I always try to go out to work a bit earlier than I have to. I then spend those 5 or 10 extra minutes staring at a lake I pass on the way. Then when walking back home I try to repeat it.

But what’s the point of this?

I do this practice for two reasons:

1. Existing more in the moment – grounding myself in the present was for me the single biggest fix for overthinking

2. Conscious rest – I think we kind of confused leisure and rest. When we’re constantly consuming something there is no space for our thoughts to unravel, form ideas, and make space for new thoughts. “Doing nothing” for even 10 minutes feels really relaxing – try it.

There is also the part about learning how to admire the inherent beauty of the world, but if you’re interested in my hippie take on the subject you can watch my last YouTube video.

Or feel free to ignore it and check out other updates ⬇️

📚 What I’ve been reading

A section for updates about my reading journey – read along, get inspired, or just treat it like an accountability buddy.

Update on the reading progress:

1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (710/1243 pages)

2. The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (223/375 pages)

Doing this segment was a great idea. Knowing that there is a regular check-in for what I’m reading helps keep me accountable.

As for how it’s going: The Count of Monte Cristo is still amazing, but I’m thinking of DNF-ing The Creative Act. Beyond one piece of advice (about creating for the sake of the creation rather than for yourself) I haven’t found much worthwhile. It seems to me like the book is trying really hard to be deep but misses its mark. Resulting in vague semi-spiritual advice.

The good news is that this leaves room to finally start reading the Tao Te Ching.

➡️ Up next

I think I have an idea for how to make this newsletter more community orriented and interesting for you.

Don’t worry introverts – interacting won’t be mandatory ;) But it will be an opportunity to help shape my future videos.

Instead of writing the main segment about a video I already finished – I could instead write about the subject I’m currently working on. Then you’ll get a bulleted list of talking points I have planned so far – and if you think that there is something I should add or expand on – you can message me directly about it.

Let me know if this is something you’d be interested in.

Thanks for reading,

Luke from Unwritten Tomes

I’ve just deleted the whole article that was supposed to serve as this newsletter issue.

I want to drop all the bad creator habits. The obsession with how to optimize these newsletters so that I can reuse them as YouTube content, rewriting each sentence thinking about which one will be a better hook.

The absurdity in all of this is that:

1. Rigidity and pressure worsens the writing

2. Newsletters are supposed to be a personal message to the audience (at least that was the original idea for me)

So, instead of overthinking the perfect essay that is really a video script in disguise – let me openly give you an update about my work.

🎥 What’s the latest video about?

“Can book-swapping help us solve the reading crisis?”

In my recent video I talk about buying a great book for just 1 euro during my recent trip to Berlin, as well as the recent book-swap I did with my friend from the gym.

Looking at how I felt during both events made me think about how beneficial swapping and passing books along could be to us and the broader reading culture.

We’re facing a reading and connection crisis so I hope that through small habits like this and a bit of initiative we can do something about it.

Because of AI, more and more people are tired of technology and even turning to books again, so now is a perfect time to strike.

That’s the gist of it but if you want to hear the full story you can watch it here.

📚 What I’ve been reading

A section for updates about my reading journey – read along, get inspired, or just treat it like an accountability buddy.

I’m currently getting through two books in parallel (I tend to switch up long novels with a bit of non-fiction):

1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (567/1243 pages) – I was intimidated by the page count at the beginning, but I’m really enjoying the story. So far my favorite part was the prison but I don’t want to spoil anything else for people who might want to read it – I definitely recommend it.

2. The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (133/375 pages) – This one is a bit out there. If you know Rick Rubin you can understand what I mean. I did find some helpful things while reading it with an open mind, but I wouldn’t say it’s groundbreaking. If you’re a creative then you can consider picking it up.

➡️ Up next

This section will be used for extra updates and what I’m planning for the future.

I think I’ll start adding some b-roll to my videos to set the theme and hopefully make them easier to watch.

I was stuck on the idea of a talking-head format only, but it was really a limiting belief. Video is a visual medium so I should pay attention to that part of the experience too. Still – I intend to keep the interrupts pretty calm without over-editing the content. After all Unwritten Tomes is supposed to be an alternative to the fast-paced, hyper-edited MrBeast-type content.

The next video – where I will try this format – will be about the serenity I found in taking small breaks during the day to admire nature: staring at the clouds, sitting on a patch of grass in the park, or admiring the surface of a lake (it had a bigger impact on my life than you’d think – believe me).

