15 Blogs on My Current Reading List

December 20, 2008

I subscribe to the feeds of hundreds of blogs through Google Reader (see shared links to some of them at left), but the list of blogs I actually enjoy reading is short. I’m always looking for additions to that list, and here are some strong contenders, in alphabetical order:

  • Cognitive Daily The “daily” part seems to be a misnomer, but the topics are always fun and interesting. How many tabs do you have open on your browser? Caffeine, memory and the brain. Is it sexist to think men are angrier than women? Another blog from the same site is The Frontal Cortex, also in the same vein and infrequently updated; the author was featured in last Sunday’s NYT Magazine.
  • Consumerist This is was one of the best blogs in the Gawker Media empire (sold to Consumer Reports on 12/30). And it’s only gotten better since the start of the Great Depression II, despite some staff cuts. Frugal tips from America’s cheapest family. Customer call center horror stories. Crowd-sourcing rumors like the Wal-Mart iPhone. Abuses by the credit-card industry. How to write complaint letters to consumer-abusing corporations.
  • The Daily Beast Tina Brown‘s ripoff of The Huffington Post is better-written, better-designed, better edited and more provocative than the original. Brown attracts big-name talent, and there’s a coherent editing philosophy (unlike the endless stream of often-predictable blah-blah at HuffPo — 250+ items on Friday alone! More than 60 already today! I need an assistant to read it). The Beast is attractive and well-organized with some cute ideas. Too bad it launched on the eve of the Great Depression II. Just don’t try to turn it into a magazine. I’ve canceled most of mine.

  • Dlisted and Last Night’s Party My friend Louis, who is in the financial industry, recommended these. They seem to be for people who think Gawker and TMZ are too high-brow.
  • David Byrne Journal The personal observations of the former Talking Heads frontman. Updated at an erratic pace, and hard to pin down. Sometimes he posts about riding his bike around New York (I see him all the time). Sometimes he writes about about music and touring. Sometimes about art. Then there’s this post about the newspaper business. David Byrne is the only cool celebrity. His secret? He remains a genuine human being.
  • Fail Blog The Web cliché comes alive. Bad math. Fail! More bad math. Fail! Video of an exploding VCR. Fail! Trying to look cool with naked guy behind you. Fail! Bad parking job. Fail! Etc.
  • kung fu grippe The personal Web log of Merlin Mann a k a @hotdogsladies on Twitter, frequent MacBreak Weekly podcast guest, and the mad genius behind the You Look Nice Today podcast. The title is a G.I. Joe reference, I’m pretty sure. Quotes and videos mostly. He is also behind the brilliant 5ives list blog, which has not been updated since August, but is funny as hell. And, of course, 43 Folders, get organized, blah blah blah.
  • Mashable Incredible amounts of practical information about apps, tech, social media, the Web, Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, the iPhone, and the like. Sometimes too promotional but always enjoyable. Many many lists: 5 Reasons to Install Google Desktop Today, Twitter Lawsuits: 4 Reasons Your Tweets Might Be Trouble, The Year in Tweets: The 10 Most Memorable Twitter Moments of 2008, Career Toolbox: 100 Places to Find Jobs, and the 24 Most Underrated Web Sites of 2008.
  • The Official Google Blog. Because you have to know what they’re thinking about over there.
  • Pinakothek A blog about pictures by the writer Luc Sante a k a The All Seeing Eye Jr. Updated irregularly, but each post is a polished gem, like “The Poetry of Ellery Queen” and “Debraining.” Then there is this wonderful paragraph.
  • Portfolio’s Mixed Media I don’t read Portfolio the magazine. Is it still published? But I like its media blog. It’s smart. It’s sassy. It’s a good guide to reports of the media meltdown, real and rumored. And possibly doomed. (Just a rumor!) Enjoy it while you can.
  • ScienceDaily Science is fun. And sometimes a little weird. Pain hurts more if the person hurting you means it. First U.S. patient gets face transplant. Whispering bats are shrieking 100 times louder than previously thought. Thanks, science!
  • Scobleizer Oh, Robert Scoble. So egocentric, so insane. Look at Scoble! Look at Scoble! But I do love his blog. And his multiple Twitter accounts. And his Friendfeed. Powerful critiques of blog comments. Deep thoughts about Twitter. And Friendfeed. And Facebook. And so forth. Fall into the Scoble vortex.
  • This Recording I’m not entirely sure what it is, or what it is trying to do, but I came across this while writing this post about N+1, and I like it. And in the end, that is all I ask from a blog. Recent posts: an appreciation of John Lindsay, working as a medical test subject, an essay on tattoos by somebody who does not care for them much (me neither — nothing personal!), and something by Emily Gould.

    • Have a suggestion for a blog to follow? Add it in the comments. Thanks.

    This entry was posted on December 20, 2008 at 5:15 pm and is filed under Blogging.

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    One Response to “15 Blogs on My Current Reading List”

    1. Analyzing an Experiment in Blogging « Palafo Says:

      February 21, 2009 at 1:52 pm

      [...] No. 2 spot is taken by a list post of my favorite blogs. Web readers love lists, and bloggers love to be put on lists. I had not quite realized the [...]

      Reply

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