Books ↗ New? Start here

Subscribe

Letters, not a feed.

The Grokkist letter Once a month. Danu's letter, what's alive in the community, the Snackables. The Press New writing as it's published, and letters from the editor.

What's the difference?

The Grokkist letter is Danu's monthly letter about the whole Grokkist community: what people are making and thinking about, gatherings coming up, and a handful of Snackables, small good things worth your time.

The Press sends you new writing from this site as it's published (essays, talks, stories, books in instalments), plus a monthly letter from the editor. You can narrow it to the Realms you care about.

Choose either or both. Each email has a one-click way out.

One click to leave, any time. We never share your address.

Check your inbox: there's a link to confirm. Then you're in.

That didn't go through. Try again, or write to [email protected].

Choose Realms, or see what each letter is ↗

Less aloneUnfolding RealmSnackables

🎯 Is Perfectionism a Kind of Illness?

'One part of the mind promises the other that the completion of the next task will finally usher in peace.' A five-minute animated video essay from The School of Life arguing that those of us who pursue perfectionism are not driven but, in fact, unwell — hoping to feel acceptable, with wor

Grokkist Press

25 June 2023 · 1 minute

'One part of the mind promises the other that the completion of the next task will finally usher in peace.' A five-minute animated video essay from The School of Life arguing that those of us who pursue perfectionism are not driven but, in fact, unwell — hoping to feel acceptable, with work as the medium through which we strive to become tolerable in our own eyes. The suggestion: healthy self-esteem would see us work for pleasure rather than validation, and enjoy periods of laziness without guilt.

In good company

Replies from signed-in readers. They open in their own space, so you can sit with the piece first.

Keep reading

Nearby on the shelf.

Surprise meWild Margin

🗞️ The Myth of the Informed Citizen

Nicholas Carr traces a recurring fantasy of modern life: that each new communication technology, from the telegraph to the internet, would produce wiser citizens and healthier democracies — and how each expansion of information instead bred new forms of confusion and overload. At its centr

Grokkist Press · 1 min

GroundedSoma Isles

🎨 Sculpting with Tree Sap and Time

A 15-minute documentary following Kyoto artist Mine Tanigawa as she creates sculptures from urushi lacquer, a material used in Japan for over 7,000 years. Less a 'making of' than a portrait of attention: raw tree sap transformed through layer upon layer of colour, polishing and curing, eac

Grokkist Press · 1 min

GroundedEntangled Vale

👁️ Iris Murdoch and Love as a Way of Seeing

Matthew Crawford revisits Iris Murdoch as a philosopher pushing back against thin, hyper-rational models of human life. For Murdoch, morality isn't mainly abstract reasoning but attention — the difficult practice of seeing the world, other people and oneself more clearly. Her radical claim

Grokkist Press · 1 min