Writing

I’m reinvesting in my blog, because writing is something I greatly enjoy, or as the saying goes, I don’t “[I] Don’t like to write, but like having written.” One thing that I’ve usually been pretty consistent on is summarizing the books I read each year. Here I am in December 2025, summarizing my 2024 reads before doing it all over again for 2025. But I couldn’t let it escape me, so here it is:

Books of 2024

Watch

• I’ve watched a few movies recently and really enjoyed them! Fantastic Four, Superman, and The Man from UNCLE are recent favorites, and I recommend them all.
• Rebecca Black covers Addison Rae’s ‘Fame is a Gun’ for Like A Version | triple j
  
  • The original is also a bop, but this one’s phenomenal!
• Phil Hanley | Live in Washington DC | Mini Crowd Work Special | Phil Hanley
  • I’ve really enjoyed this comedian lately. His crowd work is phenomenal, and I love the way he says, “okay.”

Listen

• Song: “Summer Years” by Death Cab for Cutie (Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube)
  • I never listened to them growing up, but I’ve “rediscovered” them and have really enjoyed their music!
• Song: “Aquamarine” by Addison Rae (Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube)
• Podcast: #648 James Clear, Atomic Habits — Simple Strategies for Building (and Breaking) Habits, Questions for Personal Mastery and Growth, Tactics for Writing and Launching a Mega-Bestseller, Finding Leverage, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show (Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube)
  • His book, Atomic Habits, is on my list of books I like re-reading every year. This podcast is so fun in terms of identifying systems, building personal goals, and I took so many notes. It sparked a lot of creativity.

Play

• Unflip—Easily done in your mobile browser, a friend turned me onto this game. I’ve made it to level 36. See if you can catch up to me!
• LinkedIn’s Puzzle Games—I’ve been really surprised, but I’ve greatly enjoyed LinkedIn’s daily bite-sized games. Each takes between 20 seconds and 3 minutes to solve, and they’re free (unlike NYT games)

Ponder

Idea: Excerpt from my textbook, Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology (Version 10.0) by John Gallaugher:

“Others point out that the creative destruction, a term coined by early twentieth-century economist Joseph Schumpeter, has always been a tenet of capitalism: It’s not firms that compete doing the same thing as a dominant firm that will unseat it, it is the innovator that offers a fundamentally new product or new innovation delivered in such a way that marks a decisive quality or cost break from previous industrial output. Even firms that have seemed to dominate markets with tech products.”

Quote: “Do not disturb yourself by imagining your whole life at once.” ~Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor

As I am slowly refining this newsletter, I’d love feedback on the format and content. Reach out in the comments or via Twitter (@JonnyMHenderson).