A&B #13

Hey friends,

I'm writing to all 3,115 of you today (I still can't believe we're gaining about 100+ readers a week, welcome everyone).Sorry this newsletter is late, but I have two very good reasons!1) I spent a lot of time with friends and family this week. There's something special about catching up with your childhood friends. Just like how rereading a book you love is wonderful, so is spending time with friends you love.2) I won a one-hour call with Greg Isenberg. He's an expert in building communities (he built Islands and sold it to WeWork) and he's a growth advisor to TikTok. We brainstormed ideas for an A&B community and talked about social media growth. Check out our conversation here. (PS: Have any ideas for an A&B community or bookclub? Reply to this email with your ideas) 

Alright, let's dive into this week's newsletter!

🎧 Podcast Update:No new podcast last week. However, I'll be releasing my episode with Robin Hanson, the co-author of The Elephant In The Brain on Tuesday. If you're into human psychology or behavior, you'll love this episode. It's about human motives and how evolution designed us to hide our true intentions (a bit dark but fascinating discussion).  PS: I've been making clips of my favorite lessons from the podcast. Here are two clips from my episode with Eric Jorgenson about the book The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: Reading Tips & Tricks From Naval Ravikant How To Get Rich | Advice From Naval Ravikant's BookBonus: You can get a free PDF of Eric's book here.

📚. Book Lessons:

This week I read How To Be Fan-F*cking-Tastic by Max Borges. The subtitle describes the book perfectly: Practical advice on how to stop sucking at life and start being Fan-f*cking-tastic.If you're looking for a short self-help book, you'll probably like this because it's only about 100 pages and there are 1-2 sentences of life advice on each page. Here are some of my favorite lessons and personal thoughts on each:1) "Always Do Things That Make You A Little Uncomfortable. It Builds The Courage Muscle."All of the best things in my life have made me a little (or even a lot) uncomfortable.Starting my website was scary. Starting my podcast was intimidating. Starting my reading course was frightening. But, I'm glad I didn't let being uncomfortable stop me. Don't let it stop you either.2) "A Hand-Written Note Means More Than A Gift."I recently received a hand-written note from one of the winners of a past book giveaway and it made my day.Today, it seems all communication is digital (text, DMs, emails, etc.). But when someone takes the time to write you a letter, it makes them stand out and the person receiving the letter truly appreciates the effort and thought behind it.3) "Great News! It's All Your Fault."This may seem like a negative at first, but it's not. Why? "This means you can fix it," adds author Max Borges.If you understand and accept this frame, you'll look at life from a new perspective. Interestingly, this advice has been around for a long time. It's similar to Jocko Willink's lesson of taking extreme ownership. And going back even further, the famous Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius lived by the motto: "Blame yourself or blame no one."

✅. Actionable Advice:

• Take 5 minutes to write down what projects or ideas make you uncomfortable.

  • Use that as a compass to guide in life (usually the more scared you are, the more you secretly want to do it).

  • Remember: There's no growth in your comfort zone.

• Write down the names of 2-3 people that have played a big role in your life and write them a hand-written thank you letter.

  • It doesn't have to be incredibly long, one to two paragraphs is perfect.

• Take full responsibility for your life.

  • Whenever something bad happens, try to identify ways you can improve the situation or find ways to prevent the same thing from happening again in the future.

📖 Reading Lesson:Can a 500-year old French philosopher teach us how to read better?Yes.Here's a thread about reading lessons I learned from the late and great philosopher Montaigne.TL;DR:• Don't force kids to read the classics• Teach kids to associate reading with fun• They'll eventually shift towards "good books"• If you discover an author you love, read everything they've written• Write only in the books worthy of your time• Quit boring books

⭐️ Weekly Quote:"Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them. And it's much cheaper to buy somebody a book than it is to buy them the whole world."–Neil Gaiman

📸 Photo of the Week:

Hey everyone, here's a picture of the A&B shirt (the black shirt is my favorite of the two) and of the A&B logo sticker on my laptop.

PS: The shirts also come in women's sizes.

As I mentioned before, I lowered the price of the shirts from $30 to $25. And since it's Black Friday weekend, I'm giving an additional discount.

• Use code "AB30" to get an extra 30% off.

Visit the

merch store here.

🙏 Hey everyone, this week's newsletter is brought to you by...me! I know I've been sharing a ton of content about my upcoming course The Art of Reading but that's because I truly believe it will be an excellent course. If you want to develop a reading habit and/or take your reading skills to the next level, this will help you.The price will be $149 once it's live, but right now you can get it for HALF that:

• Use code "TRUEFAN50" to get 50% off the course

This is a limited time offer that expires tomorrow at midnight. After that, the presale price will jump to $99. Over 30 people have already preordered the course. Save your spot today.Click here to learn more about the course (use code TRUEFAN50 to save 50%)Thank you for your support everyone, I'll see you next week!Read on,Alex W.