philipp ⚡ retweeted
The average person doesn't give a f*ck about you. They're not thinking about you. They don't care if you fail. And if you embarrass yourself they'll forget. People are thinking about themselves. Not you. Now you are free.
philipp ⚡ retweeted
The purpose of productivity books/podcasts is to quell the guilt of being unproductive in the past with the dream of being productive in the future, productivity itself doesn't enter the equation, because the answer would be to start by closing the book/turning off the podcast
Every book list on X looks the same:
Atomic Habits. Sapiens. The Subtle Art of… Meditations.
I don’t want to be misunderstood: these are all good books. But does it really make sense to read the same 10 books as everyone else?
I don’t think there’s a book list that works for everyone. Each person needs their own mix of books, depending on their questions, what they already know, and the stage of life they’re in.
On top of that, we probably never hear about many of the books that could really help us move forward.
I think it helps to divide books into four categories:
1. Books I know and have read
2. Books I know but haven’t read yet (Umberto Eco’s famous “antilibrary”)
3. Books I’ve read and forgotten
4. Books I don’t know and haven’t read
Number four is the largest, most diverse, and most exciting group. Most of it isn’t relevant to me. But somewhere in that group are also the books that could help me the most.
But how do I find those titles? Book lists don’t help. So I wondered whether AI could help me find books I’ve neither heard of nor read.
To do that, I created a prompt that helps AI understand your reading habits and interests...
"I want to find my blind spots in literature.
5 books I’ve read and value: [list]
5 books I want to read in the future: [list]
My interests and questions: [bullet points]
Suggest 5 books that are NOT on my lists.
Use everything you know about me (my interests, work,
past conversations, and reading habits). If you know little about me, base your suggestions on what I’ve written above.
Each book must meet at least one of these criteria,
and all three criteria must be represented across the five books:
1)Neighbourhood: builds on what I value, but is
less well known.
2)Bridge: comes from a field that barely, or not at all, appears on my lists, and sheds light on one of my questions from this unfamiliar perspective.
3)Contradiction: a powerful book that challenges my previous reading or beliefs.
For each book: one or two sentences explaining why it suits me and which of my assumptions it might shift. No best-selling classics.
If you’re not sure a book exists,
leave it out."
I tried the prompt myself, and the AI suggested these five titles:
I tried the prompt myself, and the AI suggested these five titles:
1) Albert Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty
2) Ludwik Fleck, The Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact
3) Daniel Dennett, Consciousness Explained
3) Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time
4) Gregory Bateson, Steps to an Ecology of Mind
I hadn’t heard of any of the five books before. I even had to check whether they really existed or were just an AI hallucination. But that’s exactly the point of this prompt.
Now I’m curious: What books has AI suggested to you?
philipp ⚡ retweeted
Gen Z will never understand how weird and fun the internet used to be. We had personal websites, obscure forums, experimental pages, and bizarre corners of the web. Then Google, Amazon, and Meta turned it into an algorithmic shopping mall packed with ads and commerce.
philipp ⚡ retweeted
Scholien: marginal notes on a text that does not exist, since 2009. A monthly letter with the essays behind my threads, in German, English, French and Spanish; free of filler and advertising, not driven by the news of the day. scholarium.at/scholien?via=x…
philipp ⚡ retweeted
Replying to @marsspitsbarz
nobody's captured the rules though. coins still move the same whoever's shouting about them
Stop doomscrolling for a second, forget that France is burning, and tune in to the sound of the Central American jungle: #Mindfulness
The American mind cannot comprehend this…
From my extensive study of the female mind I must conclude there is a fortune to be made with an e-romance novel with this premise.
For context this is either from the Austrian tradition of the “Krampus” or of the “Perchten”. Horned anthropomorphic figures in Alpine folkloric tradition to be seen at various occasions between November and January, accompanying St Nicholas or performing other winter rituals.
Reference
Ogas, O., & Gaddam, S. (2011). A billion wicked thoughts: What the world's largest experiment reveals about human desire. Dutton/Penguin Books.
philipp ⚡ retweeted
From my extensive study of the female mind I must conclude there is a fortune to be made with an e-romance novel with this premise.
For context this is either from the Austrian tradition of the “Krampus” or of the “Perchten”. Horned anthropomorphic figures in Alpine folkloric tradition to be seen at various occasions between November and January, accompanying St Nicholas or performing other winter rituals.
Reference
Ogas, O., & Gaddam, S. (2011). A billion wicked thoughts: What the world's largest experiment reveals about human desire. Dutton/Penguin Books.




















