David Protein Bar. We’re always in the process of trying out and rotating through new and different protein bars, and a few months ago, we highlighted the best we’ve found so far. Of those picks, the one that’s stuck with me the most and become my go-to is the David bar. The reason? The calorie-to-protein ratio is incredible: 150 calories and 28 grams of protein. It allows me to hit my protein macros for the day, while not eating into my carb and fat macros. And the taste has increasingly grown on me. My favorite flavor is the Blueberry Pie.
What if the Attention Crisis Is All a Distraction? I love a good contrarian take, and Daniel Immerwahr’s recent New Yorker piece delivers. While everyone’s wringing their hands about smartphones destroying our attention spans (including us at AoM!), he points out dynamics that don’t get delved into. Like the fact that the people telling you to pay attention are often authorities and elites wanting you to do things in their interest (e.g., it’s old-school media types that want you to pay attention to their old-school content . . . so they can continue to make money). Or the fact that attention spans aren’t actually measurable independent of context, and that we’re arguably in an era of obsession as much as distraction; from four-hour YouTube deep dives to 75-hour video games, people are clearly capable of sustained focus when something captures their interest. I don’t agree with all of Immerwahr’s arguments, but they’re a thought-provoking counterpoint to the typical “smartphones are melting our brains” narrative.
90s Country Music. The McKays have recently been enjoying the nostalgia of cueing up 90s country music. George Strait, Tim McGraw, Deanna Carter . . . everyone thinks the music they grew up with was the best, but really, 90s country was peak country.
Alone by Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Need the perfect read for the frigid, introspection-inducing days of February? Alone is explorer Admiral Byrd’s firsthand account of his harrowing five-month solo stay in Antarctica during the winter of 1934. While manning a remote weather station, Byrd faced daunting cold, extreme seclusion, and a near-fatal carbon monoxide poisoning incident, which tested his endurance and psychological resilience. The riveting book explores his struggle for survival, reflections on solitude, and the profound insights he gained about human nature and the limits of endurance from being “perhaps the most isolated human on earth.” For a taste of those insights, check out this article.
Over on our Dying Breed newsletter, we published Sunday Firesides: The Life That Lives Is the Life That Moves and A New Kind of Monasticism: The Power of Community to Shape the Soul.
Quote of the Week
The joy of feeling fit physically is reflected in a clearer and more useful mind. You may read and study forever but you come to no more important truthful conclusions than these two: 1. Take care of your body (eat and exercise properly) and your mind will improve. 2. Work hard, and be polite and fair, and your condition in the world will improve. No pills, tablets, lotions, philosophies, will do as much for you as this simple formula I have outlined. The formula is not of my invention. Every intelligent man of experience since time began has taught it as a natural fact.
—E.W. Howe
