Once a month, I share the best of what I’ve been reading, watching, and exploring. Enjoy!
Books
A World Appears by Michael Pollan. Pollan wrote about food, then psychedelics, and has now arrived at consciousness itself. The premise: nobody actually knows where consciousness comes from, and Pollan sets out to ask everyone who claims to. He interviews neuroscientists, philosophers, plant biologists, and people trying to engineer feelings into AI, and nearly all of them disagree with each other. Fair warning: he raises far more questions than he answers, and the book meanders as a result. But that’s sort of the point. I finished it knowing less about consciousness than when I started, and I mean that as a compliment.
Films
The Invite (2026). [Theaters] The best film I’ve seen in a very long time. Four actors—Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz—one apartment, one evening. That’s all I’m giving you, because the less you know going in, the better. My entire theater was cracking up. Wilde also directs and makes it clear: she’s one of the best filmmakers working right now.
Voicemails for Isabelle (2026). [Netflix] A new rom-com that’s really well done—it’s like You’ve Got Mail meets Chef. It made me feel things I don’t usually let Netflix make me feel. If you don’t tear up at least a little, you’re probably dead inside.
Defending Your Life (1991). An old rom-com that’s also really well done. Albert Brooks dies in the first ten minutes and ends up in Judgment City, a bureaucratic waystation where the recently deceased must prove they lived bravely enough to move on. If your idea of a perfect movie night involves Meryl Streep and a happy ending you actually believe, this is it.
Columbus (2017). For the arthouse lovers only. Two strangers in a small town in Indiana strike up an unlikely friendship. It’s a quiet film about the lives we put on hold for the people we love. Stunningly shot and directed. You’ll know within ten minutes whether it’s for you.
Shows
Your Friends & Neighbors (Apple TV+) I resisted this one for a while because the premise sounded absurd: a rich guy loses his job and starts robbing his neighbors’ mansions. Turns out an absurd premise in the right hands makes a great show. Jon Hamm was born to play a man in a very nice suit making very bad decisions.
Music
Navigate by Paige Valentine. A slow-burn indie-pop song from a Western Australian singer-songwriter most people haven’t heard of yet, which is half the fun of recommending her. It’s the sound of driving home at dusk with the windows down, thinking about someone you shouldn’t be.
Related
Bold
