<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
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        <!-- <title>marcel.io</title> -->
        <title>marcel.io</title>
        <description>Thoughts about design, code, technology and everything in between.</description>
        <link>https://www.marcel.io</link>
        <atom:link href="https://www.marcel.io/posts.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />

                        <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 31, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-31</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-31</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I saved money by buying something I don't need. I guess I could play through those Spider-Man games?</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-31/76cb5a4559-1775251954/2026-03-31.png" alt="March 31, 2026" /></p><p>I saved money by buying something I don't need. I guess I could play through those Spider-Man games?</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 30, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-30</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-30</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Ended up with some weird Harry Potter fan fiction. Not great.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-30/74f856e53a-1775251457/2026-03-30.png" alt="March 30, 2026" /></p><p>Ended up with some weird Harry Potter fan fiction. Not great.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 29, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-29</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-29</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Running became fun again once I stopped winging it and went back to following a plan.</p>
<p>I actually had to go back to the popcorn person and switch mine, because they accidentally gave me salty popcorn too.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-29/d2fda7828f-1775250508/2026-03-29.png" alt="March 29, 2026" /></p><p>Running became fun again once I stopped winging it and went back to following a plan.</p>
<p>I actually had to go back to the popcorn person and switch mine, because they accidentally gave me salty popcorn too.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Buying Art Supplies</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 22:02:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/buying-art-supplies</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/buying-art-supplies</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’m going to be honest with you: I love buying stuff. I don’t do it often because I don’t like <em>having</em> stuff, but finding things, buying them, and then playing around with them is one of my favorite pastimes. Unfortunately, I’m not hedonistic enough to indulge this desire all the time.</p>
<p>But my yearly theme, The Year of Art, makes it easy to justify buying a new sketchbook every couple of weeks, or trying out a new medium or a different kind of brush.</p>
<p>I love it. I can go down endless rabbit holes, figure out exactly which kind of gouache paint was used for a piece I like, and then buy it for a couple of bucks and experiment with it. The same goes for pencils, brushes, and paper.</p>
<p>The Year of Art is going <em>great</em>.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I’m going to be honest with you: I love buying stuff. I don’t do it often because I don’t like <em>having</em> stuff, but finding things, buying them, and then playing around with them is one of my favorite pastimes. Unfortunately, I’m not hedonistic enough to indulge this desire all the time.</p>
<p>But my yearly theme, The Year of Art, makes it easy to justify buying a new sketchbook every couple of weeks, or trying out a new medium or a different kind of brush.</p>
<p>I love it. I can go down endless rabbit holes, figure out exactly which kind of gouache paint was used for a piece I like, and then buy it for a couple of bucks and experiment with it. The same goes for pencils, brushes, and paper.</p>
<p>The Year of Art is going <em>great</em>.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>New blog feature: Embedded Posts</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 22:36:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/new-blog-feature-embedded-posts</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/new-blog-feature-embedded-posts</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I added a new feature to this site. I can now embed posts into posts. This will only work on the site itself. If you're reading this via RSS, you might want to come over.</p>
<p>Here's an example:</p><div>
    <p><strong>Related post:</strong> <a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts/32-more-years">32 More Years</a></p>
            <p>Lately, despite my best efforts, I&#039;ve noticed more gray hairs at my temples, recurring fashion trends, and a sharp memory of events from two decades ago, all of which frequently …</p>
        <p><small><time datetime="2024-03-10T12:30:00+01:00">Mar 10, 2024</time></small></p>
</div>
<p>But that's not all. Here's an example of a post that contains an image: </p><div>
    <p><strong>Related post:</strong> <a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed">Introducing Zeitgeist, the journal that feels like a feed</a></p>
        <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/29bf64caf9-1758541848/dscf1776.jpeg" alt="Introducing Zeitgeist, the journal that feels like a feed" /></p>
            <p>A couple of months ago, I wondered if micro-blogging and journaling could be combined. Something about sending off small posts feels different from crafting a whole journal entry. …</p>
        <p><small><time datetime="2025-09-22T13:50:00+02:00">Sep 22, 2025</time></small></p>
</div>
<p>But I didn't stop there! I can embed dailies, too. Because why not! See here: </p><div>
    <p><strong>Related daily:</strong> <a href="https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-19">Mar 19, 2026</a></p>
        <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/15703ed8ff-1774455867/img_2431.jpeg" alt="Mar 19, 2026" /></p>
            <p>I&#039;ll never enjoy flying. It&#039;s against nature and shouldn&#039;t be possible.</p>
    </div>
<p>And because embedding seems to be the theme of the hour, here's an embed for a tag. It shows the most recent entries with that tag and links to the tag detail page. </p><div>
    <p><strong>Tag:</strong> <a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts?tag=Yearly%20Theme">Yearly Theme</a></p>
    <ul>
                <li><a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts/buying-art-supplies">Buying Art Supplies</a></li>
                <li><a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts/introducing-dailies">Introducing Dailies</a></li>
                <li><a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship-in-review">The Year Of Friendship in Review</a></li>
                <li><a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship">The Year of Friendship</a></li>
            </ul>
    <p><a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts?tag=Yearly%20Theme">See all</a></p>
</div>
<p>Shoutout to Codex for doing most of the work on this! </p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I added a new feature to this site. I can now embed posts into posts. This will only work on the site itself. If you're reading this via RSS, you might want to come over.</p>
<p>Here's an example:</p><div>
    <p><strong>Related post:</strong> <a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts/32-more-years">32 More Years</a></p>
            <p>Lately, despite my best efforts, I&#039;ve noticed more gray hairs at my temples, recurring fashion trends, and a sharp memory of events from two decades ago, all of which frequently …</p>
        <p><small><time datetime="2024-03-10T12:30:00+01:00">Mar 10, 2024</time></small></p>
</div>
<p>But that's not all. Here's an example of a post that contains an image: </p><div>
    <p><strong>Related post:</strong> <a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed">Introducing Zeitgeist, the journal that feels like a feed</a></p>
        <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/29bf64caf9-1758541848/dscf1776.jpeg" alt="Introducing Zeitgeist, the journal that feels like a feed" /></p>
            <p>A couple of months ago, I wondered if micro-blogging and journaling could be combined. Something about sending off small posts feels different from crafting a whole journal entry. …</p>
        <p><small><time datetime="2025-09-22T13:50:00+02:00">Sep 22, 2025</time></small></p>
</div>
<p>But I didn't stop there! I can embed dailies, too. Because why not! See here: </p><div>
    <p><strong>Related daily:</strong> <a href="https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-19">Mar 19, 2026</a></p>
        <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/15703ed8ff-1774455867/img_2431.jpeg" alt="Mar 19, 2026" /></p>
            <p>I&#039;ll never enjoy flying. It&#039;s against nature and shouldn&#039;t be possible.</p>
    </div>
<p>And because embedding seems to be the theme of the hour, here's an embed for a tag. It shows the most recent entries with that tag and links to the tag detail page. </p><div>
    <p><strong>Tag:</strong> <a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts?tag=Yearly%20Theme">Yearly Theme</a></p>
    <ul>
                <li><a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts/buying-art-supplies">Buying Art Supplies</a></li>
                <li><a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts/introducing-dailies">Introducing Dailies</a></li>
                <li><a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship-in-review">The Year Of Friendship in Review</a></li>
                <li><a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship">The Year of Friendship</a></li>
            </ul>
    <p><a href="https://www.marcel.io/posts?tag=Yearly%20Theme">See all</a></p>
</div>
<p>Shoutout to Codex for doing most of the work on this! </p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Unfortunately, I had to buy a PS5 Pro</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 13:16:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/unfortunately-i-had-to-buy-a-ps5-pro</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/unfortunately-i-had-to-buy-a-ps5-pro</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I don’t need a PlayStation 5 Pro. Not yet, that is. My plan was to buy one at the end of the year so I could play GTA 6, if it gets released.</p>
<p>The other day, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/games/902224/sony-ps5-playstation-price-hike">Sony announced</a> yet another price increase for all PlayStation models, and the PS5 Pro is set to cost €150 more. That’s a 20% price increase for a two-year-old console. Absurd.</p>
<p>Being as economical as I am, I ordered a PS5 Pro at the old price, and it’ll arrive on Tuesday. This wasn’t the plan. I don’t want to spend more time playing video games right now. But I can’t say no to a “deal.”</p>
<p>Amazon already increased the prices (days before Sony’s deadline), and the PS5 Pro is sold out.</p>
<p>Weird times.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I don’t need a PlayStation 5 Pro. Not yet, that is. My plan was to buy one at the end of the year so I could play GTA 6, if it gets released.</p>
<p>The other day, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/games/902224/sony-ps5-playstation-price-hike">Sony announced</a> yet another price increase for all PlayStation models, and the PS5 Pro is set to cost €150 more. That’s a 20% price increase for a two-year-old console. Absurd.</p>
<p>Being as economical as I am, I ordered a PS5 Pro at the old price, and it’ll arrive on Tuesday. This wasn’t the plan. I don’t want to spend more time playing video games right now. But I can’t say no to a “deal.”</p>
<p>Amazon already increased the prices (days before Sony’s deadline), and the PS5 Pro is sold out.</p>
<p>Weird times.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 28, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-28</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-28</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Sophisticated Saturday</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-28/89b5954029-1775250066/2026-03-28.png" alt="March 28, 2026" /></p><p>Sophisticated Saturday</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 27, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-27</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-27</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I read the whole book on release day and loved it.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-27/3548845b2f-1775145090/img_2543.jpeg" alt="March 27, 2026" /></p><p>I read the whole book on release day and loved it.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 March 26, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-26</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-26</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Skyr is a recurring topic in my life.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-26/b6bc399212-1775058977/img_2529.jpeg" alt="March 26, 2026" /></p><p>Skyr is a recurring topic in my life.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 March 25, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-25</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-25</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Weather, am I right!?</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-25/e9b44d71e8-1774972748/img_2513.jpeg" alt="March 25, 2026" /></p><p>Weather, am I right!?</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 24, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-24</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-24</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Back home, back to business</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-24/21653e5c96-1774887103/img_2444.jpeg" alt="March 24, 2026" /></p><p>Back home, back to business</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 23, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-23</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-23</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>This marks the end of our little Barcelona adventure. </p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-23/c605574945-1774795554/dscf2800-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-23/c605574945-1774795554/dscf2800.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-23/cb031862c9-1774795575/dscf2816-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-23/cb031862c9-1774795575/dscf2816.jpeg"></figure> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-23/a1b05340c6-1774795470/img_2465.jpeg" alt="March 23, 2026" /></p><p>This marks the end of our little Barcelona adventure. </p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-23/c605574945-1774795554/dscf2800-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-23/c605574945-1774795554/dscf2800.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-23/cb031862c9-1774795575/dscf2816-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-23/cb031862c9-1774795575/dscf2816.jpeg"></figure> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 22, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-22</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-22</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Our second to last day in Barcelona.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/1a8580359a-1774722931/dscf2721-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/1a8580359a-1774722931/dscf2721.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/8b94bf6e30-1774723054/dscf2733-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/8b94bf6e30-1774723054/dscf2733.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/956fa5b433-1774722970/img_2408-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/956fa5b433-1774722970/img_2408.jpeg"></figure> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/6f40ce4a88-1774722870/img_2442.jpeg" alt="March 22, 2026" /></p><p>Our second to last day in Barcelona.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/1a8580359a-1774722931/dscf2721-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/1a8580359a-1774722931/dscf2721.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/8b94bf6e30-1774723054/dscf2733-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/8b94bf6e30-1774723054/dscf2733.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/956fa5b433-1774722970/img_2408-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-22/956fa5b433-1774722970/img_2408.jpeg"></figure> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 March 21, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-21</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-21</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I miss my little Boldu buddy. </p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/70accf7dc7-1774630150/dscf2608-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/70accf7dc7-1774630150/dscf2608.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/b307aa1ad1-1774630183/dscf2633-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/b307aa1ad1-1774630183/dscf2633.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/8850e56029-1774630208/img_2404-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/8850e56029-1774630208/img_2404.jpeg"></figure> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/d932f28c9d-1774630126/img_2453.jpeg" alt="March 21, 2026" /></p><p>I miss my little Boldu buddy. </p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/70accf7dc7-1774630150/dscf2608-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/70accf7dc7-1774630150/dscf2608.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/b307aa1ad1-1774630183/dscf2633-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/b307aa1ad1-1774630183/dscf2633.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/8850e56029-1774630208/img_2404-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-21/8850e56029-1774630208/img_2404.jpeg"></figure> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 March 20, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-20</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-20</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Not even the very expensive tickets could lessen my amazement about Sagrada Família.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/b96c2f4ada-1774542943/dscf2459-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/b96c2f4ada-1774542943/dscf2459.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/a444f6a105-1774542964/dscf2553-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/a444f6a105-1774542964/dscf2553.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/750b57959e-1774542982/dscf2509-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/750b57959e-1774542982/dscf2509.jpeg"></figure> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/2c911fe67b-1774542920/img_2440.jpeg" alt="March 20, 2026" /></p><p>Not even the very expensive tickets could lessen my amazement about Sagrada Família.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/b96c2f4ada-1774542943/dscf2459-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/b96c2f4ada-1774542943/dscf2459.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/a444f6a105-1774542964/dscf2553-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/a444f6a105-1774542964/dscf2553.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/750b57959e-1774542982/dscf2509-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-20/750b57959e-1774542982/dscf2509.jpeg"></figure> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 19, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-19</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-19</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I'll never enjoy flying. It's against nature and shouldn't be possible.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/8793e329f1-1774455915/dscf2389-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/8793e329f1-1774455915/dscf2389.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/df3527ff76-1774455944/dscf2405-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/df3527ff76-1774455944/dscf2405.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/fa322206cf-1774455973/dscf2411-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/fa322206cf-1774455973/dscf2411.jpeg"></figure> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/15703ed8ff-1774455867/img_2431.jpeg" alt="March 19, 2026" /></p><p>I'll never enjoy flying. It's against nature and shouldn't be possible.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/8793e329f1-1774455915/dscf2389-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/8793e329f1-1774455915/dscf2389.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/df3527ff76-1774455944/dscf2405-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/df3527ff76-1774455944/dscf2405.jpeg"></figure>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/fa322206cf-1774455973/dscf2411-1200x.jpg" data-full-src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-19/fa322206cf-1774455973/dscf2411.jpeg"></figure> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 18, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-18</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-18</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Preparing the way.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-18/53479e05df-1774387214/img_2425.jpeg" alt="March 18, 2026" /></p><p>Preparing the way.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 17, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-17</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-17</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>What a nice guy!</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-17/543f88c393-1773852758/img_2344.jpeg" alt="March 17, 2026" /></p><p>What a nice guy!</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 16, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-16</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-16</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I kind of messed up the background. Please don't unfollow me because I'm not good enough at art.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-16/f1e4b50c5f-1773767514/img_2339.jpeg" alt="March 16, 2026" /></p><p>I kind of messed up the background. Please don't unfollow me because I'm not good enough at art.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 15, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-15</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-15</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Who needs meteorology when my head forecasts the weather?</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-15/0fb71340ca-1773681258/img_2320.jpeg" alt="March 15, 2026" /></p><p>Who needs meteorology when my head forecasts the weather?</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 14, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-14</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-14</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Can't run 10K without clothing, can I?</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-14/a7a46d60d7-1773593460/img_2312.jpeg" alt="March 14, 2026" /></p><p>Can't run 10K without clothing, can I?</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 13, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-13</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-13</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Coding became a lot easier once I didn’t have to do it myself anymore.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-13/154c150259-1773509148/img_2294.jpeg" alt="March 13, 2026" /></p><p>Coding became a lot easier once I didn’t have to do it myself anymore.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Pok&#233;mon Pokopia</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2026 11:45:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/pokemon-pokopia</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/pokemon-pokopia</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/pokemon-pokopia/97030c61f0-1773399340/pokopia-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/pokemon-pokopia/97030c61f0-1773399340/pokopia-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/pokemon-pokopia/97030c61f0-1773399340/pokopia-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>The Pokémon franchise lost me at some point. The games felt repetitive and I wasn’t interested in the grind anymore. That’s why I didn’t care about Pokopia when it was announced. Why would I want to play a knock-off Animal Crossing?</p>
<p>This quickly changed when the first reviews came out and were over-the-moon positive. And what can I say? I finished the main story yesterday and had a blast. I can’t remember the last time a video game had me in its grips <a href="https://marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-06">like</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-10">that</a>.</p>
<p>I can’t wait to jump back in and start <em>really</em> working on my towns and making everything pretty.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/pokemon-pokopia/97030c61f0-1773399340/pokopia-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/pokemon-pokopia/97030c61f0-1773399340/pokopia-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/pokemon-pokopia/97030c61f0-1773399340/pokopia-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>The Pokémon franchise lost me at some point. The games felt repetitive and I wasn’t interested in the grind anymore. That’s why I didn’t care about Pokopia when it was announced. Why would I want to play a knock-off Animal Crossing?</p>
<p>This quickly changed when the first reviews came out and were over-the-moon positive. And what can I say? I finished the main story yesterday and had a blast. I can’t remember the last time a video game had me in its grips <a href="https://marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-06">like</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-10">that</a>.</p>
<p>I can’t wait to jump back in and start <em>really</em> working on my towns and making everything pretty.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 12, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-12</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-12</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-12/925670e7d7-1773418559/img_2284.jpeg" alt="March 12, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 11, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-11</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-11</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-11/e009e192e0-1773335748/img_2274.jpeg" alt="March 11, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Introducing Dailies</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:09:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/introducing-dailies</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/introducing-dailies</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>My 2026 is the Year of Art and to make sure that I stick to this theme I started drawing a daily visual journal on the first of January. Up until now I only posted these on social media but I figured it would be nice to give these little artworks a place of their own. Introducing: <a href="https://marcel.io/dailies">Dailies</a>!</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>My 2026 is the Year of Art and to make sure that I stick to this theme I started drawing a daily visual journal on the first of January. Up until now I only posted these on social media but I figured it would be nice to give these little artworks a place of their own. Introducing: <a href="https://marcel.io/dailies">Dailies</a>!</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 10, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-10</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-10</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Poopin' and cleaning up my little town.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-10/795ffcb849-1773245937/2026-03-10.jpeg" alt="March 10, 2026" /></p><p>Poopin' and cleaning up my little town.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 9, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-09</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-09</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-09/5b01c4d841-1773224405/2026-03-10.jpeg" alt="March 9, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 8, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-08</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-08</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-08/733174262c-1773224029/2026-03-08.jpeg" alt="March 8, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 7, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-07</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-07</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-07/fba697ed17-1773224028/2026-03-08.jpeg" alt="March 7, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 6, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-06</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-06</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-06/3fbb755c85-1773224028/2026-03-07.jpeg" alt="March 6, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 5, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-05</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-05</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-05/4b0c80c840-1773224027/2026-03-06.jpeg" alt="March 5, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>New blog features: Hover cards, comments, library improvements</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2026 13:04:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/new-blog-features-hover-cards-comments-library-improvements</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/new-blog-features-hover-cards-comments-library-improvements</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I improved a few things about the blog design. First up, a completely useless addition that makes this design feel even more like a social media stream: You can now hover over the avatar to see a little card with information about me and a few shortcuts.</p><figure>
  <video autoplay loop muted playsinline preload="auto"><source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/new-blog-features-hover-cards-comments-library-improvements/19236276d5-1772712266/info-tooltip-compressed.mp4" type="video/mp4"></video>  </figure>
<p>Next I came up with a completely new take on comments in blogs. It looks like a classic comment form but it's just a quick way to fire off an e-mail to me. Do I hear you mumble "Wow, that's genius!"? You're right!</p><figure>
  <video autoplay loop muted playsinline preload="auto"><source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/new-blog-features-hover-cards-comments-library-improvements/6fc9255435-1772712307/comments_compressed.mp4" type="video/mp4"></video>  </figure>
<p>Last but not least: A few changes to the <a href="https://marcel.io/library">library</a>. It now features a grid view and sorting options. I also added cute little hover tooltips for each view. </p><figure>
  <video autoplay muted playsinline preload="auto"><source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/new-blog-features-hover-cards-comments-library-improvements/323144831b-1772712530/new-library-options-compressed.mp4" type="video/mp4"></video>  </figure>
<p>You might need to clear your cache if something looks funny.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I improved a few things about the blog design. First up, a completely useless addition that makes this design feel even more like a social media stream: You can now hover over the avatar to see a little card with information about me and a few shortcuts.</p><figure>
  <video autoplay loop muted playsinline preload="auto"><source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/new-blog-features-hover-cards-comments-library-improvements/19236276d5-1772712266/info-tooltip-compressed.mp4" type="video/mp4"></video>  </figure>
<p>Next I came up with a completely new take on comments in blogs. It looks like a classic comment form but it's just a quick way to fire off an e-mail to me. Do I hear you mumble "Wow, that's genius!"? You're right!</p><figure>
  <video autoplay loop muted playsinline preload="auto"><source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/new-blog-features-hover-cards-comments-library-improvements/6fc9255435-1772712307/comments_compressed.mp4" type="video/mp4"></video>  </figure>
<p>Last but not least: A few changes to the <a href="https://marcel.io/library">library</a>. It now features a grid view and sorting options. I also added cute little hover tooltips for each view. </p><figure>
  <video autoplay muted playsinline preload="auto"><source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/new-blog-features-hover-cards-comments-library-improvements/323144831b-1772712530/new-library-options-compressed.mp4" type="video/mp4"></video>  </figure>
<p>You might need to clear your cache if something looks funny.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 4, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-04</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-04</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-04/63981f5fac-1773224027/2026-03-04.jpeg" alt="March 4, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Neighborhood News</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 20:41:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/neighborhood-news</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/neighborhood-news</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/neighborhood-news/a96eaacdf9-1772654072/neighborhood_news-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/neighborhood-news/a96eaacdf9-1772654072/neighborhood_news-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/neighborhood-news/a96eaacdf9-1772654072/neighborhood_news-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
 ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/neighborhood-news/a96eaacdf9-1772654072/neighborhood_news-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/neighborhood-news/a96eaacdf9-1772654072/neighborhood_news-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/neighborhood-news/a96eaacdf9-1772654072/neighborhood_news-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
 ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 3, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-03</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-03</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-03/856d440c22-1773224027/2026-03-03.jpeg" alt="March 3, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Design changes</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 22:02:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/design-changes</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/design-changes</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Innovation in blog design rarely happens, but I had something of an epiphany and gave this blog a fresh coat of paint. My primary impetus was that I didn't like how giving something a headline makes it feel far too official. So I removed them. Now every post feels like a quick, throwaway thing on social media. </p>
<p>Less pressure, more posts? We'll find out!</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Innovation in blog design rarely happens, but I had something of an epiphany and gave this blog a fresh coat of paint. My primary impetus was that I didn't like how giving something a headline makes it feel far too official. So I removed them. Now every post feels like a quick, throwaway thing on social media. </p>
<p>Less pressure, more posts? We'll find out!</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>I&#039;m going through something</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 12:46:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/i-m-going-through-something</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/i-m-going-through-something</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/i-m-going-through-something/d4f9b7576e-1772538442/kohlrabi-comic-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/i-m-going-through-something/d4f9b7576e-1772538442/kohlrabi-comic-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/i-m-going-through-something/d4f9b7576e-1772538442/kohlrabi-comic-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
 ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/i-m-going-through-something/d4f9b7576e-1772538442/kohlrabi-comic-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/i-m-going-through-something/d4f9b7576e-1772538442/kohlrabi-comic-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/i-m-going-through-something/d4f9b7576e-1772538442/kohlrabi-comic-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
 ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Sun, fries and forest friends</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 21:58:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/sun-fries-and-forest-friends</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/sun-fries-and-forest-friends</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sun-fries-and-forest-friends/155bb651bf-1772571575/sun-fries-forest-friends-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sun-fries-and-forest-friends/155bb651bf-1772571575/sun-fries-forest-friends-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sun-fries-and-forest-friends/155bb651bf-1772571575/sun-fries-forest-friends-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
 ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sun-fries-and-forest-friends/155bb651bf-1772571575/sun-fries-forest-friends-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sun-fries-and-forest-friends/155bb651bf-1772571575/sun-fries-forest-friends-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sun-fries-and-forest-friends/155bb651bf-1772571575/sun-fries-forest-friends-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
 ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Working at Disney Animation</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 12:39:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/working-at-disney-animation</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/working-at-disney-animation</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Watching people work at Disney Animation is my happy place. It makes me surprisingly emotional to see how much care and love goes into these movies. It’s perfectionism brought to its absolute zenith, and I’m so glad it exists.</p>
<p>These two videos made me very happy recently:</p><figure>
  <iframe allow="fullscreen" allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gB90me0aqSY"></iframe>    <figcaption>I somehow missed this completely, when it came out. I love how the different styles of drawings and animations were reproduced to put all these iconic characters into the same space. Magical!</figcaption>
  </figure>
<figure>
  <iframe allow="fullscreen" allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1KUAO2hfdBE"></iframe>    <figcaption>A Disney Animation studio tour that goes through all the locations the "Once Upon a Studio" short showed. I loved every second of this.</figcaption>
  </figure>
 ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Watching people work at Disney Animation is my happy place. It makes me surprisingly emotional to see how much care and love goes into these movies. It’s perfectionism brought to its absolute zenith, and I’m so glad it exists.</p>
<p>These two videos made me very happy recently:</p><figure>
  <iframe allow="fullscreen" allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gB90me0aqSY"></iframe>    <figcaption>I somehow missed this completely, when it came out. I love how the different styles of drawings and animations were reproduced to put all these iconic characters into the same space. Magical!</figcaption>
  </figure>
<figure>
  <iframe allow="fullscreen" allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1KUAO2hfdBE"></iframe>    <figcaption>A Disney Animation studio tour that goes through all the locations the "Once Upon a Studio" short showed. I loved every second of this.</figcaption>
  </figure>
 ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 2, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-02</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-02</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-02/00b669cc4e-1773224027/2026-03-02.jpeg" alt="March 2, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 March 1, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-01</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-03-01</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-03-01/2a288028b5-1773224027/2026-02-29.jpeg" alt="March 1, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 28, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-28</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-28</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-28/b00274d109-1773224026/2026-02-28.jpeg" alt="February 28, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 27, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-27</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-27</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-27/1ee0907baf-1773224026/2026-02-29.jpeg" alt="February 27, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 26, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-26</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-26</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-26/311672d4a9-1773224026/2026-02-26.jpeg" alt="February 26, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 25, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-25</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-25</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-25/f20fe3a9c0-1773224025/2026-02-25.jpeg" alt="February 25, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 24, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-24</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-24</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-24/ef4595ab9a-1773224025/2026-02-24.jpeg" alt="February 24, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 23, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-23</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-23</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-23/94833e8b97-1773224025/2026-02-23.jpeg" alt="February 23, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 22, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-22</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-22</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-22/e98fe42af2-1773224025/2026-02-22.jpeg" alt="February 22, 2026" /></p><p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 21, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 21 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-21</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-21</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-21/5227262213-1773224024/2026-02-21.jpeg" alt="February 21, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 20, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-20</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-20</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-20/288ce7e3ae-1773224024/2026-02-20.jpeg" alt="February 20, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 19, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-19</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-19</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-19/b915214794-1773224024/2026-02-19.jpeg" alt="February 19, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 18, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-18</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-18</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-18/ed3b3712c1-1773224023/2026-02-18.jpeg" alt="February 18, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 17, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-17</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-17</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-17/b3456e559d-1773224023/2026-02-17.jpeg" alt="February 17, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 16, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-16</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-16</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-16/44c6c6a51f-1773224023/2026-02-16.jpeg" alt="February 16, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 15, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-15</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-15</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-15/b776928a45-1773224022/2026-02-15.jpeg" alt="February 15, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 14, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-14</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-14</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-14/0694b0044d-1773224022/2026-02-14.jpeg" alt="February 14, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 13, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-13</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-13</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-13/d0e645fd3c-1773224022/2026-02-13.jpeg" alt="February 13, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 12, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-12</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-12</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-12/f7f3af3b10-1773224021/2026-02-12.jpeg" alt="February 12, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 11, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-11</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-11</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-11/01053630ff-1773224021/2026-02-11.jpeg" alt="February 11, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 10, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-10</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-10</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-10/cd06ef5f42-1773224021/2026-02-10.jpeg" alt="February 10, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 9, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-09</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-09</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-09/ca801d133b-1773224021/2026-02-09.jpeg" alt="February 9, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 8, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-08</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-08</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-08/4a98cf660e-1773224020/2026-02-08.jpeg" alt="February 8, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 7, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-07</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-07</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-07/9566f28baa-1773224020/2026-02-07.jpeg" alt="February 7, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 6, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-06</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-06</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-06/06281de51f-1773224019/2026-02-06.jpeg" alt="February 6, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 5, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-05</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-05</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-05/bd25429d4f-1773224020/2026-02-05.jpeg" alt="February 5, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 4, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-04</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-04</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-04/df14009359-1773224019/2026-02-04.jpeg" alt="February 4, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 3, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-03</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-03</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-03/341c07a3b5-1773224019/2026-02-03.jpeg" alt="February 3, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 2, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-02</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-02</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-02/b07a4b2354-1773224019/2026-02-02.jpeg" alt="February 2, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 February 1, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-01</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-02-01</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-02-01/716e26fe8c-1773224018/2026-02-01.jpeg" alt="February 1, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 31, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 31 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-31</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-31</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-31/4e11d25599-1773224018/2026-01-31.jpeg" alt="January 31, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 30, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-30</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-30</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-30/61aa2fda6c-1773224018/2026-01-30.jpeg" alt="January 30, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 29, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-29</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-29</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-29/c078bd671f-1773224018/2026-01-29.jpeg" alt="January 29, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 28, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-28</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-28</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-28/17c020a01a-1773224017/2026-01-28.jpeg" alt="January 28, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Will of the Many by James Islington</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-will-of-the-many-james-islington</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-will-of-the-many-james-islington</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I'm so happy that (link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/mistborn-brandon-sanderson">https://marcel.io/library/mistborn-brandon-sanderson</a> text: Mistborn) made me reconsider my stance on fantasy. I would not have started the Hierarchy series if it were not for that reconsideration. </p>
<p>The Will of the Many is the first book in the Hierarchy trilogy and it catapults the reader into a complex world that isn't over-explained and a lot of fun to slowly get into. It's exhaustive, dark, funny and I'm already frustrated that the third book isn't out yet.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 27, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-27</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-27</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-27/1af52b1760-1773224017/2026-01-27.jpeg" alt="January 27, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 26, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-26</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-26</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-26/576c214cb9-1773224017/2026-01-26.jpeg" alt="January 26, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 25, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-25</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-25</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-25/a58b741552-1773224017/2026-01-25.jpeg" alt="January 25, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 24, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-24</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-24</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-24/742ce93724-1773224016/2026-01-24.jpeg" alt="January 24, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 23, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-23</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-23</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-23/cbab7ff7bd-1773224016/2026-01-23.jpeg" alt="January 23, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 22, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-22</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-22</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-22/e6b6d5a4d6-1773224016/2026-01-22.jpeg" alt="January 22, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 21, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 21 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-21</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-21</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-21/2d9b6db6bc-1773224016/2026-01-21.jpeg" alt="January 21, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 20, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-20</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-20</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-20/de8113e2ee-1773224015/2026-01-20.jpeg" alt="January 20, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 19, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-19</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-19</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-19/c7267f6e9d-1773224015/2026-01-19.jpeg" alt="January 19, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 18, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-18</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-18</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-18/131f6f7a16-1773224015/2026-01-18.jpeg" alt="January 18, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 17, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 17 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-17</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-17</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-17/57aa831d07-1773224015/2026-01-17.jpeg" alt="January 17, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 16, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-16</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-16</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-16/57fb0e451c-1773224014/2026-01-16.jpeg" alt="January 16, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 15, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-15</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-15</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-15/5c8c4a3492-1773224014/2026-01-15.jpeg" alt="January 15, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 14, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-14</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-14</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-14/f106b2316b-1773224014/2026-01-14.jpeg" alt="January 14, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 13, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-13</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-13</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-13/3f011c6ca8-1773224014/2026-01-13.jpeg" alt="January 13, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 12, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-12</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-12</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-12/8c880dad2a-1773224013/2026-01-12.jpeg" alt="January 12, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 11, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-11</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-11</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-11/b70648ae03-1773224013/2026-01-11.jpeg" alt="January 11, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 10, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 10 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-10</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-10</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-10/f387119d56-1773224013/2026-01-10.jpeg" alt="January 10, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 9, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-09</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-09</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-09/074b6fdedd-1773224013/2026-01-09.jpeg" alt="January 9, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>iPhone 2X</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 09 Jan 2026 11:32:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/iphone-2x</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/iphone-2x</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Here is my prediction for the name of Apple’s foldable iPhone.</p>
<p>We are (roughly) in the 20th year of the iPhone. At year ten, Apple introduced the iPhone X, a real break from the past with a new design and a new way of interacting with the device.</p>
<p>Now it has been another ten years. (Not really, but they skipped the iPhone 9 to call it X, so they obviously don't care about precision.)</p>
<p>X is the Roman numeral for ten. XX is twenty. A foldable iPhone has two displays.</p>
<p>iPhone 2X</p>
<p>Twenty years (XX). Two screens (2x).</p>
<p>You heard it here first.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Here is my prediction for the name of Apple’s foldable iPhone.</p>
<p>We are (roughly) in the 20th year of the iPhone. At year ten, Apple introduced the iPhone X, a real break from the past with a new design and a new way of interacting with the device.</p>
<p>Now it has been another ten years. (Not really, but they skipped the iPhone 9 to call it X, so they obviously don't care about precision.)</p>
<p>X is the Roman numeral for ten. XX is twenty. A foldable iPhone has two displays.</p>
<p>iPhone 2X</p>
<p>Twenty years (XX). Two screens (2x).</p>
<p>You heard it here first.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 8, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-08</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-08</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-08/ff8040848c-1773224012/2026-01-08.jpeg" alt="January 8, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 7, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 07 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-07</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-07</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-07/f6c1aacde4-1773224012/2026-01-07.jpeg" alt="January 7, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 6, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-06</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-06</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-06/00087cdb9a-1773224012/2026-01-06.jpeg" alt="January 6, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 5, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-05</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-05</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-05/edd1613b9a-1773224011/2026-01-05.jpeg" alt="January 5, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>🎨 January 4, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-04</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-04</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-04/2571b2defb-1773224011/2026-01-04.jpeg" alt="January 4, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 3, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-03</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-03</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-03/f632476c79-1773224011/2026-01-03.jpeg" alt="January 3, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 2, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-02</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-02</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-02/27c54acf27-1773224011/2026-01-02.jpeg" alt="January 2, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>🎨 January 1, 2026</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-01</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/dailies/2026-01-01</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><img src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/dailies/2026-01-01/ab906db25f-1773224011/2026-01-01.jpeg" alt="January 1, 2026" /></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Das Caf&#233; ohne Namen by Robert Seethaler</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/das-cafe-ohne-namen-robert-seethaler</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/das-cafe-ohne-namen-robert-seethaler</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Robert Simon opens a cafe in Vienna of 1966. The story unfolds from there. Not much happens still everything that happens is life in all of its facets. </p>
<p>A nice little story that didn't resonate with me much.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 27 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/everything-is-tuberculosis-john-green</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/everything-is-tuberculosis-john-green</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The first half of this book was fantastic. A deep dive into the history of tuberculosis and how it literally changed everything around us. Even our modern beauty standards. Incredible. </p>
<p>It got a bit repetitive at the end and Green, trying to make the point that the illness should not exist anymore, over-explains the reasoning for this a bit. </p>
<p>A good read nevertheless.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 How to Love by Thich Nhat Hanh</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/how-to-love-thich-nhat-hanh</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/how-to-love-thich-nhat-hanh</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>This is a collection of thoughts and nuggets of wisdom about love from a zen master. It's as much about mindfulness as it is about the importance of love. </p>
<p>I, unironically, loved this. Absolutely worth a read. Especially because it's just a bit more than 100 pages, so you'll be able to read one or two of these chapters per toilet session!</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Void by Veronika Roth</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/void-veronica-roth</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/void-veronica-roth</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>This book taught me that a good way to ruin a sci-fi story for me is to make it a murder mystery. Seems like the mystery genre a lamented (link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/vera-wong-s-unsolicited-advice-for-murderers-jesse-q-sutanto">https://marcel.io/library/vera-wong-s-unsolicited-advice-for-murderers-jesse-q-sutanto</a> text: here) doesn't even work for me when it comes in the Trojan horse of space-faring adventures. </p>
<p>It was an okay story, but the whole "oh look, a twist you could not have guessed that changes everything and then it's suddenly over" thing is just stupid.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Vera Wong&#039;s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/vera-wong-s-unsolicited-advice-for-murderers-jesse-q-sutanto</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/vera-wong-s-unsolicited-advice-for-murderers-jesse-q-sutanto</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I might not be the right person for mystery books. I don't like that the whole thing revolves around a huge twist at the end. </p>
<p>But even if this book would not be of that genre, I would not have liked it much. The protagonist is an old Chinese lady you're supposed to like because she's so quirky and headstrong. I didn't, though. She's an ass for most of the book and I wanted it to be over.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Die Chronistin der Meere by Patrik Svensson</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 14 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/die-chronistin-der-meere-patrik-svennsson</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/die-chronistin-der-meere-patrik-svennsson</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I loved Svensson's "The Gospel of the Eels" so much that I was a bit apprehensive getting into "Die Chronistin der Meere". Turns out that I was right to be. This book feels a bit all over the place. I didn't find a red thread and wondered for most of the book what it's supposed to be about. Every chapter has a new topic, slightly related to the sea. None of them were incredibly interesting, some downright boring. </p>
<p>Bummer.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 All About Love by Bell Hooks</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/all-about-love-bell-hooks</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/all-about-love-bell-hooks</guid>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>My issue with this book wasn't the content but the writing. I appreciate mentioning a book here and there but starting every second paragraph with a citation from another source got boring really quickly. </p>
<p>Other than that it was an obviously well sourced and thought-through exploration of what love is, how and where it can be missing and how to deal with it. At least in theory. Less self-help, more philosophical journey through the topic.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Interest is Everything</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 30 Nov 2025 16:24:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/interest-is-everything</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/interest-is-everything</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p><a href="https://ckarchive.com/b/92uzhnh695dods3roomrdfzod7d33hwh9nk2g">Oliver Burkeman</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Perhaps the reason the idea of an “interesting” life feels like a cop-out – compared to, say, a wildly successful or influential or joyful one – is that it lacks any sense of domination or conquest. We want to feel as though we were handed the challenge of a human lifetime and that we nailed it, that we grappled with the problem and solved it. Whereas to follow the lead of interestingness is to accept that life isn’t a problem to be solved, but an experience to be had. And that engaging with it as fully as possible, connecting to the <a href="https://ckarchive.com/b/zlughnhk8772ma7qrr9qehwzgng00f6">aliveness</a>, is its ultimate point.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>What this means in practical terms is daring to trust your own curiosity. In creative work, that might mean abandoning the effort to “remember everything you read”, or conducting exhaustive research so as to ensure you’ve considered all the factors other people think you ought to consider, and instead using what naturally interests you as a filter.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Whenever I ignore this and dive into something I’m not interested in, I have a miserable time. Video content is a perfect example. I’m convinced there’s a way for me to actually enjoy making it, but I haven’t found it yet, and it becomes a headache almost immediately. </p>
<p>Trusting my curiosity, on the other hand, always leads me to a good time and makes me feel like I’m spending my days on something that’s actually worth doing.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><a href="https://ckarchive.com/b/92uzhnh695dods3roomrdfzod7d33hwh9nk2g">Oliver Burkeman</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Perhaps the reason the idea of an “interesting” life feels like a cop-out – compared to, say, a wildly successful or influential or joyful one – is that it lacks any sense of domination or conquest. We want to feel as though we were handed the challenge of a human lifetime and that we nailed it, that we grappled with the problem and solved it. Whereas to follow the lead of interestingness is to accept that life isn’t a problem to be solved, but an experience to be had. And that engaging with it as fully as possible, connecting to the <a href="https://ckarchive.com/b/zlughnhk8772ma7qrr9qehwzgng00f6">aliveness</a>, is its ultimate point.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>What this means in practical terms is daring to trust your own curiosity. In creative work, that might mean abandoning the effort to “remember everything you read”, or conducting exhaustive research so as to ensure you’ve considered all the factors other people think you ought to consider, and instead using what naturally interests you as a filter.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Whenever I ignore this and dive into something I’m not interested in, I have a miserable time. Video content is a perfect example. I’m convinced there’s a way for me to actually enjoy making it, but I haven’t found it yet, and it becomes a headache almost immediately. </p>
<p>Trusting my curiosity, on the other hand, always leads me to a good time and makes me feel like I’m spending my days on something that’s actually worth doing.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>The Current State of E-Ink Tablets</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 29 Nov 2025 15:36:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-current-state-of-e-ink-tablets</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-current-state-of-e-ink-tablets</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I love handwritten notes. I don't love writing notes on paper. It's just too messy. Even though I romanticize filling notebooks with ideas, scribbles, and everything that goes through my mind, I always arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that it's just too much of a mess to be useful to me.</p>
<p>So I went down the rabbit hole of e-ink tablets.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/the-current-state-of-e-ink-tablets/fdc663d222-1764427224/remarkable_paper_pro_move.jpeg"></figure>
<p>My goal was to find a perfect digital notepad with:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good writing experience (pen feel, latency, writing tools)  </li>
<li>A good and easy-to-navigate interface  </li>
<li>Focus. No clutter, no weirdness  </li>
<li>Beautiful hardware, bonus points if it's pocketable  </li>
<li>A backlight</li>
</ul>
<p>What I don't need is:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good ebook or PDF reading experience  </li>
<li>Android and the ability to install apps  </li>
</ul>
<p>There are currently six companies that offer relevant products in this category: Supernote, Boox, Amazon, Viwoods, Rakuten Kobo, and Remarkable.</p>
<h2>Supernote</h2>
<p><a href="https://supernote.eu/choose-your-product/">Their devices</a> don't have backlights. And the hardware looks like a DIY project by some nerd.</p>
<h2>Boox</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/noteseries">Note Series</a> has the aesthetic of Lenovo's ThinkPads. Some people might like that, but I'm not a mid-level IT manager at IBM.<br />
The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/goseries">Go Series</a> devices are nicely designed, but they’re primarily e-readers, not optimized for note taking. Same for the new <a href="https://shop.boox.com/products/palma2pro">Palma 2 Pro</a>.</p>
<h2>Amazon</h2>
<p>I'm a huge fan of my Kindle Paperwhite, and the <em>perfect</em> device for me would be a Paperwhite with a textured display that feels like writing on paper. Unfortunately that’s not on offer. Instead, Amazon sells the Kindle Scribe. They <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/788289/amazon-kindle-scribe-e-ink-digital-notepad-stylus">announced a new version</a> in September, but it hasn't been released yet.<br />
Amazon has the best backlight of them all, but the current Scribe is basically a big e-book reader with note-taking features. I'd prefer it the other way around.</p>
<h2>Viwoods</h2>
<p>An underdog on this list. I actually bought the <a href="https://viwoods-eu.com/products/viwoods-aipaper-mini">AiPaper Mini</a> and didn't like it. At all. Running Android with a tacked-on custom interface made everything feel bloated and confusing. The device never managed to connect to my Wi-Fi and, worst of all, the writing feel was bad. The lag between my pencil strokes and the text showing up just wasn’t good enough.</p>
<h2>Rakuten Kobo</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://gl.kobobooks.com/de/products/kobo-elipsa-2e">Kobo Elipsa 2E</a> has a notes feature, but it's an e-reader with note taking added to it. The device isn’t optimized for writing.</p>
<h2>Remarkable</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro">Remarkable Paper Pro</a> and <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro-move">Remarkable Paper Pro Move</a> offer the fewest features. They’re hyper-focused on handwritten notes and syncing them with your other devices. You can't install apps, and there aren’t 2000 things to tweak. It’s just an e-ink notebook. You could say “It just works,” which is what people say about Apple devices — and yes, Remarkable is the Apple of the e-ink tablet world.</p>
<p>Their custom OS offers everything I need, has a good user experience (I have a couple of gripes, but that's nothing compared to the other devices), and doesn’t need any explanation. It’s notebooks in folders. That’s it.</p>
<p>It’s an opinionated system. People who like to tinker won’t be happy with it. It’s streamlined e-ink note taking and nothing else. A focused experience where the device and software quickly fade into the background and what’s left are your thoughts on digital paper.</p>
<p>I love it. I love it so much that I bought the Paper Pro Move and the Paper Pro to test and eventually send one back, but I decided to keep both.</p>
<p>This niche is still in its infancy. E-ink technology isn’t new anymore, but it only recently got good enough to do anything with it beyond displaying a book page. And I’m here for it.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I love handwritten notes. I don't love writing notes on paper. It's just too messy. Even though I romanticize filling notebooks with ideas, scribbles, and everything that goes through my mind, I always arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that it's just too much of a mess to be useful to me.</p>
<p>So I went down the rabbit hole of e-ink tablets.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/the-current-state-of-e-ink-tablets/fdc663d222-1764427224/remarkable_paper_pro_move.jpeg"></figure>
<p>My goal was to find a perfect digital notepad with:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good writing experience (pen feel, latency, writing tools)  </li>
<li>A good and easy-to-navigate interface  </li>
<li>Focus. No clutter, no weirdness  </li>
<li>Beautiful hardware, bonus points if it's pocketable  </li>
<li>A backlight</li>
</ul>
<p>What I don't need is:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good ebook or PDF reading experience  </li>
<li>Android and the ability to install apps  </li>
</ul>
<p>There are currently six companies that offer relevant products in this category: Supernote, Boox, Amazon, Viwoods, Rakuten Kobo, and Remarkable.</p>
<h2>Supernote</h2>
<p><a href="https://supernote.eu/choose-your-product/">Their devices</a> don't have backlights. And the hardware looks like a DIY project by some nerd.</p>
<h2>Boox</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/noteseries">Note Series</a> has the aesthetic of Lenovo's ThinkPads. Some people might like that, but I'm not a mid-level IT manager at IBM.<br />
The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/goseries">Go Series</a> devices are nicely designed, but they’re primarily e-readers, not optimized for note taking. Same for the new <a href="https://shop.boox.com/products/palma2pro">Palma 2 Pro</a>.</p>
<h2>Amazon</h2>
<p>I'm a huge fan of my Kindle Paperwhite, and the <em>perfect</em> device for me would be a Paperwhite with a textured display that feels like writing on paper. Unfortunately that’s not on offer. Instead, Amazon sells the Kindle Scribe. They <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/788289/amazon-kindle-scribe-e-ink-digital-notepad-stylus">announced a new version</a> in September, but it hasn't been released yet.<br />
Amazon has the best backlight of them all, but the current Scribe is basically a big e-book reader with note-taking features. I'd prefer it the other way around.</p>
<h2>Viwoods</h2>
<p>An underdog on this list. I actually bought the <a href="https://viwoods-eu.com/products/viwoods-aipaper-mini">AiPaper Mini</a> and didn't like it. At all. Running Android with a tacked-on custom interface made everything feel bloated and confusing. The device never managed to connect to my Wi-Fi and, worst of all, the writing feel was bad. The lag between my pencil strokes and the text showing up just wasn’t good enough.</p>
<h2>Rakuten Kobo</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://gl.kobobooks.com/de/products/kobo-elipsa-2e">Kobo Elipsa 2E</a> has a notes feature, but it's an e-reader with note taking added to it. The device isn’t optimized for writing.</p>
<h2>Remarkable</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro">Remarkable Paper Pro</a> and <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro-move">Remarkable Paper Pro Move</a> offer the fewest features. They’re hyper-focused on handwritten notes and syncing them with your other devices. You can't install apps, and there aren’t 2000 things to tweak. It’s just an e-ink notebook. You could say “It just works,” which is what people say about Apple devices — and yes, Remarkable is the Apple of the e-ink tablet world.</p>
<p>Their custom OS offers everything I need, has a good user experience (I have a couple of gripes, but that's nothing compared to the other devices), and doesn’t need any explanation. It’s notebooks in folders. That’s it.</p>
<p>It’s an opinionated system. People who like to tinker won’t be happy with it. It’s streamlined e-ink note taking and nothing else. A focused experience where the device and software quickly fade into the background and what’s left are your thoughts on digital paper.</p>
<p>I love it. I love it so much that I bought the Paper Pro Move and the Paper Pro to test and eventually send one back, but I decided to keep both.</p>
<p>This niche is still in its infancy. E-ink technology isn’t new anymore, but it only recently got good enough to do anything with it beyond displaying a book page. And I’m here for it.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Yearbook by Seth Rogen</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 28 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/yearbook-seth-rogen</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/yearbook-seth-rogen</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I love handwritten notes. I don't love writing notes on paper. It's just too messy. Even though I romanticize filling notebooks with ideas, scribbles, and everything that goes through my mind, I always arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that it's just too much of a mess to be useful to me.</p>
<p>So I went down the rabbit hole of e-ink tablets.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/the-current-state-of-e-ink-tablets/fdc663d222-1764427224/remarkable_paper_pro_move.jpeg"></figure>
<p>My goal was to find a perfect digital notepad with:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good writing experience (pen feel, latency, writing tools)  </li>
<li>A good and easy-to-navigate interface  </li>
<li>Focus. No clutter, no weirdness  </li>
<li>Beautiful hardware, bonus points if it's pocketable  </li>
<li>A backlight</li>
</ul>
<p>What I don't need is:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good ebook or PDF reading experience  </li>
<li>Android and the ability to install apps  </li>
</ul>
<p>There are currently six companies that offer relevant products in this category: Supernote, Boox, Amazon, Viwoods, Rakuten Kobo, and Remarkable.</p>
<h2>Supernote</h2>
<p><a href="https://supernote.eu/choose-your-product/">Their devices</a> don't have backlights. And the hardware looks like a DIY project by some nerd.</p>
<h2>Boox</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/noteseries">Note Series</a> has the aesthetic of Lenovo's ThinkPads. Some people might like that, but I'm not a mid-level IT manager at IBM.<br />
The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/goseries">Go Series</a> devices are nicely designed, but they’re primarily e-readers, not optimized for note taking. Same for the new <a href="https://shop.boox.com/products/palma2pro">Palma 2 Pro</a>.</p>
<h2>Amazon</h2>
<p>I'm a huge fan of my Kindle Paperwhite, and the <em>perfect</em> device for me would be a Paperwhite with a textured display that feels like writing on paper. Unfortunately that’s not on offer. Instead, Amazon sells the Kindle Scribe. They <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/788289/amazon-kindle-scribe-e-ink-digital-notepad-stylus">announced a new version</a> in September, but it hasn't been released yet.<br />
Amazon has the best backlight of them all, but the current Scribe is basically a big e-book reader with note-taking features. I'd prefer it the other way around.</p>
<h2>Viwoods</h2>
<p>An underdog on this list. I actually bought the <a href="https://viwoods-eu.com/products/viwoods-aipaper-mini">AiPaper Mini</a> and didn't like it. At all. Running Android with a tacked-on custom interface made everything feel bloated and confusing. The device never managed to connect to my Wi-Fi and, worst of all, the writing feel was bad. The lag between my pencil strokes and the text showing up just wasn’t good enough.</p>
<h2>Rakuten Kobo</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://gl.kobobooks.com/de/products/kobo-elipsa-2e">Kobo Elipsa 2E</a> has a notes feature, but it's an e-reader with note taking added to it. The device isn’t optimized for writing.</p>
<h2>Remarkable</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro">Remarkable Paper Pro</a> and <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro-move">Remarkable Paper Pro Move</a> offer the fewest features. They’re hyper-focused on handwritten notes and syncing them with your other devices. You can't install apps, and there aren’t 2000 things to tweak. It’s just an e-ink notebook. You could say “It just works,” which is what people say about Apple devices — and yes, Remarkable is the Apple of the e-ink tablet world.</p>
<p>Their custom OS offers everything I need, has a good user experience (I have a couple of gripes, but that's nothing compared to the other devices), and doesn’t need any explanation. It’s notebooks in folders. That’s it.</p>
<p>It’s an opinionated system. People who like to tinker won’t be happy with it. It’s streamlined e-ink note taking and nothing else. A focused experience where the device and software quickly fade into the background and what’s left are your thoughts on digital paper.</p>
<p>I love it. I love it so much that I bought the Paper Pro Move and the Paper Pro to test and eventually send one back, but I decided to keep both.</p>
<p>This niche is still in its infancy. E-ink technology isn’t new anymore, but it only recently got good enough to do anything with it beyond displaying a book page. And I’m here for it.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I like Seth Rogen. Something about him is very likable, I find. </p>
<p>It took me a while to get into this book. It's a collection of memories of his childhood, youth and his early career and all of them are told with a huge amount of self-deprecation and wit.  </p>
<p>I wouldn't have complained if this book would have been twice as long. Great fun.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-secret-of-secrets-dan-brown</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-secret-of-secrets-dan-brown</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I love handwritten notes. I don't love writing notes on paper. It's just too messy. Even though I romanticize filling notebooks with ideas, scribbles, and everything that goes through my mind, I always arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that it's just too much of a mess to be useful to me.</p>
<p>So I went down the rabbit hole of e-ink tablets.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/the-current-state-of-e-ink-tablets/fdc663d222-1764427224/remarkable_paper_pro_move.jpeg"></figure>
<p>My goal was to find a perfect digital notepad with:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good writing experience (pen feel, latency, writing tools)  </li>
<li>A good and easy-to-navigate interface  </li>
<li>Focus. No clutter, no weirdness  </li>
<li>Beautiful hardware, bonus points if it's pocketable  </li>
<li>A backlight</li>
</ul>
<p>What I don't need is:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good ebook or PDF reading experience  </li>
<li>Android and the ability to install apps  </li>
</ul>
<p>There are currently six companies that offer relevant products in this category: Supernote, Boox, Amazon, Viwoods, Rakuten Kobo, and Remarkable.</p>
<h2>Supernote</h2>
<p><a href="https://supernote.eu/choose-your-product/">Their devices</a> don't have backlights. And the hardware looks like a DIY project by some nerd.</p>
<h2>Boox</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/noteseries">Note Series</a> has the aesthetic of Lenovo's ThinkPads. Some people might like that, but I'm not a mid-level IT manager at IBM.<br />
