5-Bullet Friday

Hi All!

Here is your weekly dose of 5-Bullet Friday, a list of what I’m pondering and exploring.

This edition is brought to you by ​Momentous, my go-to source for creatine, which I use mostly for cognitive support. I literally took my daily dose a few minutes ago. Be sure to see their offer in the P.S.

Short video I’m watching

“Coyote and Badger Caught Playing on Camera.” The end of this short clip is particularly excellent.

What I’m reading

“New hope for Alzheimer’s: lithium supplement reverses memory loss in mice” (Nature) “Research on reversing Alzheimer’s reveals lithium as potential key” (The Washington Post). Alternate link: https://archive.is/vEewc. From the subheadline: “Years of investigation by scientists at Harvard has revealed that lithium is deeply involved in Alzheimer’s disease, a finding that could lead to new treatments.”

Mental model I’m thinking a lot about

Hanlon’s Razor. “Hanlon’s Razor states that we should not attribute to malice that which is more easily explained by stupidity. In a complex world, this principle helps us avoid extreme paranoia and ideology, often very hard to escape from, by not generally assuming that bad results are the fault of a bad actor, although they can be. More likely, a mistake has been made.” (Source: Farnam Street). More can be found in the Wikipedia entry.

Book I’m reading

​When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. This extraordinary book was recommended to me by various friends for years. I had it on my Audible app but never got around to listening, putting it off out of a perceived heaviness. I’m so glad and grateful that one close friend pushed me to finally absorb this beautiful book. When Breath Becomes Air was a #1 New York Times bestseller and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. From the description: “At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. … Paul died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all.”

Book highlight I’m pondering

“You’ve been saying a lot about being able to experience suffering and depression and yet still be detached from it. I’m trying to understand clearly what you’re saying, but it seems such a contradiction to say that you can be happy and depressed, since depression, as I’ve always been taught, is the absence of contentment and happiness. Could you explain this a little more?
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That’s a good question. Aren’t depression and happiness two contradictory states? I think this is what you’re asking, right? Yes and no. If for you happiness means thrills, fun, pleasure, then, yes, they are contradictory. But thrills, fun, and pleasure are not happiness. What are they? They’re thrills, they’re fun, they’re pleasure. They’re not happiness. Happiness is a state of nonattachment.”
​— Rediscovering Life by Anthony de Mello
​(Click here to share on X.)

You can complement this edition of 5-Bullet Friday with the most recent episode of the Random Show with my good friend Kevin Rose.
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And, as always, please give me feedback on X. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know. Just send a tweet to @tferriss and put #5BulletFriday at the end so I can find it.
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Have a wonderful weekend, all.
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Much love to you and yours,
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Tim

P.S. Deal of the Week —​ ​​​​​​​​​Momentous high-quality creatine for cognitive and muscular support

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