Hey friends,
Welcome back to the 9th issue of Thought Caffeine, a weekly newsletter where I share my favourite productivity tips, random party facts, and other interesting finds throughout my week.
📕 Book: Steal Like An Artist
Hands down, one of my favourite books of the year. This masterpiece from Austin Kleon is 160 pages of illustrations, scribbles, and photographs that prop up the central idea that nothing is truly original and that the best artists come up with seemingly original creations by 'stealing' from their inspirations and injecting their own flair and finesse to that thing.
Stealing is also something I incorporate to my writing. Whenever I come across an interesting topic or discussion that I think might make a good article prompt, I'll add it to a swipe file. Before I begin my weekly writing, I'll open up that swipe file, go through the list of prompts, and then select one I feel compelled to write about.
I'll go over the prompt, think about an interesting angle to tackle it from, and then create the outline and draft based on that initial 'stolen' idea. I'll then credit the original poster of course, which according to Kleon makes it "Good Theft".
📕 Book: Being Mortal
The second book I finished this week was recommended by my cardiologist aunt when she visited earlier this year. It took me 10 months to finally pick the book up but I was glad that I did.
Some of my high-yield takeaways from the book involved communication and treatment planning strategies for patients, especially those with terminal illnesses and are nearing their final days.
- Patient care, especially when it comes to cancer and other terminal illnesses requires a personalised & unique approach.
- Preserving a patient’s daily activities should be any doctor’s main concern. Therefore, basing their thinking framework primarily on the patient’s complaints and NOT on lab or other test results should be a priority.
- This way, a person can (1) continue to find meaning & enjoyment in their days leading to eventual death, and (2) avoid secondary damage from any invasive medical procedures.
- Focus on what matters most to the patients (their hobbies, work, family) and then discuss plans around that. Death isn’t something to fear, in the end we all experience it. Focus not on Kaplan Meier curves or median survival rates, but instead on the quality of life and how you can help a patient endure their own mortality.
🤒 Angor animi
In medicine, refers to the sense of being in the act of dying, and is generally different from the fear or desire for death. Most cases of angor animi are found in patients suffering from a heart attack (an acute coronary syndrome) but this may well present in other illnesses as well.
I can't quite point a finger to where, but I find it disorienting that such a beautiful phrase can hold such a distressful and sorrowful meaning.
🥨 The geometry of a Pringle
The shape of a Pringle is called a hyperbolic parabola. This allows the chips to be effectively stacked inside a tube, maximising space & reduces dead areas. The geometry does not encourage a crack to propagate to their buddies, and they never break symmetrically, they always break in various directions and produces different shapes
“The two opposing curves perform well together under tension and compression, which give each Pringle some structural strength despite their relatively thin shape”
Many architectural structures mimic the shape and concept of the hyperbolic parabola, like the London Velodrome, Scotiabank Saddledome, and the Scandivanium.
✍️ New Article: Break The Rules
This week, I wrote an article about how to rid yourself off the shackles of conventional thinking and make yourself stand out from the crowd by bending the rules of the game.
If you'd like to read more of my articles, click on the little green button down below 🌿
📖 Quote of the Week
"As I watched my mom kneeling beside my dad, it was as if my dad wanted to teach me that, at the end of life—when you don’t have access to money or possessions, when you can’t even open your eyes—all you’ll have left is your heartbeat, your breath, and your soul’s connection to those you love."
From The Third Door by Alex Banayan. Resurfaced via Readwise.
🐦 Tweet of the Week
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Have a blast of a week! ⛄️
John
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