I ask everyone I interview for recommendations of their favourite or recent books, movies, TV shows, games, and podcasts. This page is a running compendium of their recommendations, along with a few of my own.
The selection is as diverse as my guests, with everything from biography to technology, science fiction to children’s classics, Oscar winners to comedy, history to personal growth and of course, several books on Japan.
Explore and enjoy!
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Books - Non-Fiction
Biography
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike - Phil Knight
Nike founder and board chairman Phil Knight “offers a rare and revealing look at the notoriously media-shy man behind the swoosh”, illuminating his company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands. Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always been a mystery. In Shoe Dog, he tells his story at last.
Recommended by: Gerard Noakes, Andrew Bishop, Greg Jeanneau
Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman - Yvon Chouinard
In this 10th anniversary edition, Yvon Chouinard—legendary climber, businessman, environmentalist, and founder of Patagonia, Inc.—shares the persistence and courage that have gone into being head of one of the most respected and environmentally responsible companies on earth.
From his youth as the son of a French Canadian handyman to the thrilling, ambitious climbing expeditions that inspired his innovative designs for the sport’s equipment, Let My People Go Surfing is the story of a man who brought doing good and having grand adventures into the heart of his business life-a book that will deeply affect entrepreneurs and outdoor enthusiasts alike.
Recommended by: Greg Jeanneau
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. - John Chernow
The life and times of John Rockefeller, the legendary 19th century oil tycoon, covering everything from his childhood, to his ruthless building of Standard Oil, and his retirement as a philanthropist.
I’ve been getting into biographies recently. This a monster of a book and Ron Chernow is a master of the art of the biography.
Recommended by: Paul
A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future - Sir David Attenborough
In this scientifically informed account of the changes occurring in the world over the last century, the award-winning broadcaster and natural historian shares a lifetime of wisdom and a hopeful vision for the future: See the world. Then make it better.
“I am 93. I’ve had an extraordinary life. It’s only now that I appreciate how extraordinary”.
Recommended by: Lawrie Cate
Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds - David Goggins
For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare — poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world’s top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him “The Fittest (Real) Man in America.”
If, like me, your new year’s gym resolution lasts about a week and you struggle to get off the sofa for anything more than a trip to the fridge, read this book. David Goggins transformed his life through the sheer power of his will and applied hard work and he’s a lesson in what you can do if you put your heart and soul into it. A transformative read.
Recommended by: Paul
Technology
Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World - Clive Thompson
Wired columnist Clive Thompson presents a thumbnail history of coding, from its earliest days to the present, looking at the coders themselves and the technological forces that are transforming the world we live in. As software ‘eats the world’ we live in, it’s worth considering who is behind it.
Recommended by: Paul
Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture - David Kushner
I very much enjoyed this fascinating story of the Two Johns – John Carmack and John Romero – the co-creators of Doom and Quake and co-founders of id Software.
I loved Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake back in the day and this is a riveting page-turner of a read. If you have an interest in gaming or tech history/culture, it’s well worth your time.
Recommended by: Paul
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made - Jason Schreier
After finishing Masters of Doom, this book by Jason Schreier came up as a suggested read, and I was not disappointed. This is a fascinating exploration of how video games are made, using the stories of ten well known games (such as Diablo 3, Stardew Valley, Uncharted 4, and The Witcher 3), as examples.
Recommended by: Paul
Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology – Kentaro Toyama
After a decade of designing technologies meant to address education, health, and global poverty, award-winning computer scientist Kentaro Toyama came to a difficult conclusion: Even in an age of amazing technology, social progress depends on human changes that gadgets can’t deliver.
In this incisive book, Toyama cures us of the manic rhetoric of digital utopians and reinvigorates us with a deeply people-centric view of social change
Recommended by: Asumi Saito
Business, Leadership, Workplace
Genius of Opposites: How Introverts and Extroverts Achieve Extraordinary Results Together - Jennifer Kahnweiler
There are countless examples of introvert-extrovert partnerships who make brilliant products, create great works of art, and even change history together. But these partnerships don’t just happen. They demand wise nurturing.
