The Mind Thing is a 1961 science fiction horror novel by Fredric Brown. The first time I read it was over 30 years ago when I bought this used copy for 75 cents. Recently, I reread it and recommend it to anyone who enjoys Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Twilight Zone. In the story, an alien hijacks animal brains (including people) and uses their bodies as puppets. It must kill the body it is inhabiting at the time in order to jump from one to another. At 150 pages, I found The Mind Thing to be an exciting, fast, and satisfying read. — MF

Here’s a cool visualizer of all the places that Anthony Bourdain has visited in his travels on Parts Unknown and No Reservations. I’m traveling to Cairo next month and someone suggested I go where ever Bourdain ate, so I googled and bookmarked places to check out from here. — CD

I giggled for an hour watching standup comedian Sheng Wang’s Netflix special, Sweet and Juicy. I love his uplifting and positive style, which is rare in comedy. He cracks jokes about enlightenment, except he is serious. And instead of long buildups to punchlines, he delivers an unending patter of quiet epiphanies. It’s laugh therapy! — KK

According to this Guardian article, “regular doses of awe may be vital to our wellbeing and make us nicer people.” The article includes a list of different ways to experience the shivery, goosebumpy feeling of awe, including attending live performances by skilled people, watching nature documentaries, and listening to music that gives you the chills. — MF

The Prepared is a free weekly newsletter about manufacturing, materials, engineering, infrastructure, factories, and the built world. It’s put out by hardware nerds. They also have a great cool tool review section on their website. The newsletter is insider talk about professionals making stuff for real. I look forward to it every week. —KK

Here’s a great jumping off point to learn about different types and approaches to psychotherapy. I have been hearing from friends about Family Systems Therapy and looked it up here. I also really appreciate this article on The Elements of Good Therapy, which should be empowering, non-pathologizing and collaborative. — CD

Consensus.app is a search engine that extracts, aggregates and distills findings from 200 million peer-reviewed scientific research papers to answer your questions. It’s still in beta, so there is disclaimer that the results are not meant to be taken as final truth, but more of a reflection of relevant research relating to your query. I love using other search engines besides Google whenever I can. Here’s a list of other interesting search engines we’ve recommended in the past. — CD

I just finished listening to a 5-hour podcast interview by Lex Fridman. Lex is an AI researcher who started interviewing colleagues in his field, and then kept expanding his reach and interests. He now interviews intellectuals and thinkers in many technical fields, from biology to cosmology to philosophy, usually at great length (many hours). Lex’s questions are often clumsy and awkward, but going long allows him to get deep, and often intimate. He seeks answers to hard questions. While he sometimes interviews famous pundits, he usually speaks with really interesting people you’ve never heard of. The payoff is that his Lex Fridman Podcast keeps me informed about “big questions” stuff. — KK

We think you’ll like our newest newsletter, Tools for Possibilities. Every Monday we’ll send you a one-pager with the best parts of my Cool Tools book, which is now out of print. This oversized book rounded up the best tools we knew about in 2013 and presented them by category. I called it a Catalog of Possibilities. Our succinct newsletter takes each category and selects the reviews for 2 to 4 tools in that category. It is basically a way to distill and re-distribute the deep, deep archive of the Cool Tools website, which has been reviewing tools daily since 2003. The information about the tools, whether they are still available or even still the very best, has NOT been updated. (They are just a search away.) We present this stream of tools – defined in its broadest sense as anything handy for an individual or small group – as an easy way to see what possibilities there exist if you want to make things happen. It’s brief and free. Sign up for Tools for Possibilities here. — KK

I like this visual reminder I came across on Reddit of “What I can control and what I can’t.” It reminds me to celebrate the wins — I no longer reactively say, “You make me feel this.” I used to have to correct myself to say, “When you do this, it makes me feel this.” But after years of practicing, it’s now become second nature to take responsibility for how I feel. — CD

I own three pairs of Roark Explorer Adventure pants. They dry quickly in my hotel room after being washed. They feature a side zipper pocket for cell phones and passports, as well as a hidden back zipper pocket for wallets. I was in Carcassonne last week and warned that pickpockets were active there, so I was glad to have my belongings secured. — MF

Clear caulking and clear hot glue are the norms. But caulking and glue also come in colors, like black. For instance black caulking and black hot glue are perfect for projects involving light seals, or when working with dark materials. Curiously, a black patch or seam will often disappear more than a clear one. — KK

Salary Transparent Street shares videos of people on the street being asked “what do you do?” and “how much do you make?” It’s humbling and (mind-boggling!) imagining how I would survive in the Bay Area on certain salaries across the U.S. The channel’s goal is to promote pay transparency across the United States, close the gender pay gap, increase diversity and equal opportunities. You can follow it on Instagram, YouTube or TikTok. — CD

I’ve used this Retractable Portable Clothesline in 4 different hotels and I highly recommend it. You never lose the clothespins since they are attached to an elastic cord. Positioning beads on the cord prevents clothing items from sliding along it. There are hooks on the ends of the cord instead of suction cups, so you’ll need to be creative to set it up, but I find a way every time. — MF

This stone ID app called Rock Identifier (Google Play, iOS) works fast in scanning and identifying rocks, minerals, and crystals. It’s got an extensive database so you can compare your stones to other images, as well as learn its chemical and physical properties, locality, uses, etc. I use it as an encyclopedia to learn more about how to identify minerals and how to tell real from fake crystals or gemstones. There’s a 7-day free trial, but for me it’s worth the $29.99 yearly subscription. — CD

We eat apples often enough that an apple slicer wins a spot in our kitchen. A good one will core and carve an apple into 8 to 12 slices in one swift motion. There are lots of brands, like OXO’s, that are good enough, but they can’t deal with the largest apples. The apple piecer you want is a Newness stainless steel one with a 4-inch diameter that is heavy duty enough to slice all apples (and pears and onions) forever. — KK

Looria.com took all the most talked about “brand mentions” on Reddit — in posts and comments — and ran it through “sentiment analysis” to identify the emotional tone behind the mentions and determine what are the most popular products and then listed them by subreddit here. — CD

Writer and podcast producer Rose Eveleth has been interviewed on radio countless times, and she’s had to put up with interviewers who love to hear themselves talk and won’t let her speak. This article in Last Word on Nothing describes how she learned how to deal with chronic over-talkers. Her most important rule: “Start your sentence just before your partner has ended theirs. Do not wait for them to actually end their sentence. Do not let them pause and think ‘am I truly done?’ Because the answer is always no.” — MF

This fantastic podcast, A History of Rock in 500 Songs, does what it says: it traces the history of rock music in 500 songs. Start with the first episode, which looks at 1939’s “Flying Home” by the Benny Goodman Sextet. The most recent episode, numbered 152, is about 1967’s “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield. New episodes come out about once every two weeks. – MF

I have a thing for alternative history or counterfactual stories. You know, what if X did not happen when it did, what would the world be like? These narratives require the longest possible view because the author must be in command of both the past and the future to pull it off. They require uncommon sideways, or lateral thinking. A “Sideways Award” is awarded every year for the best counterfactual book or short story. This Wikipedia list of Sideways Awards is a great way to explore these alternative timelines. — KK