The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/goseries">Go Series</a> devices are nicely designed, but they’re primarily e-readers, not optimized for note taking. Same for the new <a href="https://shop.boox.com/products/palma2pro">Palma 2 Pro</a>.</p>
<h2>Amazon</h2>
<p>I'm a huge fan of my Kindle Paperwhite, and the <em>perfect</em> device for me would be a Paperwhite with a textured display that feels like writing on paper. Unfortunately that’s not on offer. Instead, Amazon sells the Kindle Scribe. They <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/788289/amazon-kindle-scribe-e-ink-digital-notepad-stylus">announced a new version</a> in September, but it hasn't been released yet.<br />
Amazon has the best backlight of them all, but the current Scribe is basically a big e-book reader with note-taking features. I'd prefer it the other way around.</p>
<h2>Viwoods</h2>
<p>An underdog on this list. I actually bought the <a href="https://viwoods-eu.com/products/viwoods-aipaper-mini">AiPaper Mini</a> and didn't like it. At all. Running Android with a tacked-on custom interface made everything feel bloated and confusing. The device never managed to connect to my Wi-Fi and, worst of all, the writing feel was bad. The lag between my pencil strokes and the text showing up just wasn’t good enough.</p>
<h2>Rakuten Kobo</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://gl.kobobooks.com/de/products/kobo-elipsa-2e">Kobo Elipsa 2E</a> has a notes feature, but it's an e-reader with note taking added to it. The device isn’t optimized for writing.</p>
<h2>Remarkable</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro">Remarkable Paper Pro</a> and <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro-move">Remarkable Paper Pro Move</a> offer the fewest features. They’re hyper-focused on handwritten notes and syncing them with your other devices. You can't install apps, and there aren’t 2000 things to tweak. It’s just an e-ink notebook. You could say “It just works,” which is what people say about Apple devices — and yes, Remarkable is the Apple of the e-ink tablet world.</p>
<p>Their custom OS offers everything I need, has a good user experience (I have a couple of gripes, but that's nothing compared to the other devices), and doesn’t need any explanation. It’s notebooks in folders. That’s it.</p>
<p>It’s an opinionated system. People who like to tinker won’t be happy with it. It’s streamlined e-ink note taking and nothing else. A focused experience where the device and software quickly fade into the background and what’s left are your thoughts on digital paper.</p>
<p>I love it. I love it so much that I bought the Paper Pro Move and the Paper Pro to test and eventually send one back, but I decided to keep both.</p>
<p>This niche is still in its infancy. E-ink technology isn’t new anymore, but it only recently got good enough to do anything with it beyond displaying a book page. And I’m here for it.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I love me some Dan Brown. I'm not even self-conscious about this. It's a page-turner. A thriller that wants you to be excited for every single one of the cliff-hangers it offers. And what can I say, it works for me. </p>
<p>The ideas and theories in this book were amazing. The story itself had a few lengths here and there but I for one can't wait for the next installation of Robert Langdon's adventures.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Mistborn Secret History by Brandon Sanderson</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/mistborn-secret-history-brandon-sanderson</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/mistborn-secret-history-brandon-sanderson</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I love handwritten notes. I don't love writing notes on paper. It's just too messy. Even though I romanticize filling notebooks with ideas, scribbles, and everything that goes through my mind, I always arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that it's just too much of a mess to be useful to me.</p>
<p>So I went down the rabbit hole of e-ink tablets.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/the-current-state-of-e-ink-tablets/fdc663d222-1764427224/remarkable_paper_pro_move.jpeg"></figure>
<p>My goal was to find a perfect digital notepad with:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good writing experience (pen feel, latency, writing tools)  </li>
<li>A good and easy-to-navigate interface  </li>
<li>Focus. No clutter, no weirdness  </li>
<li>Beautiful hardware, bonus points if it's pocketable  </li>
<li>A backlight</li>
</ul>
<p>What I don't need is:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good ebook or PDF reading experience  </li>
<li>Android and the ability to install apps  </li>
</ul>
<p>There are currently six companies that offer relevant products in this category: Supernote, Boox, Amazon, Viwoods, Rakuten Kobo, and Remarkable.</p>
<h2>Supernote</h2>
<p><a href="https://supernote.eu/choose-your-product/">Their devices</a> don't have backlights. And the hardware looks like a DIY project by some nerd.</p>
<h2>Boox</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/noteseries">Note Series</a> has the aesthetic of Lenovo's ThinkPads. Some people might like that, but I'm not a mid-level IT manager at IBM.<br />
The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/goseries">Go Series</a> devices are nicely designed, but they’re primarily e-readers, not optimized for note taking. Same for the new <a href="https://shop.boox.com/products/palma2pro">Palma 2 Pro</a>.</p>
<h2>Amazon</h2>
<p>I'm a huge fan of my Kindle Paperwhite, and the <em>perfect</em> device for me would be a Paperwhite with a textured display that feels like writing on paper. Unfortunately that’s not on offer. Instead, Amazon sells the Kindle Scribe. They <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/788289/amazon-kindle-scribe-e-ink-digital-notepad-stylus">announced a new version</a> in September, but it hasn't been released yet.<br />
Amazon has the best backlight of them all, but the current Scribe is basically a big e-book reader with note-taking features. I'd prefer it the other way around.</p>
<h2>Viwoods</h2>
<p>An underdog on this list. I actually bought the <a href="https://viwoods-eu.com/products/viwoods-aipaper-mini">AiPaper Mini</a> and didn't like it. At all. Running Android with a tacked-on custom interface made everything feel bloated and confusing. The device never managed to connect to my Wi-Fi and, worst of all, the writing feel was bad. The lag between my pencil strokes and the text showing up just wasn’t good enough.</p>
<h2>Rakuten Kobo</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://gl.kobobooks.com/de/products/kobo-elipsa-2e">Kobo Elipsa 2E</a> has a notes feature, but it's an e-reader with note taking added to it. The device isn’t optimized for writing.</p>
<h2>Remarkable</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro">Remarkable Paper Pro</a> and <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro-move">Remarkable Paper Pro Move</a> offer the fewest features. They’re hyper-focused on handwritten notes and syncing them with your other devices. You can't install apps, and there aren’t 2000 things to tweak. It’s just an e-ink notebook. You could say “It just works,” which is what people say about Apple devices — and yes, Remarkable is the Apple of the e-ink tablet world.</p>
<p>Their custom OS offers everything I need, has a good user experience (I have a couple of gripes, but that's nothing compared to the other devices), and doesn’t need any explanation. It’s notebooks in folders. That’s it.</p>
<p>It’s an opinionated system. People who like to tinker won’t be happy with it. It’s streamlined e-ink note taking and nothing else. A focused experience where the device and software quickly fade into the background and what’s left are your thoughts on digital paper.</p>
<p>I love it. I love it so much that I bought the Paper Pro Move and the Paper Pro to test and eventually send one back, but I decided to keep both.</p>
<p>This niche is still in its infancy. E-ink technology isn’t new anymore, but it only recently got good enough to do anything with it beyond displaying a book page. And I’m here for it.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>This is book number 3.5 in the Mistborn trilogy and it does something unexpected: It connects the three Mistborn books even more to Sanderson's overarching universe of books. I needed this to be hyped up for the rest of them but at the same time I think that I need to take a break from this. It was short and sweet, though.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-hero-of-ages-brandon-sanderson</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-hero-of-ages-brandon-sanderson</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I love handwritten notes. I don't love writing notes on paper. It's just too messy. Even though I romanticize filling notebooks with ideas, scribbles, and everything that goes through my mind, I always arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that it's just too much of a mess to be useful to me.</p>
<p>So I went down the rabbit hole of e-ink tablets.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/the-current-state-of-e-ink-tablets/fdc663d222-1764427224/remarkable_paper_pro_move.jpeg"></figure>
<p>My goal was to find a perfect digital notepad with:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good writing experience (pen feel, latency, writing tools)  </li>
<li>A good and easy-to-navigate interface  </li>
<li>Focus. No clutter, no weirdness  </li>
<li>Beautiful hardware, bonus points if it's pocketable  </li>
<li>A backlight</li>
</ul>
<p>What I don't need is:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good ebook or PDF reading experience  </li>
<li>Android and the ability to install apps  </li>
</ul>
<p>There are currently six companies that offer relevant products in this category: Supernote, Boox, Amazon, Viwoods, Rakuten Kobo, and Remarkable.</p>
<h2>Supernote</h2>
<p><a href="https://supernote.eu/choose-your-product/">Their devices</a> don't have backlights. And the hardware looks like a DIY project by some nerd.</p>
<h2>Boox</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/noteseries">Note Series</a> has the aesthetic of Lenovo's ThinkPads. Some people might like that, but I'm not a mid-level IT manager at IBM.<br />
The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/goseries">Go Series</a> devices are nicely designed, but they’re primarily e-readers, not optimized for note taking. Same for the new <a href="https://shop.boox.com/products/palma2pro">Palma 2 Pro</a>.</p>
<h2>Amazon</h2>
<p>I'm a huge fan of my Kindle Paperwhite, and the <em>perfect</em> device for me would be a Paperwhite with a textured display that feels like writing on paper. Unfortunately that’s not on offer. Instead, Amazon sells the Kindle Scribe. They <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/788289/amazon-kindle-scribe-e-ink-digital-notepad-stylus">announced a new version</a> in September, but it hasn't been released yet.<br />
Amazon has the best backlight of them all, but the current Scribe is basically a big e-book reader with note-taking features. I'd prefer it the other way around.</p>
<h2>Viwoods</h2>
<p>An underdog on this list. I actually bought the <a href="https://viwoods-eu.com/products/viwoods-aipaper-mini">AiPaper Mini</a> and didn't like it. At all. Running Android with a tacked-on custom interface made everything feel bloated and confusing. The device never managed to connect to my Wi-Fi and, worst of all, the writing feel was bad. The lag between my pencil strokes and the text showing up just wasn’t good enough.</p>
<h2>Rakuten Kobo</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://gl.kobobooks.com/de/products/kobo-elipsa-2e">Kobo Elipsa 2E</a> has a notes feature, but it's an e-reader with note taking added to it. The device isn’t optimized for writing.</p>
<h2>Remarkable</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro">Remarkable Paper Pro</a> and <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro-move">Remarkable Paper Pro Move</a> offer the fewest features. They’re hyper-focused on handwritten notes and syncing them with your other devices. You can't install apps, and there aren’t 2000 things to tweak. It’s just an e-ink notebook. You could say “It just works,” which is what people say about Apple devices — and yes, Remarkable is the Apple of the e-ink tablet world.</p>
<p>Their custom OS offers everything I need, has a good user experience (I have a couple of gripes, but that's nothing compared to the other devices), and doesn’t need any explanation. It’s notebooks in folders. That’s it.</p>
<p>It’s an opinionated system. People who like to tinker won’t be happy with it. It’s streamlined e-ink note taking and nothing else. A focused experience where the device and software quickly fade into the background and what’s left are your thoughts on digital paper.</p>
<p>I love it. I love it so much that I bought the Paper Pro Move and the Paper Pro to test and eventually send one back, but I decided to keep both.</p>
<p>This niche is still in its infancy. E-ink technology isn’t new anymore, but it only recently got good enough to do anything with it beyond displaying a book page. And I’m here for it.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>This was a fantastic ending to the trilogy. I don't think that I ever want to read this many names of metals in a book, though. The twists and turns and the huge payoff at the end made the lengths worth it. </p>
<p>I'm not sure if I'm happy about the fact that this is just one trilogy in an ever-growing collection of books that play in this universe, though. It's just so much. I feel like I'm missing something by not reading all the other books.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 18 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-well-of-ascension-brandon-sanderson</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-well-of-ascension-brandon-sanderson</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I love handwritten notes. I don't love writing notes on paper. It's just too messy. Even though I romanticize filling notebooks with ideas, scribbles, and everything that goes through my mind, I always arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that it's just too much of a mess to be useful to me.</p>
<p>So I went down the rabbit hole of e-ink tablets.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/the-current-state-of-e-ink-tablets/fdc663d222-1764427224/remarkable_paper_pro_move.jpeg"></figure>
<p>My goal was to find a perfect digital notepad with:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good writing experience (pen feel, latency, writing tools)  </li>
<li>A good and easy-to-navigate interface  </li>
<li>Focus. No clutter, no weirdness  </li>
<li>Beautiful hardware, bonus points if it's pocketable  </li>
<li>A backlight</li>
</ul>
<p>What I don't need is:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good ebook or PDF reading experience  </li>
<li>Android and the ability to install apps  </li>
</ul>
<p>There are currently six companies that offer relevant products in this category: Supernote, Boox, Amazon, Viwoods, Rakuten Kobo, and Remarkable.</p>
<h2>Supernote</h2>
<p><a href="https://supernote.eu/choose-your-product/">Their devices</a> don't have backlights. And the hardware looks like a DIY project by some nerd.</p>
<h2>Boox</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/noteseries">Note Series</a> has the aesthetic of Lenovo's ThinkPads. Some people might like that, but I'm not a mid-level IT manager at IBM.<br />
The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/goseries">Go Series</a> devices are nicely designed, but they’re primarily e-readers, not optimized for note taking. Same for the new <a href="https://shop.boox.com/products/palma2pro">Palma 2 Pro</a>.</p>
<h2>Amazon</h2>
<p>I'm a huge fan of my Kindle Paperwhite, and the <em>perfect</em> device for me would be a Paperwhite with a textured display that feels like writing on paper. Unfortunately that’s not on offer. Instead, Amazon sells the Kindle Scribe. They <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/788289/amazon-kindle-scribe-e-ink-digital-notepad-stylus">announced a new version</a> in September, but it hasn't been released yet.<br />
Amazon has the best backlight of them all, but the current Scribe is basically a big e-book reader with note-taking features. I'd prefer it the other way around.</p>
<h2>Viwoods</h2>
<p>An underdog on this list. I actually bought the <a href="https://viwoods-eu.com/products/viwoods-aipaper-mini">AiPaper Mini</a> and didn't like it. At all. Running Android with a tacked-on custom interface made everything feel bloated and confusing. The device never managed to connect to my Wi-Fi and, worst of all, the writing feel was bad. The lag between my pencil strokes and the text showing up just wasn’t good enough.</p>
<h2>Rakuten Kobo</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://gl.kobobooks.com/de/products/kobo-elipsa-2e">Kobo Elipsa 2E</a> has a notes feature, but it's an e-reader with note taking added to it. The device isn’t optimized for writing.</p>
<h2>Remarkable</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro">Remarkable Paper Pro</a> and <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro-move">Remarkable Paper Pro Move</a> offer the fewest features. They’re hyper-focused on handwritten notes and syncing them with your other devices. You can't install apps, and there aren’t 2000 things to tweak. It’s just an e-ink notebook. You could say “It just works,” which is what people say about Apple devices — and yes, Remarkable is the Apple of the e-ink tablet world.</p>
<p>Their custom OS offers everything I need, has a good user experience (I have a couple of gripes, but that's nothing compared to the other devices), and doesn’t need any explanation. It’s notebooks in folders. That’s it.</p>
<p>It’s an opinionated system. People who like to tinker won’t be happy with it. It’s streamlined e-ink note taking and nothing else. A focused experience where the device and software quickly fade into the background and what’s left are your thoughts on digital paper.</p>
<p>I love it. I love it so much that I bought the Paper Pro Move and the Paper Pro to test and eventually send one back, but I decided to keep both.</p>
<p>This niche is still in its infancy. E-ink technology isn’t new anymore, but it only recently got good enough to do anything with it beyond displaying a book page. And I’m here for it.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The second installation of the Mistborn saga continues the story, keeps it interesting but in classic middle-book-style builds up too much that isn't resolved. The lengths I didn't like in the first book continued here. Still an enjoyable read.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/nuclear-war-annie-jacobsen</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/nuclear-war-annie-jacobsen</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I love handwritten notes. I don't love writing notes on paper. It's just too messy. Even though I romanticize filling notebooks with ideas, scribbles, and everything that goes through my mind, I always arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that it's just too much of a mess to be useful to me.</p>
<p>So I went down the rabbit hole of e-ink tablets.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/the-current-state-of-e-ink-tablets/fdc663d222-1764427224/remarkable_paper_pro_move.jpeg"></figure>
<p>My goal was to find a perfect digital notepad with:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good writing experience (pen feel, latency, writing tools)  </li>
<li>A good and easy-to-navigate interface  </li>
<li>Focus. No clutter, no weirdness  </li>
<li>Beautiful hardware, bonus points if it's pocketable  </li>
<li>A backlight</li>
</ul>
<p>What I don't need is:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good ebook or PDF reading experience  </li>
<li>Android and the ability to install apps  </li>
</ul>
<p>There are currently six companies that offer relevant products in this category: Supernote, Boox, Amazon, Viwoods, Rakuten Kobo, and Remarkable.</p>
<h2>Supernote</h2>
<p><a href="https://supernote.eu/choose-your-product/">Their devices</a> don't have backlights. And the hardware looks like a DIY project by some nerd.</p>
<h2>Boox</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/noteseries">Note Series</a> has the aesthetic of Lenovo's ThinkPads. Some people might like that, but I'm not a mid-level IT manager at IBM.<br />
The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/goseries">Go Series</a> devices are nicely designed, but they’re primarily e-readers, not optimized for note taking. Same for the new <a href="https://shop.boox.com/products/palma2pro">Palma 2 Pro</a>.</p>
<h2>Amazon</h2>
<p>I'm a huge fan of my Kindle Paperwhite, and the <em>perfect</em> device for me would be a Paperwhite with a textured display that feels like writing on paper. Unfortunately that’s not on offer. Instead, Amazon sells the Kindle Scribe. They <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/788289/amazon-kindle-scribe-e-ink-digital-notepad-stylus">announced a new version</a> in September, but it hasn't been released yet.<br />
Amazon has the best backlight of them all, but the current Scribe is basically a big e-book reader with note-taking features. I'd prefer it the other way around.</p>
<h2>Viwoods</h2>
<p>An underdog on this list. I actually bought the <a href="https://viwoods-eu.com/products/viwoods-aipaper-mini">AiPaper Mini</a> and didn't like it. At all. Running Android with a tacked-on custom interface made everything feel bloated and confusing. The device never managed to connect to my Wi-Fi and, worst of all, the writing feel was bad. The lag between my pencil strokes and the text showing up just wasn’t good enough.</p>
<h2>Rakuten Kobo</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://gl.kobobooks.com/de/products/kobo-elipsa-2e">Kobo Elipsa 2E</a> has a notes feature, but it's an e-reader with note taking added to it. The device isn’t optimized for writing.</p>
<h2>Remarkable</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro">Remarkable Paper Pro</a> and <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro-move">Remarkable Paper Pro Move</a> offer the fewest features. They’re hyper-focused on handwritten notes and syncing them with your other devices. You can't install apps, and there aren’t 2000 things to tweak. It’s just an e-ink notebook. You could say “It just works,” which is what people say about Apple devices — and yes, Remarkable is the Apple of the e-ink tablet world.</p>
<p>Their custom OS offers everything I need, has a good user experience (I have a couple of gripes, but that's nothing compared to the other devices), and doesn’t need any explanation. It’s notebooks in folders. That’s it.</p>
<p>It’s an opinionated system. People who like to tinker won’t be happy with it. It’s streamlined e-ink note taking and nothing else. A focused experience where the device and software quickly fade into the background and what’s left are your thoughts on digital paper.</p>
<p>I love it. I love it so much that I bought the Paper Pro Move and the Paper Pro to test and eventually send one back, but I decided to keep both.</p>
<p>This niche is still in its infancy. E-ink technology isn’t new anymore, but it only recently got good enough to do anything with it beyond displaying a book page. And I’m here for it.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I devoured this book. </p>
<p>It's a second by second analysis of what would happen if just one single nuclear rocket would be launched somewhere in North Korea. </p>
<p>Spoiler: It won't be great. We'd all die. Not in years, months, weeks or even days but in less than two hours. </p>
<p>Absolutely worth reading if you can find solace in knowing that this end would be quick, at least.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Wesentliche Bed&#252;rfnisse by Res Sigusch</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 29 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/wesentliche-bedurfnisse-res-sigusch</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/wesentliche-bedurfnisse-res-sigusch</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I love handwritten notes. I don't love writing notes on paper. It's just too messy. Even though I romanticize filling notebooks with ideas, scribbles, and everything that goes through my mind, I always arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that it's just too much of a mess to be useful to me.</p>
<p>So I went down the rabbit hole of e-ink tablets.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/the-current-state-of-e-ink-tablets/fdc663d222-1764427224/remarkable_paper_pro_move.jpeg"></figure>
<p>My goal was to find a perfect digital notepad with:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good writing experience (pen feel, latency, writing tools)  </li>
<li>A good and easy-to-navigate interface  </li>
<li>Focus. No clutter, no weirdness  </li>
<li>Beautiful hardware, bonus points if it's pocketable  </li>
<li>A backlight</li>
</ul>
<p>What I don't need is:</p>
<ul>
<li>A good ebook or PDF reading experience  </li>
<li>Android and the ability to install apps  </li>
</ul>
<p>There are currently six companies that offer relevant products in this category: Supernote, Boox, Amazon, Viwoods, Rakuten Kobo, and Remarkable.</p>
<h2>Supernote</h2>
<p><a href="https://supernote.eu/choose-your-product/">Their devices</a> don't have backlights. And the hardware looks like a DIY project by some nerd.</p>
<h2>Boox</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/noteseries">Note Series</a> has the aesthetic of Lenovo's ThinkPads. Some people might like that, but I'm not a mid-level IT manager at IBM.<br />
The <a href="https://shop.boox.com/collections/goseries">Go Series</a> devices are nicely designed, but they’re primarily e-readers, not optimized for note taking. Same for the new <a href="https://shop.boox.com/products/palma2pro">Palma 2 Pro</a>.</p>
<h2>Amazon</h2>
<p>I'm a huge fan of my Kindle Paperwhite, and the <em>perfect</em> device for me would be a Paperwhite with a textured display that feels like writing on paper. Unfortunately that’s not on offer. Instead, Amazon sells the Kindle Scribe. They <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/788289/amazon-kindle-scribe-e-ink-digital-notepad-stylus">announced a new version</a> in September, but it hasn't been released yet.<br />
Amazon has the best backlight of them all, but the current Scribe is basically a big e-book reader with note-taking features. I'd prefer it the other way around.</p>
<h2>Viwoods</h2>
<p>An underdog on this list. I actually bought the <a href="https://viwoods-eu.com/products/viwoods-aipaper-mini">AiPaper Mini</a> and didn't like it. At all. Running Android with a tacked-on custom interface made everything feel bloated and confusing. The device never managed to connect to my Wi-Fi and, worst of all, the writing feel was bad. The lag between my pencil strokes and the text showing up just wasn’t good enough.</p>
<h2>Rakuten Kobo</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://gl.kobobooks.com/de/products/kobo-elipsa-2e">Kobo Elipsa 2E</a> has a notes feature, but it's an e-reader with note taking added to it. The device isn’t optimized for writing.</p>
<h2>Remarkable</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro">Remarkable Paper Pro</a> and <a href="https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro-move">Remarkable Paper Pro Move</a> offer the fewest features. They’re hyper-focused on handwritten notes and syncing them with your other devices. You can't install apps, and there aren’t 2000 things to tweak. It’s just an e-ink notebook. You could say “It just works,” which is what people say about Apple devices — and yes, Remarkable is the Apple of the e-ink tablet world.</p>
<p>Their custom OS offers everything I need, has a good user experience (I have a couple of gripes, but that's nothing compared to the other devices), and doesn’t need any explanation. It’s notebooks in folders. That’s it.</p>
<p>It’s an opinionated system. People who like to tinker won’t be happy with it. It’s streamlined e-ink note taking and nothing else. A focused experience where the device and software quickly fade into the background and what’s left are your thoughts on digital paper.</p>
<p>I love it. I love it so much that I bought the Paper Pro Move and the Paper Pro to test and eventually send one back, but I decided to keep both.</p>
<p>This niche is still in its infancy. E-ink technology isn’t new anymore, but it only recently got good enough to do anything with it beyond displaying a book page. And I’m here for it.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>What I don't like about many German novels is that they're often about depressed protagonists. They're walking through life with an ever increasing confusion and at some point everything feels like a fever dream they're trying to escape. </p>
<p>Same with this book. The setting is good, the story interesting but I just didn't like the people I had to spend time with while reading. Especially the protagonist.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>Introducing Zeitgeist, the journal that feels like a feed</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 22 Sep 2025 13:50:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A couple of months ago, I wondered if micro-blogging and journaling could be combined. Something about sending off small posts feels different from crafting a whole journal entry. I’ve been journaling the classic way for years, but I often felt like I was just going through the motions because I had to. It wasn’t fun, just another task.</p><p>So I built myself a complicated solution using Apple Shortcuts and Obsidian to prototype my vision of a short-form journaling experience. Tap an icon, a text field opens, and I can quickly jot down what I’m doing or thinking about. The result was a Markdown file with timestamps and those entries. That felt surprisingly good. It was fun to open the app and quickly note what I was doing whenever I had a few seconds of downtime. Far better than doomscrolling.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Long story short: I built a whole journaling app around this concept.</p><p>It’s called <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Zeitgeist</strong></a>, and it feels like social media but with an audience of one: <em>yourself</em>. All your random little posts come together to form the overarching story of your life.</p><p>Go give it a try. I’ve been using it for weeks and, even though I’m obviously a bit biased, love it. It’s just so quick and low-friction. Let me know what you think!</p><p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Download Zeitgeist now</strong></a></p><figure data-ratio="auto">
  <ul>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/29bf64caf9-1758541848/dscf1776.jpeg">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0cfab38304-1758541878/zeitgeist_timeline.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/f287e0d6c3-1758541876/zeitgeist_compose.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0926fd0509-1758541891/zeitgeist_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/ac0968fb61-1758541844/zeitgeist_daydetail.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/da8717af79-1758541844/zeitgeist_person_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/50b04567be-1758541854/zeitgeist_map.png">    </li>
      </ul>
  </figure>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015">Download Zeitgeist now!</a></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>A couple of months ago, I wondered if micro-blogging and journaling could be combined. Something about sending off small posts feels different from crafting a whole journal entry. I’ve been journaling the classic way for years, but I often felt like I was just going through the motions because I had to. It wasn’t fun, just another task.</p><p>So I built myself a complicated solution using Apple Shortcuts and Obsidian to prototype my vision of a short-form journaling experience. Tap an icon, a text field opens, and I can quickly jot down what I’m doing or thinking about. The result was a Markdown file with timestamps and those entries. That felt surprisingly good. It was fun to open the app and quickly note what I was doing whenever I had a few seconds of downtime. Far better than doomscrolling.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Long story short: I built a whole journaling app around this concept.</p><p>It’s called <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Zeitgeist</strong></a>, and it feels like social media but with an audience of one: <em>yourself</em>. All your random little posts come together to form the overarching story of your life.</p><p>Go give it a try. I’ve been using it for weeks and, even though I’m obviously a bit biased, love it. It’s just so quick and low-friction. Let me know what you think!</p><p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Download Zeitgeist now</strong></a></p><figure data-ratio="auto">
  <ul>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/29bf64caf9-1758541848/dscf1776.jpeg">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0cfab38304-1758541878/zeitgeist_timeline.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/f287e0d6c3-1758541876/zeitgeist_compose.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0926fd0509-1758541891/zeitgeist_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/ac0968fb61-1758541844/zeitgeist_daydetail.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/da8717af79-1758541844/zeitgeist_person_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/50b04567be-1758541854/zeitgeist_map.png">    </li>
      </ul>
  </figure>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015">Download Zeitgeist now!</a></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 20 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/mistborn-brandon-sanderson</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/mistborn-brandon-sanderson</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A couple of months ago, I wondered if micro-blogging and journaling could be combined. Something about sending off small posts feels different from crafting a whole journal entry. I’ve been journaling the classic way for years, but I often felt like I was just going through the motions because I had to. It wasn’t fun, just another task.</p><p>So I built myself a complicated solution using Apple Shortcuts and Obsidian to prototype my vision of a short-form journaling experience. Tap an icon, a text field opens, and I can quickly jot down what I’m doing or thinking about. The result was a Markdown file with timestamps and those entries. That felt surprisingly good. It was fun to open the app and quickly note what I was doing whenever I had a few seconds of downtime. Far better than doomscrolling.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Long story short: I built a whole journaling app around this concept.</p><p>It’s called <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Zeitgeist</strong></a>, and it feels like social media but with an audience of one: <em>yourself</em>. All your random little posts come together to form the overarching story of your life.</p><p>Go give it a try. I’ve been using it for weeks and, even though I’m obviously a bit biased, love it. It’s just so quick and low-friction. Let me know what you think!</p><p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Download Zeitgeist now</strong></a></p><figure data-ratio="auto">
  <ul>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/29bf64caf9-1758541848/dscf1776.jpeg">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0cfab38304-1758541878/zeitgeist_timeline.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/f287e0d6c3-1758541876/zeitgeist_compose.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0926fd0509-1758541891/zeitgeist_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/ac0968fb61-1758541844/zeitgeist_daydetail.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/da8717af79-1758541844/zeitgeist_person_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/50b04567be-1758541854/zeitgeist_map.png">    </li>
      </ul>
  </figure>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015">Download Zeitgeist now!</a></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>My friend Mona told me for years to read something from Brandon Sanderson. I never wanted to, because my fascination for fantasy ebbed at some point and I didn't want to spend time in some kind of grimy, dark ages, torchlit world. </p>
<p>I'm glad I changed my opinion, though! Mistborn is a great prelude for this trilogy. The magic system is fun and the storyline is great. </p>
<p>My five-star rating is despite Sanderson's immense focus on long-winded dialogue. A bit more "show, don't tell" would have made this even better.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Kummer aller Art by Mariana Leky</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/kummer-aller-art-mariana-leky</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/kummer-aller-art-mariana-leky</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A couple of months ago, I wondered if micro-blogging and journaling could be combined. Something about sending off small posts feels different from crafting a whole journal entry. I’ve been journaling the classic way for years, but I often felt like I was just going through the motions because I had to. It wasn’t fun, just another task.</p><p>So I built myself a complicated solution using Apple Shortcuts and Obsidian to prototype my vision of a short-form journaling experience. Tap an icon, a text field opens, and I can quickly jot down what I’m doing or thinking about. The result was a Markdown file with timestamps and those entries. That felt surprisingly good. It was fun to open the app and quickly note what I was doing whenever I had a few seconds of downtime. Far better than doomscrolling.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Long story short: I built a whole journaling app around this concept.</p><p>It’s called <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Zeitgeist</strong></a>, and it feels like social media but with an audience of one: <em>yourself</em>. All your random little posts come together to form the overarching story of your life.</p><p>Go give it a try. I’ve been using it for weeks and, even though I’m obviously a bit biased, love it. It’s just so quick and low-friction. Let me know what you think!</p><p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Download Zeitgeist now</strong></a></p><figure data-ratio="auto">
  <ul>
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      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/29bf64caf9-1758541848/dscf1776.jpeg">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0cfab38304-1758541878/zeitgeist_timeline.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/f287e0d6c3-1758541876/zeitgeist_compose.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0926fd0509-1758541891/zeitgeist_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/ac0968fb61-1758541844/zeitgeist_daydetail.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/da8717af79-1758541844/zeitgeist_person_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/50b04567be-1758541854/zeitgeist_map.png">    </li>
      </ul>
  </figure>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015">Download Zeitgeist now!</a></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>This is a collection of small explorations of people's sorrow. It doesn't have to be deep or spectacular and most of this book is, as always with Leky's stories, surprisingly funny. </p>
<p>I enjoyed this a lot.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 11 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-art-of-travel-alain-de-botton</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-art-of-travel-alain-de-botton</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A couple of months ago, I wondered if micro-blogging and journaling could be combined. Something about sending off small posts feels different from crafting a whole journal entry. I’ve been journaling the classic way for years, but I often felt like I was just going through the motions because I had to. It wasn’t fun, just another task.</p><p>So I built myself a complicated solution using Apple Shortcuts and Obsidian to prototype my vision of a short-form journaling experience. Tap an icon, a text field opens, and I can quickly jot down what I’m doing or thinking about. The result was a Markdown file with timestamps and those entries. That felt surprisingly good. It was fun to open the app and quickly note what I was doing whenever I had a few seconds of downtime. Far better than doomscrolling.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Long story short: I built a whole journaling app around this concept.</p><p>It’s called <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Zeitgeist</strong></a>, and it feels like social media but with an audience of one: <em>yourself</em>. All your random little posts come together to form the overarching story of your life.</p><p>Go give it a try. I’ve been using it for weeks and, even though I’m obviously a bit biased, love it. It’s just so quick and low-friction. Let me know what you think!</p><p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Download Zeitgeist now</strong></a></p><figure data-ratio="auto">
  <ul>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/29bf64caf9-1758541848/dscf1776.jpeg">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0cfab38304-1758541878/zeitgeist_timeline.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/f287e0d6c3-1758541876/zeitgeist_compose.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0926fd0509-1758541891/zeitgeist_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/ac0968fb61-1758541844/zeitgeist_daydetail.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/da8717af79-1758541844/zeitgeist_person_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/50b04567be-1758541854/zeitgeist_map.png">    </li>
      </ul>
  </figure>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015">Download Zeitgeist now!</a></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I wanted this book to be something it isn't. What I needed was an exploration of how to enjoy travel. How to get into the right mindset to not fuss about the small stuff and what's left at home. And all of this is somewhere in here but not written in a way that made me want to read it. </p>