The key, says bestselling author Jennifer Kahnweiler, is for opposites to stop emphasizing their differences and use approaches that focus them both on moving toward results. Kahnweiler shows how to perform the delicate balancing act required to create a whole that is exponentially greater than the sum of its parts.
Recommended by: James Ryland
Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness - Frédéric Laloux
The way we manage organizations seems increasingly out of date. Survey after survey shows that a majority of employees feel disengaged from their companies.
In this groundbreaking book, the author shows that every time humanity has shifted to a new stage of consciousness in the past, it has invented a whole new way to structure and run organizations, each time bringing extraordinary breakthroughs in collaboration. A new shift in consciousness is currently underway. Could it help us invent a radically more soulful and purposeful way to run our businesses and nonprofits, schools and hospitals?
Recommended by: Sylvain Pierre
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration - Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace
From a co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios—the Academy Award-winning studio behind Coco, Inside Out, and Toy Story—comes an incisive book about creativity in business and leadership.
Creativity, Inc. is a manual for anyone who strives for originality and the first-ever, all-access trip into the nerve center of Pixar Animation—into the meetings, postmortems, and “Braintrust” sessions where some of the most successful films in history are made.
Recommended by: Greg Jeanneau
Radical Candor: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean – Kim Scott
Radical Candor is the perfect handbook for those who are looking to find meaning in their job and create an environment where people love both their work and their colleagues and are motivated to strive for ever-greater success. Radical Candor offers a guide to those bewildered or exhausted by management, written for bosses and those who manage bosses.
Drawing on years of first-hand experience, and distilled clearly to give practical advice to the reader, Radical Candor shows you how to be successful while retaining your integrity and humanity.
Recommended by: Gerard Noakes
Agile People: A Radical Approach for HR & Managers (That Leads to Motivated Employees) - Pia-Maria Thoren
Corporate cultures, global mindsets, and employee priorities are changing, which means management and human resources departments must also evolve. To ensure teams are well crafted, motivated, and successful, managers and HR professionals must step outside their comfort zone and adapt to younger, newer ways of thinking—they must become Agile.
In Agile People, management consultant Pia-Maria Thoren outlines how managers, human resources professionals, company decision-makers, and employees can adopt the flexible, fluid, customer-focused mindset of modern tech companies to inspire their workers and strengthen their organizations
Recommended by: Jatin Kumar
Japan
Precarious Japan - Anne Allison
In an era of irregular labour, nagging recession, nuclear contamination, and a shrinking population, Japan is facing precarious times. How the Japanese experience insecurity in their daily and social lives is the subject of Precarious Japan.
As fewer and fewer people are able to find full-time work, hope turns to hopelessness and security gives way to a pervasive unease. Yet some Japanese are getting by, partly by reconceiving notions of home, family, and togetherness.
Recommended by: John Rajeski
Making it Big in Japan: Stories, Lessons and Advice from Expats Living the Dream - Misha Yurchenko
Making it Big in Japan is your ultimate guide to living, working and playing in Japan and was written by my friend Misha Yurchenko (profiled here).
Misha interviewed 30+ ex-pats for the book and covers a whole host of topics, such as how to find a job and get a visa, the best way to learn Japanese, how to start your own business in Japan, raising kids here, travel & discovery, and much more.
If you’re thinking of relocating to Japan, read this first.
Recommended by: Paul
How to Become a Recruiter in Japan: The Ultimate Guide - Misha Yurchenko
Working as a recruiter in Japan has given me a wonderful life, full of unique experiences and lifelong friendships. Once I started, I was never very tempted to go back into IT work again (perhaps it was the expense accounts?)
Misha also wrote this ultimate guide to becoming a recruiter in Japan. Covering everything from the different types of agencies to salary & commission structures and hiring & interview processes. It’s all written in a very approachable, easy-to-read style.
