#143 - Notes on Life, Ideas and Memories

Education Coffee is 2xWeekly Newsletter on People, Ideas and Culture.

In this newsletter, I share five inspiring web resources that I have curated after hours of research to ensure that you have the best education coffee in your inbox. In upcoming editions, I will focus on sharing insights, notes and realizations that I gather from people, ideas, books, films and podcasts.

1. Learning from People

Louisiana Channel is one of my favourite Youtube Channels. They have some excellent artist interviews and profiles. Here is an interview clip with Ian McEwan on how to describe a life. Ian McEwan (b. 1948) is an award-winning English novelist and screenwriter. McEwan has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction six times, winning the award for the novel 'Amsterdam' in 1998. In 2001 he published 'Atonement', which, apart from winning numerous awards, was also adapted into an Oscar-winning film. Among his other books are 'Saturday' (2005), 'On Chesil Beach' (2007), 'Solar' (2010) and 'Sweet Tooth' (2012) The Children Act (2014), Machines Like Me (2019) and Lessons (2022). He was awarded the Jerusalem Prize in (2011). Read more about him here: http://www.ianmcewan.com/.

2. Learning from Ideas and Questions

My Big Idea is a new series from TED that documents the process of imagining and then creating a TED Talk, featuring first-time speakers and ideas new to the TED stage. Here is one such video from this series about how a boxing gym can transform a community by Percy Tussamba.

3. Learning from Books, Websites and Blog

‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing’ by Matthew Perry (2022) was a hard book to read. Perry opens up about his struggles with substance addiction and how television fame impacted his life. He struggled with alcohol and durg abuse throughout his life. He went through over 65 detox sessions over his lifetime and it impacted many of his personal relationships too. He wrote about how and why he relapsed because of difficult personal and professional situations even though he knew it was bad for him. He also spoke about how success and fame changed his life after his character on Friends, 'Chandler' became so iconic world wide. He also helps you understand how fame impacts all your personal relationships in both positive and negative ways over the long term as people have access to many private aspects of your life. He spoke about the book and his journey in this Q with Tom Power interview.

4. Learning from Films, Videos and Shows

How do we remember the past if the past makes you uncomfortable? Ho do you tell stories about your life to other people? Are all these stories true? How do these stories change over time? This and a lot more explored in this 2017 film adaptation of the Booker Prize winning book, ‘A Sense of an Ending’ by Julian Barnes.

5. Learning from Podcasts and Music

This is another great podcast episode from Susan Cain on the Armchair Expert. She spoke about her book, Bittersweet (2022). Here is a short description of this episode:

Susan Cain (Quiet, Bittersweet) is an author and lecturer. Susan joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the power of introverts, the different ways people collaborate, and how melancholy can lead to creativity. Susan and Dax talk about what the differences between introversion and shyness are, how humans react to other humans in distress, and what happens at a longevity convention. Susan explains what her new personality test tells you, how the modern world incentivizes extroversion, and how introverts are often incorrectly passed over for leadership positions.

Thank you for reading this edition of #EducationCoffee. I look forward to writing weekly editions of this newsletter this year. I hope to continue to share resources that will add value to your life. You can also review the archive of Education Coffee for free at this link (100+ newsletters here). You can email your thoughts, feedback or recommendations to abhishekashokshetty@gmail.com. I love connecting with other writers and learners on the Internet.

Abhishek