<p>It's more of a celebration of De Botton's travel than a guide to travel in general. I skipped most of the end because I just wasn't interested in more of what felt like a lot of navel-gazing. No offense.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Afterlife Project by Tim Weed</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 09 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-afterlife-project-tim-weed</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-afterlife-project-tim-weed</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A couple of months ago, I wondered if micro-blogging and journaling could be combined. Something about sending off small posts feels different from crafting a whole journal entry. I’ve been journaling the classic way for years, but I often felt like I was just going through the motions because I had to. It wasn’t fun, just another task.</p><p>So I built myself a complicated solution using Apple Shortcuts and Obsidian to prototype my vision of a short-form journaling experience. Tap an icon, a text field opens, and I can quickly jot down what I’m doing or thinking about. The result was a Markdown file with timestamps and those entries. That felt surprisingly good. It was fun to open the app and quickly note what I was doing whenever I had a few seconds of downtime. Far better than doomscrolling.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Long story short: I built a whole journaling app around this concept.</p><p>It’s called <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Zeitgeist</strong></a>, and it feels like social media but with an audience of one: <em>yourself</em>. All your random little posts come together to form the overarching story of your life.</p><p>Go give it a try. I’ve been using it for weeks and, even though I’m obviously a bit biased, love it. It’s just so quick and low-friction. Let me know what you think!</p><p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Download Zeitgeist now</strong></a></p><figure data-ratio="auto">
  <ul>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/29bf64caf9-1758541848/dscf1776.jpeg">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0cfab38304-1758541878/zeitgeist_timeline.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/f287e0d6c3-1758541876/zeitgeist_compose.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0926fd0509-1758541891/zeitgeist_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/ac0968fb61-1758541844/zeitgeist_daydetail.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/da8717af79-1758541844/zeitgeist_person_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/50b04567be-1758541854/zeitgeist_map.png">    </li>
      </ul>
  </figure>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015">Download Zeitgeist now!</a></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The premise of how to repopulate earth after humanities demise is great. This story is slow, quiet and split up in the before and after times. I liked it and it's worth reading but you need to be open for something that feels smaller than most sci-fi page turner.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/shroud-adrian-tchaikovsky</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/shroud-adrian-tchaikovsky</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A couple of months ago, I wondered if micro-blogging and journaling could be combined. Something about sending off small posts feels different from crafting a whole journal entry. I’ve been journaling the classic way for years, but I often felt like I was just going through the motions because I had to. It wasn’t fun, just another task.</p><p>So I built myself a complicated solution using Apple Shortcuts and Obsidian to prototype my vision of a short-form journaling experience. Tap an icon, a text field opens, and I can quickly jot down what I’m doing or thinking about. The result was a Markdown file with timestamps and those entries. That felt surprisingly good. It was fun to open the app and quickly note what I was doing whenever I had a few seconds of downtime. Far better than doomscrolling.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Long story short: I built a whole journaling app around this concept.</p><p>It’s called <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Zeitgeist</strong></a>, and it feels like social media but with an audience of one: <em>yourself</em>. All your random little posts come together to form the overarching story of your life.</p><p>Go give it a try. I’ve been using it for weeks and, even though I’m obviously a bit biased, love it. It’s just so quick and low-friction. Let me know what you think!</p><p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Download Zeitgeist now</strong></a></p><figure data-ratio="auto">
  <ul>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/29bf64caf9-1758541848/dscf1776.jpeg">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0cfab38304-1758541878/zeitgeist_timeline.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/f287e0d6c3-1758541876/zeitgeist_compose.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0926fd0509-1758541891/zeitgeist_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/ac0968fb61-1758541844/zeitgeist_daydetail.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/da8717af79-1758541844/zeitgeist_person_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/50b04567be-1758541854/zeitgeist_map.png">    </li>
      </ul>
  </figure>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015">Download Zeitgeist now!</a></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Tchaikovsky is great at creating worlds. This one is covered in darkness and high pressure, unfortunately and the protagonist end up stumbling around in a mech without seeing much and that's just not a good premise for an engaging story. It wasn't bad... just not especially good.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Notebook by Roland Allen</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-notebook-a-history-of-thinking-on-paper-roland-allen</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-notebook-a-history-of-thinking-on-paper-roland-allen</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A couple of months ago, I wondered if micro-blogging and journaling could be combined. Something about sending off small posts feels different from crafting a whole journal entry. I’ve been journaling the classic way for years, but I often felt like I was just going through the motions because I had to. It wasn’t fun, just another task.</p><p>So I built myself a complicated solution using Apple Shortcuts and Obsidian to prototype my vision of a short-form journaling experience. Tap an icon, a text field opens, and I can quickly jot down what I’m doing or thinking about. The result was a Markdown file with timestamps and those entries. That felt surprisingly good. It was fun to open the app and quickly note what I was doing whenever I had a few seconds of downtime. Far better than doomscrolling.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/af6a459422-1758542947/zeitgeist_icon_post-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Long story short: I built a whole journaling app around this concept.</p><p>It’s called <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Zeitgeist</strong></a>, and it feels like social media but with an audience of one: <em>yourself</em>. All your random little posts come together to form the overarching story of your life.</p><p>Go give it a try. I’ve been using it for weeks and, even though I’m obviously a bit biased, love it. It’s just so quick and low-friction. Let me know what you think!</p><p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015"><strong>Download Zeitgeist now</strong></a></p><figure data-ratio="auto">
  <ul>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/29bf64caf9-1758541848/dscf1776.jpeg">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0cfab38304-1758541878/zeitgeist_timeline.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/f287e0d6c3-1758541876/zeitgeist_compose.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/0926fd0509-1758541891/zeitgeist_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/ac0968fb61-1758541844/zeitgeist_daydetail.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/da8717af79-1758541844/zeitgeist_person_profile.png">    </li>
        <li>
      <img alt="" src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/introducing-zeitgeist-the-journal-that-feels-like-a-feed/50b04567be-1758541854/zeitgeist_map.png">    </li>
      </ul>
  </figure>
<p><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zeitgeist-journal/id6751783015">Download Zeitgeist now!</a></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The Notebook started out promising but quickly got surprisingly boring and uninteresting. I feel like there's an exciting history in the story of how notebooks came together and what they were used for but this book didn't manage to tell it in an engaging way. Bummer.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Donkey Kong Boreanza</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 21 Jul 2025 21:50:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/donkey-kong-boreanza</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/donkey-kong-boreanza</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Not to be contrarian, but I don’t think <em>Donkey Kong Bananza</em>, Nintendo’s second Switch 2 exclusive, is very fun. The first level intrigued me. The sheer chaos of punching and breaking everything had me spending a couple of hours in a vortex of dopamine hits.</p><p>This got old very quickly, though. It’s the same thing in every level of the game: run around, smash stuff, collect gold, run around some more, repeat.</p><p>I haven’t finished it yet, but I’d say I’m more than halfway through the game, and it hasn’t surprised me as often as I expected based on the very positive reviews floating around. It hasn’t surprised me at all, to be honest, come to think of it. I watched the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/YVUidGTR8xg?si=5Myl5VfNUcge3yHS">Nintendo Direct presentation</a> showing what the game is all about, and that seems to have been it.</p><p>Not even the art style impresses me much. Coming off my second playthrough of <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em>, <em>Donkey Kong Bananza</em> only looks nice. Nothing made me stop and take in the vistas. Not to mention the character design, which feels a bit like something a 13-year-old in the 90s would have liked.</p><p>The story is basic and can be understood without reading anything, and its difficulty is easy enough to just run from quest marker to quest marker without having trouble progressing.</p><p>Sorry, DK, this Bananza is just a tad too boring for my taste.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Not to be contrarian, but I don’t think <em>Donkey Kong Bananza</em>, Nintendo’s second Switch 2 exclusive, is very fun. The first level intrigued me. The sheer chaos of punching and breaking everything had me spending a couple of hours in a vortex of dopamine hits.</p><p>This got old very quickly, though. It’s the same thing in every level of the game: run around, smash stuff, collect gold, run around some more, repeat.</p><p>I haven’t finished it yet, but I’d say I’m more than halfway through the game, and it hasn’t surprised me as often as I expected based on the very positive reviews floating around. It hasn’t surprised me at all, to be honest, come to think of it. I watched the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/YVUidGTR8xg?si=5Myl5VfNUcge3yHS">Nintendo Direct presentation</a> showing what the game is all about, and that seems to have been it.</p><p>Not even the art style impresses me much. Coming off my second playthrough of <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em>, <em>Donkey Kong Bananza</em> only looks nice. Nothing made me stop and take in the vistas. Not to mention the character design, which feels a bit like something a 13-year-old in the 90s would have liked.</p><p>The story is basic and can be understood without reading anything, and its difficulty is easy enough to just run from quest marker to quest marker without having trouble progressing.</p><p>Sorry, DK, this Bananza is just a tad too boring for my taste.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Was man von hier aus sehen kann by Mariana Leky</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 20 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/was-man-von-hier-aus-sehen-kann-mariana-leky</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/was-man-von-hier-aus-sehen-kann-mariana-leky</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Not to be contrarian, but I don’t think <em>Donkey Kong Bananza</em>, Nintendo’s second Switch 2 exclusive, is very fun. The first level intrigued me. The sheer chaos of punching and breaking everything had me spending a couple of hours in a vortex of dopamine hits.</p><p>This got old very quickly, though. It’s the same thing in every level of the game: run around, smash stuff, collect gold, run around some more, repeat.</p><p>I haven’t finished it yet, but I’d say I’m more than halfway through the game, and it hasn’t surprised me as often as I expected based on the very positive reviews floating around. It hasn’t surprised me at all, to be honest, come to think of it. I watched the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/YVUidGTR8xg?si=5Myl5VfNUcge3yHS">Nintendo Direct presentation</a> showing what the game is all about, and that seems to have been it.</p><p>Not even the art style impresses me much. Coming off my second playthrough of <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em>, <em>Donkey Kong Bananza</em> only looks nice. Nothing made me stop and take in the vistas. Not to mention the character design, which feels a bit like something a 13-year-old in the 90s would have liked.</p><p>The story is basic and can be understood without reading anything, and its difficulty is easy enough to just run from quest marker to quest marker without having trouble progressing.</p><p>Sorry, DK, this Bananza is just a tad too boring for my taste.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I loved this novel. A small German village with all of its characters grows together by overcoming challenges. It's a tiny world, sprinkled with a bit of magic and I enjoyed every second of it.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>A language switcher and new feeds</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 15 Jul 2025 15:46:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/a-language-switcher-and-new-feeds</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/a-language-switcher-and-new-feeds</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Hello friends, here's a bit of blog housekeeping. Something of a public service announcement. I'm German, and sometimes the urge to write without having to do so in a language that isn't my native one bubbles up.</p><p>Since I don't want to start a second blog or newsletter to do so, I added a new feature to this blog that allows you to filter posts by language. It can be found in the footer and lets you switch between all posts, only posts in English, or only posts in German.</p><p>If you prefer to follow along via RSS, you can use the <a href="https://marcel.io/feed">default feed</a> that contains all posts, or choose to use the <a href="https://marcel.io/posts-en.xml" target="_new">English</a> or <a href="https://marcel.io/posts-de.xml" target="_new">German</a> feeds.</p><p>There are no German posts yet, but I figured I'd let you know about this in advance.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Hello friends, here's a bit of blog housekeeping. Something of a public service announcement. I'm German, and sometimes the urge to write without having to do so in a language that isn't my native one bubbles up.</p><p>Since I don't want to start a second blog or newsletter to do so, I added a new feature to this blog that allows you to filter posts by language. It can be found in the footer and lets you switch between all posts, only posts in English, or only posts in German.</p><p>If you prefer to follow along via RSS, you can use the <a href="https://marcel.io/feed">default feed</a> that contains all posts, or choose to use the <a href="https://marcel.io/posts-en.xml" target="_new">English</a> or <a href="https://marcel.io/posts-de.xml" target="_new">German</a> feeds.</p><p>There are no German posts yet, but I figured I'd let you know about this in advance.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>One Year Back in Hamburg</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 06 Jul 2025 22:41:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/one-year-back-in-hamburg</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/one-year-back-in-hamburg</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Exactly one year ago I <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/back-home">moved back to Hamburg</a>. This past year has been one of the best of my life. No regrets. I can‘t wait for all the years to come. </p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Exactly one year ago I <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/back-home">moved back to Hamburg</a>. This past year has been one of the best of my life. No regrets. I can‘t wait for all the years to come. </p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Noteworthy Chaos</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 26 Jun 2025 17:26:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/noteworthy-chaos</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/noteworthy-chaos</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Do you think anyone, anywhere, is actually happy with how they take notes? I doubt it.</p><p>The moment you start thinking about your system, you stop being content with it.</p><p>What’s the right approach?</p><p>A carbon-based notebook that gives you all the <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/you-can-t-write-tactile-without-ai">fuzzy, tactile feelings</a>? A digital setup that lets you search everything in seconds? Which notebook? Which app?</p><p>Every few months, I come up with a new “best system.” The result: my notes are scattered everywhere.</p><p>I’m torn. I love the idea of a romantic, analog notebook. But I also want everything searchable, connected, and in one place. <a href="https://zettelkasten.de/introduction/">Luhmann built a system</a> that was both tactile and interconnected. But at what cost?</p><p>I tried a Zettelkasten in Obsidian, based on <a href="https://marcel.io/library/a-system-for-writing-bob-doto">Bob Doto’s A System for Writing</a>. It felt slow and convoluted. Tried index cards like Luhmann. Felt like I was losing my mind.</p><p>Maybe I’ll never find the perfect system. Maybe I need to accept: my method is just lots of notes, in lots of places.</p><p>There’s some beauty in that chaos, I guess. </p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Do you think anyone, anywhere, is actually happy with how they take notes? I doubt it.</p><p>The moment you start thinking about your system, you stop being content with it.</p><p>What’s the right approach?</p><p>A carbon-based notebook that gives you all the <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/you-can-t-write-tactile-without-ai">fuzzy, tactile feelings</a>? A digital setup that lets you search everything in seconds? Which notebook? Which app?</p><p>Every few months, I come up with a new “best system.” The result: my notes are scattered everywhere.</p><p>I’m torn. I love the idea of a romantic, analog notebook. But I also want everything searchable, connected, and in one place. <a href="https://zettelkasten.de/introduction/">Luhmann built a system</a> that was both tactile and interconnected. But at what cost?</p><p>I tried a Zettelkasten in Obsidian, based on <a href="https://marcel.io/library/a-system-for-writing-bob-doto">Bob Doto’s A System for Writing</a>. It felt slow and convoluted. Tried index cards like Luhmann. Felt like I was losing my mind.</p><p>Maybe I’ll never find the perfect system. Maybe I need to accept: my method is just lots of notes, in lots of places.</p><p>There’s some beauty in that chaos, I guess. </p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Vegetarian Slip-Up</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 25 Jun 2025 17:09:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/vegetarian-slip-up</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/vegetarian-slip-up</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I had my second vegetarian slip-up in five years this weekend. A friend threw a party and prepared quite a few delicious snacks, complete with small signs beside them, listing the ingredients in detail. </p><p>I somehow missed the part where one of the quiches contained bacon. My bad. Unfortunately, I’m now able to report that I still love the taste of meat, even after not eating any for five years. I doubt that’ll change any time soon. </p><p>I'm not happy about this breaking my streak, but I decided not to dwell on it for too long. It was an honest mistake that doesn't take away from my overall vegetarian lifestyle.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I had my second vegetarian slip-up in five years this weekend. A friend threw a party and prepared quite a few delicious snacks, complete with small signs beside them, listing the ingredients in detail. </p><p>I somehow missed the part where one of the quiches contained bacon. My bad. Unfortunately, I’m now able to report that I still love the taste of meat, even after not eating any for five years. I doubt that’ll change any time soon. </p><p>I'm not happy about this breaking my streak, but I decided not to dwell on it for too long. It was an honest mistake that doesn't take away from my overall vegetarian lifestyle.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 23 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/thunderhead-neal-shusterman</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/thunderhead-neal-shusterman</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I had my second vegetarian slip-up in five years this weekend. A friend threw a party and prepared quite a few delicious snacks, complete with small signs beside them, listing the ingredients in detail. </p><p>I somehow missed the part where one of the quiches contained bacon. My bad. Unfortunately, I’m now able to report that I still love the taste of meat, even after not eating any for five years. I doubt that’ll change any time soon. </p><p>I'm not happy about this breaking my streak, but I decided not to dwell on it for too long. It was an honest mistake that doesn't take away from my overall vegetarian lifestyle.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Two for two! The (link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/scythe-neal-shusterman">https://marcel.io/library/scythe-neal-shusterman</a> text: first entry) in this series was quite fun already and Thunderhead continues with this trend. It's full of good ideas, interesting characters and a world that might not be as utopian as initially thought. I'm looking forward to reading the next installation of Arc of a Scythe.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/tiny-experiments-anne-laure-le-cunff</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/tiny-experiments-anne-laure-le-cunff</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I had my second vegetarian slip-up in five years this weekend. A friend threw a party and prepared quite a few delicious snacks, complete with small signs beside them, listing the ingredients in detail. </p><p>I somehow missed the part where one of the quiches contained bacon. My bad. Unfortunately, I’m now able to report that I still love the taste of meat, even after not eating any for five years. I doubt that’ll change any time soon. </p><p>I'm not happy about this breaking my streak, but I decided not to dwell on it for too long. It was an honest mistake that doesn't take away from my overall vegetarian lifestyle.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Yet another "this could have been a blog post" kind of book. I expected a lot from this because I actually believe there's a lot of truth in living your life as a series of tiny experiments. And the book didn't say anything I wouldn't agree with but it was just so... basic. A complete absence of any form of depth.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
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                    <title>Embedding Godot games in iOS apps</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 01 Jun 2025 10:33:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/embedding-godot-games-in-ios-apps</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/embedding-godot-games-in-ios-apps</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>When I'm not building <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unhinged-mood-journal/id6501954555">apps</a>, I dabble in game development to sharpen my coding skills. Godot is my engine of choice, and a few days ago I started wondering if it might be possible to embed a <a href="https://godotengine.org/">Godot</a> game in a SwiftUI app. As it happens, <a href="https://christianselig.com/2025/05/godot-ios-interop/">Christian Selig just wrote an article</a> about exactly that and it turns out it’s surprisingly easy. Neat!</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>When I'm not building <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unhinged-mood-journal/id6501954555">apps</a>, I dabble in game development to sharpen my coding skills. Godot is my engine of choice, and a few days ago I started wondering if it might be possible to embed a <a href="https://godotengine.org/">Godot</a> game in a SwiftUI app. As it happens, <a href="https://christianselig.com/2025/05/godot-ios-interop/">Christian Selig just wrote an article</a> about exactly that and it turns out it’s surprisingly easy. Neat!</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Scythe by Neal Shusterman</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 21 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/scythe-neal-shusterman</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/scythe-neal-shusterman</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>When I'm not building <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unhinged-mood-journal/id6501954555">apps</a>, I dabble in game development to sharpen my coding skills. Godot is my engine of choice, and a few days ago I started wondering if it might be possible to embed a <a href="https://godotengine.org/">Godot</a> game in a SwiftUI app. As it happens, <a href="https://christianselig.com/2025/05/godot-ios-interop/">Christian Selig just wrote an article</a> about exactly that and it turns out it’s surprisingly easy. Neat!</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ohhh, this was fun! The premise: What if a benevolent AI rules the world, made life into a utopia and humans immortal? How to deal with overpopulation? </p>
<p>The answer: Introduce so called scythes. A group of people who's job it is to "glean" (read: kill) people. We get to know the society of scythes, their rules and their two new apprentices, that try to find their way around a world they didn't have any insight into before.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>How I Manage My Read Later List</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 21 May 2025 20:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/how-i-manage-my-read-later-list</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/how-i-manage-my-read-later-list</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/how-i-manage-my-read-later-list/3cb1730f3d-1747850789/read_later_solution-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/how-i-manage-my-read-later-list/3cb1730f3d-1747850789/read_later_solution-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/how-i-manage-my-read-later-list/3cb1730f3d-1747850789/read_later_solution-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Many people struggle to keep up with their read-later lists. I’ve perfected mine and—at least in that regard—I have no problems anymore. </p><p>Today, I want to share my complete read-later workflow and tools with you. It has proven itself time and again as a scalable solution that avoids the problem of an ever-growing backlog of things to read.</p><p>Here it goes: I put links to articles I want to read into my to-do list and then I read them.</p><p>That's it. That's the whole system.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/how-i-manage-my-read-later-list/3cb1730f3d-1747850789/read_later_solution-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/how-i-manage-my-read-later-list/3cb1730f3d-1747850789/read_later_solution-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/how-i-manage-my-read-later-list/3cb1730f3d-1747850789/read_later_solution-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Many people struggle to keep up with their read-later lists. I’ve perfected mine and—at least in that regard—I have no problems anymore. </p><p>Today, I want to share my complete read-later workflow and tools with you. It has proven itself time and again as a scalable solution that avoids the problem of an ever-growing backlog of things to read.</p><p>Here it goes: I put links to articles I want to read into my to-do list and then I read them.</p><p>That's it. That's the whole system.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>You Can&#039;t Write Tactile Without AI</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 14 May 2025 14:13:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/you-can-t-write-tactile-without-ai</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/you-can-t-write-tactile-without-ai</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>In the last few weeks, I spent quite a bit of money on art supplies. My hobbies are cyclical. The interest fades, but it always returns. This time feels different. Sketching and painting have a cathartic effect on me. It feels necessary, not just fun.</p><p>Normally, perfectionism makes me quit quickly. Frustration comes fast when your artwork looks nothing like what you expected. I have been working on that, but lately, I find myself loving the imperfection itself. </p><p>Maybe that shift is connected to AI.</p><p>Sure, it is neat to generate a Studio Ghibli version of an image. But as someone who knows he could create something unique by hand, it feels hollow.</p><p>Every line of ink on paper carries more tactile character, more direct connection to the body and emotions, than anything made on a screen. That was always true. AI just made it more obvious.</p><p>I want to harvest that truth for my otherwise very digital life. I feel like it will be essential for my wellbeing going forward.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>In the last few weeks, I spent quite a bit of money on art supplies. My hobbies are cyclical. The interest fades, but it always returns. This time feels different. Sketching and painting have a cathartic effect on me. It feels necessary, not just fun.</p><p>Normally, perfectionism makes me quit quickly. Frustration comes fast when your artwork looks nothing like what you expected. I have been working on that, but lately, I find myself loving the imperfection itself. </p><p>Maybe that shift is connected to AI.</p><p>Sure, it is neat to generate a Studio Ghibli version of an image. But as someone who knows he could create something unique by hand, it feels hollow.</p><p>Every line of ink on paper carries more tactile character, more direct connection to the body and emotions, than anything made on a screen. That was always true. AI just made it more obvious.</p><p>I want to harvest that truth for my otherwise very digital life. I feel like it will be essential for my wellbeing going forward.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Visualized Memories</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 12 May 2025 16:22:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/visualized-memories</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/visualized-memories</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Something about a sketchbook as a daily companion for life has always fascinated me. Sitting somewhere and sketching what’s around you feels like the purest form of mindfulness. </p><p>Pages and pages full of visualized memories. What could be cooler than that? </p><p>Here’s a small sketch I did yesterday while sitting on a bench at the Alster, talking to an older woman about her allergies.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Something about a sketchbook as a daily companion for life has always fascinated me. Sitting somewhere and sketching what’s around you feels like the purest form of mindfulness. </p><p>Pages and pages full of visualized memories. What could be cooler than that? </p><p>Here’s a small sketch I did yesterday while sitting on a bench at the Alster, talking to an older woman about her allergies.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 03 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/convenience-store-woman-sayaka-murata</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/convenience-store-woman-sayaka-murata</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Something about a sketchbook as a daily companion for life has always fascinated me. Sitting somewhere and sketching what’s around you feels like the purest form of mindfulness. </p><p>Pages and pages full of visualized memories. What could be cooler than that? </p><p>Here’s a small sketch I did yesterday while sitting on a bench at the Alster, talking to an older woman about her allergies.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>A story about a women trying to navigate everyday life while struggling to keep up with social norms.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 25 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/sunrise-on-the-reaping-suzanne-collins</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/sunrise-on-the-reaping-suzanne-collins</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Something about a sketchbook as a daily companion for life has always fascinated me. Sitting somewhere and sketching what’s around you feels like the purest form of mindfulness. </p><p>Pages and pages full of visualized memories. What could be cooler than that? </p><p>Here’s a small sketch I did yesterday while sitting on a bench at the Alster, talking to an older woman about her allergies.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Yet (link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/the-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes-suzanne-collins">https://marcel.io/library/the-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes-suzanne-collins</a> text: another The Hunger Games prequel). This one was a pleasure to read, though! Going back in time to experience Haymitch Abernathy's time in the arena, we meet many characters known from the original trilogy and gather more information on the world of Panem. </p>
<p>I enjoyed this a lot. It doesn't change anything about the original trilogy, it fleshes out characters and introduces new ones you'll actually care for and it tells a story that's exciting even though you already know how it ends.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Der Prozess by Franz Kafka</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 03 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/der-prozess-franz-kafka</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/der-prozess-franz-kafka</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Something about a sketchbook as a daily companion for life has always fascinated me. Sitting somewhere and sketching what’s around you feels like the purest form of mindfulness. </p><p>Pages and pages full of visualized memories. What could be cooler than that? </p><p>Here’s a small sketch I did yesterday while sitting on a bench at the Alster, talking to an older woman about her allergies.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I somehow managed to go through school without ever having to read anything by Kafka. Now, as a grown-up, I decided to go see Der Prozess as a play in the theater and wanted to read the original first. </p>
<p>Here's the good news: I liked the book as much as I liked the play!<br />
Here's the bad news: I did not care for them both. </p>
<p>I get what this is about and why it's relevant and historically an important piece of literature. It's just not... fun.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Quantum Radio by A.G. Riddle</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 30 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/quantum-radio-a-g-riddle</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/quantum-radio-a-g-riddle</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Something about a sketchbook as a daily companion for life has always fascinated me. Sitting somewhere and sketching what’s around you feels like the purest form of mindfulness. </p><p>Pages and pages full of visualized memories. What could be cooler than that? </p><p>Here’s a small sketch I did yesterday while sitting on a bench at the Alster, talking to an older woman about her allergies.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Quantum Radio was neither interesting nor surprising. It combines a lackluster sci-fi parallel-universe trope with pages upon pages of boring history of said parallel universe. Not worth the time.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 17 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-power-of-now-eckhart-tolle</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-power-of-now-eckhart-tolle</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Something about a sketchbook as a daily companion for life has always fascinated me. Sitting somewhere and sketching what’s around you feels like the purest form of mindfulness. </p><p>Pages and pages full of visualized memories. What could be cooler than that? </p><p>Here’s a small sketch I did yesterday while sitting on a bench at the Alster, talking to an older woman about her allergies.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I would not have expected to like this book so much. It was on my to-read list for years and every time I took a look inside I was appaled by the sheer nonsense I saw on every page. </p>
<p>But if you start at the beginning and invest the time and effort to understand the vocabulary Tolle using, a lot of what he's talking about makes sense. </p>
<p>To me, as a recovering overthinker, this book came at the right time. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The compulsive thinker, which means almost everyone, lives in a state of apparent separateness, in an insanely complex world of continuous problems and conflict, a world that reflects the ever-increasing fragmentation of the mind. Enlightenment is a state of wholeness, of being “at one” and therefore at peace. At one with life in its manifested aspect, the world, as well as with your deepest self and life unmanifested — at one with Being. Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering and of continuous conflict within and without, but also the end of the dreadful enslavement to incessant thinking. What an incredible liberation this is!</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly — you usually don’t use it at all. It uses you. This is the disease. You believe that you are your mind. This is the delusion. The instrument has taken you over.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>So when you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought. A new dimension of consciousness has come in. As you listen to the thought, you feel a conscious presence — your deeper self — behind or underneath the thought, as it were. The thought then loses its power over you and quickly subsides, because you are no longer energizing the mind through identification with it. This is the beginning of the end of involuntary and compulsive thinking. When a thought subsides, you experience a discontinuity in the mental stream — a gap of “no-mind.” At first, the gaps will be short, a few seconds perhaps, but gradually they will become longer. When these gaps occur, you feel a certain stillness and peace inside you. This is the beginning of your natural state of felt oneness with Being, which is usually obscured by the mind. With practice, the sense of stillness and peace will deepen. In fact, there is no end to its depth. You will also feel a subtle emanation of joy arising from deep within: the joy of Being. It is not a trancelike state. Not at all. There is no loss of consciousness here. The opposite is the case. If the price of peace were a lowering of your consciousness, and the price of stillness a lack of vitality and alertness, then they would not be worth having. In this state of inner connectedness, you are much more alert, more awake than in the mind-identified state. You are fully present.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather. To complain is always nonacceptance of what is.</p>