It’s the book I wish I had when I was looking for my first job in recruiting in 1999.
Recommended by: Paul
Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival - David Pilling
David Pilling was a Financial Times correspondent in the 2000s and returned in 2011 to cover the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.
Published in 2014, this is a hugely enjoyable look at Japan’s history, culture and society. Pilling intersperses his analysis with anecdotes and interviews from a wide-range of interesting characters, from best-selling authors like Murakami to housewives, economists, politicians and activists.
Recommended by: Paul
Society
Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth - Rachel Maddow
In 2010, the words “earthquake swarm” entered the lexicon in Oklahoma. That same year, a trove of Michael Jackson memorabilia—including his iconic crystal-encrusted white glove—was sold at auction for over $1 million to a guy who was, officially, just the lowly forestry minister of the tiny nation of Equatorial Guinea. And in 2014, revolutionaries in Ukraine raided the palace of their ousted president and found a zoo of peacocks, gilded toilets, and a floating restaurant modeled after a Spanish galleon. Unlikely as it might seem, there is a thread connecting these events, and Rachel Maddow follows it to its crooked source: the unimaginably lucrative and equally corrupting oil and gas industry.
Recommended by: John Rajeski
Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America - Sarah Kendzior
New York Times bestselling author Sarah Kendzior documents the truth about the calculated rise to power of Donald Trump since the 1980s and how the erosion of our liberties made an American demagogue possible.
Hiding in Plain Sight pulls back the veil on a history spanning decades, a history of an American autocrat in the making. In doing so, she reveals the inherent fragility of American democracy – how our continual loss of freedom, the rise of consolidated corruption, and the secrets behind a burgeoning autocratic United States have been hiding in plain sight for decades.
Recommended by: John Rajeski
Whatever Happened to Tradition?: History, Belonging and the Future of the West - Tim Stanley
The West feels lost. Brexit, Trump, the coronavirus: we hurtle from one crisis to another, lacking definition, terrified that our best days are behind us.
The central argument of this book is that we can only face the future with hope if we have a proper sense of tradition – political, social and religious. We ignore our past at our peril. The problem, argues Tim Stanley, is that the Western tradition is anti-tradition, that we have a habit of discarding old ways and old knowledge, leaving us uncertain of how to act or, even, of who we really are. The good news, he argues, is that it can also be rebuilt
Recommended by: Raymond Murphy
Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design – Charles Montgomery
A globe-trotting, eye-opening exploration of how cities can―and do―make us happier people.
Charles Montgomery’s Happy City is revolutionizing the way we think about urban life.
Recommended by: Misha Yurchenko
Psychology, Self-Improvement
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones – James Clear
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving–every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviours that lead to remarkable results.
If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you’ll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Recommended by: Tanmay Goel, John Rajeski
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products - Nir Eyal
How do successful companies create products people can’t put down?
Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?
Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behaviour. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging.
Recommended by: Drew Terry
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference - Malcolm Gladwell
In this brilliant and original book, Malcolm Gladwell explains and analyses the ‘tipping point’, that magic moment when ideas, trends and social behaviour cross a threshold, tip and spread like wildfire.
Taking a look behind the surface of many familiar occurrences in our everyday world, Gladwell explains the fascinating social dynamics that cause rapid change.
Recommended by: Miho Tanaka
Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World - David J. Epstein
A powerful argument for how to succeed in any field: develop broad interests and skills while everyone around you is rushing to specialize.
From the ‘10,000 hours rule’ to the power of Tiger parenting, we have been taught that success in any field requires early specialization and many hours of deliberate practice. And, worse, that if you dabble or delay, you’ll never catch up with those who got a head start.
This is completely wrong. In this landmark book, David Epstein shows you that the way to succeed is by sampling widely, gaining a breadth of experiences, taking detours, experimenting relentlessly, juggling many interests – in other words, by developing range.
Recommended by: Jayson Cunanan
Man's Search For Meaning: The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust - Viktor Frankl
One of the outstanding classics to emerge from the Holocaust, Man’s Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl’s story of his struggle for survival in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Today, this remarkable tribute to hope offers us an avenue to finding greater meaning and purpose in our own lives.