And if you know me, then you know to expect some references to Eastern philosophy too ;)

Stay tuned,

Luke from Unwritten Tomes

But have you ever thought about what this actually means? Seems like it can be interpreted however you want depending on the situation.

For some people it’s just not giving a shit. Others associate it with apathy and lack of ambition. Because of that people often throw this advice aside or even actively oppose it – in both cases missing the actual meaning. Along with what they can learn from it.

But when did we even get this idea of going with the flow?

While the exact source of the phrase isn’t known, I would argue that we should attribute it to Taoism. This eastern philosophy encouraged concepts like following the current and the natural flow of things much earlier than anything we see in western sources.

It also happens to be full of lessons that’ve been very useful in my daily life. You could say it’s the philosophy closest to my heart.

What is Taoism?

For most people their understanding of Taoism ends on “just go with the flow”.

To understand what this phrase is about you first need to understand: what does Taoism even mean?

Taoism is a Chinese philosophy that appeared around 450 –  300 BCE. Around that time two fundamental texts were produced: the Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi. The philosophy itself preaches living in accordance with the Tao – an underlying indescribable truth of how the world operates. Because it’s a very ethereal concept – it’s supposed to be indescribable by its very nature – for the purposes of this essay think of it as “The Flow of the Universe”.

This is where we get to the principle of “flow” and one of the core virtues of Taoism – effortless action (wu-wei). But let’s first discuss where people stray from this idea.

What people get wrong about “going with the flow”?

In America, this phrase exploded in the 1960s. But unfortunately it seems to have spread without the underlying Taoistic principles.

People use it to shrink from difficult decisions – choosing to “go with the flow” and ignore the consequences.

In other scenarios it can just mean being “chilled out” and not worrying. And the Cambridge Online Dictionary interprets it in yet another way.

I never knew it’s possible to disagree with a dictionary definition but this time I definitely do.

The closest we got to the phrase’s Taoistic roots is by using it when we’re calmly circumventing unforeseen obstacles – often figuring out the best solution along the way.

But enough of that. You probably want to know by now: What is it that all of these approaches are missing?

Effortless action

In the space between obsessively putting in the effort and not doing anything at all, exists effortless action, also known as wu-wei.

The state where things come to you easily, where the goal stops mattering, and you can be both relaxed and active.

It’s like teaching someone to split wood and telling them “don’t go against the grain”. It doesn’t mean you should put down the axe – just use it in a way that’s in line with how it works the best. Don’t force it – follow the natural way of things. That’s how you “go with the flow”.

This quote by Lao Tzu explains this approach by comparing it to water. This point of being fluid but unyielding is worth emphasizing. In other words, be adaptable.

Don’t stubbornly attach yourself to goals and achievements. Focus on moving in the right direction instead. You already know what is currently helpful and what is harmful to you.

Work on removing the obstacles and you will naturally go in the right direction.

Taoists believe that the world governs itself and that forcefully bending it to your will is both impossible and will result in terrible consequences.

But that doesn’t mean being aimless. Just be adaptable and flow around the obstacles – patiently but not forcefully.

So how does it look like in practice?

Taoism in practice

The principle of effortless action (and Eastern philosophy in general) has been very helpful in my life.

I used to get obsessed with my goals. Whenever there was something I wanted to achieve; I always ended up fixating on it so much that it was everything I could think about.

Since forever I wanted to build a successful business. But by obsessing over the dream outcome – the nice apartment, money to travel and yada yada… I was only adding on more stress.

The core problem?

I was rigid and stubborn. I had a very narrow view of what I wanted to achieve and I couldn’t accept any other outcome. As a result I was constantly frustrated and obsessing over every single detail.

Is the landing page looking perfect? Did I write the email most likely to get a response? How quickly do I need to achieve my milestones to stick to my (imaginary) timeline?

All of that was happening while I was going through a difficult time in my life. Trying to finish college, find a job as a graphic designer, figure out what I want to do with my life, and find a way to move out of my parent’s house. All while going through some other personal struggles.

And bashing my head against the wall wasn’t working.

Since I was desperately trying do figure out some way to get out of this difficult spot, I was constantly searching for new answers – and eventually I had to open myself up to other possibilities. Becoming more adaptable.

I gave up my personal projects for a while. Started applying to other positions instead of graphic design jobs. Eventually I ended up getting 3 offers and actually taking the lowest-paid one.

Why did I do that?

I had a feeling it would open up some interesting possibilities in the future. I wasn’t sure what they would be, but I knew it’s worth trying out. I was finally becoming adaptable and noticing opportunities outside my preconceived path.

