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Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #498

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

I Walked 600 Miles Across Japan for Pizza Toast – Eater. “Via Tim O’Reilly, this is a wonderful piece about the most pedestrian of foods: Pizza Toast. The product of a strange convergence of world events and economics, this culinary curiosity flourished, and is vanishing, as demographics change. I’ve only ever visited Tokyo proper, and this makes me regret not having adventured outside its confines.” (Alistair for Hugh).
La Maupin – The Extraordinary Life of Julie D’Aubigny – Story of a City. “Damned if this isn’t a heroine for our times. Also, astonished that Prime and Netflix aren’t battling for the rights. Next time someone tells you to play by the rules, tell them about La Maupin.” (Alistair for Mitch).
Science Fiction’s Wonderful Mistakes – The New Republic. “Science fiction is mostly very wrong.” (Hugh for Alistair).
Is There A Crisis of Truth? Los Angeles Review of Books. “Once upon a naive time I thought that giving more people more access to more knowledge would be an unqualified good thing. But across the board — from morality to politics to science — more truth doesn’t seem to result in more agreement.” (Hugh for Mitch).
Old Musicians Never Die. They Just Become Holograms – The New York Times. “Imagine going to see The Beatles playing in a small Hamburg club. Imagine seeing Elvis Presley is his prime (shaking those hips). Imagine going to see a live band, full (and modern) lighting, and the lead performer is a hologram version of Frank Zappa. Some of that could happen. Some of that is happening (the Zappa example). The question is not would pay to see a hologram of a famous live band/artist (at least, I don’t think it is). The questions might be: would it feel like the real thing… would it feel like you were seeing that artist ‘live’? Hologram tours are already out on the road, and (based on this article) we can expect many more of them. I’m torn. The truth is that a lot of the bands that we currently go and see live are faking it (backing tracks, lip-synching, added instruments, etc…) so who’s fooling who and does anybody really care? Am I interested in seeing a band like Led Zeppelin looking and playing like they were rocking in the seventies? Sure… yes… I would.” (Mitch for Alistair).
Chuck Palahniuk on His Childhood Love of Ellery Queen and Writing in a Good Mood – Lit Hub. “While this is a quick (and great) chat with one of the world’s most interesting writers, it’s actually relevant to anyone searching for ways to think creativity (and, who among us is not doing that)? Chuck Palahniuk is a brilliant mind. I can’t wait to dig into his latest book, Consider This. And, after checking out this quick interview, my guess is that you will want to read his new book as well.” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.