Recommended by: John Rajeski
Science, Maths, Data
How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method - George Pólya
A perennial bestseller by eminent mathematician G. Polya, How to Solve It will show anyone in any field how to think straight. In lucid and appealing prose, Polya reveals how the mathematical method of demonstrating a proof or finding an unknown can be of help in attacking any problem that can be “reasoned” out―from building a bridge to winning a game of anagrams.
Generations of readers have relished Polya’s deft―indeed, brilliant―instructions on stripping away irrelevancies and going straight to the heart of the problem.
Recommended by: Sushant Pandey
Becoming a Data Head: How to Think, Speak and Understand Data Science, Statistics and Machine Learning - Alex J. Gutman & Jordan Goldmeier
You’ve heard the hype around data—now get the facts.
In Becoming a Data Head: How to Think, Speak, and Understand Data Science, Statistics, and Machine Learning, award-winning data scientists Alex Gutman and Jordan Goldmeier pull back the curtain on data science and give you the language and tools necessary to talk and think critically about it.
Recommended by: John Rajeski
Philosophy
The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism - Fritjof Capra
A special edition of the “brilliant” best-selling classic on the paradoxes of modern physics and their relationship to concepts of Eastern mysticism.
The Tao of Physics brought the mystical implications of subatomic physics to popular consciousness for the very first time. Many books have been written in the ensuing years about the connections between quantum theory and the ideas of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism, but Fritjof Capra’s text serves as the foundation on which the others have been built—and its wisdom has stood the test of time.
Recommended by: Sushant Pandey
The Book of Five Rings - Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584 – June 13, 1645), also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was an expert Japanese swordsman and rōnin.
Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories of his excellent, and unique double-bladed swordsmanship and undefeated record in his 60 duels. In his final years, he authored The Book of Five Rings, a book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy that is still studied today.
Recommended by: Jayson Cunanan
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness - Eric Jorgenson
Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur, philosopher, and investor who has captivated the world with his principles for building wealth and creating long-term happiness. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is a collection of Naval’s wisdom and experience from the last ten years, shared as a curation of his most insightful interviews and poignant reflections. This isn’t a how-to book, or a step-by-step gimmick. Instead, through Naval’s own words, you will learn how to walk your own unique path toward a happier, wealthier life.
Recommended by: Jayson Cunanan
History
Gold Warriors - Sterling and Peggy Seagrave
Great masses of treasure were confiscated or stolen from 12 countries conquered by Japan between 1895 and 1945. In 1943 a U.S. submarine blockade prevented Japan from shipping all the war loot home. It was hidden in caves and underground vaults in the Philippines using POWs and slave labor, under the command of General Yamashita and Japanese princes including Emperor Hirohito’s brothers.
U.S. agents caught, tortured and bribed Yamashita’s driver who showed them 12 vaults packed with gold ingots. President Truman ordered them to be recovered secretly both in the Philippines and Japan. They were used to set up secret slush funds to bribe foreign political and military leaders during the Cold War. Billions of dollars worth of this treasure was put in banks all over the world where it was used to block free elections and install pro-American regimes. Much of the treasure was used to create and finance Japan’s one-party dictatorship of the LDP.
Recommended by: Andrew Bishop
Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles - Bernard Cornwell
From the New York Times bestselling author and master of martial fiction comes the definitive, illustrated history of one of the greatest battles ever fought—a riveting nonfiction chronicle published to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s last stand.
On June 18, 1815 the armies of France, Britain and Prussia descended upon a quiet valley south of Brussels. In the previous three days, the French army had beaten the Prussians at Ligny and fought the British to a standstill at Quatre-Bras. The Allies were in retreat. The little village north of where they turned to fight the French army was called Waterloo. The blood-soaked battle to which it gave its name would become a landmark in European history.