After that life started straightening out. I moved out to a small 24 m² apartment. But now I was appreciating it instead of fixating over my dream living space.

I was going to work every day but I was thankful for the people I met and the opportunities I got.

And I even started working on some side projects again, and when my unhealthy fixations started to resurface I recognized them for what they were and started working on them.

Now, I’m writing this essay and recording my YouTube videos, well aware that my goals if ever achieved are years into the future. And I know that before I reach them they’re likely to become something entirely different.

But I’m appreciating the growth this brings me. The books I’ve uncovered. The fluency in English I achieved. And most importantly – creating something I believe to be of value to the world.

And if anything about that changes I hope to stay adaptable, like water, acting in accordance with opportunities that present themselves – letting go of attachment, doubt and anxieties that impede my flow.

Thanks for reading,

Luke from Unwritten Tomes

P.S. I read, discuss essays and post additional content on my YouTube channel.

🎥 Follow me there to see if I posted anything new! (video about today’s topic drops tomorrow)

But I found that instead of leading me towards my dream life, this thought process only caused me more frustration.

Over-optimizing everything got me the opposite result to what I wanted.

Avoiding suffering

Sure, none of us like wasting time. Especially when there’s something you look forward to.

So we start searching for the easiest way to get through the difficult stuff and get to the fun part as fast as possible. You do it, I do it, we all do it.

When I was younger I wanted to get home quickly to have more time to play games. Any errand that took longer than it needed to was incredibly frustrating. Wasting time on doing laundry was frustrating. And especially whenever I had to travel somewhere – that’s what was really frustrating. I could neither be productive or play games during the journey. A complete waste of time then, right?

Well, this whole approach is the real problem. And you might have already noticed the issue.

Obsession makes everything else harder to bear

“What? Going there twice? That’s a complete waste of time!”

I’m exaggerating something I’ve recently heard from my brother.

It’s about an errand we had to run together.

After I heard him say that, I noticed in his words an echo of how I used to think. But weirdly enough, I noticed I don’t really mind going there and back twice in one week. I’ll just take a cool book with me – most of the way is sitting in public transport anyway. And walking is pretty cool too; so what is there to avoid?

I shrugged my shoulders and said that sure, we can do it his way – doing it later in one go sounds fine – I don’t mind either way.

But a bit later I started wondering about it. What changed? How is my approach so different from what it used to be?

It just so happens that in the recent months I’ve been working on appreciating the present more; finding small but beautiful elements of the day, not letting obstacles get to me, and in general looking to be more satisfied with less.

The constant pressure I used to feel – trying to be the most effective at achieving my goals while avoiding “wasting time” on anything that didn’t contribute to it – was gone.

I noticed that being obsessed with my goals used to make everything else harder to bear. Getting too deep into optimizing your time, you reinforce the view that everything that doesn’t contribute to your goals is to be avoided. When you eventually have to spend time on mundane things that don’t bring you closer to what you want – it feels like every second is a waste of time.

The act of looking for a way to optimize yourself out of the activity can often cause you more frustration than the activity itself.

“Make it more efficient!”

I find it interesting how inefficient we actually are by trying to be efficient.

We overthink things using the excuse of “optimizing them” instead of simply getting them done. Sometimes it takes more time than just doing the thing inefficiently.

But also many of the things that are supposedly more efficient in the moment end up inefficient in the long run.

There are specific examples I have in mind.

Summaries, bullet points… asking AI for everything instead of doing the research yourself.

The “efficiency” in these things is very short-lived. You’re just getting used to the easy way out. Sure, you might get the current thing over with faster. But another obstacle is going to appear eventually. And then the next one and the next one…

You have to look at things in the long term. Building up the patience and tolerance for difficult tasks. Investing in compounding your knowledge – choosing depth that stays with you for many years instead of a quick summary you forget in a couple of months.

But let’s take a couple steps back and ask ourselves a more fundamental question.

What’s the point of all this optimization?

When trying to get through a task as quickly as possible you aren’t living and appreciating life. You’re thinking of a future projection of your life.

And what are you optimizing for in the end anyway?

Money? The least amount of effort? Pleasure?

I’ve heard a beautiful answer to this from – surprisingly enough – a business owner.

He said that he was aiming for: “being happy with time passing”. I really liked that response. It goes hand in hand with my focus on being present in the moment and appreciating everything about it.