</blockquote><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Not Till We Are Lost by Dennis E. Taylor</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/not-till-we-are-lost-dennis-e-taylor</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/not-till-we-are-lost-dennis-e-taylor</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Something about a sketchbook as a daily companion for life has always fascinated me. Sitting somewhere and sketching what’s around you feels like the purest form of mindfulness. </p><p>Pages and pages full of visualized memories. What could be cooler than that? </p><p>Here’s a small sketch I did yesterday while sitting on a bench at the Alster, talking to an older woman about her allergies.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The fifth installation of the Bobiverse series was fun again! Nothing special but more of what made the earlier books, before we spent what felt like a decade of real world time in some beaver colony, a quick and joyful read. This made me look forward to the inevitable sixth entry in the series.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Mr. Penumbra&#039;s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/mr-penumbra-s-24-hour-bookstore-robin-sloan</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/mr-penumbra-s-24-hour-bookstore-robin-sloan</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/visualized-memories/7572f90a49-1747057860/sketch_of_house_and_trees-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Something about a sketchbook as a daily companion for life has always fascinated me. Sitting somewhere and sketching what’s around you feels like the purest form of mindfulness. </p><p>Pages and pages full of visualized memories. What could be cooler than that? </p><p>Here’s a small sketch I did yesterday while sitting on a bench at the Alster, talking to an older woman about her allergies.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>There's a kernel of something great in this book that unfortunately never grew into a story worth reading. Convoluted, boring, with a weird focus on name dropping technology from Google. I couldn't wait for this to be over. A bummer, since (link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/moonbound-robin-sloan">https://marcel.io/library/moonbound-robin-sloan</a> text: Moonbound) was so much fun.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Happy New Year 2025!</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 11 Jan 2025 12:25:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/happy-new-year-2025</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/happy-new-year-2025</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I thought I’d drop in quickly to wish you a Happy New Year before it’s not new anymore and it gets too weird. I’ve been focused on working on <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unhinged-mood-tracker/id6501954555">Unhinged</a> over the last couple of weeks, but new posts will be coming shortly.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I thought I’d drop in quickly to wish you a Happy New Year before it’s not new anymore and it gets too weird. I’ve been focused on working on <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unhinged-mood-tracker/id6501954555">Unhinged</a> over the last couple of weeks, but new posts will be coming shortly.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Moonbound by Robin Sloan</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/moonbound-robin-sloan</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/moonbound-robin-sloan</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I thought I’d drop in quickly to wish you a Happy New Year before it’s not new anymore and it gets too weird. I’ve been focused on working on <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unhinged-mood-tracker/id6501954555">Unhinged</a> over the last couple of weeks, but new posts will be coming shortly.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>A very special tale that fluctuates between science fiction and fantasy by telling a story about wizards, technology and a future that is nothing like our past but still has echoes of what once was. I enjoyed reading Moonbound.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Running in 2024</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 31 Dec 2024 13:08:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/running-in-2024</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/running-in-2024</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>2024 will always be the year I started running. My first run was on January 14th, and since then, I’ve stuck to it. One run every other day, all year long. I never would have guessed it, but running turned out to be one of the highlights of my year, <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/thinking-from-a-position-of-strength">profoundly improving my life</a> in ways I didn’t expect.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/f67c626c77-1735647618/2024_distance-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/f67c626c77-1735647618/2024_distance-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/f67c626c77-1735647618/2024_distance-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/6822d9fe3e-1735647636/2024_pace-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/6822d9fe3e-1735647636/2024_pace-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/6822d9fe3e-1735647636/2024_pace-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/db0aa8ccea-1735647650/2024_time-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/db0aa8ccea-1735647650/2024_time-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/db0aa8ccea-1735647650/2024_time-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>I ran 889,5 kilometers, which took me 106 hours and 49 minutes. My average pace was 7'12"/km. My current average pace for December 2024 is 6'23". </p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>2024 will always be the year I started running. My first run was on January 14th, and since then, I’ve stuck to it. One run every other day, all year long. I never would have guessed it, but running turned out to be one of the highlights of my year, <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/thinking-from-a-position-of-strength">profoundly improving my life</a> in ways I didn’t expect.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/f67c626c77-1735647618/2024_distance-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/f67c626c77-1735647618/2024_distance-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/f67c626c77-1735647618/2024_distance-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/6822d9fe3e-1735647636/2024_pace-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/6822d9fe3e-1735647636/2024_pace-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/6822d9fe3e-1735647636/2024_pace-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/db0aa8ccea-1735647650/2024_time-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/db0aa8ccea-1735647650/2024_time-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/db0aa8ccea-1735647650/2024_time-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>I ran 889,5 kilometers, which took me 106 hours and 49 minutes. My average pace was 7'12"/km. My current average pace for December 2024 is 6'23". </p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks, Dan Kennedy</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/storyworthy-matthew-dicks-dan-kennedy</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/storyworthy-matthew-dicks-dan-kennedy</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>2024 will always be the year I started running. My first run was on January 14th, and since then, I’ve stuck to it. One run every other day, all year long. I never would have guessed it, but running turned out to be one of the highlights of my year, <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/thinking-from-a-position-of-strength">profoundly improving my life</a> in ways I didn’t expect.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/f67c626c77-1735647618/2024_distance-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/f67c626c77-1735647618/2024_distance-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/f67c626c77-1735647618/2024_distance-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/6822d9fe3e-1735647636/2024_pace-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/6822d9fe3e-1735647636/2024_pace-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/6822d9fe3e-1735647636/2024_pace-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/db0aa8ccea-1735647650/2024_time-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/db0aa8ccea-1735647650/2024_time-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/running-in-2024/db0aa8ccea-1735647650/2024_time-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>I ran 889,5 kilometers, which took me 106 hours and 49 minutes. My average pace was 7'12"/km. My current average pace for December 2024 is 6'23". </p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>This could have been a 2,000-word blog post. I skipped large(!) parts because they were, ironically, just not very interesting.</p><br>★☆☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>My Unhinged Mood in 2024</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:38:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Somehow, I managed to build and release a new app <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship-in-review">this year</a>. It’s called <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unhinged-mood-journal/id6501954555"><em>Unhinged</em></a>, and while my opinion is obviously biased, I genuinely believe it’s the best mood-tracking app out there.</p><p><em>Unhinged</em> checks in with you three times a day, asking how you’re feeling and what you’re doing. Over time, it gives you valuable insights into the factors that shape your mood.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/45e5b0a19a-1734968339/mood_2024-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/45e5b0a19a-1734968339/mood_2024-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/45e5b0a19a-1734968339/mood_2024-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>My mood in 2024</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>I’ve been using <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unhinged-mood-journal/id6501954555"><em>Unhinged</em></a> since March, and it’s fascinating to see how my mood shifted dramatically after <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-found-an-apartment">finding a new apartment</a> in Hamburg at the end of May. It’s also clear that the second half of the year has been one of the best ever.</p><p>There are plenty more insights hidden in the data. For example, my mood is almost always 'Very Good' in the morning block if I’ve gone for a run. I also added a feature to tag people in entries, which has helped me track how different people’s company influences my mood.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/7d50aaba1b-1734971160/unhinged_day_detail_mood_tracker-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/7d50aaba1b-1734971160/unhinged_day_detail_mood_tracker-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/7d50aaba1b-1734971160/unhinged_day_detail_mood_tracker-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/15a3e16f12-1734971250/unhinged_add_entry_mood_tracker-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/15a3e16f12-1734971250/unhinged_add_entry_mood_tracker-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/15a3e16f12-1734971250/unhinged_add_entry_mood_tracker-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Now is the perfect time to start mood tracking. 2025 hasn’t started yet, and you could have a full year of data by the time I release the '2025 Mood in Review' feature. (No promises, though. It’s just something I’m hoping to work on.)</p><p>You can <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unhinged-mood-journal/id6501954555">download UNHINGED for free on the App Store</a>.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Somehow, I managed to build and release a new app <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship-in-review">this year</a>. It’s called <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unhinged-mood-journal/id6501954555"><em>Unhinged</em></a>, and while my opinion is obviously biased, I genuinely believe it’s the best mood-tracking app out there.</p><p><em>Unhinged</em> checks in with you three times a day, asking how you’re feeling and what you’re doing. Over time, it gives you valuable insights into the factors that shape your mood.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/45e5b0a19a-1734968339/mood_2024-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/45e5b0a19a-1734968339/mood_2024-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/45e5b0a19a-1734968339/mood_2024-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>My mood in 2024</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>I’ve been using <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unhinged-mood-journal/id6501954555"><em>Unhinged</em></a> since March, and it’s fascinating to see how my mood shifted dramatically after <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-found-an-apartment">finding a new apartment</a> in Hamburg at the end of May. It’s also clear that the second half of the year has been one of the best ever.</p><p>There are plenty more insights hidden in the data. For example, my mood is almost always 'Very Good' in the morning block if I’ve gone for a run. I also added a feature to tag people in entries, which has helped me track how different people’s company influences my mood.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/7d50aaba1b-1734971160/unhinged_day_detail_mood_tracker-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/7d50aaba1b-1734971160/unhinged_day_detail_mood_tracker-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/7d50aaba1b-1734971160/unhinged_day_detail_mood_tracker-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/15a3e16f12-1734971250/unhinged_add_entry_mood_tracker-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/15a3e16f12-1734971250/unhinged_add_entry_mood_tracker-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-unhinged-mood-in-2024/15a3e16f12-1734971250/unhinged_add_entry_mood_tracker-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Now is the perfect time to start mood tracking. 2025 hasn’t started yet, and you could have a full year of data by the time I release the '2025 Mood in Review' feature. (No promises, though. It’s just something I’m hoping to work on.)</p><p>You can <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unhinged-mood-journal/id6501954555">download UNHINGED for free on the App Store</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>The Year Of Friendship in Review</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 21 Dec 2024 15:35:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship-in-review</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship-in-review</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A year ago, I made the mistake of confusing hating Berlin with not wanting to live in a big city anymore, and I moved to a small town. <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">It</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">didn't</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">go</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">well</a>.</p><p>At the same time, I declared 2024 to be the <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Year of Friendship</a>. Those two things combined resulted in one of the worst times of my life. I had never felt more alone than in the first six months of this year.</p><p>Fortunately, after accepting that I made an oopsie and needed to rectify the situation, I went ahead and <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-found-an-apartment" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">found a new apartment</a> in the city where I spent my most formative years. It felt like <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/back-home" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">coming home</a>.</p><p>Which brings us back to my yearly theme: Was 2024 the Year of Friendship?</p><p>Absolutely.</p><p>The second half of the year was one of my best and most social ever. It surprisingly made 2024 the best year in recent history. Spending the summer, autumn, and winter surrounded by friends compensated for my time in loneliness enough for this year to be considered a success.</p><p>This was a triumph.</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">HUGE SUCCESS.</a></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>A year ago, I made the mistake of confusing hating Berlin with not wanting to live in a big city anymore, and I moved to a small town. <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">It</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">didn't</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">go</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">well</a>.</p><p>At the same time, I declared 2024 to be the <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Year of Friendship</a>. Those two things combined resulted in one of the worst times of my life. I had never felt more alone than in the first six months of this year.</p><p>Fortunately, after accepting that I made an oopsie and needed to rectify the situation, I went ahead and <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-found-an-apartment" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">found a new apartment</a> in the city where I spent my most formative years. It felt like <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/back-home" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">coming home</a>.</p><p>Which brings us back to my yearly theme: Was 2024 the Year of Friendship?</p><p>Absolutely.</p><p>The second half of the year was one of my best and most social ever. It surprisingly made 2024 the best year in recent history. Spending the summer, autumn, and winter surrounded by friends compensated for my time in loneliness enough for this year to be considered a success.</p><p>This was a triumph.</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">HUGE SUCCESS.</a></p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 There Is No Antimemetics Division by Sam Hughes</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 12 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/there-is-no-antimemetics-division-sam-hughes</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/there-is-no-antimemetics-division-sam-hughes</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A year ago, I made the mistake of confusing hating Berlin with not wanting to live in a big city anymore, and I moved to a small town. <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">It</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">didn't</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">go</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">well</a>.</p><p>At the same time, I declared 2024 to be the <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Year of Friendship</a>. Those two things combined resulted in one of the worst times of my life. I had never felt more alone than in the first six months of this year.</p><p>Fortunately, after accepting that I made an oopsie and needed to rectify the situation, I went ahead and <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-found-an-apartment" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">found a new apartment</a> in the city where I spent my most formative years. It felt like <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/back-home" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">coming home</a>.</p><p>Which brings us back to my yearly theme: Was 2024 the Year of Friendship?</p><p>Absolutely.</p><p>The second half of the year was one of my best and most social ever. It surprisingly made 2024 the best year in recent history. Spending the summer, autumn, and winter surrounded by friends compensated for my time in loneliness enough for this year to be considered a success.</p><p>This was a triumph.</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">HUGE SUCCESS.</a></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><em>There Is No Antimemetics Division</em> has one of the best premises I've come across in a long time: What if there were things and beings that simply can’t be remembered? How would humanity respond to a threat you forget faster than you can even recognize it?</p>
<p>That’s what Sam Hughes, aka (link: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qntm">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qntm</a> text: qntm), explores in this novel. It’s slightly confusing, as it doesn’t follow a strict timeline, jumps between several characters, and overall isn’t an especially easy read. But the premise is strong enough to keep me powering through.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there isn’t enough conclusion or information for me to rate it higher than 3/5. It left me wanting more, but not in a good way.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Circe by Madeline Miller</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 06 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/circe-madeline-miller</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/circe-madeline-miller</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A year ago, I made the mistake of confusing hating Berlin with not wanting to live in a big city anymore, and I moved to a small town. <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">It</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">didn't</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">go</a> <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">well</a>.</p><p>At the same time, I declared 2024 to be the <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Year of Friendship</a>. Those two things combined resulted in one of the worst times of my life. I had never felt more alone than in the first six months of this year.</p><p>Fortunately, after accepting that I made an oopsie and needed to rectify the situation, I went ahead and <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-found-an-apartment" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">found a new apartment</a> in the city where I spent my most formative years. It felt like <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/back-home" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">coming home</a>.</p><p>Which brings us back to my yearly theme: Was 2024 the Year of Friendship?</p><p>Absolutely.</p><p>The second half of the year was one of my best and most social ever. It surprisingly made 2024 the best year in recent history. Spending the summer, autumn, and winter surrounded by friends compensated for my time in loneliness enough for this year to be considered a success.</p><p>This was a triumph.</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">HUGE SUCCESS.</a></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I expected so much more from this, considering how many people seem to love it. The idea of Circe is great. But it’s written so boringly that I didn’t feel anything at any point over these roughly 400 pages.</p>
<p>I can appreciate the feminist concept behind the book. What I can’t wrap my head around is how unengaging it turned out to be. It’s surprising how many people made it through this snoozefest of a story—one that could’ve been told in a far more exciting way.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Rethinking Popularity</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 30 Nov 2024 21:32:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/rethinking-popularity</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/rethinking-popularity</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>When the Harry Potter books first came out, I refused to read them. I thought I was too cool to like what everyone else was raving about. I was wrong.</p><p>These days, I try to approach popular things with an open mind. I bet meditation will be life-changing for me once I get into the habit. The masses can’t be wrong about that one. If I don’t like it, I must be doing it wrong.</p><p>The same was true for working out and practicing gratitude. They changed how I feel and see the world on a daily basis.</p><p>Who am I to say that wearing barefoot shoes or reading <em>50 Shades of Grey</em> isn’t for me? If something resonates with so many people, maybe I should at least be humble enough to acknowledge the possibility that I might like it too.</p><p>And what is life about, if not discovering and maximizing the things you truly enjoy?</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>When the Harry Potter books first came out, I refused to read them. I thought I was too cool to like what everyone else was raving about. I was wrong.</p><p>These days, I try to approach popular things with an open mind. I bet meditation will be life-changing for me once I get into the habit. The masses can’t be wrong about that one. If I don’t like it, I must be doing it wrong.</p><p>The same was true for working out and practicing gratitude. They changed how I feel and see the world on a daily basis.</p><p>Who am I to say that wearing barefoot shoes or reading <em>50 Shades of Grey</em> isn’t for me? If something resonates with so many people, maybe I should at least be humble enough to acknowledge the possibility that I might like it too.</p><p>And what is life about, if not discovering and maximizing the things you truly enjoy?</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 18 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/meditations-for-mortals-oliver-burkeman</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/meditations-for-mortals-oliver-burkeman</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>When the Harry Potter books first came out, I refused to read them. I thought I was too cool to like what everyone else was raving about. I was wrong.</p><p>These days, I try to approach popular things with an open mind. I bet meditation will be life-changing for me once I get into the habit. The masses can’t be wrong about that one. If I don’t like it, I must be doing it wrong.</p><p>The same was true for working out and practicing gratitude. They changed how I feel and see the world on a daily basis.</p><p>Who am I to say that wearing barefoot shoes or reading <em>50 Shades of Grey</em> isn’t for me? If something resonates with so many people, maybe I should at least be humble enough to acknowledge the possibility that I might like it too.</p><p>And what is life about, if not discovering and maximizing the things you truly enjoy?</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I’m going to be honest with you: I thought this was a book about meditation. Note the missing "s" at the end of the word.</p>
<p>My bad.</p>
<p>I read Burkeman's (link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/four-thousand-weeks-oliver-burkeman">https://marcel.io/library/four-thousand-weeks-oliver-burkeman</a> text: Four Thousand Weeks), and while I didn’t love the process of reading it, the underlying idea has stuck with me since.</p>
<p>That’s not going to happen with Meditations for Mortals. It felt like a grab bag of shallow wisdom for people who’ve never spent time thinking about any of life’s big questions.</p>
<p>I also don’t think Burkeman is a particularly good writer. There’s something about the way he structures his paragraphs and sentences that makes everything feel drawn out and not to the point. It’s especially noticeable when you try to highlight key passages—he takes 2–3 paragraphs to make a statement that would hit harder if he just got to the point faster.</p>
<p>Not a fan.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 06 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-mercy-of-gods-james-sa-corey</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-mercy-of-gods-james-sa-corey</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>When the Harry Potter books first came out, I refused to read them. I thought I was too cool to like what everyone else was raving about. I was wrong.</p><p>These days, I try to approach popular things with an open mind. I bet meditation will be life-changing for me once I get into the habit. The masses can’t be wrong about that one. If I don’t like it, I must be doing it wrong.</p><p>The same was true for working out and practicing gratitude. They changed how I feel and see the world on a daily basis.</p><p>Who am I to say that wearing barefoot shoes or reading <em>50 Shades of Grey</em> isn’t for me? If something resonates with so many people, maybe I should at least be humble enough to acknowledge the possibility that I might like it too.</p><p>And what is life about, if not discovering and maximizing the things you truly enjoy?</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>It took me three or four tries to get into The Expanse. Something about Corey’s writing style makes me bounce off his stories, even though they’re worth reading. I didn’t bounce off The Mercy of Gods, but I had to push myself to keep reading a few times.</p>
<p>The plot is amazing. It’s a first contact story where the brightest of humanity are kidnapped by a highly advanced alien species.</p>
<p>To get to that part, you have to wade through a lot of uninteresting political drama on a planet that stops being relevant after the first quarter of the book.</p>
<p>The characters are layered and interesting, but there are so many that I found myself relieved every time the number got reduced, usually through some kind of accident (mostly murder by aliens).</p>
<p>I’m invested now and looking forward to the second book, but this should have been easier to enjoy.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Absolution of Responsibility</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 06 Nov 2024 11:41:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/absolution-of-responsibility</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/absolution-of-responsibility</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Despite what society suggests, you're not obligated to stay up-to-date on daily news.</p><p>Being in the loop won’t solve your perceived lack of control.</p><p>Just because news is available doesn’t mean you must consume it.</p><p>Your real responsibility to you and those around you is keeping a clear head and a healthy mind. Don’t let the endless stream of information wear you down.</p><p>Society often equates news awareness with caring about issues, but you’re more capable of making an impact if you’re not drowning in despair.</p><p>Take care of yourself first. </p><p>Then, focus on what you can actually influence.</p><p>The only thing you need to grasp is the big-picture flow of events. Don't get lost in ever changing details. Don’t waste your mental health and possible impact scrolling through a relentless flood of noise.</p><p>Put your energy into what builds, strengthens, and moves things forward.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Despite what society suggests, you're not obligated to stay up-to-date on daily news.</p><p>Being in the loop won’t solve your perceived lack of control.</p><p>Just because news is available doesn’t mean you must consume it.</p><p>Your real responsibility to you and those around you is keeping a clear head and a healthy mind. Don’t let the endless stream of information wear you down.</p><p>Society often equates news awareness with caring about issues, but you’re more capable of making an impact if you’re not drowning in despair.</p><p>Take care of yourself first. </p><p>Then, focus on what you can actually influence.</p><p>The only thing you need to grasp is the big-picture flow of events. Don't get lost in ever changing details. Don’t waste your mental health and possible impact scrolling through a relentless flood of noise.</p><p>Put your energy into what builds, strengthens, and moves things forward.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Gigabyte Is Helping</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 06 Nov 2024 09:35:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/gigabyte-is-helping</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/gigabyte-is-helping</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/gigabyte-is-helping/ac6977fc38-1730882103/giga-quatsch-1200x.gif"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/gigabyte-is-helping/ac6977fc38-1730882103/giga-quatsch-1200x.gif 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/gigabyte-is-helping/ac6977fc38-1730882103/giga-quatsch-2400x.gif 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
 ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/gigabyte-is-helping/ac6977fc38-1730882103/giga-quatsch-1200x.gif"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/gigabyte-is-helping/ac6977fc38-1730882103/giga-quatsch-1200x.gif 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/gigabyte-is-helping/ac6977fc38-1730882103/giga-quatsch-2400x.gif 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
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                    <title>Learning to Apologize</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 31 Oct 2024 00:15:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/learning-to-apologize</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/learning-to-apologize</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Being able to apologize properly is a skill worth honing. At least for those of us who aren’t perfect. It's helpful in almost any situation involving other people, which, it turns out, are most of the important ones.</p> <p>Since my whole family consisted of people unable to apologize, I could not have been farther away from being able to do so myself. I'm sure I hurt a couple of people on my way to getting better at it.</p> <p>I had to be proven wrong, repeatedly, to finally accept that I’m fallible.</p> <p>That I'm not only possibly wrong, but <strong>likely</strong>.</p> <p>Years later, I’d look back, realizing I’d misjudged situations I once felt sure about. Each of these moments chipped away at my arrogance, leaving a simple truth: I can and will mess up.</p> <p>This changed my reaction to criticism. Instead of defending myself, I started considering if it might be valid.</p> <p>I had to learn to put my ego aside and to <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/offend-yourself-sometimes" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">offend myself</a>.</p> <p>Learning all of that only gets us to the point of feeling like we should apologize. That's progress but not enough. Unfortunately, 'sorry' may seem like it's the hardest word, but the words that follow are even harder and arguably more important.</p> <p><strong>I believe there’s only one right way to apologize.</strong></p> <p>The apology must include a clear description of what went wrong and express genuine remorse. The goal is to show understanding and introspection. Apologizing isn’t about conveying guilt but about building a foundation for future improvement.</p> <p>A few examples of good apologies:</p><ul><li>I’m sorry for not being there when you needed me. I know it hurt you, and I’ll work on being more present.</li><li>I apologize for dismissing your feelings. I’ll make an effort to listen better because you deserve that.</li><li>I’m sorry for reacting defensively last night. I want to be more patient and really hear you.</li></ul><p>Most importantly: <strong>Intent doesn’t matter.</strong> If my actions hurt someone, I should apologize, regardless of what I meant. Apologizing isn’t about defending my intentions, it’s about owning the impact they had and showing I’m willing to learn. A real apology is about understanding and growth.</p><p>A <strong>very</strong> bad apology sounds like this: <em>I’m sorry you feel that way.</em> This says nothing. It’s dismissive, adds no value, and offers no insight. Saying it—and hearing it—gets us nowhere. </p><p>Good apologies are a signal of strength. Showing understanding and not being defensive is something people appreciate.</p><p>Knowing how to apologize gave me room to make mistakes, learn from them, and <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/fail-forward-with-kindness" target="_blank">move forward with kindness</a>.</p><p><br></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Being able to apologize properly is a skill worth honing. At least for those of us who aren’t perfect. It's helpful in almost any situation involving other people, which, it turns out, are most of the important ones.</p> <p>Since my whole family consisted of people unable to apologize, I could not have been farther away from being able to do so myself. I'm sure I hurt a couple of people on my way to getting better at it.</p> <p>I had to be proven wrong, repeatedly, to finally accept that I’m fallible.</p> <p>That I'm not only possibly wrong, but <strong>likely</strong>.</p> <p>Years later, I’d look back, realizing I’d misjudged situations I once felt sure about. Each of these moments chipped away at my arrogance, leaving a simple truth: I can and will mess up.</p> <p>This changed my reaction to criticism. Instead of defending myself, I started considering if it might be valid.</p> <p>I had to learn to put my ego aside and to <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/offend-yourself-sometimes" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">offend myself</a>.</p> <p>Learning all of that only gets us to the point of feeling like we should apologize. That's progress but not enough. Unfortunately, 'sorry' may seem like it's the hardest word, but the words that follow are even harder and arguably more important.</p> <p><strong>I believe there’s only one right way to apologize.</strong></p> <p>The apology must include a clear description of what went wrong and express genuine remorse. The goal is to show understanding and introspection. Apologizing isn’t about conveying guilt but about building a foundation for future improvement.</p> <p>A few examples of good apologies:</p><ul><li>I’m sorry for not being there when you needed me. I know it hurt you, and I’ll work on being more present.</li><li>I apologize for dismissing your feelings. I’ll make an effort to listen better because you deserve that.</li><li>I’m sorry for reacting defensively last night. I want to be more patient and really hear you.</li></ul><p>Most importantly: <strong>Intent doesn’t matter.</strong> If my actions hurt someone, I should apologize, regardless of what I meant. Apologizing isn’t about defending my intentions, it’s about owning the impact they had and showing I’m willing to learn. A real apology is about understanding and growth.</p><p>A <strong>very</strong> bad apology sounds like this: <em>I’m sorry you feel that way.</em> This says nothing. It’s dismissive, adds no value, and offers no insight. Saying it—and hearing it—gets us nowhere. </p><p>Good apologies are a signal of strength. Showing understanding and not being defensive is something people appreciate.</p><p>Knowing how to apologize gave me room to make mistakes, learn from them, and <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/fail-forward-with-kindness" target="_blank">move forward with kindness</a>.</p><p><br></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 A Therapeutic Journey by Alain de Botton</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 30 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/a-therapeutic-journey-alain-de-botton</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/a-therapeutic-journey-alain-de-botton</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Being able to apologize properly is a skill worth honing. At least for those of us who aren’t perfect. It's helpful in almost any situation involving other people, which, it turns out, are most of the important ones.</p> <p>Since my whole family consisted of people unable to apologize, I could not have been farther away from being able to do so myself. I'm sure I hurt a couple of people on my way to getting better at it.</p> <p>I had to be proven wrong, repeatedly, to finally accept that I’m fallible.</p> <p>That I'm not only possibly wrong, but <strong>likely</strong>.</p> <p>Years later, I’d look back, realizing I’d misjudged situations I once felt sure about. Each of these moments chipped away at my arrogance, leaving a simple truth: I can and will mess up.</p> <p>This changed my reaction to criticism. Instead of defending myself, I started considering if it might be valid.</p> <p>I had to learn to put my ego aside and to <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/offend-yourself-sometimes" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">offend myself</a>.</p> <p>Learning all of that only gets us to the point of feeling like we should apologize. That's progress but not enough. Unfortunately, 'sorry' may seem like it's the hardest word, but the words that follow are even harder and arguably more important.</p> <p><strong>I believe there’s only one right way to apologize.</strong></p> <p>The apology must include a clear description of what went wrong and express genuine remorse. The goal is to show understanding and introspection. Apologizing isn’t about conveying guilt but about building a foundation for future improvement.</p> <p>A few examples of good apologies:</p><ul><li>I’m sorry for not being there when you needed me. I know it hurt you, and I’ll work on being more present.</li><li>I apologize for dismissing your feelings. I’ll make an effort to listen better because you deserve that.</li><li>I’m sorry for reacting defensively last night. I want to be more patient and really hear you.</li></ul><p>Most importantly: <strong>Intent doesn’t matter.</strong> If my actions hurt someone, I should apologize, regardless of what I meant. Apologizing isn’t about defending my intentions, it’s about owning the impact they had and showing I’m willing to learn. A real apology is about understanding and growth.</p><p>A <strong>very</strong> bad apology sounds like this: <em>I’m sorry you feel that way.</em> This says nothing. It’s dismissive, adds no value, and offers no insight. Saying it—and hearing it—gets us nowhere. </p><p>Good apologies are a signal of strength. Showing understanding and not being defensive is something people appreciate.</p><p>Knowing how to apologize gave me room to make mistakes, learn from them, and <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/fail-forward-with-kindness" target="_blank">move forward with kindness</a>.</p><p><br></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>A Therapeutic Journey is a special book. I loved it.</p>
<p>It’s not an easy read. The language often leans more toward beautiful than beautifully simple. The content isn’t easy to swallow either. De Botton doesn’t try to sugarcoat his truths. Just take a look at this quote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is, in the end, less devastating to deem ourselves ungrateful and awful than to imagine that we were brought up by small-minded mediocrities who were too ill or troubled to care.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The whole book is full of powerful insights like this. If that weren’t enough, De Botton combines these psychological observations with a very interesting perspective on how appreciating art makes life worth living, complete with depictions of the pieces he’s referencing.</p>
<p>His definition of art is the best I’ve ever read:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Art ist a weapon against despair. It is a tool with which to alleviate a sense of crushing isolation and uniqueness. It provides common ground where the sadness in me can, with dignity and intelligence, meet the sadness in you.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I could quote hundreds of passages from A Therapeutic Journey. Instead, you should just read it yourself. It’s worth it.</p>