Recommended by: Andrew Bishop
Books - Fiction
Science Fiction
Foundation - Isaac Asimov
The first novel in Isaac Asimov’s classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series.
The Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are among the most influential in the history of science fiction, celebrated for their unique blend of breathtaking action, daring ideas, and extensive worldbuilding. In Foundation, Asimov has written a timely and timeless novel of the best—and worst—that lies in humanity, and the power of even a few courageous souls to shine a light in a universe of darkness.
Recommended by: James Ryland
The Ministry for the Future: A Novel – Kim Stanley Robinson
The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us.
Chosen by Barack Obama as one of his favourite books of the year, this extraordinary novel from visionary science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson will change the way you think about the climate crisis.
Recommended by: Misha Yurchenko
Remembrance of Earth's Past (The Three-Body Problem) - Cixin Liu
The Three-Body trilogy by New York Times bestseller Cixin Liu keeps you riveted with high-octane action, political intrigue, and unexpected twists in this saga of first contact with the extraterrestrial Trisolaris.
Cixin Liu is the most prolific and popular science fiction writer in the People’s Republic of China. Liu is an eight-time winner of the Galaxy Award (the Chinese Hugo) and a winner of the Chinese Nebula Award.
Recommended by: James Balcombe
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
I was looking for a meaty sci-fi novel to get stuck into over the summer and this Hugo Award winner from 1989, book one of a four part series, didn’t disappoint.
I can see why many reviewers call it a cult classic. The rest of the series will keep me going until 2023.
Recommended by: Paul
Classics
1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four) - George Orwell
Nineteen Eighty-Four (also stylised as 1984) is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell and published in 1949.
Thematically, it centres on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance and repressive regimentation of people and behaviours within society, and has become a classic literary example of political and dystopian fiction.
Recommended by: Drew Terry
Crime and Punishment: A Novel in Six Parts - Fyodor Dostoevsky
When Raskolnikov, an impoverished student living in the St. Petersburg of the tsars, commits an act of murder and theft, he sets into motion a story that is almost unequalled in world literature for its excruciating suspense, its atmospheric vividness, and its depth of characterization and vision.
Dostoevsky’s drama of sin, guilt, and redemption transforms the sordid story of an old woman’s murder into the nineteenth century’s profoundest and most compelling philosophical novel.
Recommended by: Sushant Pandey
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Other Stories - Lewis Carroll
Carroll’s classic children’s book needs no introduction.
Recommended by: Jayson Cunanan
Games
No Man's Sky
No Man’s Sky is an action-adventure survival game developed and published by Hello Games. The game is built around five pillars: exploration, survival, combat, trading and base building. Players are free to perform within the entirety of a procedurally generated deterministic open-world universe, which includes over 18 quintillion planets.
Recommended by: Andy Hall
Half-Life
Half-Life is a series of first-person shooter games developed and published by Valve. The games combine shooting combat, puzzles and storytelling. The original Half-Life, Valve’s first product, was released in 1998 for Windows to critical and commercial success.
Recommended by: James Ryland
Sim City 4
Sim City 4 is a city-building simulation computer game developed by Maxis, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. It was released on January 14, 2003. It is the fourth major installment in the SimCity series.
Recommended by: Misha Yurchenko
Anno 2070
Anno 2070 is a city-building and economic simulation game, with real-time strategy elements. It is the 5th game of the Anno series.
Recommended by: Sushant Pandey
Tom Clancy’s The Division
Tom Clancy’s The Division is an online-only action role-playing video game published in 2016 by Ubisoft. It is set in a near-future New York City in the aftermath of a viral pandemic; the player, a Special Agent of the Strategic Homeland Division, is tasked with helping the group rebuild its operations in Manhattan, investigate the nature of the outbreak, and combat criminal activity in its wake.
Recommended by: Sushant Pandey
Dark Souls
Dark Souls is a series of action role-playing games created by Hidetaka Miyazaki of FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The series began with the release of Dark Souls in 2011 and has seen two sequels, Dark Souls II (2014) and Dark Souls III (2016). Dark Souls has received critical acclaim, with the first title often cited as one of the greatest in video games.