It gets rid of surface-level optimizations for shallow goals and gets straight into the real goal.

And with that we get to what I would consider a healthier form of optimizing.

The optimization I support

Less is more.

The ultimate optimization is minimizing the things you need which helps you fully appreciate where you are now.

Don’t get trapped in the future. If you’re constantly chasing the next moment and trying to achieve your goal the fastest or to quickly skip through the boring parts of the day then you’re missing the only time you really have – the present.

Focus on the journey and your growth. I believe that by being conscientious and mindful in your current task, you can enjoy the process and allow incredible results to come on their own in the long term.

But also don’t try to do it because of the results – then it won’t work. Focus on making the process in your life something you can peacefully enjoy.

P.S. I read and discuss these essays over on YouTube. If you enjoyed it make sure to follow me there: Unwritten Tomes YouTube.

Across cultures humans had all sorts of beliefs about the divine. But when we look at some of these myths, we often find that these divinities or gods were far from perfect pure creatures. Far from what we nowadays think of as a GOD.

So I decided to take a look at both early mythologies and modern religion to find out more about why people came up with such strange stories while trying to explain the world around them.

The divine spectrum

When we think of ‘God’ today, we usually picture a perfect, all-powerful creator who acts as a moral compass. But throughout fiction, mythology and ancient religions, god can mean many different things.

But since the question of “what is a god” could span an entire (much longer) essay in and of itself, I’ll hope you can be satisfied for now with a short list of some popular “types” of gods we can find.

• The Omnipotent Creator – the type of god we’re most familiar with. It encompasses all depictions of a god who created the universe but contains many subtypes. (Is this god still involved with the world? Does he define our morality?)

• The Force of Nature – the well-known Poseidon’s and Zeus’s of mythology. This category involves every god who holds a force of nature as part or entirety of their domain.

• Concepts Personified – abstract concepts like death, justice, or balance. Anthropomorphized, they can express themselves and take action in the real world.

• The Otherworldly – beings beyond human understanding; usually going hand in hand with madness and terrible catastrophes. If you’ve heard about H.P. Lovecraft and the C’thullu mythos then you already know what I’m referring to.

• The Spirit – often barely considered gods, they’re the broadest and the most interesting category. They usually exist as part of nature, sometimes as protectors, other times representing places or objects taking a living form (river spirits, tree spirits and so on).

This is only a tip of the iceberg but should give you some context of how broad the belief in gods gets across different cultures and history (if you want to dive deeper into this topic OSP made a great video categorizing gods in fiction).

The flawed gods of early mythologies

Now that we have some context, let’s take a closer look at ancient mythology and why belief in gods used to look entirely different from what we see today.

Once we understand how people came up with these gods, we can see why they have those glaring faults.

Here are some of my theories for what influenced ancient myths to look the way they do.

1. Nature is temperamental

Powerful natural phenomena that inspired fear and awe were a magnet for belief. Since nature was temperamental and destructive, the gods who rule over it must be too.

2. Personification as understanding

For more abstract concepts like death, making it into a divine but anthropomorphized figure made it easier to grasp, or at least come to terms with. Giving them a tangible form made us able to interact with these concepts somewhat, but through receiving human features they also received human faults.

3. The power of drama and stories

Some Greek myths (like the ones about Zeus cheating on Hera) are like something straight from the soap opera. Which shouldn’t be surprising since myths at the end of the day are stories, and the ones that are the most engaging will be spread and adapted the most (which also gives them the biggest chance to have survived to this day).

Besides entertainment, stories also served as vessels of knowledge and cautionary tales. Passed on not because they were true. But because they were mnemonic devices, something easy to share and remember in times when you couldn’t just print a book and share knowledge that way.

4. Politics and war

There were many scenarios where religion was used for political goals. The same goes for myths. Whether it’s claiming a divine lineage, creating divine-inspired rules to follow, or rewriting and vilifying deities when taking over competing religions.

Before science managed to explain most of the stuff happening around us, the world was full of mystery. Since we’re curious intelligent creatures, we came up with our own explanations for what we saw, and by sharing those theories through storytelling they’ve gotten richer and more complex. But everything changed once we slowly started to understand more about the world we live in.

What changed from the past

Science disenchanted the world. Once we understood what causes lightning, tsunamis and earthquakes, there was no need for gods to explain those phenomena. The same goes for sickness, the sun and stars, as well as other mysteries of the world.

Our growing understanding of the world caused religious discourse to focus around the topics of morality, life and death, and the creation of the world – in other words, the areas that still have some mystery left.

This, I believe, is the reason why two of the most popular religions in the world each worship a single, perfect, omnipotent creator.

But interestingly enough this created a new point of discourse that wasn’t a problem for ancient gods.

That is the problem of evil (if God is omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient then why does evil and suffering exist?).

But I’ll leave that popular point of debate for future philosophical discussions.

Thanks for reading,

Luke from Unwritten Tomes

The practice I’m referring to is taking notes on the book you’re currently reading (something I’ve encountered for the first time on Jared Henderson’s YouTube channel).

Here’s why I decided to try it and what I’ve learned along the way.

The struggle

The core reason that led me to pick up the habit is this very publication: Unwritten Tomes. While creating content on YouTube I encountered many obstacles:

1. I couldn’t figure out what point I wanted to make – every new video idea felt shallow to me

2. I wasn’t able to formulate my thoughts – I had an unclear image of what I actually wanted to say

3. Running out of material – I knew there was more to the subject but I had gaps in my knowledge

Throughout all of this I was admiring speakers who seemed to be able to talk effortlessly for hours – it took a moment before I realized it’s not their oratory skills making it possible (they simply hold so much knowledge about the subject that the 20% they’re able to share straight away is still plenty).

Searching for the answer

While trying to improve I’ve been testing out different theories and methods while looking back at any pieces of knowledge I had that could prove helpful.

• I’ve learned more about public speaking – a logical course of action since I wanted my speeches to be better but I was still missing the crucial element of the puzzle.

• I practiced getting fluent in English – which is slowly improving my pronunciation but still didn’t result in any major changes.

• I analyzed the storytelling of other channels – this one was actually really helpful but didn’t address the core issue.

Eventually, I accepted that the problem might lie in my lack of knowledge – I had an illusion of knowing things since I’d read about them, but the information turned out to be very fragmented and disorganized.

Often the best way to find gaps in your knowledge is to try to explain it to someone else.

When I finally started taking notes

“I want to be able to carry the knowledge with me – like those great speakers.”

This is what I had in mind when I finally remembered that reading habit which I believed could help solve my issues.

The way it works is that the habit imposes several useful practices at once:

• Writing as a way to organize your thoughts (this reminded me that the act of writing itself can be worth it)

• Pen and paper forces you to slow down your thinking (why I should consider using a traditional notebook instead of my laptop)

• Engaging several senses makes learning more effective (instead of just seeing the information you’re also rewriting it with your hand)

At this point I convinced myself that it’s worth trying it out. So I picked up the latest book I’d finished, took out my old diary and started noting things down.

My takeaways

From now on I’ll be trying to stay consistent with my “book notebook”. But there are some final takeaways I want to share after the first day of trying this habit.

Real growth takes time – if you want to get long-term value from the things you’re reading you need the time to process it (no matter how fast you read, your mind is limited in how fast it can upload information to long-term storage).

The act of writing is one of the best ways to learn – I would even argue it’s a necessary path to reaching an advanced level in any subject (this is a strong statement so I’m open to having my mind changed).

Finally, this article you’re currently reading exists as a conclusion of all the problems I encountered and conclusions I’ve reached. Writing out what I want to say in a structured format was incredibly helpful during recording. It’s the first time I feel like I’ve conveyed everything I wanted to about the subject.

Thanks for reading,

Luke Skoneczny, Unwritten Tomes

P.S. I’ve moved over to Substack – some things might look a bit different but the content stays the same.

Hey, it’s Luke from Unwritten Tomes.

(this post was imported from my previous newsletter host and as a result might look different)

Today’s topic: How books can become your strongest tool for building up focus (and why you should care).

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

The video I’m talking about today

Books as a way towards a one-pointed mind

Based on a Buddhist philosophy of focus

***

There’s a lot of discourse around the topic of people losing the ability to focus and the severe drop in reading for pleasure.

In my last two videos I’ve talked both about the difficulty of fitting books into a busy schedule and problems with focus that happen during reading (especially in the boring parts of the story).

But I think both can be distilled into the same problem and both can benefit from the same answer.

The problem is our scattered mind that is constantly jumping from one thought to another and our inability to force it into a one-pointed state.

These concepts of one-pointed and scattered minds originally come from Buddhist philosophy. Though it’s important to mention that they recognize more than just these two distinctions. If you’d like to explore the topic yourself you can read about it here.