<p>Here are a few more, though:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We should strive to become thinkers who can acknowledge when they are no longer able to think.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>While praising lives of outsized accomplishment, our era has thrown a shadow over the ordinary lives that most of us will by necessity continue to lead. The norm has ceased to be enough. We cannot be average without at the same time having to think of ourselves as being what our age resents above all else: losers.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>It is tempting to believe that those for whom love works out have been granted a form of divine favour. But we cannot build a decent life on the hope of randomly distributed heavenly munificence.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Defensiveness is almost invariably founded on an intimate history that no defensive person consciously chose and that, compassionately recounted, might move us to tears.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Once we have learned to draw value from inexpensive things, we can never be poor, whatever our ostensible level of wealth, and we can never be bored, however quiet things might have become.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>We spend a good deal of our time fearing, as if it were a momentous calamity that we did not even dare contemplate in daylight, that we might be idiots and holding back from a host of important aspirations and ambitions as a result. We should shake ourselves free from such inhibitions by loosening our hold on any remaining sense of dignity and by accepting frankly that we are by nature completely idiotic, great sacks of foolishness that cry in the night, bump into doors, fart in the bath and kiss people's noses by mistake - but that far from being shameful and isolating, this idiocy is in fact a basic feature of our nature that unites us immediately with everyone else on the planet. We are idiots now, we were idiots then and we will be idiots again in the future. There is no other option for a human.</p>
</blockquote><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Writing as a Bid for Connection</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 24 Oct 2024 21:25:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/writing-as-a-bid-for-connection</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/writing-as-a-bid-for-connection</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p><a href="https://www.gottman.com/blog/turn-toward-instead-of-away/" target="_blank">Bids for connection</a> are moments in relationships (no matter what kind) where somebody indirectly asks the other person to share an experience with them. These moments might not seem like much, but when accumulated, they are important for the health of the relationship.</p><p>Steven Pinker states that <a href="https://www.oliverburkeman.com/so/c9NUIQ7U5" target="_blank">good writing is pointing out</a>:</p><blockquote>
  <p>Pinker suggests approaching writing as if you were pointing something in the environment out to another person – something that she would notice for herself, if only she knew where to look. Imagine directing someone's gaze across a valley, to a specific house on the other side. "You should pretend," writes Pinker, "that you, the writer, see something in the world that's interesting, and that you're directing the attention of your reader to that thing." He calls this the "joint attention" strategy.</p>  </blockquote>
<p>It helps me to consider my writing as a bid for connection with the reader. I'm pointing something out, asking for joint attention. </p><p>It doesn't have to be an earth-shattering new idea or the most exciting piece of content ever. It's just a small moment that we share.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><a href="https://www.gottman.com/blog/turn-toward-instead-of-away/" target="_blank">Bids for connection</a> are moments in relationships (no matter what kind) where somebody indirectly asks the other person to share an experience with them. These moments might not seem like much, but when accumulated, they are important for the health of the relationship.</p><p>Steven Pinker states that <a href="https://www.oliverburkeman.com/so/c9NUIQ7U5" target="_blank">good writing is pointing out</a>:</p><blockquote>
  <p>Pinker suggests approaching writing as if you were pointing something in the environment out to another person – something that she would notice for herself, if only she knew where to look. Imagine directing someone's gaze across a valley, to a specific house on the other side. "You should pretend," writes Pinker, "that you, the writer, see something in the world that's interesting, and that you're directing the attention of your reader to that thing." He calls this the "joint attention" strategy.</p>  </blockquote>
<p>It helps me to consider my writing as a bid for connection with the reader. I'm pointing something out, asking for joint attention. </p><p>It doesn't have to be an earth-shattering new idea or the most exciting piece of content ever. It's just a small moment that we share.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 21 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-country-of-the-blind-andrew-leland</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-country-of-the-blind-andrew-leland</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p><a href="https://www.gottman.com/blog/turn-toward-instead-of-away/" target="_blank">Bids for connection</a> are moments in relationships (no matter what kind) where somebody indirectly asks the other person to share an experience with them. These moments might not seem like much, but when accumulated, they are important for the health of the relationship.</p><p>Steven Pinker states that <a href="https://www.oliverburkeman.com/so/c9NUIQ7U5" target="_blank">good writing is pointing out</a>:</p><blockquote>
  <p>Pinker suggests approaching writing as if you were pointing something in the environment out to another person – something that she would notice for herself, if only she knew where to look. Imagine directing someone's gaze across a valley, to a specific house on the other side. "You should pretend," writes Pinker, "that you, the writer, see something in the world that's interesting, and that you're directing the attention of your reader to that thing." He calls this the "joint attention" strategy.</p>  </blockquote>
<p>It helps me to consider my writing as a bid for connection with the reader. I'm pointing something out, asking for joint attention. </p><p>It doesn't have to be an earth-shattering new idea or the most exciting piece of content ever. It's just a small moment that we share.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Andrew Leland shares his experience with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that is slowly causing him to lose his eyesight.</p>
<p>Normally, I wouldn’t read books that deal with topics I’m afraid of—and going blind is one of them. But this was a gift, and I found the premise both intriguing and terrifying, so here we are.</p>
<p><em>The Country of the Blind</em> left me with the overall impression that going blind isn’t the end of the world, which, coincidentally is also what Andrew Leland had to learn.</p>
<p>It was an interesting read. At times, it delved a bit too deeply for my taste, and I skipped a few sections that focused on historical and political details that didn’t matter to me. However, all the parts about Leland’s personal experiences, thoughts, and emotions were absolutely worth reading.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Offend Yourself Sometimes</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 20 Oct 2024 21:02:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/offend-yourself-sometimes</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/offend-yourself-sometimes</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>It’s incredible how much of what the Stoics wrote about 2,000 years ago still applies today.</p><p>One sentence, just three words long, has stuck with me the most:</p><blockquote>
  Therefore establish your own guilt as far as you can. Investigate yourself; play the part of the prosecutor, then of the judge, only then of the advocate. Offend yourself sometimes.    <footer>
    <em>Seneca</em>  </footer>
  </blockquote>
<p>Offend yourself sometimes.</p><p>My upbringing didn’t involve role models who showed me how to do this, so it took me years to figure out how to achieve it more often than not.</p><p>For the longest time, I didn’t really understand what "ego" was or how it could get in my way. I’m not sure when it finally clicked, but at some point, I realized that who I want to be and what my ego tries to accomplish are often two separate things.</p><p>My ego makes me defensive. Whether it’s defending me from others or from myself, if it’s something I shouldn’t be shielded from but should confront, this defensiveness blocks my personal growth.</p><p>I have to offend myself without taking offense.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>It’s incredible how much of what the Stoics wrote about 2,000 years ago still applies today.</p><p>One sentence, just three words long, has stuck with me the most:</p><blockquote>
  Therefore establish your own guilt as far as you can. Investigate yourself; play the part of the prosecutor, then of the judge, only then of the advocate. Offend yourself sometimes.    <footer>
    <em>Seneca</em>  </footer>
  </blockquote>
<p>Offend yourself sometimes.</p><p>My upbringing didn’t involve role models who showed me how to do this, so it took me years to figure out how to achieve it more often than not.</p><p>For the longest time, I didn’t really understand what "ego" was or how it could get in my way. I’m not sure when it finally clicked, but at some point, I realized that who I want to be and what my ego tries to accomplish are often two separate things.</p><p>My ego makes me defensive. Whether it’s defending me from others or from myself, if it’s something I shouldn’t be shielded from but should confront, this defensiveness blocks my personal growth.</p><p>I have to offend myself without taking offense.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Everything Is a Project</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 15 Oct 2024 18:35:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/everything-is-a-project</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/everything-is-a-project</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I treat relationships, health, and hobbies like projects that demand effort, and whose success is my responsibility.</p><p>They become a perpetuum mobile of self-efficacy. The more I invest, the more control I feel over my life. This builds momentum. This flywheel can only be stopped by a lack of <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/fail-forward-with-kindness" rel="noopener" target="_blank">kindness toward myself</a>.</p><p>To make this work, I see the things important to me as malleable, and I see myself as someone who can shape them.</p><p>Since everything, including myself, changes over time, this is a never-ending cycle of improvement. Hoping something will stay the same is a futile fight against entropy.</p><p>So I embrace entropy as a fundamental truth and consider everything important to me as a fun project I get to work on.</p><p>Making an effort is never wasted.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I treat relationships, health, and hobbies like projects that demand effort, and whose success is my responsibility.</p><p>They become a perpetuum mobile of self-efficacy. The more I invest, the more control I feel over my life. This builds momentum. This flywheel can only be stopped by a lack of <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/fail-forward-with-kindness" rel="noopener" target="_blank">kindness toward myself</a>.</p><p>To make this work, I see the things important to me as malleable, and I see myself as someone who can shape them.</p><p>Since everything, including myself, changes over time, this is a never-ending cycle of improvement. Hoping something will stay the same is a futile fight against entropy.</p><p>So I embrace entropy as a fundamental truth and consider everything important to me as a fun project I get to work on.</p><p>Making an effort is never wasted.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Echo of Worlds by M.R. Carey</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 14 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/echo-of-worlds-m-r-carey</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/echo-of-worlds-m-r-carey</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I treat relationships, health, and hobbies like projects that demand effort, and whose success is my responsibility.</p><p>They become a perpetuum mobile of self-efficacy. The more I invest, the more control I feel over my life. This builds momentum. This flywheel can only be stopped by a lack of <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/fail-forward-with-kindness" rel="noopener" target="_blank">kindness toward myself</a>.</p><p>To make this work, I see the things important to me as malleable, and I see myself as someone who can shape them.</p><p>Since everything, including myself, changes over time, this is a never-ending cycle of improvement. Hoping something will stay the same is a futile fight against entropy.</p><p>So I embrace entropy as a fundamental truth and consider everything important to me as a fun project I get to work on.</p><p>Making an effort is never wasted.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>(link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/infinity-gate-m-r-carey">https://marcel.io/library/infinity-gate-m-r-carey</a> text: <em>Infinity Gate</em>), the first entry in the Pandominion series—a world where an endless number of alternate dimension Earths can be traveled to—was a spectacle of fresh and fascinating ideas.</p>
<p><em>Echo of Worlds</em> struggled to hold my attention for the first quarter. It picks up where the first book left off, but not much happens at first. However, when the story gains momentum, I was drawn back in, remembering why I enjoyed the first book so much.</p>
<p>The characters remain engaging, the world is still incredibly intriguing, and the cliffhanger at the end of <em>Echo of Worlds</em> ensured that I’ll be reading the next installment.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Life-Affirming Choices</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 10 Oct 2024 19:55:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/life-affirming-choices</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/life-affirming-choices</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I pay close attention to the scalability of my actions. This often leads to situations where it seems like I’m acting against my best interests, but I want to make choices my future self will thank me for.</p><p>Instead of allowing myself a slow morning after a restless night, I go for a run.</p><p>Instead of relaxing on the couch, I'm teaching myself how to code.</p><p>Instead of avoiding a difficult conversation, I embrace it.</p><p>These things share one important truth: I know that I will feel better once they've happened. These actions are scalable because they optimize for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_gratification">delayed gratification</a>. They anticipate a future that will be better because I welcomed friction.</p><p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/897136-nothing-worth-having-was-ever-achieved-without-effort" target="_blank">Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.</a></p><p>Once I internalized this way of thinking, it changed how I see myself and those around me. Chasing instant gratification doesn't align with the life I want, and watching others do so isn't something I enjoy.</p><p>I want to be, and surround myself with, people who are willing to put in the effort to live a life their future selves will thank them for—people who make scalable, life-affirming choices because they know these actions grow and compound over time, leading to greater, unexpected benefits.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I pay close attention to the scalability of my actions. This often leads to situations where it seems like I’m acting against my best interests, but I want to make choices my future self will thank me for.</p><p>Instead of allowing myself a slow morning after a restless night, I go for a run.</p><p>Instead of relaxing on the couch, I'm teaching myself how to code.</p><p>Instead of avoiding a difficult conversation, I embrace it.</p><p>These things share one important truth: I know that I will feel better once they've happened. These actions are scalable because they optimize for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_gratification">delayed gratification</a>. They anticipate a future that will be better because I welcomed friction.</p><p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/897136-nothing-worth-having-was-ever-achieved-without-effort" target="_blank">Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.</a></p><p>Once I internalized this way of thinking, it changed how I see myself and those around me. Chasing instant gratification doesn't align with the life I want, and watching others do so isn't something I enjoy.</p><p>I want to be, and surround myself with, people who are willing to put in the effort to live a life their future selves will thank them for—people who make scalable, life-affirming choices because they know these actions grow and compound over time, leading to greater, unexpected benefits.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Connect by David Bradford, Carole Robin</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 09 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/connect-david-bradford-carole-robin</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/connect-david-bradford-carole-robin</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I pay close attention to the scalability of my actions. This often leads to situations where it seems like I’m acting against my best interests, but I want to make choices my future self will thank me for.</p><p>Instead of allowing myself a slow morning after a restless night, I go for a run.</p><p>Instead of relaxing on the couch, I'm teaching myself how to code.</p><p>Instead of avoiding a difficult conversation, I embrace it.</p><p>These things share one important truth: I know that I will feel better once they've happened. These actions are scalable because they optimize for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_gratification">delayed gratification</a>. They anticipate a future that will be better because I welcomed friction.</p><p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/897136-nothing-worth-having-was-ever-achieved-without-effort" target="_blank">Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.</a></p><p>Once I internalized this way of thinking, it changed how I see myself and those around me. Chasing instant gratification doesn't align with the life I want, and watching others do so isn't something I enjoy.</p><p>I want to be, and surround myself with, people who are willing to put in the effort to live a life their future selves will thank them for—people who make scalable, life-affirming choices because they know these actions grow and compound over time, leading to greater, unexpected benefits.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The content of Connect might have been valuable, but I couldn’t get past the fake dialogues between the fictional characters. These interactions felt forced and unnatural, making it hard for me to stay engaged. Instead of enhancing the material, they distracted me from the core ideas the authors were trying to convey.</p>
<p>On top of that, the book became repetitive quite quickly. The same concepts were rehashed in different ways, and after a while, I found myself skimming through large sections.</p>
<p>Ultimately, once I started skipping significant portions of the text, the reading experience was completely lost for me. It’s a shame because I believe the core message had potential, but the delivery made it a frustrating read.</p><br>★☆☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Blue Skies by T.C. Boyles</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 24 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/blue-skies-tc-boyles</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/blue-skies-tc-boyles</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I pay close attention to the scalability of my actions. This often leads to situations where it seems like I’m acting against my best interests, but I want to make choices my future self will thank me for.</p><p>Instead of allowing myself a slow morning after a restless night, I go for a run.</p><p>Instead of relaxing on the couch, I'm teaching myself how to code.</p><p>Instead of avoiding a difficult conversation, I embrace it.</p><p>These things share one important truth: I know that I will feel better once they've happened. These actions are scalable because they optimize for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_gratification">delayed gratification</a>. They anticipate a future that will be better because I welcomed friction.</p><p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/897136-nothing-worth-having-was-ever-achieved-without-effort" target="_blank">Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.</a></p><p>Once I internalized this way of thinking, it changed how I see myself and those around me. Chasing instant gratification doesn't align with the life I want, and watching others do so isn't something I enjoy.</p><p>I want to be, and surround myself with, people who are willing to put in the effort to live a life their future selves will thank them for—people who make scalable, life-affirming choices because they know these actions grow and compound over time, leading to greater, unexpected benefits.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>This was fun. I've never read anything by T.C. Boyles before and didn't know what to expect. There's a play based on this novel though and I wanted to be able to see it while being able to say that the book is far better than the interpretation of the actors. Because that's just the person I am. </p>
<p>I didn't expect T.C. Boyles writing style but found myself loving it when I gave myself enough mental room and calmness to get engrossed in the minutiae he describes. </p>
<p>An enjoyable ride. Only the ending wasn't what I hoped for and fell a bit flat for my taste.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Thinking From a Position of Strength</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 22 Sep 2024 12:21:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/thinking-from-a-position-of-strength</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/thinking-from-a-position-of-strength</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Since I started running in January, I’ve noticed something that, while not incredibly surprising, is still new to me: while I’m running, I feel stronger, more physically capable, and healthier. It’s a reliable way to experience <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustress" target="_blank">eustress</a> on a scalable level.</p><p>What’s more, when my body feels like it’s functioning as it should, the quality of my thinking improves as well.</p><p>Physical strength leads to clearer, more optimistic thoughts, and less ego-driven thinking. When I’m not using energy to build up defenses, it’s easier to be more kind, humble, friendly, empathetic, and loving.</p><p>In short, feeling physically strong makes it easier to think strong thoughts. Running is a simple, scalable and reproducable way to achieve that.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Since I started running in January, I’ve noticed something that, while not incredibly surprising, is still new to me: while I’m running, I feel stronger, more physically capable, and healthier. It’s a reliable way to experience <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustress" target="_blank">eustress</a> on a scalable level.</p><p>What’s more, when my body feels like it’s functioning as it should, the quality of my thinking improves as well.</p><p>Physical strength leads to clearer, more optimistic thoughts, and less ego-driven thinking. When I’m not using energy to build up defenses, it’s easier to be more kind, humble, friendly, empathetic, and loving.</p><p>In short, feeling physically strong makes it easier to think strong thoughts. Running is a simple, scalable and reproducable way to achieve that.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Apple&#8217;s Vehicle Motion Cues Changed my Life</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 20 Sep 2024 11:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/apples-vehicle-motion-cues-changed-my-life</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/apples-vehicle-motion-cues-changed-my-life</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Apple nonchalantly released iOS 18 with a new feature that’s about to change the lives of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_sickness">a huge part of the population</a>. <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/apple-announces-new-accessibility-features-including-eye-tracking/">Vehicle Motion Cues</a> is an accessibility feature that’s on by default and activates when your iPhone detects a moving vehicle around you.</p><p>It works by layering a bunch of animated dots on top of the content you’re looking at. When the device detects changes in the vehicle’s motion, it animates the dots accordingly, tricking your brain into thinking everything is fine instead of making you feel like you need to puke because the real-life physics engine stopped working.</p><div class="video">
    <video controls autoplay muted loop playsinline preload="metadata">        
    <source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/apples-vehicle-motion-cues-changed-my-life/0041fe5d7b-1726759748/apple-accessibility-features-vehicle-motion-cues.mov#t=0.1" type="video/mp4">
    Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
</div><p>I’ve struggled with motion sickness and haven’t read a book in a car or bus in 29 years. I didn’t find it very convincing that showing little circles on top of everything else would help, but yesterday, I spent 24 minutes on a bus, reading a whole chapter, and I was <em>completely</em> fine. </p><p>That <strong>never</strong> happened before.</p><p>Vehicle Motion Cues works, and it literally changed my life.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Apple nonchalantly released iOS 18 with a new feature that’s about to change the lives of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_sickness">a huge part of the population</a>. <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/apple-announces-new-accessibility-features-including-eye-tracking/">Vehicle Motion Cues</a> is an accessibility feature that’s on by default and activates when your iPhone detects a moving vehicle around you.</p><p>It works by layering a bunch of animated dots on top of the content you’re looking at. When the device detects changes in the vehicle’s motion, it animates the dots accordingly, tricking your brain into thinking everything is fine instead of making you feel like you need to puke because the real-life physics engine stopped working.</p><div class="video">
    <video controls autoplay muted loop playsinline preload="metadata">        
    <source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/apples-vehicle-motion-cues-changed-my-life/0041fe5d7b-1726759748/apple-accessibility-features-vehicle-motion-cues.mov#t=0.1" type="video/mp4">
    Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
</div><p>I’ve struggled with motion sickness and haven’t read a book in a car or bus in 29 years. I didn’t find it very convincing that showing little circles on top of everything else would help, but yesterday, I spent 24 minutes on a bus, reading a whole chapter, and I was <em>completely</em> fine. </p><p>That <strong>never</strong> happened before.</p><p>Vehicle Motion Cues works, and it literally changed my life.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Potential Iterations of Myself</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 19 Sep 2024 11:20:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/potential-iterations-of-myself</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/potential-iterations-of-myself</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Something I enjoy a lot is thinking about potential future versions of myself. At some point, I’m going to be a dog owner. Someone who enjoys classical music and regularly attends orchestral concerts. I might have a couple of years where I get into biking, woodworking, hiking or knitting.</p><p>It's not like I'm actively planning these versions. I might get a dog when I'm 50. Or when I'm 75. I could start woodworking tomorrow or 20 years from now. Maybe I'll spend my 40s <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-spatiality-of-instruments">learning how to play the piano</a>. Who knows.</p><p>The fun in thinking about these possible iterations is not in knowing when exactly they're going to happen but in expecting to have a life full of achievable possibilities. A life full of things I’m going to enjoy.</p><p>No matter what happens, there’ll always be an iteration of me that’s preoccupied with his current obsession—who’s looking forward to getting out of bed to go for a walk with the dog, sanding a piece of wood, polishing a bowling ball for the big tournament, or practicing a sonata.</p><p>I love that for me.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Something I enjoy a lot is thinking about potential future versions of myself. At some point, I’m going to be a dog owner. Someone who enjoys classical music and regularly attends orchestral concerts. I might have a couple of years where I get into biking, woodworking, hiking or knitting.</p><p>It's not like I'm actively planning these versions. I might get a dog when I'm 50. Or when I'm 75. I could start woodworking tomorrow or 20 years from now. Maybe I'll spend my 40s <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-spatiality-of-instruments">learning how to play the piano</a>. Who knows.</p><p>The fun in thinking about these possible iterations is not in knowing when exactly they're going to happen but in expecting to have a life full of achievable possibilities. A life full of things I’m going to enjoy.</p><p>No matter what happens, there’ll always be an iteration of me that’s preoccupied with his current obsession—who’s looking forward to getting out of bed to go for a walk with the dog, sanding a piece of wood, polishing a bowling ball for the big tournament, or practicing a sonata.</p><p>I love that for me.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>The Spatiality of Instruments</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 18 Sep 2024 17:51:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-spatiality-of-instruments</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-spatiality-of-instruments</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>It had been years since I was in the same room as a piano. That changed the other day, and I didn‘t expect how deeply hearing it live would move me—far more than a recording of the same piece would. </p><p>There’s something different about hearing an instrument played in person. Every speaker will always only be a representation of what the music is supposed to sound like. But when that layer of translation is removed something changes and you’re somehow able to <em>feel</em> the instrument as part of the music and room.</p><p>Now I‘m wondering if I should give going to the orchestra a try. Or even start a new side quest by taking piano lessons?</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>It had been years since I was in the same room as a piano. That changed the other day, and I didn‘t expect how deeply hearing it live would move me—far more than a recording of the same piece would. </p><p>There’s something different about hearing an instrument played in person. Every speaker will always only be a representation of what the music is supposed to sound like. But when that layer of translation is removed something changes and you’re somehow able to <em>feel</em> the instrument as part of the music and room.</p><p>Now I‘m wondering if I should give going to the orchestra a try. Or even start a new side quest by taking piano lessons?</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 A System for Writing by Bob Doto</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/a-system-for-writing-bob-doto</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/a-system-for-writing-bob-doto</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>It had been years since I was in the same room as a piano. That changed the other day, and I didn‘t expect how deeply hearing it live would move me—far more than a recording of the same piece would. </p><p>There’s something different about hearing an instrument played in person. Every speaker will always only be a representation of what the music is supposed to sound like. But when that layer of translation is removed something changes and you’re somehow able to <em>feel</em> the instrument as part of the music and room.</p><p>Now I‘m wondering if I should give going to the orchestra a try. Or even start a new side quest by taking piano lessons?</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I'm a sucker for productivity systems and setting up software with the promise of getting my life in order. One of those systems is called a Zettelkasten. </p>
<p>I never truly understood the Zettelkasten system until I read this book. It's the perfect explanation of a system that is supposed to help you think. </p>
<p>It's not a system to store your notes. It's a system to connect your ideas. </p>
<p>Very much worth reading if you're into stuff like this.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Sharing Atrophy</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 02 Sep 2024 21:18:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/sharing-atrophy</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/sharing-atrophy</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I feel like sharing thoughts with strangers online gets harder the longer you go without doing it. My plan was to write at least <em>something</em> in August so it wouldn’t be a month without any activity here. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Partly because my month was filled with great people, activities, and weather, and partly because I felt like I needed to write something of value and couldn’t manage to produce anything I was happy with.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sharing-atrophy/86286d1050-1725304889/mood-tracking-august-2024-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sharing-atrophy/86286d1050-1725304889/mood-tracking-august-2024-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sharing-atrophy/86286d1050-1725304889/mood-tracking-august-2024-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>August was great and I have the data to proof it</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>As you can see, I decided to solve this issue by posting something about not posting anything. An age-old trick in blogging: blogging about blogging. That being said, I actually believe it helps to keep the sharing muscle from atrophying. These posts don’t cost me anything. I don’t have to be precious about them.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I feel like sharing thoughts with strangers online gets harder the longer you go without doing it. My plan was to write at least <em>something</em> in August so it wouldn’t be a month without any activity here. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Partly because my month was filled with great people, activities, and weather, and partly because I felt like I needed to write something of value and couldn’t manage to produce anything I was happy with.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sharing-atrophy/86286d1050-1725304889/mood-tracking-august-2024-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sharing-atrophy/86286d1050-1725304889/mood-tracking-august-2024-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sharing-atrophy/86286d1050-1725304889/mood-tracking-august-2024-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>August was great and I have the data to proof it</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>As you can see, I decided to solve this issue by posting something about not posting anything. An age-old trick in blogging: blogging about blogging. That being said, I actually believe it helps to keep the sharing muscle from atrophying. These posts don’t cost me anything. I don’t have to be precious about them.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 How to Not Die Alone by Logan Ury</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 26 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/how-to-not-die-alone-logan-ury</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/how-to-not-die-alone-logan-ury</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I feel like sharing thoughts with strangers online gets harder the longer you go without doing it. My plan was to write at least <em>something</em> in August so it wouldn’t be a month without any activity here. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Partly because my month was filled with great people, activities, and weather, and partly because I felt like I needed to write something of value and couldn’t manage to produce anything I was happy with.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sharing-atrophy/86286d1050-1725304889/mood-tracking-august-2024-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sharing-atrophy/86286d1050-1725304889/mood-tracking-august-2024-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sharing-atrophy/86286d1050-1725304889/mood-tracking-august-2024-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>August was great and I have the data to proof it</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>As you can see, I decided to solve this issue by posting something about not posting anything. An age-old trick in blogging: blogging about blogging. That being said, I actually believe it helps to keep the sharing muscle from atrophying. These posts don’t cost me anything. I don’t have to be precious about them.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>After finishing my short stint with books about attachment types, I wanted to read something a little broader. This scratched the itch. The writing is entertaining, the topics relatable and I took quite a few things from this, that'll improve my relationships.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Adult Survivors of Emotionally Abusive Parents by Sherrie Campbell</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 11 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/adult-survivors-of-emotionally-abusive-parents-sherrie-campbell</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/adult-survivors-of-emotionally-abusive-parents-sherrie-campbell</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I feel like sharing thoughts with strangers online gets harder the longer you go without doing it. My plan was to write at least <em>something</em> in August so it wouldn’t be a month without any activity here. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Partly because my month was filled with great people, activities, and weather, and partly because I felt like I needed to write something of value and couldn’t manage to produce anything I was happy with.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sharing-atrophy/86286d1050-1725304889/mood-tracking-august-2024-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sharing-atrophy/86286d1050-1725304889/mood-tracking-august-2024-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/sharing-atrophy/86286d1050-1725304889/mood-tracking-august-2024-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>August was great and I have the data to proof it</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>As you can see, I decided to solve this issue by posting something about not posting anything. An age-old trick in blogging: blogging about blogging. That being said, I actually believe it helps to keep the sharing muscle from atrophying. These posts don’t cost me anything. I don’t have to be precious about them.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>This book can be life changing for many people. It's a very good book for all of those who still need to get permission to view their parents through a new lens of self-respect and being allowed to set boundaries. </p>
<p>I've read this to get a better feeling for how far along on my journey to distance myself from my... rocky... past I am. Turns out: I didn't learn anything new and feel very good about my progress. </p>
