Alex and Matt are joined by writer, journalist and polymath Anand Gopal for our inaugural episode. He talks about writing books, reporting in Afghanistan, how he stays on top of the news from a variety of countries, why it's so important to learn languages and many other things.
Anand Gopal 101: What You Need To Read
No Good Men Among The Living (2014)
Foreword to I Am Akbar Agha: Memories of the Afghan Jihad and the Taliban (2014)
"Kandahar's Mystery Executions" (Harper's) (2014) (read it here)
"Welcome to Free Syria" (Harper's) (2012)
"Decoding the Syrian Propaganda War" (Harper's Blog) (2012)
"Militancy and Conflict in Kandahar" (New America Foundation report) (2010)
"Qayyum Zakir: The Taliban's Rising Mastermind" (Christian Science Monitor profile) (2010)
"Pakistan Arrests Senior Taliban Leaders" (Wall Street Journal) (2010)
"U.S. Plan To Arm Afghan Militia Founders On Tribal Rivalries" (Christian Science Monitor) (2010)
Show Notes:
0:00
Anand at the New America Foundation
Book: Quantum Theory For The Rest of Us by Anand Gopal
Book: My Life With the Taliban by Felix / Alex
Book: No Good Men Among The Living by Anand Gopal
6:20
Anand’s New America Foundation Article: The Battle for Afghanistan: Conflict and Militancy in Kandahar
8:19
Lexis Nexis (Wikipedia link) - a powerful research tool useful for examining the public record, particularly archives of major newspapers
13:35
Anand Gopal’s Harper’s Article ("Kandahar's Mystery Executions")
22:20
Anand’s Work in Syria:
Welcome to Free Syria - Harper’s, August 2012
Syria’s Summer of Stalemate - Harper’s, September 2012
26:00
Twitter thoughts:
Set up a list of people regularly tweeting interesting things - create a list of people who can help curate information sources for you. (Mashable: "How to Use Twitter Lists").
29:00
33:00
News.me: Get the top stories being shared on Facebook and Twitter in a handy email newsletter every day
Libya Twitter:
Chris Stephen (@ReportingLibya)
Afghanistan Twitter:
Three Quarks Daily - Science website, newsletter
39:00
To pick his next book - uses goodreads.com
40:15
Amazon.com wishlists
40:59
Feynman Method Reading Technique
41:30
Devonthink - information organization assistant
Get at the chain of reasoning of an argument
Anki - Spaced Repetition Software
Forgetting Curve (Wikipedia)
45:30
The Myth of Religious Violence by William T. Cavanaugh
48:14
Python - computer programming language
Udacity - online courses
Udacity CS101 ("Intro to Computer Science: Building a Search Engine")
Udacity CS215 ("Intro to Algorithms: Social Network Analysis")
51:15
Memorization as the key to creativity
Andrew Abbott (Wikipedia) sociologist
52:20
53:30
Random App - gives a random new story mixed in with chosen categories
Film - The Wind That Shakes The Barley by Ken Loach
Book - The Unforgiving Years by Victor Serge
Song - The Alabama Three: Vietnamistan
Book most given as a gift: The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutchser
Time travel: 1917