Recommendations
The internet is big. Here are some of my favourite things.
Videos
- Justice by Michael Sandel (moral philosophy 101)
- The Sagan Series (short science videos)
- The Feynman Series (short science videos)
- Cosmos (science videos)
- Infinity – Dangerous Knowledge (the complexity of the universe)
- Rome (roman historical fiction from Caesar to Augustus)
- I, Claudius (roman historical fiction from Augustus to Claudius)
- Baraka (great movie)
- Lots of philosophy videos (philosophy)
- Carrier PBS Series (life aboard a US aircraft carrier)
- Naufragés des villes – (poverty in Montreal)
- The Power of Nightmares (3 part series on Terrorism and Neocons)
- The History of Surgery (5 part series on surgery)
- First as Tragedy, then as Farce – RSA – Slavoj Žižek
- Eben Moglan on Freedom without free software (1 hr)
- HyperNormalisation – (3 hr)
- The Trap (6 hr)
Books
Compliance
- Run to Failure (about BP) – Abrahm Lustgarten
- Exposure (about PFAS and Dupont) – Robert Bilot
Business and Management
- Scaling Up by Verne Harnesh
- Mastering the Complex Sale by Jeff Thull
- Confessions of a Pricing Man by Hermann Simon
- Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
- The Effective Executive – Peter Drucker
- The Goal – Eliyahu Goldratt
- Zone to Win – Geoffrey Moore
Political / Economic
- Capital in the 21st Century – Thomas Picketty
- Capital et Idéologie – Thomas Picketty
- The Tyranny of Merit – Michael Sandel
- And the Weak Shall Suffer What they Must – Yanis Varoufakis
- The Road to Wigam Pier by George Orwell
- Fooled by Randomness – Nicholas Taleb
- Worldy Philosophers – Robert Heilbroner
- The Deficit Myth (first half at least) – Stephanie Kelton
- They thought they were free (first half) – Milton Mayer
Social Sciences and Anthropology
- The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
- Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
- Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky
- From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp
- The Black Jacobins – C.L.R James
History & Biography
- Champlain’s Dream by David Hackett Fischer
- A Fair Country – John Ralston Saul
- Mahomet et Charlemagne by Henri Pirenne
China
- Deng Xiaoping by Ezra Vogel
- Age of Ambition by Evan Osnos
- The Great Wall – Julia Lovell
Fiction
- Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
Shorter readings
Essays of note
- Discours sur la servitude en français moderne – Henrie de la Boétie (1549)
- The Myth of Asia’s Miracle – Paul Krugman – Foreign Affairs (1994)
- Trial by Fire (on the death penalty) – David Grann – New Yorker (2009)
- Culture and Leisure – W.H. Auden (1966)
- The ecstasy of influence – Jonathan Lethem – Harper’s (2007)
- A history of violence – Steven Pinker – The Edge (2011)
- Coase’s Penguin, or, Linux and The Nature of the Firm – Yohai Benkler (2002)
- The Case for Reparations – Ta-Nehisi Coates
- 5,000 Years of Debt – David Graeber
- Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Now out of Never: The Element of Surprise in the East European Revolution of 1989 – Tim Kuran
TED Talks
- Let’s talk about injustice – social injustice in the USA.
- A Doctor’s Touch – about doctor’s real job.
- Benjamin Zander – on passion and classical music.
- Jill Bolte Taylor – on the right side of your brain.
- Ken Robinson – on education and creativity.
- Salman Kahn – on education in a digital world.
- Jonathan Haidt – on morality for liberals and conservatives.
- Aaron Huey – on the destruction of native american communities.
- Lisa Kristine – on glimpses of modern slavery.
- Richard Dawkins – on the strangeness of science.
News & Magazine of note
- Financial Times
- Al Jazeera English
- Courrier International
- Le monde diplomatique
- Lapham’s Quarterly
- Nouveau Projet
- Urbania
- Vice
Some of my own talks
- Montreal Ouvert at TEDxConcordia
- Time to upgrade democracy at TEDxMontreal
- Lois d’accès à l’information à la commission parlementaire à l’Assemblée nationale du Québec
- Revenu de base (TEDxQuébec)
- ECO Canada video about my career path – Jonathan Brun and in French
Dad Tips
Here are my parenting recommendations.
Buy (almost) everything used.
1. Learn to swaddle the baby tightly, really helped
2. We let our kid sleep on his stomach, really helped
3. Clean out the baby’s nose twice daily with a syringe and saline water – really helped and he gets used to it.
Godspeed!