To summarize the main takeaway: a one-pointed mind is a focused mind – free from worries and distractions. While a scattered mind is a mind that jumps from one thought to another like a monkey, resulting in anxieties and distractions.

As you might guess reaching a one-pointed mind is something to strive for. But how do we do that?

Here’s where we get back to the topic of books. Books naturally train your focus – the format itself requires your full focus on every sentence. Otherwise you’ll end up having to re-read a page because instead of focusing on the action you were thinking about your shopping list.

Obviously it’s far from the only way to train your focus (meditation also immediately comes to mind and is definitely recommended). But books seem like one of the most approachable and practical options, considering that many of us aspire to read more either way.

But hold on… What book will train my focus the most?

Whatever you’re drawn to will do. The time to read boring classics (and question your choices) will come, there’s no need to force it.

Personally I’ve been reading YA fiction most of my life, and only recently (after building up a strong habit of reading books) have I tried reaching for some classics.

And even now they can be quite a challenge.

If you’re interested in my approach towards reading – I’m currently in the stage of trying out all kinds of works of fiction and philosophy (I just ordered The King In Yellow, The Alchemist, and my friend gifted me Zen on The Trail).

I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

***

Thanks for reading,

~ Łukasz Skoneczny, Unwritten Tomes

(this post was imported from my previous newsletter host and as a result might look different)

Today’s topic: book ratings – and why we should be careful how we interpret them.

Based on my experience of spending too much time with goodreads reviews on one evening.

Watch the video here

Book ratings warp your perspective

You should trust your own opinion ↓

***

Have you ever loved a book and looked it up online only to find out that it has an average rating of 3.4 stars?

In this week’s video I talked about how ratings aren’t a good metric for finding out whether you’ll enjoy the book.

Whether that’s because reviews can be really divisive – people’s opinions are all over the place – or because the very fact of looking at the rating is going to influence your experience of the book. After all we’re naturally looking to fit in.

But I would argue that the best books can be the ones that you either love or hate. Simply because they tend to make a strong point or more brave decisions that not everyone will enjoy.

If you want to listen to my thoughts about the topic – watch the video.

But there’s one point I didn’t mention there, due to the fact I only heard about it today.

The 3.5 star theory. An approach to choosing new books which argues that the best books are not the 4+ rated ones but instead the ones you find in the 3.5–4 star range.

Why would that be the case?

Well the books with high ratings are often very famous and widespread bestsellers, but that is often tied to “mass appeal”. Now this doesn’t mean those titles are bad – not by any means – but they’re rarely titles that introduce new risky concepts or nuanced deeper stories.

But what I really appreciate about the 3.5 star theory is that it takes away the pressure of picking the right book (at least for me). It assures me that there is nothing wrong in loving a 3 star book. Or hating a 4.5 bestseller. Just because your taste doesn’t always follow the popular opinion, doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with it.

Quite the opposite, if you have no niche or opposing opinions then that’s a sign you might be too agreeable.

Either way, choose your next book in accordance with your own curiosity, not what the ratings told you to enjoy.

See you next week,

~ Łukasz Skoneczny, Unwritten Tomes

Hey, it’s Luke from Unwritten Tomes.

Last week I’ve been talking about launching a “Chill Reviews” series.

In a 2am recording session it turned out to not be as simple as I thought it would be...

(this post was imported from my previous newsletter host and as a result might look different)

Watch on YouTube

Chill Reviews

My experience of launching a new series ↓

***

Talking about a book series on a channel related to books and stories?

Seems obvious.

But what do you ACTUALLY talk about? That’s what really got me stuck.

In the previous issue I discussed how I didn’t want to do a typical book review and I landed on the idea of “Chill Reviews” – low pressure book rants where I share my experience and look for interesting themes in the story instead of passing judgment on it.

But still, this only created a direction and not structure.

And the more I tried to figure it out, the more the difficulties were piling up.

Will my current audience care about the book?

Will fans of the book want to hear my take? What if all of them disagree with me?

Who cares what some small-time creator has to say about it?

Should I avoid spoilers? Focus on themes in the story or whether the writing and narrative were good?

And I could go on and on about this…

“But hold on – aren't these supposed to be chill reviews?” I hear you say.

And you’d be right. The pressure of creating once again started consuming the passion towards books.

So who cares about the doubts? The series is supposed to be chill, and it wouldn’t do if the author of the series was stressing over it.

So despite the obstacles (and even my neighbors who were arguing at 2am – during my recording session) the video is out.

And it’s not as bad as I was afraid it would be.

