How to make friends, according to science
By Ben Healy
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/09/how-to-make-friends/565742/
It takes:
50hrs- to go from casual acquaintance to casual friend
+40hrs- to become a "real" friend
200hrs total- to become a close friend
The bottom line is that it takes time to build deep relationships so you must devote the time.
The biggest threat facing middle-age men isn’t smoking or obesity. It’s loneliness
Key takeaways:
"The best way for men to forge and maintain friendships is through built-in regularity — something that is always on the schedule."
https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2017/03/09/the-biggest-threat-facing-middle-age-men-isn-smoking-obesity-loneliness/k6saC9FnnHQCUbf5mJ8okL/story.html
The Lonely American Man
Credit to Patrick L. for finding this great podcast.
Key takeaway- sufferfests are likely literally improving our life expectancy by improving physical AND (more importantly) mental health. Especially important for middle aged men
In the spirit of the podcast, smile at and say hello to a stranger today and try to strike up a brief conversation.
Also in the spirit of the podcast: you guys are all very important to me.
Limits of the known
By David Roberts
A book about adventures of all kinds and what they mean to us.
Part memoir and part history, this book tries to make sense of why so many have committed their lives to the desperate pursuit of adventure. What specific forms of courage and commitment did it take for Fridtjof Nansen to survive an eighteen-month journey from a record "farthest north" with no supplies and a single rifle during his polar expedition of 1893–96? What compelled Eric Shipton to return, five times, to the ridges of Mt. Everest, plotting the mountain’s most treacherous territory years before Hillary and Tenzing’s famous ascent? What drove Bill Stone to dive 3,000 feet underground into North America’s deepest cave?