What's Keeping me Busy

I thought I’d take the opportunity to share some of things that keep me busy when I’m not doing my day job.

Podcasts

Note to Self - I recently started listening to this one and find it very engaging. The topics are around how technology fits into our lives. I find Manoush Zomorodi entertaining and informative.

Design Matters - This one isn’t really about design as much as it’s about how people got to where they are. Debbie Millman has been doing this podcast for over 10 years and each episode is an interview with someone somehow related to design. Examples include folks like Seth Godin, Daniel Pink and people more on design like Ayse Birsel (keep reading) and Doug Powell.

Freakanomics - This has been a favorite of mine for a long time. It takes an interesting look at topics such as the economic impact of not getting enough sleep. While there is always a look at the data, the podcast is very entertaining, hosted by Stephen J. Dubner, one of the authors of the book of the same title.

Clockwise - I’ve listened to a lot of tech podcasts and given up on them because they are too long. My threshold for any podcast is less than an hour, preferably half of that. Clockwise fits the bill. The two hosts have two guests and each of the four brings up a questions but the whole podcast is time boxed to 30 minutes.

Books

Design the Life you Love by Ayse Birsel. Ayse was one of the guests on Design Matters, where I heard about her book. This is actually a workbook. It uses the principles of Design Thinking and applies them to your life, as the title might imply.

David and Goliath - I’ve had this one on my bookshelf since last Christmas and finally dug into it. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read from Malcolm Gladwell and though I’m not very far into it, so far so good.

Running - I am going to run the Chicago Marathon this fall as part of Team RMHC, raising money for the Ronald McDonald House Charity. My wife and I volunteer at our local Ronald McDonald house and I think this is a great charity. You can read more about that on my other blog (and even donate to the cause)