simple but really thought provoking article. It’s all too easy to over estimate the impact a decision may have, and changing your mind still often feels like failure. In reality though, it is just like choosing a hat to wear. You’ve got to start somewhere, and changing your mind to improve the outcome of a decision is a good thing.