Male Gaze, Moral Progress, Goal Setting
Links and recommendations
Event in NYC:
I’ll be speaking on a panel with Daniel Di Martino and Daniel Idfresne.
Jan 28 at 6:30pm. Details and ticket info here.
From the archives:
The Young Male Syndrome With Dr. Jordan Peterson
The Only Reading App I Use:
I’ve been using Readwise since April of 2021.
If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter/X, you’ll know I regularly share screenshots like this from books or articles I’ve read:
These screenshots come from my Readwise app.
Readwise aggregates your reading highlights from various sources like Kindle, Apple Books, Substack, Twitter, and so on. It stores your highlights in one place, making it easier to stay on top of your reading.
Each morning, it emails me 8 random excerpts from different books I’ve read. Since 2021, that daily message has been a quiet ritual for me: fragments from books I half‑forgot are resurfaced, like my own past self giving me a tap on the shoulder.
Moreover, when I’m thinking about a particular topic, a quick search pulls up not just my notes but every highlighted Kindle passage I’ve ever saved on the topic.
Exclusive Offer for My Readers
Use this link → https://readwise.io/robkhenderson/ to try Readwise free for 60 days (double the length of the standard free trial).
I suspect, like me, you’ll wonder how you ever read without it.
Links and recommendations:
How AI Will Reshape Society by Misha Saul
The Psychology of Moral Progress by Adam Omary
The Power of Sexual Novelty by Roy Baumeister
Zoomers are the status-seeking generation by Sebastian Jensen
Follow me on Instagram here. The platform is less volatile and more chill than Twitter/X, so I post some spicier excerpts from my readings on my IG stories
You can follow me on TikTok here
Three interesting findings:
1. Between 2013 and 2023, annual male enlistments in the Army fell 35%, from 58,000 to 37,700. From 2018 to 2023 the number of white Army recruits dropped from 44,042 to 25,070. No other groups saw such steep declines. (source).
2. People with approach-oriented goals are 26% more successful than those with avoidance goals. “Exercise three times a week” outperforms “stop eating junk.” “Read 20 minutes a night” beats “reduce screen time.” (source). I vaguely recall reading something by the late Scott Adams in which he offered similar advice with regard to healthy eating habits. Instead of “don’t eat junk food,” try “eat more protein.”
3. Experimenters dropped 17,000 wallets in random locations. Some wallets contained money ($100), some didn’t. The study found that 46 percent of wallets with no money were returned, and 72 percent of wallets that contained $100 were returned. (source).
The paperback version of Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class is now available.
If you have gained any value from this newsletter and want to support my work, please buy a copy today. For yourself. For a friend or a loved one. If you can’t afford it, please support your local library.
Order your copy now:
Audible (I narrated the audiobook myself)
