self-education university: books, courses & podcasts i’m feeding my mind with instead of doomscrolling
my current curriculum: books, courses, podcasts, videos and subjects I’m currently exploring alongside my art.
Hello!
Over the next few weeks, I’ve gathered a collection of materials I want to spend time with, books, podcasts, courses, and ideas I’ve either already started exploring or feel deeply drawn toward lately. I’ve always been someone who naturally turns toward self-education. I love researching, following questions, going down unexpected paths, and learning simply for the sake of understanding something more deeply.
At some point, I realized that I had quietly built something for myself, something I now call my own “Self-Education University.” A personal space where I learn intentionally, at my own pace, and in my own way. I create my study plans from scratch, collect books and materials that genuinely inspire me, and follow my curiosity wherever it wants to lead me.
Beyond art, there’s something incredibly fulfilling to me about immersing myself deeply in certain subjects. And I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but sometimes my mind craves depth and knowledge almost instinctively. A kind of longing for substance, for meaning, for understanding. I think, in some way, learning gives me a feeling of inner stability.
So in this edition, I want to share a few of the things I’ve recently started exploring, working through, researching, or simply feeling curious about. And honestly, there are many. Some are practical, some philosophical, some creative, and others are things I still don’t fully understand yet, but that’s exactly what makes them interesting to me.
Books
Lately, and I don’t know if you know this feeling, but whenever life starts to feel too surface-level because I’m busy with everyday things, I automatically begin searching for depth again. And most of the time, I return to books. Sometimes novels, sometimes essays, and sometimes even textbooks that go deeply into a specific subject or question.
One of the books I recently started is A World Appears by Michael Pollan. He explores questions around consciousness, perception, and what it actually means for human beings to experience life internally, to feel, to observe, to be aware of the world at all. And somehow that’s exactly what I need right now.
I’m trying to read it slowly. Not because it’s difficult in a negative way, but because the book constantly makes me question my own understanding of consciousness. And I love that feeling, when a book doesn’t just give you information, but destabilizes the certainty of what you thought you already knew.
What I especially enjoy is how accessible the writing feels despite the complexity of the topic. And through the book, I keep discovering other scientists, philosophers, and researchers I’ve never heard of before. I always keep a loose sheet of paper inside the book, and whenever a new thinker or researcher is mentioned, I write their name down. Almost like building my own little literature archive. Later I look them up, read their essays, interviews, studies, or sometimes even their books. I think this has become one of my favorite parts of self-education, allowing one idea to naturally lead me into another.
Alongside that, I’ve also been reading Notes to John by Joan Didion.
And I honestly don’t fully know how to explain this, but from the moment I picked up this book, I felt an unusually deep emotional connection to it. Something I rarely experience with books. I love this book already, even though I haven’t properly read much of it yet.
I think part of it is my connection to Joan Didion herself. I remember reading The Year of Magical Thinking, and because it affected me so deeply, I finished it in a single day. Right after that, I immediately read Blue Nights. I haven’t read much more from her since then, but something about her honesty stayed with me. There’s a kind of emotional precision in the way she writes about grief, memory, fear, and human fragility that feels incredibly rare.
And I think that emotional empathy toward her created this strange attachment I now feel toward Notes to John. I have the feeling the book will be just as honest and raw. It revolves around her reflections from conversations with her psychiatrist and the way she navigates anxiety, grief, emotional memory, and loss.
Here you’ll find the direct links to the books.
(If you choose to purchase through them, I may earn a small commission through Amazon.)
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness by Michael Pollan
The Year of Magical Thinking: National Book Award Winner (Vintage International) by Joan Didion
Podcasts
This podcast episode was recommended by a few writers online, which immediately made me curious, so it’s definitely on my list for this month: