Pritesh

In 1944, at the request of the Allied Forces, the 1939 Michelin Guide to France was specially reprinted for military use. When the soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy, they carried with them these specially printed Michelin Guides because their maps were judged the best and most up-to-date available. Throughout the rest of the war, the... See more

As Mumford observed almost a century ago, the world loses its soul when we place too much weight on the ideal of total quantification. By doing so, we stop valuing what we know to be true, but can’t articulate. Rituals lose their significance, possessions lose their meaning, and things are valued only for their apparent utility.

I should say too that precision requires attending to necessary detail, not adhering mindlessly to it. This requires both understanding what detail is necessary, and why.

Movies beckon different tradeoffs today. Seeing the movie isn’t enough reward to justify the cost. Social capital used to mean time given to friends in physical spaces where friendship was solidified. It now means attention given to me that can be used to grow personal social followings and participate in online fandom. The reward of going to see a... See more

Positive results—winning—count most. But until those results come through your door, a heavy dose of documentation relating to what you’ve done and what you’re doing, planning to do, and hoping to do may buy you just enough extra time to actually do it.

This is why the influencer dream is so seductive and so dangerous. It promises intensity without consistency, passion without discipline, reward without work. It's the lottery ticket approach to career planning, and like most lottery tickets, it's a tax on not understanding probability.

Jerry Seinfeld said the following is one of his favorite jokes, the one that “would encapsulate my worldview.” A gardener was out tending to his beautiful, magnificent, thriving garden when another man walked by and stopped to admire it. “Boy,” the man said, marveling at the blooming flowers and the perfect rows of crops, “some of God’s best work,... See more