For psychoanalysis type stuff I read Alan Jacobs. Typically a very digestible essay format.
For "consciousness" stuff I read the embodied cognition guys (Andy Clark, Varela and Thompson, etc.) but that stuff all comes together very nicely in the writing of Evan Thompson. His book "Why I'm Not a Buddhist" is great.
Alva Noe is alright.
Antonio Damasio is cognition stuff but he's broad, philosophical, ponderous, and considers all the implications of his work.
Denis Noble performs this same function for biology. His Dance to the Tune of Life is great!
For self-help I like Mark Manson. Basic bitch shit but sometimes that's all I need.
When I'm feeling uninspired "creatively" I read the War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
The best writer on the internet today is Grant Brisbee, who covers the San Francisco Giants for The Athletic. That's probably not useful for this website.
With that in mind, I'd mention Brian Phillips as a culture writer on a variety of topics. I also like Matt Taibbi's takes on most things political, though I go out of my way to avoid reading anything about the news anywhere (except here, quite frankly) because I am not a self-hating masochist.
I still like Nassim Taleb. He might be getting more retarded as time goes by, but somebody needs to bully economists and forecasters and the PHOENICIAN BVLL is doing it well.
Open Thread #2 - Who are your favourite writers and thinkers alive today?
Looking forward to the replies
Wells Tower - Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
Extremely funny, scathing, etc
Henry Jenkins. He’s a media studies guy but given how most of our lives in the west are mediated by the Internet, his insights transcend his field
Michael Lind, Christopher Caldwell, Julius Krein, Michel Houellebecq, Helen Andrews, Joel Kotkin, Andrew Sullivan, Angela Nagle
Tao Lin. Autobiographical, can be irritating but very intellectual, inspires a renaissance of the mundane.
Edward Feser, his blog is edwardfeser.blogspot.com
Politics columnists
George Galloway is known best as a broadcaster but his takes on RT are often good also
Karol Markowicz's commentary in the New York Post is hilarious
Žižek, also occasionally in RT
Naturally, Bari Weiss and Glenn Greenwald
Nonfiction/history/philosophy
Wolfgang Streeck and Reges Debray. Louis Menand's The Free World. Zabouff's Surveillance Capitalism
Poetry
Curtis Yarvin has disagreeable though interesting political views, but his poetry is sublime
Nina Power's poetic substack posts are also caffeine for the soul
Also, Dean Kissick. Writes a monthly column for Spike mag -https://www.spikeartmagazine.com/?q=categories/discourse
Michio kaku
Walter M. Miller Jr- A Canticle for Leibowitz
C.J.Hopkins (Zone 23); Benjamin Roberts (IM1776)
For psychoanalysis type stuff I read Alan Jacobs. Typically a very digestible essay format.
For "consciousness" stuff I read the embodied cognition guys (Andy Clark, Varela and Thompson, etc.) but that stuff all comes together very nicely in the writing of Evan Thompson. His book "Why I'm Not a Buddhist" is great.
Alva Noe is alright.
Antonio Damasio is cognition stuff but he's broad, philosophical, ponderous, and considers all the implications of his work.
Denis Noble performs this same function for biology. His Dance to the Tune of Life is great!
For self-help I like Mark Manson. Basic bitch shit but sometimes that's all I need.
When I'm feeling uninspired "creatively" I read the War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
Barbara Fields and Karen Fields
Their book Racecraft, how we’ve misinterpreted forms of racism and they compare it to forms of witchcraft.
There’s Joan Didion. Then there is everyone else.
The best writer on the internet today is Grant Brisbee, who covers the San Francisco Giants for The Athletic. That's probably not useful for this website.
With that in mind, I'd mention Brian Phillips as a culture writer on a variety of topics. I also like Matt Taibbi's takes on most things political, though I go out of my way to avoid reading anything about the news anywhere (except here, quite frankly) because I am not a self-hating masochist.
I still like Nassim Taleb. He might be getting more retarded as time goes by, but somebody needs to bully economists and forecasters and the PHOENICIAN BVLL is doing it well.