Recommended by: Drew Terry, Philippe Khin
Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight is a 2017 Metroidvania video game developed and published by independent developer Team Cherry. In the game, the player controls the Knight, a nameless insectoid warrior, who explores Hallownest, a fallen kingdom plagued by a supernatural disease. The game is set in diverse subterranean locations, and it features friendly and hostile insectoid characters and numerous bosses.
Recommended by: Drew Terry
Super Smash Bros.
Super Smash Bros. is a crossover fighting game series published by Nintendo. The series was created by Masahiro Sakurai, who directed every game in the series. The series is known for its unique gameplay objective which differs from that of traditional fighters, in that the aim is to increase damage counters and knock opponents off the stage instead of depleting life bars.
Recommended by: Drew Terry
Elden Ring
Elden Ring is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding provided by fantasy writer George R. R. Martin
Recommended by: Jayson Cunanan
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy is a Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix. The franchise centres on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games.
Recommended by: Philippe Khin
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Final Fantasy VII Remake is a 2020 action role-playing game from the above series. It is the first in a planned trilogy of games remaking the 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII. Set in the dystopian cyberpunk metropolis of Midgar, players control the mercenary Cloud Strife.
Recommended by: Jayson Cunanan
Metal Gear
Metal Gear is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, Metal Gear, was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operative (usually Solid Snake or Big Boss), who is assigned the task of finding the titular superweapon “Metal Gear”, a bipedal walking tank with the ability to launch nuclear weapons.
Recommended by: Philippe Khin
Podcasts
99% Invisible
99% Invisible is a sound-rich, narrative podcast hosted by Roman Mars about all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about — the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world. With approximately 500 million downloads, 99pi is one of the most popular and fascinating podcasts out there.
Recommended by: Sushant Pandey, Paul
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman Podcast features conversations about the nature of intelligence, consciousness, love, and power. Hosted by Lex Fridman, an AI researcher working on autonomous vehicles, human-robot interaction, and machine learning at MIT and beyond.
Lex is an intelligent and sensitive soul and he speaks with a wide range of interesting guests. One of my must-listens every week.
Recommended by: Sushant Pandey, Jayson Cunanan, Paul
The Best One Yet (formerly Robinhood Snacks)
Feel brighter every day with TBOY’s 20-minute pop-biz podcast. The 3 business news stories you need, with fresh takes you can pretend you came up with — Pairs perfectly with your morning oatmeal.
Recommended by: Tanmay Goel
Huberman Lab
Hosted by Dr. Andrew Huberman (a neuroscientist and tenured Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine), The Huberman Lab Podcast discusses science and science-based tools for everyday life.
The podcast is frequently ranked in the Top 25 of all podcasts globally and is often ranked #1 in the categories of Science, Education, and Health & Fitness.
Recommended by: Sushant Pandey, Jayson Cunanan
The Lazarus Heist
“Almost a perfect crime.” The hacking ring and an attempt to steal a billion dollars. Investigators blame North Korea. Pyongyang denies involvement. The story begins in Hollywood. From the BBC.
Recommended by: Lawrie Cate
Foundering
Foundering is an award-winning, serialized podcast from the journalists at Bloomberg Technology.
Recommended by: Lawrie Cate
Reply All
Reply All is a show about the internet, hosted by Alex Goldman and Emmanuel Dzotsi. The show first aired in 2014, and nowadays is downloaded around 5 million times per month.
Recommended by: Arnout Hemel
Indie Hackers
GET SMARTER ON THE GO
The best podcasts for indie hackers, by indie hackers.
Recommended by: Philippe Khin
My First Million
Every week the dive deep into different business opportunities and explain how to pounce on them. Basically…they spoon-feed you interesting businesses you can start tomorrow. And hey, maybe it’ll help you get your first million users, revenue, profit, employees (that’d be wild), or whatever it is you want a million of.
