Read, Write and Learn.

They may seem redundant skills but come the revolution, you’ll be equipped.

The primer, Old School is here.

The Tools of Excellence

is a different and powerful way to enhance your daily effectiveness.

Available here.

In The Pipeline.

Novels: Pierre Lambert 2 (working title) progresses well but it’s too early for a likely release date.

Non-fiction: Regular readers will know that a year ago I started a new ‘Companion Series‘. These would be business and personal development and be short. No shorter than necessary but certainly not a word wasted. They would also be available-via kindle-worldwide. And instantly. And at a budget price.

Six titles are out.

This September and October there will be further titles:

Significant updates to my Instant MBA and Love Presenting, Hate PowerPoint. New works on HunterGather 21C; The World of Analogue and Productivity.

Stay tuned.

Three. It ends, and such endings are a gift

Analogue pleasures conclude. The loaf gets eaten. The swim ends when the cold wins. The record reaches the run-out groove, the arm lifts itself and the room goes quiet.

What follows is a specific sensation, now so rare that many people may never have felt it in relation to entertainment: the sensation of an end, and of being pleased to be finished. Not interrupted. Not dragged away. Finished, and content.

Notice how hard the streaming services work to prevent it. You finish an episode, you turn to say something about it, and the next one is already tumbling in, counting down from ten. No gap, no breath, no solitude between experiences. That often how we live now.

Endings have consequence: analogue things can be ruined. The roll can be fogged. The letter can go astray. The only copy can be left on a train. The soufflé can fail in front of guests. Digital life has quietly abolished nearly all of that with backup and undo and infinite retry, which is of course marvellous but it also takes the weight out of things; stakes are what make an experience feel as though it happened.

Something that cannot be lost was never quite held.