The Monday Media Diet with Russell Davies

On The Wire, The Well, and Colson Whitehead

Colin here. Today’s MMD is brought to you by Puck. I’ve been a subscriber for about a year to read people like our friend Lauren Sherman cover the fashion industry deeply, and also for William D. Cohan’s obsessive business and M&A reporting. They have insider coverage of media, tech, and Washington that reads differently from the national papers or the trades.

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Russell Davies (RD) is a writer and strategist. He thinks about what happens when organizations and services meet the internet and he builds things to find out more. He wrote a new book which is relevant to our interests, and you should buy it here. -Colin (CJN)

Tell us about yourself

I call myself a writer and communications strategist because I can’t think what else to say and it’s boring enough that people don’t ask any more. I’ve done advertising, marketing, design, writing, government. I drive around the roundabout where sound and art meet technology and design. I make music as Elite Panic.

I’m interested in what makes things Interesting so I love WITI. I started a series of conferences called Interesting and I’ve just written a book called Do Interesting. About how Interestingness isn’t something you are, it’s something you do.

Describe your media diet. 

I've been tweaking my media diet recently. Less ultra-processed attention, more of the real thing. 

Print: The Wire, Loud & Quiet, The New Yorker and Stack - a subscription service that sends you different independent magazine every month. And we buy the weekend FT for the quiz in the magazine. We gather round coffee and shout answers at each other. 

Radio: We have radios everywhere. When I enter a room I switch one on. I can’t cope with silence. BBC Radio educated me, it consoles me, it sleeps with me. I wish more streaming services were like linear radio, I want to be able to trust them with my attention.

TV: I grew up doing my homework in front of the telly and I can't think without the company of a moving screen. These days that means typing to the beat of ambient YouTube. A lot of living room house DJs and Dutch festivals. In the evening we slump in front of the big screen in the big room and chat. Anthropologist Polly Wiessner says that in early societies "Stories told by firelight put listeners on the same emotional wavelength," and that it does the same thing today: "The power of the flame is reproduced in our homes through fireplaces and candles." And TV. Our favourite family activity is taking the piss out of telly.

Internet: I'm a lurker. I love online community but I find posting nerve-wracking. In the 90s I hung out on The Well and someone asked about things to do on a business trip to Nottingham. My special area! I poured my heart and enthusiasms into a detailed set of recommendations about the East Midlands dance and food scenes. The condescending response drove me from online chat for 20 years. These days I'm mostly on some friendly slacks - friends, former colleagues. And I adore the WITI slack. But it’s very intimidating, full of people I’ve admired for decades, so I mostly lurk.

What’s the last great book you read?

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki. Nothing I’ve read for years has reframed so much. Love. Cognition. Hoarding. Objects. Obesity. You think you believe something perfectly normal and she calmly and lovingly lets you realise that you’re obviously wrong.

What are you reading now?

The Murderbot books by Martha Wells. Space. Robots. Jokes. Absolute pageburners.

What’s your reading strategy when you pick up a print copy of your favorite publication?

My aged eyesight means I can’t read regular books these days so I use a Kindle with an ENORMOUS FONT. But I can’t give up print magazines so I read them outside in bright daylight. I have particular jackets with poachers pockets for my mags. I then tear out articles that I think will interest people; they go back in the pockets and go home to be sorted into piles. Pictures I like go into a scrapbook. Favourite passages or quotes get scanned into Readwise or photographed and shared to a little micro blog called Findings. I keep New Yorker covers for wrapping paper.

Who should everyone be reading that they’re not?

The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead. Whitehead from the turn of the century. Among other things we are forced to decide whether intuition or empiricism is a better technique for the inspection of elevators.

And 

Hannah Ritchie’s Sustainability by Numbers newsletter. Brilliantly clear explanations and examinations of the climate emergency and possible solutions.

What is the best non-famous app you love on your phone? 

Pedometer++. I love when someone goes very deep. Everything you need to know about the steps you’re taking. Well-presented. Solid. Focused. Syncs across devices. 

Plane or train?

The last flight I took was the week before lockdown. I’m hoping I’ll never fly again. We were heading back to London after a vacation in Florida. The obvious ongoing environmental catastrophe of Miami blended with pandemic angst to make flying seem like a crime against humanity. It should obviously be rationed and I used to commute between London and Beaverton so I’ve used more than my fair share.

And almost everywhere except the US and UK trains are so, so good. Geoff Dyer put this thought in Duke Ellington’s head about trains, they offer “both the momentum of stimulation and sanctuary for concentration”.

What is one place everyone should visit? 

Scarthin Books in Cromford, Derbyshire. The best book shop in the world. While you’re there visit the Old Lockup Gallery and the Tor Cafe. 

Tell us the story of a rabbit hole you fell deep into.

I fall into digital rabbit holes everyday for my job. They don’t seem interesting. But I’m always exploring physical rabbit holes via limited and very specific collections that suddenly seize me. I’m buying every record by every member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and Major Force. I’ve got a complete My First Sony collection. I’m currently scouring eBay for vintage bespoke suits (as long as they cost less than £80). I don’t think there’s a more cost efficient way to get inside such incredible craft and detail.

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Thanks for reading,

Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN) & Russell (RD)

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