Recommended by: Philippe Khin
Tokyo Speaks
Tokyo Speaks is a podcast featuring a diverse and inspiring international community in Tokyo. The show is now hosted by Terrence Holden (aka Cliff) and people from the community, who appear on the show as guest hosts.
Recommended by: Miho Tanaka
TV Shows
The Wire
Let’s kick this section off with a of classic. In the city of Baltimore, there are good guys and there are bad guys. Sometimes you need more than a badge to tell them apart. This highly realistic and totally unvarnished drama series chronicles the vagaries of crime, law enforcement, politics, education and media in Baltimore as it follows a team of cops and the criminals they are after.
Hands down, season one of The Wire is some of the best television ever made.
Recommended by: Gerard Noakes
Breaking Bad
A chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine with a former student in order to secure his family’s future.
Breaking Bad is another must-see show.
Recommended by: Miho Tanaka
Ozark
Ozark stars Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde, a financial planner who relocates his family from Chicago to a summer resort community in the Ozarks. With wife Wendy and their two kids in tow, Marty is on the move after a money-laundering scheme goes wrong, forcing him to pay off a substantial debt to a Mexican drug lord in order to keep his family safe. While the Byrdes’ fate hangs in the balance, the dire circumstances force the fractured family to reconnect.
Recommended by: Ji Youn Yoo, Arnout Hemel
Cheer
The six-part Netflix series follows the nationally ranked forty-member Navarro College Bulldogs Cheer Team from Corsicana, Texas, under the direction of coach Monica Aldama, as they prepare to compete in the National Cheerleading Championship held annually in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Cheer has a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 96%.
Recommended by: Asumi Saito
Squid Game
Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits — with deadly high stakes.
Squid Game was the must-watch Netflix show of 2021.
Recommended by: Tanmay Goel
Alias Grace
Grace, an Irish immigrant in Canada, is convicted of the murder of her employer. However, things take a different turn when a psychiatrist arrives to analyse her mental state.
Based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name.
Recommended by: Ji Youn Yoo
Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer
The series chronicles events following a crowd-sourced amateur investigation into a series of animal cruelty acts committed by Canadian pornographic actor Luka Magnotta, culminating in his murder of Chinese international student Jun Lin.
Don’t F**K with Cats was one of Netflix’s Top 5 most-watched documentaries of 2019.
Recommended by: Ji Youn Yoo
Ted Lasso
American football coach Ted Lasso is hired to manage a struggling London football team. What he lacks in knowledge, he makes up for in optimism, determination, and biscuits.
Classic fish-out-of water fare.
Recommended by: Tanmay Goel
This Is Us
In This Is Us, Kevin, Kate and Randall, three siblings, go through unique personal struggles at different intervals of life as they try to find happiness and get over a tragedy in their past.
Recommended by: Arnout Hemel
The Twilight Zone
A TV classic, originally running between 1959 to 1964.
The Twilight Zone was the brainchild of Emmy Award-winner Rod Serling, who served as host and wrote more than 80 episodes of the original show’s 150-plus episode run. It’s a strange mix of horror, science-fiction, drama, comedy and superstition. Serling introduced each episode, and many of the black and white episodes concluded with a surprise ending. Actors such as Burt Reynolds, Roddy McDowell and Robert Redford made appearances in some of the more well-known stories.
Recommended by: John Rajeski
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is an American comedy television series that ran from 2014 to 2019.
A parody of tech life in Silicon Valley, it follows the trials and tribulations of a programmer, Richard Hendricks, who founds a company called Pied Piper.
Recommended by: Jayson Cunanan
Archer
Another adult-oriented animated sitcom, Archer follows the exploits of a dysfunctional intelligence agency, centred on Sterling Archer.
Covert operations, espionage, and zany characters, brilliantly written. A must-see.
Recommended by: John Rajeski, Paul
Rick and Morty
Rick, an alcoholic sociopath and scientist, lives with his daughter Beth’s family. Apart from building gadgets, he takes his morally right but dimwit grandson Morty on absurd intergalactic adventures.
