The most resonant newsletters I have written so far seem to share the theme of encouraging people to slow down, savour life and let go of the hectic hustle driven mentality. It’s amazing the guilt people feel towards rest, even though- as this book explains- rest is vital and it is actually what all top performers in all manner of fields actually do. I don’t usually recommend anything to do with standard ‘self improvement’ but I believe this book may prove to be a much needed gateway drug to the good life.

A stone cold classic in my eyes. This hugely resonated when I first read it all those years ago. ‘Finally, someone thinks the same way I do.’ This is a witty, eloquent and wise compendium that offers the reader many many breadcrumb trails to follow on the way to the good life. The bibliography and quotations from idle literature dotted throughout are worth the price of admission alone. This is a big influence on these newsletters.

My newsletter on lunch chimed with a lot of people. This book was on my mind as I write it. In this short volume we get to enjoy a great novelist expound on everything to do with the great (and neglected) institution of lunch. Dipping in to this book instantly has a way of making you realign your priorities in life. Fuel for the Epicurean. Eat, drink and be merry, friends.

Another idle classic from a truly wise man. Yutang is on this newsletters Mount Rushmore of influences. He has sadly faded from history. We need to bring his mentality back in to the zeitgeist. This is the antidote to the prevalent burned out hustle culture mentality.

Another Mount Rushmore figure. A writer who brings joy whether through his classic Edwardian comic novel of well, three men who ride around in a canal boat, or through his underrated essays. Jerome is as witty as Wilde and as humanely wise as Dr Johnson. So good they named him twice.