<p>This rendered this book a bit boring to me, unfortunately.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Back Home</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jul 2024 16:29:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/back-home</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/back-home</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A lot has happened since I wrote about my intention to move back to Hamburg.</p><p>For example: I moved back to Hamburg.</p><p>The move itself went off without a hitch. My stuff was put into a truck, my cats and I were picked up by friends, and we all made it successfully to my new flat. It took far longer than expected, but it got done.</p><p>Since then, I have unpacked all the boxes, kind of arranged everything in a roughly pleasing way, and got to know my new neighborhood and even my neighbors. I have gone for lunch, dinner, and walks with friends. I continued running every other day, even together with friends. I went on a couple of dates, found a new dentist and hairdresser, and have thoroughly enjoyed where I live.</p><p>I can't stress the last point enough: my sheer existence here feels like bliss. I step out of the house and love every second of it. Life is happening all around me, and I'm taking part in it.</p><p>The last three weeks felt like reality has realigned with how it should be, and I couldn't be happier about it.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>A lot has happened since I wrote about my intention to move back to Hamburg.</p><p>For example: I moved back to Hamburg.</p><p>The move itself went off without a hitch. My stuff was put into a truck, my cats and I were picked up by friends, and we all made it successfully to my new flat. It took far longer than expected, but it got done.</p><p>Since then, I have unpacked all the boxes, kind of arranged everything in a roughly pleasing way, and got to know my new neighborhood and even my neighbors. I have gone for lunch, dinner, and walks with friends. I continued running every other day, even together with friends. I went on a couple of dates, found a new dentist and hairdresser, and have thoroughly enjoyed where I live.</p><p>I can't stress the last point enough: my sheer existence here feels like bliss. I step out of the house and love every second of it. Life is happening all around me, and I'm taking part in it.</p><p>The last three weeks felt like reality has realigned with how it should be, and I couldn't be happier about it.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Windst&#228;rke 17 by Caroline Wahl</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 22 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/windstaerke-17-caroline-wahl</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/windstaerke-17-caroline-wahl</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A lot has happened since I wrote about my intention to move back to Hamburg.</p><p>For example: I moved back to Hamburg.</p><p>The move itself went off without a hitch. My stuff was put into a truck, my cats and I were picked up by friends, and we all made it successfully to my new flat. It took far longer than expected, but it got done.</p><p>Since then, I have unpacked all the boxes, kind of arranged everything in a roughly pleasing way, and got to know my new neighborhood and even my neighbors. I have gone for lunch, dinner, and walks with friends. I continued running every other day, even together with friends. I went on a couple of dates, found a new dentist and hairdresser, and have thoroughly enjoyed where I live.</p><p>I can't stress the last point enough: my sheer existence here feels like bliss. I step out of the house and love every second of it. Life is happening all around me, and I'm taking part in it.</p><p>The last three weeks felt like reality has realigned with how it should be, and I couldn't be happier about it.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>You don't have to have read (link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/22-bahnen-caroline-wahl">https://marcel.io/library/22-bahnen-caroline-wahl</a> text: 22 Bahnen) to enjoy this second novel from Caroline Wahl, even though it does continue the story of the two sisters from the first book. </p>
<p>What should I say. I liked it. It's another small, melancholy story that touched me emotionally. What else is there to want from a novel.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 07 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/service-model-adrian-tchaikovsky</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/service-model-adrian-tchaikovsky</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>A lot has happened since I wrote about my intention to move back to Hamburg.</p><p>For example: I moved back to Hamburg.</p><p>The move itself went off without a hitch. My stuff was put into a truck, my cats and I were picked up by friends, and we all made it successfully to my new flat. It took far longer than expected, but it got done.</p><p>Since then, I have unpacked all the boxes, kind of arranged everything in a roughly pleasing way, and got to know my new neighborhood and even my neighbors. I have gone for lunch, dinner, and walks with friends. I continued running every other day, even together with friends. I went on a couple of dates, found a new dentist and hairdresser, and have thoroughly enjoyed where I live.</p><p>I can't stress the last point enough: my sheer existence here feels like bliss. I step out of the house and love every second of it. Life is happening all around me, and I'm taking part in it.</p><p>The last three weeks felt like reality has realigned with how it should be, and I couldn't be happier about it.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>One of Tchaikovsky's misses. There's some great world building in here but the overall storyline is just too boring. It might just be me being unable to empathize with yet another robot trying to find its place in the world, but I just didn't care what happened to it.</p>
<p>I loved the different characters that showed up over the span of the Service Model's journey, though. As I said, the world building was great. It just didn't create a storyline that felt worth reading to me.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>AI in Design Tools</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 27 Jun 2024 11:48:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/ai-in-design-tools</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/ai-in-design-tools</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I, for one, don't mind <a href="https://x.com/MengTo/status/1806170269087613319">design tools experimenting with AI features</a>. </p><p>Much of what we're doing is just going through the motions until we reach the stage where the real work begins. If a tool can help me design an MVP of a form in 3 seconds that would have otherwise required 1,200 clicks, I'm greeting it with open arms. </p><p>My valuable skill is not drawing boxes in slightly different iterations but thinking about complex products that require a bird's-eye view and a vision. It will take some time until AI gets us there.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I, for one, don't mind <a href="https://x.com/MengTo/status/1806170269087613319">design tools experimenting with AI features</a>. </p><p>Much of what we're doing is just going through the motions until we reach the stage where the real work begins. If a tool can help me design an MVP of a form in 3 seconds that would have otherwise required 1,200 clicks, I'm greeting it with open arms. </p><p>My valuable skill is not drawing boxes in slightly different iterations but thinking about complex products that require a bird's-eye view and a vision. It will take some time until AI gets us there.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Wired for Love by Stan Tatkin</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/wired-for-love-stan-tatkin</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/wired-for-love-stan-tatkin</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I, for one, don't mind <a href="https://x.com/MengTo/status/1806170269087613319">design tools experimenting with AI features</a>. </p><p>Much of what we're doing is just going through the motions until we reach the stage where the real work begins. If a tool can help me design an MVP of a form in 3 seconds that would have otherwise required 1,200 clicks, I'm greeting it with open arms. </p><p>My valuable skill is not drawing boxes in slightly different iterations but thinking about complex products that require a bird's-eye view and a vision. It will take some time until AI gets us there.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>This is the best book about attachment theory I've found. Unlike "Attached", which is most often mentioned as the go-to read for this topic, "Wired for Love" actually shines a light on every attachment type. It successfully describes solution for everyone who isn't currently securely attached and how to get there.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 &#8206;22 Bahnen by Caroline Wahl</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 20 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/22-bahnen-caroline-wahl</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/22-bahnen-caroline-wahl</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I, for one, don't mind <a href="https://x.com/MengTo/status/1806170269087613319">design tools experimenting with AI features</a>. </p><p>Much of what we're doing is just going through the motions until we reach the stage where the real work begins. If a tool can help me design an MVP of a form in 3 seconds that would have otherwise required 1,200 clicks, I'm greeting it with open arms. </p><p>My valuable skill is not drawing boxes in slightly different iterations but thinking about complex products that require a bird's-eye view and a vision. It will take some time until AI gets us there.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Even though I expected nothing from this story about a young woman having to deal with her alcoholic mother and younger sister, it made me cry several times and I loved every second of it. </p>
<p>What a sad, great, not especially surprising but still very emotional little story. </p>
<p>Worth a read.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Ferryman by Justin Cronin</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 08 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-ferryman-justin-cronin</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-ferryman-justin-cronin</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I, for one, don't mind <a href="https://x.com/MengTo/status/1806170269087613319">design tools experimenting with AI features</a>. </p><p>Much of what we're doing is just going through the motions until we reach the stage where the real work begins. If a tool can help me design an MVP of a form in 3 seconds that would have otherwise required 1,200 clicks, I'm greeting it with open arms. </p><p>My valuable skill is not drawing boxes in slightly different iterations but thinking about complex products that require a bird's-eye view and a vision. It will take some time until AI gets us there.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The Ferryman is a special book. It starts slow and without letting you know much about the slightly off nature of where the story takes place. Only after the first half of the book it slowly gets rolling and then, suddenly, there are layers upon layers of meaning and genre-shifts. </p>
<p>My main issue with this book is that some of the core concepts were mentioned on a "trust me, bro" basis and didn't make any sense to me. I'm not one who needs their SciFi novels to be incredibly logical or who isn't able to overlook a couple of plot holes but some of these were a bit too big for my taste.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>My Mood in May 2024</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 07 Jun 2024 10:13:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/my-mood-in-may-2024</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/my-mood-in-may-2024</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-mood-in-may-2024/381f51121d-1717748027/mood-unhinged-app-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-mood-in-may-2024/381f51121d-1717748027/mood-unhinged-app-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-mood-in-may-2024/381f51121d-1717748027/mood-unhinged-app-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Mood tracker data">
  </figure>
 ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-mood-in-may-2024/381f51121d-1717748027/mood-unhinged-app-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-mood-in-may-2024/381f51121d-1717748027/mood-unhinged-app-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-mood-in-may-2024/381f51121d-1717748027/mood-unhinged-app-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Mood tracker data">
  </figure>
 ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>I found an apartment</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 30 May 2024 16:11:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/i-found-an-apartment</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/i-found-an-apartment</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Good news, everyone! I just signed a lease agreement and will be moving back to Hamburg soon. I couldn't be happier right now.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Good news, everyone! I just signed a lease agreement and will be moving back to Hamburg soon. I couldn't be happier right now.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>I&#039;m moving back to Hamburg - IMHMAO #4</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 11 May 2024 14:45:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Let's face the facts: I could go on for hours and hours talking about how unhappy I am where I currently live. Trust me, in private, I sometimes struggle to talk about anything but this situation. Instead of boring you with post after post, let's just sum up what's going on and talk about how to solve it.</p><ul><li>I was convinced that life in a smaller town would be the right thing for me. Instead of trying it out for a couple of months, I moved there completely. Like an idiot. That might not have been the smartest decision, but it sure felt right at the moment.</li><li>I was wrong. In terms of work, money, and negative emotions involved, this might have been the biggest mistake of my life. Which, all in all, speaks volumes about how good my life is going. It's a very privileged position to be in.</li><li>At the same time, this might be the most important lesson of my life. I won’t ever have to wonder what life in a small town would be like, not to mention one of those dreamy cabin-in-the-woods situations people like me tend to fantasize about. Not for me, no thanks!</li><li>All of this also changed my relationship with... people. Like, in general. I’m far more thankful for them. When visiting friends in Hamburg, I actually <em>enjoyed</em> being stuck in a completely overfilled subway. I <em>enjoyed</em> walking around the Alster dodging hundreds of people doing the same. It's a price I'm willing to pay for living in a proper city. It also gave me renewed motivation to work on <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship" rel="noopener" target="_blank">my yearly theme</a>.</li><li>I was so convinced about moving here that I was fine with signing a tenancy agreement with a minimum rental period of two years. My thinking was that you'd have to at least give it a good shot for this amount of time to be able to figure out if you like it or not. Oopsie. (I can get out of it by paying a lot of money. The process is already underway.)</li></ul><p>So, okay, whatever. Things happened, I was wrong about how I’d feel, and I went through all the necessary emotions to come to following conclusion:</p><p>I have to move.</p><p>Again.</p><p>Not great, not terrible. I learned a lot about myself and how I want to spend the rest of my life. That alone made this little, stupidly expensive intermezzo worth it. A solid 3.6 Roentgen situation.</p><p>So what's next?</p><p>I'll move back to Hamburg.</p><p>Before moving to Berlin about nine years ago, Hamburg was what I called my home, and it still feels like it. Most of my friends live there, I love the city, and I kind of can’t wait to come back.</p><p>So that’s it. I’m off trying to find a place to live in a city that is known for its horrendous housing market. Thanks for reading, and a big thanks to all of you who reached out to talk to me about this experience. I appreciate it!</p><p>Oh, by the way, if you hear something about a soon-to-be vacant apartment in Hamburg: Let me know!</p><p>I even built this little site you could share with your friends and colleagues to help me on my quest.</p><p><a href="https://eine.wohnung.fuer.marcel.io/" target="_blank">https://eine.wohnung.fuer.marcel.io</a></p><p>Thank you!</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao">Part 4: I'm moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Let's face the facts: I could go on for hours and hours talking about how unhappy I am where I currently live. Trust me, in private, I sometimes struggle to talk about anything but this situation. Instead of boring you with post after post, let's just sum up what's going on and talk about how to solve it.</p><ul><li>I was convinced that life in a smaller town would be the right thing for me. Instead of trying it out for a couple of months, I moved there completely. Like an idiot. That might not have been the smartest decision, but it sure felt right at the moment.</li><li>I was wrong. In terms of work, money, and negative emotions involved, this might have been the biggest mistake of my life. Which, all in all, speaks volumes about how good my life is going. It's a very privileged position to be in.</li><li>At the same time, this might be the most important lesson of my life. I won’t ever have to wonder what life in a small town would be like, not to mention one of those dreamy cabin-in-the-woods situations people like me tend to fantasize about. Not for me, no thanks!</li><li>All of this also changed my relationship with... people. Like, in general. I’m far more thankful for them. When visiting friends in Hamburg, I actually <em>enjoyed</em> being stuck in a completely overfilled subway. I <em>enjoyed</em> walking around the Alster dodging hundreds of people doing the same. It's a price I'm willing to pay for living in a proper city. It also gave me renewed motivation to work on <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship" rel="noopener" target="_blank">my yearly theme</a>.</li><li>I was so convinced about moving here that I was fine with signing a tenancy agreement with a minimum rental period of two years. My thinking was that you'd have to at least give it a good shot for this amount of time to be able to figure out if you like it or not. Oopsie. (I can get out of it by paying a lot of money. The process is already underway.)</li></ul><p>So, okay, whatever. Things happened, I was wrong about how I’d feel, and I went through all the necessary emotions to come to following conclusion:</p><p>I have to move.</p><p>Again.</p><p>Not great, not terrible. I learned a lot about myself and how I want to spend the rest of my life. That alone made this little, stupidly expensive intermezzo worth it. A solid 3.6 Roentgen situation.</p><p>So what's next?</p><p>I'll move back to Hamburg.</p><p>Before moving to Berlin about nine years ago, Hamburg was what I called my home, and it still feels like it. Most of my friends live there, I love the city, and I kind of can’t wait to come back.</p><p>So that’s it. I’m off trying to find a place to live in a city that is known for its horrendous housing market. Thanks for reading, and a big thanks to all of you who reached out to talk to me about this experience. I appreciate it!</p><p>Oh, by the way, if you hear something about a soon-to-be vacant apartment in Hamburg: Let me know!</p><p>I even built this little site you could share with your friends and colleagues to help me on my quest.</p><p><a href="https://eine.wohnung.fuer.marcel.io/" target="_blank">https://eine.wohnung.fuer.marcel.io</a></p><p>Thank you!</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao">Part 4: I'm moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 06 May 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/tender-is-the-flesh-agustina-bazterrica</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/tender-is-the-flesh-agustina-bazterrica</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Let's face the facts: I could go on for hours and hours talking about how unhappy I am where I currently live. Trust me, in private, I sometimes struggle to talk about anything but this situation. Instead of boring you with post after post, let's just sum up what's going on and talk about how to solve it.</p><ul><li>I was convinced that life in a smaller town would be the right thing for me. Instead of trying it out for a couple of months, I moved there completely. Like an idiot. That might not have been the smartest decision, but it sure felt right at the moment.</li><li>I was wrong. In terms of work, money, and negative emotions involved, this might have been the biggest mistake of my life. Which, all in all, speaks volumes about how good my life is going. It's a very privileged position to be in.</li><li>At the same time, this might be the most important lesson of my life. I won’t ever have to wonder what life in a small town would be like, not to mention one of those dreamy cabin-in-the-woods situations people like me tend to fantasize about. Not for me, no thanks!</li><li>All of this also changed my relationship with... people. Like, in general. I’m far more thankful for them. When visiting friends in Hamburg, I actually <em>enjoyed</em> being stuck in a completely overfilled subway. I <em>enjoyed</em> walking around the Alster dodging hundreds of people doing the same. It's a price I'm willing to pay for living in a proper city. It also gave me renewed motivation to work on <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship" rel="noopener" target="_blank">my yearly theme</a>.</li><li>I was so convinced about moving here that I was fine with signing a tenancy agreement with a minimum rental period of two years. My thinking was that you'd have to at least give it a good shot for this amount of time to be able to figure out if you like it or not. Oopsie. (I can get out of it by paying a lot of money. The process is already underway.)</li></ul><p>So, okay, whatever. Things happened, I was wrong about how I’d feel, and I went through all the necessary emotions to come to following conclusion:</p><p>I have to move.</p><p>Again.</p><p>Not great, not terrible. I learned a lot about myself and how I want to spend the rest of my life. That alone made this little, stupidly expensive intermezzo worth it. A solid 3.6 Roentgen situation.</p><p>So what's next?</p><p>I'll move back to Hamburg.</p><p>Before moving to Berlin about nine years ago, Hamburg was what I called my home, and it still feels like it. Most of my friends live there, I love the city, and I kind of can’t wait to come back.</p><p>So that’s it. I’m off trying to find a place to live in a city that is known for its horrendous housing market. Thanks for reading, and a big thanks to all of you who reached out to talk to me about this experience. I appreciate it!</p><p>Oh, by the way, if you hear something about a soon-to-be vacant apartment in Hamburg: Let me know!</p><p>I even built this little site you could share with your friends and colleagues to help me on my quest.</p><p><a href="https://eine.wohnung.fuer.marcel.io/" target="_blank">https://eine.wohnung.fuer.marcel.io</a></p><p>Thank you!</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao">Part 4: I'm moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>A friend recommended Tender is the Flesh to me while we were drinking coffee in the sun, and I knew instantly that I wanted to read it. A book about a dystopian world where humans are processed as livestock? Count me in!</p>
<p>While Tender is the Flesh is a thought-provoking exploration of a dark and twisted reality, I found myself more intrigued by the setting than the plot. It's an interesting read for those curious about dystopian futures, but I can't say it left a lasting impact on me.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Attached by Amir Levin, Rachel Heller</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/attached-amir-levine-rachel-heller</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/attached-amir-levine-rachel-heller</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Let's face the facts: I could go on for hours and hours talking about how unhappy I am where I currently live. Trust me, in private, I sometimes struggle to talk about anything but this situation. Instead of boring you with post after post, let's just sum up what's going on and talk about how to solve it.</p><ul><li>I was convinced that life in a smaller town would be the right thing for me. Instead of trying it out for a couple of months, I moved there completely. Like an idiot. That might not have been the smartest decision, but it sure felt right at the moment.</li><li>I was wrong. In terms of work, money, and negative emotions involved, this might have been the biggest mistake of my life. Which, all in all, speaks volumes about how good my life is going. It's a very privileged position to be in.</li><li>At the same time, this might be the most important lesson of my life. I won’t ever have to wonder what life in a small town would be like, not to mention one of those dreamy cabin-in-the-woods situations people like me tend to fantasize about. Not for me, no thanks!</li><li>All of this also changed my relationship with... people. Like, in general. I’m far more thankful for them. When visiting friends in Hamburg, I actually <em>enjoyed</em> being stuck in a completely overfilled subway. I <em>enjoyed</em> walking around the Alster dodging hundreds of people doing the same. It's a price I'm willing to pay for living in a proper city. It also gave me renewed motivation to work on <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship" rel="noopener" target="_blank">my yearly theme</a>.</li><li>I was so convinced about moving here that I was fine with signing a tenancy agreement with a minimum rental period of two years. My thinking was that you'd have to at least give it a good shot for this amount of time to be able to figure out if you like it or not. Oopsie. (I can get out of it by paying a lot of money. The process is already underway.)</li></ul><p>So, okay, whatever. Things happened, I was wrong about how I’d feel, and I went through all the necessary emotions to come to following conclusion:</p><p>I have to move.</p><p>Again.</p><p>Not great, not terrible. I learned a lot about myself and how I want to spend the rest of my life. That alone made this little, stupidly expensive intermezzo worth it. A solid 3.6 Roentgen situation.</p><p>So what's next?</p><p>I'll move back to Hamburg.</p><p>Before moving to Berlin about nine years ago, Hamburg was what I called my home, and it still feels like it. Most of my friends live there, I love the city, and I kind of can’t wait to come back.</p><p>So that’s it. I’m off trying to find a place to live in a city that is known for its horrendous housing market. Thanks for reading, and a big thanks to all of you who reached out to talk to me about this experience. I appreciate it!</p><p>Oh, by the way, if you hear something about a soon-to-be vacant apartment in Hamburg: Let me know!</p><p>I even built this little site you could share with your friends and colleagues to help me on my quest.</p><p><a href="https://eine.wohnung.fuer.marcel.io/" target="_blank">https://eine.wohnung.fuer.marcel.io</a></p><p>Thank you!</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao">Part 4: I'm moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>All my knowledge about attachment theory was based on a couple of social media posts I had seen float by over the years. I wanted to get a deeper understanding of what it's all about, and Attached successfully provided me with that.</p>
<p>However, it's not a very good book. It's fairly one-sided, a bit shallow, and quite repetitive.</p>
<p>While it's a good introduction to the topic and actually made me think differently about a couple of very fundamental things, I just can't rate it higher than this.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>The Possibilities - IMHMAO #3</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 21:09:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>What surprised me the most about my emotional state after moving from Berlin Mitte to a city of 100,000 inhabitants was how much I miss... everything.</p><p>I never made much use of what Berlin has to offer, yet I took quite a few things for granted.</p><p>Restaurants, for example. I could have sworn that I didn’t care that much about food. Unfortunately, that seems to have been the case only because I was surrounded by fantastic food and restaurants ever since moving out from home. I miss it—all the choices of different establishments, all the culinary options. The fact that 4.8 stars on Google Maps actually meant something. I’m not even complaining about the lack of vegetarian options. It’s not even possible to get good fries anywhere.</p><p>I could live with that, though, if it weren't for the fact that absolutely nothing else is going on. Of course, I expected there to be less to do, but not this little.</p><p>After scouring the internet for hours in February, I found one (ONE!) interesting thing to look forward to: a lecture about salt and its history, with a tasting of salts from all over the world at the end. I knew I'd be roughly half as old as the other participants, but I was ready to mingle when I booked it for mid-April.</p><p>The one real museum is being renovated and won't open for more than a year. Things that do happen, like cocktail nights in the sole co-working space, result in a gathering of like four people. Two of them are the owners of the place.</p><p>I'm not even kidding.</p><p>Going to the movies was always a great solution for me to get my mind off things. The one good cinema doesn't offer screenings with original language, though, and I won't watch American and British movies with German dubbing. I haven't lost all of my self-respect.</p><p>Even though I didn’t make much use of what Berlin has to offer, it was good to know that I had options. If I wanted to do something, there was more than enough, sometimes even too much. All the options felt paralyzing at times. Now I long for them. I expected a reduction in possibilities to feel freeing; instead, it’s just depressing.</p><p>By the way, that lecture about salt I mentioned earlier?</p><p>It got cancelled.</p><p>For lack of interest.</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao">Part 4: I'm moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>What surprised me the most about my emotional state after moving from Berlin Mitte to a city of 100,000 inhabitants was how much I miss... everything.</p><p>I never made much use of what Berlin has to offer, yet I took quite a few things for granted.</p><p>Restaurants, for example. I could have sworn that I didn’t care that much about food. Unfortunately, that seems to have been the case only because I was surrounded by fantastic food and restaurants ever since moving out from home. I miss it—all the choices of different establishments, all the culinary options. The fact that 4.8 stars on Google Maps actually meant something. I’m not even complaining about the lack of vegetarian options. It’s not even possible to get good fries anywhere.</p><p>I could live with that, though, if it weren't for the fact that absolutely nothing else is going on. Of course, I expected there to be less to do, but not this little.</p><p>After scouring the internet for hours in February, I found one (ONE!) interesting thing to look forward to: a lecture about salt and its history, with a tasting of salts from all over the world at the end. I knew I'd be roughly half as old as the other participants, but I was ready to mingle when I booked it for mid-April.</p><p>The one real museum is being renovated and won't open for more than a year. Things that do happen, like cocktail nights in the sole co-working space, result in a gathering of like four people. Two of them are the owners of the place.</p><p>I'm not even kidding.</p><p>Going to the movies was always a great solution for me to get my mind off things. The one good cinema doesn't offer screenings with original language, though, and I won't watch American and British movies with German dubbing. I haven't lost all of my self-respect.</p><p>Even though I didn’t make much use of what Berlin has to offer, it was good to know that I had options. If I wanted to do something, there was more than enough, sometimes even too much. All the options felt paralyzing at times. Now I long for them. I expected a reduction in possibilities to feel freeing; instead, it’s just depressing.</p><p>By the way, that lecture about salt I mentioned earlier?</p><p>It got cancelled.</p><p>For lack of interest.</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao">Part 4: I'm moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>The People - IMHMAO #2</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 28 Apr 2024 19:21:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I grew up in a small village near the coast of the North Sea. Six thousand inhabitants, all of them very concerned with what the other 5,999 could think about them. This never felt right to me, and I thought there should be more to life than that. Even going to school in a city of 26,000 didn't change that feeling. The people around me didn’t share my interests, but I connected with others online who lived in big cities. I wasn't able to communicate exactly what I was feeling back then but I knew that I needed to get out.</p><p>Fortunately, 16 years later, I somehow found myself in the same situation again and am now able to express what it is that bothers me.</p><p>After living in Berlin Mitte for eight years, I was completely convinced that I needed a cozy small town without the depressing anonymity and all the noise. How great it would be to walk outside and not have to dodge others left and right.</p><p>I was wrong.</p><p>I miss what I was despising just a couple of months ago.</p><p>Yes, it was a lot and I wished for quieter surroundings at times. Of course, I wasn't happy with some aspects of my situation. Yes, I've seen a surprising amount of penises from randos pissing on the street. Not great!</p><p>It was interesting, though. Things changed from day to day. People were weird. Normal. Exciting. Profane. Loud. Quiet. <em>Something.</em> I stepped outside and life happened.</p><p>Schwerin, with it's less than 100,000 inhabitants, most of them teenagers or pensioners, is... boring.</p><p>Not in the way I thought it would be, where I expected the quietness and solitude to magically expand my mind. Walden Pond style. On the contrary: I kind of feel alone and mentally under-challenged.</p><p>I don't want to come across as contemptuous. A different version of me could love it here. I just don't want to be that version. Even though I respect everyone who finds what they're looking for in a place like this.</p><p>I've found that I want to be surrounded by people my age, with a high likelihood of shared interests. And as cringe as it might sound, I'm afraid mine are big-city-people interests. Internet-work people. I want to see, meet, and talk to people... like me. Or at least me-adjacent.</p><p>Here's the catch, though: People like me feel like they don't belong here.</p><p>I know because — and this might come as a surprise to you — I am a person like me.</p><p>And that's just one aspect. If you had asked me about this six months ago, I would have said something completely different, but here’s the reality: It’s too empty here. I can go for a 45-minute run and only meet five people—all of them pensioners, of course. I can walk from the main station to my flat on a Saturday night and not encounter a single person. That’s just depressing.</p><p>I haven't felt like this since moving away from where I grew up.</p><p>What I expected before the move was an expansion into a new way of being. Of feeling content with smallness, of finding joy in normalcy. Instead, it feels like a regression to something I left behind for a reason.</p><p>A reason that hasn't changed since I first felt it more than 16 years ago.</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao">Part 4: I'm moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I grew up in a small village near the coast of the North Sea. Six thousand inhabitants, all of them very concerned with what the other 5,999 could think about them. This never felt right to me, and I thought there should be more to life than that. Even going to school in a city of 26,000 didn't change that feeling. The people around me didn’t share my interests, but I connected with others online who lived in big cities. I wasn't able to communicate exactly what I was feeling back then but I knew that I needed to get out.</p><p>Fortunately, 16 years later, I somehow found myself in the same situation again and am now able to express what it is that bothers me.</p><p>After living in Berlin Mitte for eight years, I was completely convinced that I needed a cozy small town without the depressing anonymity and all the noise. How great it would be to walk outside and not have to dodge others left and right.</p><p>I was wrong.</p><p>I miss what I was despising just a couple of months ago.</p><p>Yes, it was a lot and I wished for quieter surroundings at times. Of course, I wasn't happy with some aspects of my situation. Yes, I've seen a surprising amount of penises from randos pissing on the street. Not great!</p><p>It was interesting, though. Things changed from day to day. People were weird. Normal. Exciting. Profane. Loud. Quiet. <em>Something.</em> I stepped outside and life happened.</p><p>Schwerin, with it's less than 100,000 inhabitants, most of them teenagers or pensioners, is... boring.</p><p>Not in the way I thought it would be, where I expected the quietness and solitude to magically expand my mind. Walden Pond style. On the contrary: I kind of feel alone and mentally under-challenged.</p><p>I don't want to come across as contemptuous. A different version of me could love it here. I just don't want to be that version. Even though I respect everyone who finds what they're looking for in a place like this.</p><p>I've found that I want to be surrounded by people my age, with a high likelihood of shared interests. And as cringe as it might sound, I'm afraid mine are big-city-people interests. Internet-work people. I want to see, meet, and talk to people... like me. Or at least me-adjacent.</p><p>Here's the catch, though: People like me feel like they don't belong here.</p><p>I know because — and this might come as a surprise to you — I am a person like me.</p><p>And that's just one aspect. If you had asked me about this six months ago, I would have said something completely different, but here’s the reality: It’s too empty here. I can go for a 45-minute run and only meet five people—all of them pensioners, of course. I can walk from the main station to my flat on a Saturday night and not encounter a single person. That’s just depressing.</p><p>I haven't felt like this since moving away from where I grew up.</p><p>What I expected before the move was an expansion into a new way of being. Of feeling content with smallness, of finding joy in normalcy. Instead, it feels like a regression to something I left behind for a reason.</p><p>A reason that hasn't changed since I first felt it more than 16 years ago.</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao">Part 4: I'm moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Artificial Condition by Martha Wells</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 21 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/artificial-condition-martha-wells</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/artificial-condition-martha-wells</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I grew up in a small village near the coast of the North Sea. Six thousand inhabitants, all of them very concerned with what the other 5,999 could think about them. This never felt right to me, and I thought there should be more to life than that. Even going to school in a city of 26,000 didn't change that feeling. The people around me didn’t share my interests, but I connected with others online who lived in big cities. I wasn't able to communicate exactly what I was feeling back then but I knew that I needed to get out.</p><p>Fortunately, 16 years later, I somehow found myself in the same situation again and am now able to express what it is that bothers me.</p><p>After living in Berlin Mitte for eight years, I was completely convinced that I needed a cozy small town without the depressing anonymity and all the noise. How great it would be to walk outside and not have to dodge others left and right.</p><p>I was wrong.</p><p>I miss what I was despising just a couple of months ago.</p><p>Yes, it was a lot and I wished for quieter surroundings at times. Of course, I wasn't happy with some aspects of my situation. Yes, I've seen a surprising amount of penises from randos pissing on the street. Not great!</p><p>It was interesting, though. Things changed from day to day. People were weird. Normal. Exciting. Profane. Loud. Quiet. <em>Something.</em> I stepped outside and life happened.</p><p>Schwerin, with it's less than 100,000 inhabitants, most of them teenagers or pensioners, is... boring.</p><p>Not in the way I thought it would be, where I expected the quietness and solitude to magically expand my mind. Walden Pond style. On the contrary: I kind of feel alone and mentally under-challenged.</p><p>I don't want to come across as contemptuous. A different version of me could love it here. I just don't want to be that version. Even though I respect everyone who finds what they're looking for in a place like this.</p><p>I've found that I want to be surrounded by people my age, with a high likelihood of shared interests. And as cringe as it might sound, I'm afraid mine are big-city-people interests. Internet-work people. I want to see, meet, and talk to people... like me. Or at least me-adjacent.</p><p>Here's the catch, though: People like me feel like they don't belong here.</p><p>I know because — and this might come as a surprise to you — I am a person like me.</p><p>And that's just one aspect. If you had asked me about this six months ago, I would have said something completely different, but here’s the reality: It’s too empty here. I can go for a 45-minute run and only meet five people—all of them pensioners, of course. I can walk from the main station to my flat on a Saturday night and not encounter a single person. That’s just depressing.</p><p>I haven't felt like this since moving away from where I grew up.</p><p>What I expected before the move was an expansion into a new way of being. Of feeling content with smallness, of finding joy in normalcy. Instead, it feels like a regression to something I left behind for a reason.</p><p>A reason that hasn't changed since I first felt it more than 16 years ago.</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao">Part 4: I'm moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Am I surprised that I didn't like this one after the performance of the (link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/all-systems-red-martha-wells">https://marcel.io/library/all-systems-red-martha-wells</a> text: first one)? Not really! Did I expect to be this bored out of my mind reading it? No. Absolutely not.</p>
<p>Nothing about this was fun. It's not completely unreadable, and I kind of see where people who don't like interesting storylines or characters might find pleasure in reading this, but it's not for me.</p>
<p>I won't even try with any other books from this series.</p>