If you'd like to, you can check it out here – and let me know your thoughts after. It would really help me improve the format.

If you've ever struggled with launching a new idea and buried yourself with questions about what to do… There’s really no other way to find answers than trial and error.

But don’t worry, it’s probably much harder in your imagination than in reality.

See you next week,

~ Łukasz Skoneczny, Unwritten Tomes

P.S. If you want to fight mindless consumption and spread the love of books, send the video to a friend that might enjoy it too.

See you in the next issue!

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This week’s topic is the question I’ve stumbled upon by accident: “Do stories need to be deep to be meaningful?”

Here are the conclusions I came up with and what brought on the subject in the first place.

Watch on YouTube

Do Stories Need To Be Deep?

The thought process behind the video ↓

***

As I said earlier… The idea for this video was sort of an accident.

At first I wanted to do a video about the Red Rising series I’ve just finished reading.

But I struggled to fit it into the channel structure.

The typical book review wouldn’t do, and the usual angle of focusing on some sort of philosophical theme kept leading me away from the book.

Then finally… A solution struck me!

Firstly, what I was experiencing could be a video topic in and of itself (that’s how the video above came to be).

In that video I go into the topics of reading expectations, reading culture, and the depth of different genres and titles.

And secondly, what if I let go of expectations and simply start talking about the series, just like I would with a friend.

After all, I don’t seem to struggle to speak when someone asks me what I’ve been reading lately.

YouTube tends to get you obsessed with effectiveness, retention, and CTR… But I created the channel intending to make it a place where people can chill and take a break from the noise of today’s world.

That’s how I came up with an idea for a new series on the channel. Appropriately named: “Chill Reviews”.

Instead of analyzing characters, breaking down the plot, or researching philosophy, I’ll tell you about the book like I was talking to a friend.

I’ll be posting the first one next week – I’ll give you an update once it’s out.

***

And that would be it for this issue. You are welcome to shoot me an e-mail if there’s something you’d like me to talk about in this newsletter (after all you're currently behind the scenes of the channel).

And if you have a friend that would enjoy this content too, forward this email to them! (You gain my eternal gratitude as a bonus.)

See you in the next issue!

~ Łukasz Skoneczny, Unwritten Tomes

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Hey, it’s Luke from Unwritten Tomes.

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In today’s issue:

• How do stories manipulate our perspective?

• How far can the protagonist go until we consider them evil?

• What would happen if the story was told from a different perspective?

…and as usual some behind the scenes updates at the end.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

How Stories Manipulate You

You can also watch this on youtube.

***

Good stories tend to manipulate you.

They control who you support using their narrative. Sometimes they make you forget morally gray areas and other times they can even make you root for someone like Light Yagami who by all accounts is a mass murderer.

And if fictional stories can have this effect, it shouldn’t be surprising that similar mechanisms are used in most modern media.

But before we explore this topic here’s how this all started.

While reading the Red Rising series I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the inner conflict of the protagonist whenever he did some clearly bad things “for the greater good”. Whether that’s killing someone innocent or using lies and manipulation to achieve your goals.

Of course it’s far from the only story where the main character enters some gray areas of morality. In general, black-and-white stories tend to be somewhat boring since they often lack deeper internal conflict and they don’t reflect the complexities of real life.

But these morally gray areas raise an interesting question: How far can the protagonist go until we start considering them evil?

Does it depend on the actions themselves or the motivation behind them?

Can anything become acceptable if the justification is good enough?

And how much are we simply being manipulated by the narrative? Naturally siding with whoever the story happens to follow.

It definitely seems to be some sort of balancing act between the actions, the justification, and our familiarity with the characters.

We judge based on the information we’re given. If we only see the outcomes, we’re going to judge based on that. But if we learn the motivations behind them and the worldview of the character, the situation becomes more complex.

Due to that there appears to be a very strong “protagonist advantage” – we pretty much always sympathize with the main character but is it because stories always follow the good guys or are the good guys good because they are the ones who the story follows?

We know that if the character’s motivation, pain and goal are understandable to us then it’ll be difficult not to empathize with them.

And since we’re mostly focusing on the protagonist, getting to know them the most, we tend to adopt their perspective and justify their actions.

That’s the reason we don’t want Walter White to be caught despite him being kind of a psychopath.

That’s why we root for Light Yagami, even though he’s a mass murderer.

And in Red Rising we forgive the lies and the death count of the protagonist.