Rick and Morty is just a brilliant adult animated sitcom.
Recommended by: John Rajeski, Jayson Cunanan, Paul
Dr. Stone
Three millennia after a mysterious phenomenon turns every person on Earth into stone, two best friends, a science genius and a passionate strongman, discover a way to reverse the effects and fight a rival clan of survivors to rebuild civilization.
Dr. Stone is a Japanese anime series running since 2019.
Recommended by: Jayson Cunanan
Movies
Captain Fantastic
A 2016 drama, Captain Fantastic centres on Viggo Mortensen as a father forced to reintegrate this family into society after 10 years living in isolation.
Viggo is outstanding in this film.
Recommended by: Misha Yurchenko
12 Angry Men
12 Angry Men is a classic 1957 American courtroom drama, where a jury of 12 men must weigh the fate of a teenager charged with murder.
Starring Henry Fonda, it is considered to be one of the greatest films ever made.
Recommended by: Greg Jeanneau
The Shawshank Redemption
Based on a Stephen King Novella, The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 drama telling the story of two men (played by Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins) imprisoned in Shawshank Penitentiary and the bond they grow over the years.
Many people over the years have told me that this is their favourite movie.
Recommended by: Miho Tanaka
The Rum Diary
Based on the Hunter S. Thompson novel of the same name, The Rum Diary is a comedy-drama starring Johnny Deep as a journalist who takes on a freelance job in Puerto Rico for a local newspaper during the 1960s and struggles to find a balance between island culture and the expatriates who live there.
Recommended by: Sushant Pandey
I, Robot
No, not the vacuum cleaner company. I, Robot is a science-fiction movie set in 2035 that follows a technophobic cop (Will Smith) who investigates a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot, which leads to a larger threat to humanity.
Recommended by: Sushant Pandey
Kahaani
An award-winning 2012 Hindi-language thriller, Kahaani centres on a pregnant woman’s search for her missing husband in Kolkata during the festival of Durga Puja.
Recommended by: Sushant Pandey
Don't Look Up
In Don’t Look Up, two low-level astronomers must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet Earth.
An apocalyptic, star-studded satire and dark comedy.
Recommended by: Lawrie Cate
Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick is the 2022 sequel to the 1986 Tom Cruise classic.
The highest-grossing film of 2022 and arguably a better movie than the original.
Recommended by: James Balcombe
Hillbilly Elegy
Hillbilly Elegy is the 2020 adaption of JD Vance’s memoir of the same name, directed by Ron Howard.
A young Yale studies returns to his Ohio home town after a family emergency and reflects on his time growing up there and in Kentucky.
Recommended by: Raymond Murphy
Free Solo
In Free Solo, professional rock climber Alex Honnold attempts to conquer the first free solo climb of famed El Capitan’s 900-metre vertical rock face at Yosemite National Park.
Honnold is a unique and quite remarkable human being.
Recommended by: Sylvain Pierre
The Dawn Wall
Legendary free climber Tommy Caldwell tries to get over heartbreak by scaling the Dawn Wall of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.
If you’re scared of heights like I am, I advise avoiding Free Solo and The Dawn Wall.
Recommended by: Sylvain Pierre
The Great Hack
The Great Hack is a 2019 documentary film about the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, exposing the work of Cambridge Analytica in the politics of various countries, including the United Kingdom’s Brexit campaign and the 2016 United States elections.
Recommended by: John Rajeski
My Octopus Teacher
A 2020 documentary, My Octopus Teacher centres on a relationship that develops between filmmaker Craig Foster and a female octopus that befriends him in a bay near Cape Town, as he spends nearly a year getting to know her.
Foster describes the effect of the mentorship-like relationship the octopus provided him, teaching him a lesson on the fragility of life and humanity’s connection with nature.
(Note: this will put you off takoyaki forever)
Recommended by: John Rajeski
Do you have any recommendations of your own? Drop me a comment below.
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