Blogroll

Blogs are probably one of my favourite things about the Internet, and I spend a lot of time reading or browsing them. Generally, I like blogs that help me to think better, teach me something, or give me a glance into someone else's head. In no particular order, here are some of the blogs that I really enjoy:

Blogs I regularly read

Paul Graham is an investor that writes excellent articles/essays usually related to software development, investing, or work in general. A few essays to start with: What You'll Wish You'd Known, The Four Quadrants of Conformism, or The Lesson to Unlearn.

Ribbonfarm, written primarily by Venkatesh Rao, is difficult to explain (the blog itself doesn't even try) and very fun to read. The Gervais Principle, or The Office According to "The Office" is incredibly entertaining and informative; I'm also still chewing on Make Your Own Rules.

xkcd, by Randall Munroe, is actually a webcomic but deserves a mention all the same — I've encountered so many life situations that match an xkcd comic perfectly. See Exploits of a Mom, Unreachable State, Too Much Talking, and Listen to Yourself... then just spam the "Random" button and enjoy your life.

Commonplace, written by Cedric Chin, dives deep into business and career decisions and consistently produces high quality content. I love the posts focused on thinking and learning, especially the tacit knowledge series and the categorization of three kinds of non-fiction books.

Captain Awkward, an advice blog by Jennifer Peepas, has been a favourite for years. She has a lot of great writing about boundaries, communication, and navigating tricky group dynamics; I found her counter-intuitive friendship advice very helpful, and I love the "it came from the search terms" roundups too.

visakanv, by Visakan Veerasamy, is chaotic, delightful, thought-provoking, and one of my primary blog inspirations. He has a post called talking points which lists many of the common riffs of his blog; his start here page also has some of his best posts.

Blogs I occasionally read

Brain Pickings' author, Maria Popova, describes it as "a record of my own becoming as a person". Posts frequently synthesize books and core ideas about living, which are lovely and insightful; I'm partial to Seneca on Grief.

Farnam Street, by Shane Parrish, was recommended to me during my first year of university. It's where I first learned about mental models, which has helped shape my thinking tremendously. The blog also has a list of their best articles as a place to start.

Afford Anything is a personal finance blog written by Paula Pant that has helped me a lot with my financial outlook; I'd highly recommend this article as an overview of the blog philosophy.

Praxis from Forte Labs (Tiago Forte) is about knowledge management and productivity — I don't read it regularly, but I've found certain articles incredibly helpful, such as his guide to summarizing books and his case for read-it-later apps.

Astral Codex Ten (previously Slate Star Codex) is a fairly famous rationalist blog written by Scott Alexander. It's an entire subculture, which I'm still getting accustomed to, but I really liked his articles Fussell on Class and A Modest Proposal for Republicans so I'm giving it a shot.

Wait But Why is a blog I'll flip through occasionally; it gets an honourable mention because it's given me valuable perspective on careers, relationships, and life in general.

Blogs I think are cool

...or, blogs written by people I think are cool. Is there a good distinction here?

Tania Rascia — for her excellent tutorials and her straightforward approach to blogging and sharing knowledge online.

Maggie Appleton — for her incredible digital garden.

Andrew Healey — for his clean design, warm demeanour, and articles that genuinely feel like you're already friends with him.

arcana.computer (Justin Duke) — for his entertaining and incisive 'books' catalog and his distinctive spin on a personal blog.

Derek Sivers — for his pithy articles.

Recommendations?

If you have any suggestions for more blogs to follow, please let me know — I'm always looking for more to check out!