The “protagonist advantage” becomes clear once we contrast such characters with really well-written villains. Those tend to be characters that seem to have an understandable reason for the evil acts they commit. The reason that they’re the villain is that their justification is something that exists in the past not the present, or they’re simply crossing the line of what we think their motivations can justify.

Or maybe the circumstances simply force them to commit evil acts and they must be stopped not because they themselves are evil.

But it’s not unreasonable to think there are some villains that receive that label simply because they’re not on the side we follow in the story.

Whether it’s fiction or real life – everyone’s the hero of their own story.

Many questionable actions can feel justified once there’s a narrative that supports them. That goes for the narrative you tell yourself, the plot of the story you’re reading, and also the news we get about the world around us (something the media is happy to make use of).

Shaping the narrative to fit what you want the audience to think is the bread and butter of politics after all.

Circling back to Red Rising, it actually does a good job at adding nuance to the narrative. Making us part of the main character's inner conflict, showing us the difficulty of his choices, while also providing fair justification for many of the opposing characters.

But even then we don’t escape the protagonist effect. The story wants us to root for Darrow so we end up rooting for Darrow. And while at the end of the day, I do believe him to have moral superiority, it’s difficult not to wonder whether I would still feel the same way should the story follow someone else and paint the characters a bit differently.

Behind the scenes

Hope you enjoyed today’s topic. I surely did until I tried recording it and after a 30-minute session it turned out the mic had ran out of battery (my fault for being too excited about trying out a new mic).

But at least I got a practice run. And the microphone turned out to work really freaking well once it was properly charged. The sound quality is much better and the recording process itself will be much easier in the future.

You can see the results I got in the new video.

See you in the next one!

***

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~ Łukasz Skoneczny, Unwritten Tomes

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It’s been a while. There've been some changes and other side projects – and if you enjoyed reading this newsletter in the past you might want to check out this new issue.

Welcome back to a new look, a new YouTube channel, and a new mission for the publication: how books & stories can relate to our everyday lives.

In today’s issue: What happens when you delete social media and start reading instead of scrolling?

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Books vs Social Media (a 3 month journey)

Based on personal experience

***

Like many others nowadays, I owned a pile of books that I wanted to read but for some reason I kept getting distracted.

Looking at my screen time it wasn’t difficult to figure out the problem: social media.

I tried many different methods to try to trick myself into reading more and using my phone less, but I’ve reached a point where I was done with social media – it caused too much anxiety and pressure. So I uninstalled Instagram from my phone and over the last 3 months started seeing many benefits.

One of the first things I noticed was how big the immediate change was. The next day I was already feeling less anxious, focusing on my own priorities rather than my Instagram feed.

Over time, consuming books became the norm. A go-to entertainment format, and while reading Red Rising I got so engaged that I ended up finishing the book at 2 a.m. – just like I used to do as a kid.

The next thing I noticed was my focus at work. When researching longer articles I didn't have as much trouble paying attention and could process information easier. This impacted both my efficiency as well as my mood when leaving the office.

Another closely connected fact is how much you end up remembering from what you’ve read. Especially when compared to watching shorts (I dare you to list 5 reels you’ve seen 2 months ago). Once you spend 600 pages reading about a single idea or narrative, that’s something that can easily stay with you for years – if not for the rest of your life.

This satisfaction slowly became another driving force pushing me towards picking up more titles. A sort of hunger for knowledge and depth that drove me to finally try the dreadful classics and order an English copy of The Odyssey (for those who don’t know I live in Poland and English isn’t my native language).

Now it’s already been 3 months since I quit most of my social media usage. I still log in from my desktop sometimes or use the company account at work. But for the most part social media is out of my life, and it’s only brought me more and more benefits the longer I live without it.

There is way less outside pressure, my inner compass got much stronger, and I finally feel like I’m living my life – focusing on and appreciating what I actually care about instead of what the outside world was feeding me.

So if you’ve ever been thinking about doing something similar and leaving social media – maybe it’s a good time to try it? You can always install it again – but there is a decent chance you will not even want to.

I’ve talked a bit more about this topic in my latest YouTube video.

Closing words

Thanks for sticking around, if you’ve been a fan of this newsletter before the hiatus you might enjoy checking out the YouTube channel where I’ve been posting more content in the last couple of months.

In the meanwhile, I’ll be working on bringing you more content and more videos.

***

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And if you’re new here you can sign up here.

Thanks for reading this issue. Now go pick up a book (I’m currently reading Morning Star by Pierce Brown).

~ Łukasz Skoneczny, Unwritten Tomes