E-mail newsletters have made a resurgence recently, and even though I suffer from the same “inbox fatigue” that most email users experience, I still find joy and value in receiving good newsletters. For me, that means newsletters that inform, uplift, show me something unexpected, and bring me deeper insights into culture without being preachy, overly-opinionated, or depressing.
I have unsubscribed from dozens of newsletters over the years, but several have stood the test of time with me. Here are my favorite free newsletters that I usually read from top to bottom when they come to my inbox. I hope you’ll check them out and give the ones that interest you a subscription:
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FutureCrunch – good news about real, significant improvements happening in the world, delivered twice a month. Not your usual “fluff” or uplifting clickbait. I recommend this to nearly everyone I meet. It’s a perfect, factual antidote to the worldview that “everything’s getting worse” and “nothing we do makes a difference.” Highly recommended. read a sample issue
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The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker – a newsletter about creativity, work, and staying human. It’s about staying in the moment and focusing on the here and now.
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Recomendo – A weekly newsletter that gives you 6 brief personal recommendations of cool stuff. Curated by Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder and Claudia Dawson.
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Wonder Tools – Useful sites & resources to save time and to help you do what you do a little more creatively. archive of past posts
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Curiosity Daily – A single, hand-curated, interesting link delivered daily. It’s almost always something I had not seen anywhere else.
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The Best Song Ever (This Week) – Each issue contains a cool, long-form in-depth essay about one particular song, including how it came to be written and recorded, how it influenced music, and more. I enjoy reading this a lot. Some times I discover great songs from long-ago that I had never heard before, and sometimes I learn new details about songs I’ve listened to for decades. archive
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The Magnet – an eclectic mix of tips, interesting links, news about the world, etc. archive
- Memex 1.1 by John Naughton – A short, intimate newsletter from John Naughton, who describes himself as “Professor/writer/dad/grandad/photographer/’Observer’ columnist/optimist.” It usually includes one photograph, a quote of the day, a Long Read recommendation, links to a couple of in-depth articles, and an item from John’s “Commonplace Booklet.” I find this newsletter delightful and a nice accompaniment to my morning tea. archive
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Hulry – 1% Better Every Day – I subscribe to this because I really like the three or four Apps and Tools that he includes in every weekly issue.
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Stratechery by Ben Thompson – one of the best, most lucid sources of analysis behind the business strategies of technology companies. I learn something with every issue. archive
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The Donut – Daily news headlines and interesting links. Fast, impartial, nonpartisan news.
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Numlock – a snappy morning newsletter by Walt Hickey full of great, brief stories. Each story usually focuses on a number or statistic of some kind.
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TLDR – a daily newsletter with links and TLDRs of the most interesting stories in tech 📱, science 🚀, and coding 💻. A quick, informative read.