<p>Goodbye, Murderbot.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 All Systems Red by Martha Wells</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 08 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/all-systems-red-martha-wells</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/all-systems-red-martha-wells</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I grew up in a small village near the coast of the North Sea. Six thousand inhabitants, all of them very concerned with what the other 5,999 could think about them. This never felt right to me, and I thought there should be more to life than that. Even going to school in a city of 26,000 didn't change that feeling. The people around me didn’t share my interests, but I connected with others online who lived in big cities. I wasn't able to communicate exactly what I was feeling back then but I knew that I needed to get out.</p><p>Fortunately, 16 years later, I somehow found myself in the same situation again and am now able to express what it is that bothers me.</p><p>After living in Berlin Mitte for eight years, I was completely convinced that I needed a cozy small town without the depressing anonymity and all the noise. How great it would be to walk outside and not have to dodge others left and right.</p><p>I was wrong.</p><p>I miss what I was despising just a couple of months ago.</p><p>Yes, it was a lot and I wished for quieter surroundings at times. Of course, I wasn't happy with some aspects of my situation. Yes, I've seen a surprising amount of penises from randos pissing on the street. Not great!</p><p>It was interesting, though. Things changed from day to day. People were weird. Normal. Exciting. Profane. Loud. Quiet. <em>Something.</em> I stepped outside and life happened.</p><p>Schwerin, with it's less than 100,000 inhabitants, most of them teenagers or pensioners, is... boring.</p><p>Not in the way I thought it would be, where I expected the quietness and solitude to magically expand my mind. Walden Pond style. On the contrary: I kind of feel alone and mentally under-challenged.</p><p>I don't want to come across as contemptuous. A different version of me could love it here. I just don't want to be that version. Even though I respect everyone who finds what they're looking for in a place like this.</p><p>I've found that I want to be surrounded by people my age, with a high likelihood of shared interests. And as cringe as it might sound, I'm afraid mine are big-city-people interests. Internet-work people. I want to see, meet, and talk to people... like me. Or at least me-adjacent.</p><p>Here's the catch, though: People like me feel like they don't belong here.</p><p>I know because — and this might come as a surprise to you — I am a person like me.</p><p>And that's just one aspect. If you had asked me about this six months ago, I would have said something completely different, but here’s the reality: It’s too empty here. I can go for a 45-minute run and only meet five people—all of them pensioners, of course. I can walk from the main station to my flat on a Saturday night and not encounter a single person. That’s just depressing.</p><p>I haven't felt like this since moving away from where I grew up.</p><p>What I expected before the move was an expansion into a new way of being. Of feeling content with smallness, of finding joy in normalcy. Instead, it feels like a regression to something I left behind for a reason.</p><p>A reason that hasn't changed since I first felt it more than 16 years ago.</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao">Part 4: I'm moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Even though I'm a sucker for modern science fiction series, I never felt the urge to read the Murderbot books because they seemed a bit uninspired to me. A conscious and semi-depressed robot. How innovative!</p>
<p>Let's just say this first installment didn't convince me otherwise. It's alright. Nothing to write home about. Parts of it were outright boring, and the story feels more like the plot of one episode of a TV series than that of a "real" book.</p>
<p>I guess that's why there are so many of these books and why they're so short.</p>
<p>I'll give the second one a chance. Maybe it'll manage to convince me that this series is as good as the raving reviews want me to believe.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Local Retail - I Might Have Made an Oopsie #1</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 07 Apr 2024 18:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Many of you (nobody) asked how moving from a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin" target="_blank">3.8 million inhabitants city</a> to a less than <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerin" target="_blank">100,000 inhabitants city</a> is treating me. In the last couple of months, I went through quite a lot of thoughts and emotions and arrived at some new opinions that surprised me. I won't be able to fit them all in one coherent post so here you go, in no particular order and in good-old blogging style. Welcome to part one of who knows how many instalments of IMHMAO. </p><p>Today: Local Retail.</p><p>I wasn't expecting this, like at all, but I seem to have demands for the quality and diversity of stores around me. Every time I tried to buy something in a store in Schwerin, I wasn't able to find what I was looking for. We're not talking about heavily exotic stuff here. Pants, for example, were nowhere to be found. None of them fit me, they were all far too big. I'm not weirdly shaped, on the contrary. It won't get more default than me. I ran out of stores to try before I found something I liked. That never happened before. Another time I tried to buy brushes: Nothing. Same for sketchbooks. Same for pretty baskets to store stuff in or colorful decoration. Nothing.</p><p>This might seem like a small matter but I like walking somewhere, browsing a limited but plentiful offering of wares and going back home with whatever I needed as the result. It makes me feel connected to where I am.</p><p>It doesn't help that online shopping became a pain in the ass at some point. There's just too much to choose from, everything, even Amazon, is full of scams and I hate the whole process. Choosing, ordering, waiting, tracking, receiving, returning. I don't need that noise.</p><p>So that's an insight: I would not have guessed that a heavily limited selection of stores would influence my mood this much but it does. The more you know!</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao" rel="noreferrer">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao" rel="noreferrer">Part 4: I&#039;m moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Many of you (nobody) asked how moving from a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin" target="_blank">3.8 million inhabitants city</a> to a less than <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerin" target="_blank">100,000 inhabitants city</a> is treating me. In the last couple of months, I went through quite a lot of thoughts and emotions and arrived at some new opinions that surprised me. I won't be able to fit them all in one coherent post so here you go, in no particular order and in good-old blogging style. Welcome to part one of who knows how many instalments of IMHMAO. </p><p>Today: Local Retail.</p><p>I wasn't expecting this, like at all, but I seem to have demands for the quality and diversity of stores around me. Every time I tried to buy something in a store in Schwerin, I wasn't able to find what I was looking for. We're not talking about heavily exotic stuff here. Pants, for example, were nowhere to be found. None of them fit me, they were all far too big. I'm not weirdly shaped, on the contrary. It won't get more default than me. I ran out of stores to try before I found something I liked. That never happened before. Another time I tried to buy brushes: Nothing. Same for sketchbooks. Same for pretty baskets to store stuff in or colorful decoration. Nothing.</p><p>This might seem like a small matter but I like walking somewhere, browsing a limited but plentiful offering of wares and going back home with whatever I needed as the result. It makes me feel connected to where I am.</p><p>It doesn't help that online shopping became a pain in the ass at some point. There's just too much to choose from, everything, even Amazon, is full of scams and I hate the whole process. Choosing, ordering, waiting, tracking, receiving, returning. I don't need that noise.</p><p>So that's an insight: I would not have guessed that a heavily limited selection of stores would influence my mood this much but it does. The more you know!</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao" rel="noreferrer">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao" rel="noreferrer">Part 4: I&#039;m moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 World War Z by Max Brooks</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 22 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/world-war-z-max-brooks</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/world-war-z-max-brooks</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Many of you (nobody) asked how moving from a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin" target="_blank">3.8 million inhabitants city</a> to a less than <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerin" target="_blank">100,000 inhabitants city</a> is treating me. In the last couple of months, I went through quite a lot of thoughts and emotions and arrived at some new opinions that surprised me. I won't be able to fit them all in one coherent post so here you go, in no particular order and in good-old blogging style. Welcome to part one of who knows how many instalments of IMHMAO. </p><p>Today: Local Retail.</p><p>I wasn't expecting this, like at all, but I seem to have demands for the quality and diversity of stores around me. Every time I tried to buy something in a store in Schwerin, I wasn't able to find what I was looking for. We're not talking about heavily exotic stuff here. Pants, for example, were nowhere to be found. None of them fit me, they were all far too big. I'm not weirdly shaped, on the contrary. It won't get more default than me. I ran out of stores to try before I found something I liked. That never happened before. Another time I tried to buy brushes: Nothing. Same for sketchbooks. Same for pretty baskets to store stuff in or colorful decoration. Nothing.</p><p>This might seem like a small matter but I like walking somewhere, browsing a limited but plentiful offering of wares and going back home with whatever I needed as the result. It makes me feel connected to where I am.</p><p>It doesn't help that online shopping became a pain in the ass at some point. There's just too much to choose from, everything, even Amazon, is full of scams and I hate the whole process. Choosing, ordering, waiting, tracking, receiving, returning. I don't need that noise.</p><p>So that's an insight: I would not have guessed that a heavily limited selection of stores would influence my mood this much but it does. The more you know!</p><h2>I Might Have Made an Oopsie</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-might-have-made-an-oopsie-part-1-local-retail" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Part 1: Local Retail</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-people-imhmao" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Part 2: The People</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-possibilities-imhmao" rel="noreferrer">Part 3: The Possibilities</a></li><li><a href="https://marcel.io/posts/i-m-moving-back-to-hamburg-imhmao" rel="noreferrer">Part 4: I&#039;m moving back to Hamburg</a></li></ul> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The big zombie fad from a couple of years ago passed without me consuming much of what was produced. To this day, I haven't seen The Walking Dead. Zombies just aren't very interesting to me.</p>
<p>A couple of days ago, I noticed a craving for a post-apocalyptic book, and because I've read most of the highly-rated ones already, World War Z suddenly held a certain appeal.</p>
<p>Here's something I didn't know: It's written from the perspective of those who survived the zombie apocalypse! Someone is traveling the world, collecting eyewitness reports about what happened. What a great idea!</p>
<p>I enjoyed reading World War Z. It's a "What if" type of situation, where you learn that zombies can survive underwater, only to later discover how humanity dealt with oceans full of millions of undead. The logistics of a zombie invasion are actually interesting!</p>
<p>The format of having every interviewee's story be a short chapter made every not-so-engaging part (of which there were a few) bearable.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Fail Forward With Kindness</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 21 Mar 2024 14:21:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/fail-forward-with-kindness</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/fail-forward-with-kindness</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>If you want to grow, you need to be able to learn, experiment, and stay consistent. That's only possible if you're able to keep yourself motivated, which is <em>impossible</em> if you're not being kind to yourself.</p><p>Many people think that being kind means not doing what needs to be done because it's hard. That giving themselves breaks from trying is what they need.</p><p>They think it comes easily to those succeeding at what they set out to do and if they themselves struggle, it's obviously not for them. They're special in how hard it is for them. Hence, they deserve time off from trying.</p><p>That's one of the biggest misconceptions, and I believe the inherent problem is with how people talk to themselves.</p><p>Growth is the result of enough repetitions, many of them ending in some sort of failure. Your drawing doesn't look like anything you expected, your run felt terrible, your code doesn't compile.</p><p>If your inner voice gets destructive every time you mess up, you're less likely to try again. Ironically, you are getting in yet another successful repetition of talking badly about yourself.</p><p>If you learn to not succumb to negative self-talk, it gets a lot easier to get back to what you set out to do and start another repetition. You'll still fail, you'll still find it hard, but you won't be in a constant fight with yourself anymore.</p><p>I strongly believe that everybody can achieve whatever they set out to do, as long as they keep at it. It might take forever, it might require a whole lot of deliberate practice and deep work, but as long as the repetitions don't stop, progress is inevitable.</p><p>The key difference between you and those who make it seem easy is probably that they're kinder to themselves.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>If you want to grow, you need to be able to learn, experiment, and stay consistent. That's only possible if you're able to keep yourself motivated, which is <em>impossible</em> if you're not being kind to yourself.</p><p>Many people think that being kind means not doing what needs to be done because it's hard. That giving themselves breaks from trying is what they need.</p><p>They think it comes easily to those succeeding at what they set out to do and if they themselves struggle, it's obviously not for them. They're special in how hard it is for them. Hence, they deserve time off from trying.</p><p>That's one of the biggest misconceptions, and I believe the inherent problem is with how people talk to themselves.</p><p>Growth is the result of enough repetitions, many of them ending in some sort of failure. Your drawing doesn't look like anything you expected, your run felt terrible, your code doesn't compile.</p><p>If your inner voice gets destructive every time you mess up, you're less likely to try again. Ironically, you are getting in yet another successful repetition of talking badly about yourself.</p><p>If you learn to not succumb to negative self-talk, it gets a lot easier to get back to what you set out to do and start another repetition. You'll still fail, you'll still find it hard, but you won't be in a constant fight with yourself anymore.</p><p>I strongly believe that everybody can achieve whatever they set out to do, as long as they keep at it. It might take forever, it might require a whole lot of deliberate practice and deep work, but as long as the repetitions don't stop, progress is inevitable.</p><p>The key difference between you and those who make it seem easy is probably that they're kinder to themselves.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Comments Coming Back</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2024 19:57:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/comments-coming-back</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/comments-coming-back</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Back in ye olden days everything was tinted in sepia tones and we communicated and made friends in the comment sections of blogs. Social media replaced these little get-togethers around internet bonfires. </p><p>I wonder if it would be possible to bring that feeling of community back to a site like mine. </p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Back in ye olden days everything was tinted in sepia tones and we communicated and made friends in the comment sections of blogs. Social media replaced these little get-togethers around internet bonfires. </p><p>I wonder if it would be possible to bring that feeling of community back to a site like mine. </p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>My Most Toxic Relationship</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2024 21:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/my-most-toxic-relationship</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/my-most-toxic-relationship</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>First things first: Some of you will get triggered by what I'm about to write. I want you to know that this is a safe space. You're loved. I'm not attacking your character, your personality, or any life choices you've made. Please stay calm and collected. This will be tough, but we'll get through it.</p><p>Alright! Now that I've dealt with the little feelings of the worst junkies among you, let me tell you about the first and only addiction I've ever had: caffeine.</p><p>I don't have an addictive personality and have never had any problems with the usual suspects. What made caffeine different is that our society somehow neglects to talk about it as a drug. Everybody is juiced up 24/7 and at best, we'll get a "don't talk to me before I've had my first coffee" joke instead of an actual warning about what are clear symptoms of withdrawal.</p><p>It took me years until I figured out that caffeine could be the reason for the ever-present headaches that plagued me for most of my 20s. I suspected having a brain tumor before even considering caffeine as the culprit.</p><p>Society doesn't want you to suspect its favorite lubricant.</p><p>The following weeks of withdrawal, going completely cold turkey and not touching anything that contained caffeine, were harder than I expected them to be. A fun fact as an aside: Many painkillers contain caffeine. That's not the information you want to learn while feeling like your head is about to explode.</p><p>Long story short: After successfully getting clean, my headaches were gone. I felt like myself for the first time in years. I wasn't tired all the time; I woke up alert and it stayed that way until the evening hours. Exactly like all the people talking about how you should quit caffeine said it would be. They're right.</p><p>Caffeine traps you in a vicious cycle of needing it to feel like you don't need it.</p><p>Since then, I've been in a constant struggle to keep clean. As soon as I drink something with caffeine for two to three days, the headaches come back. Which is a bummer, because those headaches can be cured through caffeinated beverages and the cycle starts anew.</p><p>I had a couple of relapses but always managed to go through another round of withdrawal. It's surprisingly hard to stay "sober". If I'm having a bad day, I crave a caffeine high to make me feel better. On a good day, I want something with caffeine to celebrate and enjoy my day even more.</p><p>I found an okay-ish rhythm where I allow myself one caffeinated beverage per week. As a treat. The only problem is that I have to account for the willpower needed the next day because I'll crave another one more than if I hadn't had the first one.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>First things first: Some of you will get triggered by what I'm about to write. I want you to know that this is a safe space. You're loved. I'm not attacking your character, your personality, or any life choices you've made. Please stay calm and collected. This will be tough, but we'll get through it.</p><p>Alright! Now that I've dealt with the little feelings of the worst junkies among you, let me tell you about the first and only addiction I've ever had: caffeine.</p><p>I don't have an addictive personality and have never had any problems with the usual suspects. What made caffeine different is that our society somehow neglects to talk about it as a drug. Everybody is juiced up 24/7 and at best, we'll get a "don't talk to me before I've had my first coffee" joke instead of an actual warning about what are clear symptoms of withdrawal.</p><p>It took me years until I figured out that caffeine could be the reason for the ever-present headaches that plagued me for most of my 20s. I suspected having a brain tumor before even considering caffeine as the culprit.</p><p>Society doesn't want you to suspect its favorite lubricant.</p><p>The following weeks of withdrawal, going completely cold turkey and not touching anything that contained caffeine, were harder than I expected them to be. A fun fact as an aside: Many painkillers contain caffeine. That's not the information you want to learn while feeling like your head is about to explode.</p><p>Long story short: After successfully getting clean, my headaches were gone. I felt like myself for the first time in years. I wasn't tired all the time; I woke up alert and it stayed that way until the evening hours. Exactly like all the people talking about how you should quit caffeine said it would be. They're right.</p><p>Caffeine traps you in a vicious cycle of needing it to feel like you don't need it.</p><p>Since then, I've been in a constant struggle to keep clean. As soon as I drink something with caffeine for two to three days, the headaches come back. Which is a bummer, because those headaches can be cured through caffeinated beverages and the cycle starts anew.</p><p>I had a couple of relapses but always managed to go through another round of withdrawal. It's surprisingly hard to stay "sober". If I'm having a bad day, I crave a caffeine high to make me feel better. On a good day, I want something with caffeine to celebrate and enjoy my day even more.</p><p>I found an okay-ish rhythm where I allow myself one caffeinated beverage per week. As a treat. The only problem is that I have to account for the willpower needed the next day because I'll crave another one more than if I hadn't had the first one.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Slow Productivity by Cal Newport</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/slow-productivity-cal-newport</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/slow-productivity-cal-newport</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>First things first: Some of you will get triggered by what I'm about to write. I want you to know that this is a safe space. You're loved. I'm not attacking your character, your personality, or any life choices you've made. Please stay calm and collected. This will be tough, but we'll get through it.</p><p>Alright! Now that I've dealt with the little feelings of the worst junkies among you, let me tell you about the first and only addiction I've ever had: caffeine.</p><p>I don't have an addictive personality and have never had any problems with the usual suspects. What made caffeine different is that our society somehow neglects to talk about it as a drug. Everybody is juiced up 24/7 and at best, we'll get a "don't talk to me before I've had my first coffee" joke instead of an actual warning about what are clear symptoms of withdrawal.</p><p>It took me years until I figured out that caffeine could be the reason for the ever-present headaches that plagued me for most of my 20s. I suspected having a brain tumor before even considering caffeine as the culprit.</p><p>Society doesn't want you to suspect its favorite lubricant.</p><p>The following weeks of withdrawal, going completely cold turkey and not touching anything that contained caffeine, were harder than I expected them to be. A fun fact as an aside: Many painkillers contain caffeine. That's not the information you want to learn while feeling like your head is about to explode.</p><p>Long story short: After successfully getting clean, my headaches were gone. I felt like myself for the first time in years. I wasn't tired all the time; I woke up alert and it stayed that way until the evening hours. Exactly like all the people talking about how you should quit caffeine said it would be. They're right.</p><p>Caffeine traps you in a vicious cycle of needing it to feel like you don't need it.</p><p>Since then, I've been in a constant struggle to keep clean. As soon as I drink something with caffeine for two to three days, the headaches come back. Which is a bummer, because those headaches can be cured through caffeinated beverages and the cycle starts anew.</p><p>I had a couple of relapses but always managed to go through another round of withdrawal. It's surprisingly hard to stay "sober". If I'm having a bad day, I crave a caffeine high to make me feel better. On a good day, I want something with caffeine to celebrate and enjoy my day even more.</p><p>I found an okay-ish rhythm where I allow myself one caffeinated beverage per week. As a treat. The only problem is that I have to account for the willpower needed the next day because I'll crave another one more than if I hadn't had the first one.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>It's not hyperbole to say that Cal Newport's books changed my life. (link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/so-good-they-cant-ignore-you-cal-newport">https://marcel.io/library/so-good-they-cant-ignore-you-cal-newport</a> text: So Good They Can't Ignore You), (link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/deep-work-cal-newport">https://marcel.io/library/deep-work-cal-newport</a> text: Deep Work), and (link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/digital-minimalism-cal-newport">https://marcel.io/library/digital-minimalism-cal-newport</a> text: Digital Minimalism) provided me with perfectly crafted arguments that altered how I think about very fundamental aspects of my day-to-day life.</p>
<p>However, Slow Productivity doesn't have the same impact. It indulges in self-referential navel-gazing that would only be worth reading if his other books didn't exist.</p>
<p>Newport frequently quotes himself, his blog, his books, and his podcast. When he doesn't, he tells lengthy stories about someone who succeeded by adopting one of the three rather simplistic ideas he promotes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Do Fewer Things.</li>
<li>Work at a Natural Pace.</li>
<li>Obsess over Quality.</li>
</ul>
<p>Unfortunately, there's just not enough substance here to fill the modest 210 pages of the book. Normally, I'm not against using stories to illustrate a point, but in this case, they just didn't resonate. They're too long, overly detailed, and, frankly, too boring. I found myself skipping large portions of them.</p>
<p>Sorry, Cal, but this one makes me think twice before buying your next book.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>32 More Years</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 10 Mar 2024 12:30:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/32-more-years</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/32-more-years</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Lately, despite my best efforts, I've noticed more gray hairs at my temples, recurring fashion trends, and a sharp memory of events from two decades ago, all of which frequently remind me that I'm getting older.</p><p>The other day, I was wondering what my official year of retirement would be if the German laws don't change and I don't die or get very sick before then. I'm writing this in 2024; I turn 35 in May, and the current retirement age is 67. My last year of officially having to be an active member of the working force will be 2056.</p><p>Two thousand fifty-six!</p><p>That's 32 years from now!</p><p>My entire mentally present life, once again.</p><p>At this point, there's a fork in the road of how to feel about this. "Oh shit, I still have to do this for more than 30 years?" or "Oh wow, that's so much time left!".</p><p>Fortunately, I landed on the second option. </p><p>Your mid-30s are a weird age. You meet people who seem convinced (or have to convince themselves?) that they've <em>arrived</em>. They worked, found success in some kind of career and are now ready to settle down. All of this makes it feel like there's nothing yet to come. </p><p>That's completely wrong, though. We're not talking about 32 years until I'm basically dead. They're productive years full of potential building, transformation and growth. </p><p>Let's say you studied and started your first real job in your early 20s: You worked for just one quarter of what is considered the norm. What's left is enough time to start three new, completely unrelated careers, if you're so inclined.</p><p>32 years! </p><p>How cool is that?!</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Lately, despite my best efforts, I've noticed more gray hairs at my temples, recurring fashion trends, and a sharp memory of events from two decades ago, all of which frequently remind me that I'm getting older.</p><p>The other day, I was wondering what my official year of retirement would be if the German laws don't change and I don't die or get very sick before then. I'm writing this in 2024; I turn 35 in May, and the current retirement age is 67. My last year of officially having to be an active member of the working force will be 2056.</p><p>Two thousand fifty-six!</p><p>That's 32 years from now!</p><p>My entire mentally present life, once again.</p><p>At this point, there's a fork in the road of how to feel about this. "Oh shit, I still have to do this for more than 30 years?" or "Oh wow, that's so much time left!".</p><p>Fortunately, I landed on the second option. </p><p>Your mid-30s are a weird age. You meet people who seem convinced (or have to convince themselves?) that they've <em>arrived</em>. They worked, found success in some kind of career and are now ready to settle down. All of this makes it feel like there's nothing yet to come. </p><p>That's completely wrong, though. We're not talking about 32 years until I'm basically dead. They're productive years full of potential building, transformation and growth. </p><p>Let's say you studied and started your first real job in your early 20s: You worked for just one quarter of what is considered the norm. What's left is enough time to start three new, completely unrelated careers, if you're so inclined.</p><p>32 years! </p><p>How cool is that?!</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 01 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/elder-race</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/elder-race</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Lately, despite my best efforts, I've noticed more gray hairs at my temples, recurring fashion trends, and a sharp memory of events from two decades ago, all of which frequently remind me that I'm getting older.</p><p>The other day, I was wondering what my official year of retirement would be if the German laws don't change and I don't die or get very sick before then. I'm writing this in 2024; I turn 35 in May, and the current retirement age is 67. My last year of officially having to be an active member of the working force will be 2056.</p><p>Two thousand fifty-six!</p><p>That's 32 years from now!</p><p>My entire mentally present life, once again.</p><p>At this point, there's a fork in the road of how to feel about this. "Oh shit, I still have to do this for more than 30 years?" or "Oh wow, that's so much time left!".</p><p>Fortunately, I landed on the second option. </p><p>Your mid-30s are a weird age. You meet people who seem convinced (or have to convince themselves?) that they've <em>arrived</em>. They worked, found success in some kind of career and are now ready to settle down. All of this makes it feel like there's nothing yet to come. </p><p>That's completely wrong, though. We're not talking about 32 years until I'm basically dead. They're productive years full of potential building, transformation and growth. </p><p>Let's say you studied and started your first real job in your early 20s: You worked for just one quarter of what is considered the norm. What's left is enough time to start three new, completely unrelated careers, if you're so inclined.</p><p>32 years! </p><p>How cool is that?!</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>It‘s not incredibly surprising that Elder Race left me wanting. The whole premise isn‘t my cup of tea: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.</p>
<p>But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she’s an adult (albeit barely) and although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it).</p>
<p>But Elder Nyr isn’t a sorcerer, and he is forbidden to help, for his knowledge of science tells him the threat cannot possibly be a demon…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Adrian Tchaikovsky has a history of surprising me with his books and I was ready to be proven wrong. </p>
<p>Unfortunately I wasn‘t. The story is exactly what I expected it to be, there was no interesting twist, not even interesting characters. Everybody was sulky or even clinically depressed. Topics that are worth writing about but felt very out of place in this instance. </p>
<p>It wasn‘t awful. It wasn‘t great. It‘s an unsurprising book that‘s nicely written. </p>
<p>By the way: If you want to read something about a scientist that was stationed at a planet to oversee the evolution of its inhabitants, I strongly recommend (link: <a href="https://marcel.io/library/children-of-time-adrian-tchaikovsky">https://marcel.io/library/children-of-time-adrian-tchaikovsky</a> text: Children Of Time) from no other than… Adrian Tchaikovsky.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Offering Opinions Online</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 01 Mar 2024 13:35:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/offering-opinions-online</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/offering-opinions-online</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I've been sharing my opinions online since I was 14. Something that has changed over the years is my relationship with the reactions I receive.</p><p>When you share something online, people will react. <strong>Most of the time, they try to one-up you, either by pointing out something you apparently missed or by flat-out telling you that you're wrong and they know better.</strong></p><p>That's not surprising. It's how people operate.</p><p>In my early years of blogging, I viewed this behavior as a challenge. My whole personal brand was about "being combative." "Don't feed the trolls" was still a saying back then, and I completely ignored its inherent truth.</p><p>It's not just trolls, though. My recent <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/of-funnels-and-filters">post about filter icons </a>resulted in quite a few reactions, most of them telling me things I already knew. I struggle with people implying I haven't thought about what they're now kindly offering me as new information. It's likely one of those ego things where I feel undervalued if people consider me uninformed.</p><p>My first reaction—and I've started and deleted quite a few responses like this over the last couple of days—is to react with some witty "You think you've accomplished something here, but let me show you that you're actually not that smart" remark. It's an asshole move and exactly the behavior I've trained myself to stop doing over the last few years. It's not easy, but it's worth it. <strong>Letting things go always feels better than trying to win something that isn't even a competition.</strong></p><p>All of this influences my writing. I knew that these reactions would be the result of my short and not very in-depth argued post about filter icons. I could have written a 5,000-word piece on the ins and outs of why the status quo is the way it is, offered alternative icons, and talked about their pros and cons to anticipate those reactions as well. But that wouldn't have been fun. <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/everything-requires-a-disclaimer">Everything requires a disclaimer</a>.</p><p>I would lose my voice if I tried to optimize my writing around the expected reactions. I'd dumb everything down, argue in every direction, just to be safe. That's just not an option. Just like trying to outwit the people reacting to my writing isn't one.</p><p><strong>Am I suggesting that you should ignore your readers? Perhaps!</strong></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I've been sharing my opinions online since I was 14. Something that has changed over the years is my relationship with the reactions I receive.</p><p>When you share something online, people will react. <strong>Most of the time, they try to one-up you, either by pointing out something you apparently missed or by flat-out telling you that you're wrong and they know better.</strong></p><p>That's not surprising. It's how people operate.</p><p>In my early years of blogging, I viewed this behavior as a challenge. My whole personal brand was about "being combative." "Don't feed the trolls" was still a saying back then, and I completely ignored its inherent truth.</p><p>It's not just trolls, though. My recent <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/of-funnels-and-filters">post about filter icons </a>resulted in quite a few reactions, most of them telling me things I already knew. I struggle with people implying I haven't thought about what they're now kindly offering me as new information. It's likely one of those ego things where I feel undervalued if people consider me uninformed.</p><p>My first reaction—and I've started and deleted quite a few responses like this over the last couple of days—is to react with some witty "You think you've accomplished something here, but let me show you that you're actually not that smart" remark. It's an asshole move and exactly the behavior I've trained myself to stop doing over the last few years. It's not easy, but it's worth it. <strong>Letting things go always feels better than trying to win something that isn't even a competition.</strong></p><p>All of this influences my writing. I knew that these reactions would be the result of my short and not very in-depth argued post about filter icons. I could have written a 5,000-word piece on the ins and outs of why the status quo is the way it is, offered alternative icons, and talked about their pros and cons to anticipate those reactions as well. But that wouldn't have been fun. <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/everything-requires-a-disclaimer">Everything requires a disclaimer</a>.</p><p>I would lose my voice if I tried to optimize my writing around the expected reactions. I'd dumb everything down, argue in every direction, just to be safe. That's just not an option. Just like trying to outwit the people reacting to my writing isn't one.</p><p><strong>Am I suggesting that you should ignore your readers? Perhaps!</strong></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 26 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-antidote-oliver-burke</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-antidote-oliver-burke</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I've been sharing my opinions online since I was 14. Something that has changed over the years is my relationship with the reactions I receive.</p><p>When you share something online, people will react. <strong>Most of the time, they try to one-up you, either by pointing out something you apparently missed or by flat-out telling you that you're wrong and they know better.</strong></p><p>That's not surprising. It's how people operate.</p><p>In my early years of blogging, I viewed this behavior as a challenge. My whole personal brand was about "being combative." "Don't feed the trolls" was still a saying back then, and I completely ignored its inherent truth.</p><p>It's not just trolls, though. My recent <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/of-funnels-and-filters">post about filter icons </a>resulted in quite a few reactions, most of them telling me things I already knew. I struggle with people implying I haven't thought about what they're now kindly offering me as new information. It's likely one of those ego things where I feel undervalued if people consider me uninformed.</p><p>My first reaction—and I've started and deleted quite a few responses like this over the last couple of days—is to react with some witty "You think you've accomplished something here, but let me show you that you're actually not that smart" remark. It's an asshole move and exactly the behavior I've trained myself to stop doing over the last few years. It's not easy, but it's worth it. <strong>Letting things go always feels better than trying to win something that isn't even a competition.</strong></p><p>All of this influences my writing. I knew that these reactions would be the result of my short and not very in-depth argued post about filter icons. I could have written a 5,000-word piece on the ins and outs of why the status quo is the way it is, offered alternative icons, and talked about their pros and cons to anticipate those reactions as well. But that wouldn't have been fun. <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/everything-requires-a-disclaimer">Everything requires a disclaimer</a>.</p><p>I would lose my voice if I tried to optimize my writing around the expected reactions. I'd dumb everything down, argue in every direction, just to be safe. That's just not an option. Just like trying to outwit the people reacting to my writing isn't one.</p><p><strong>Am I suggesting that you should ignore your readers? Perhaps!</strong></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <ul>
<li>
<p>Stoicism, Buddhism, even Eckhart Tolle gets visited.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Burkeman gives a good overview of how to approach thinking and acting about your own happiness.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>This is a great primer for people who haven't spent much time with literature about these topics.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Burkeman's depiction of his experience in a one-week silent retreat was fascinating to me.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>From time to time, a bit too verbose for my taste. Especially the chapter about ego and perception was kind of a snoozefest.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>(image: the-antidote-perfectionism.jpeg)</p>
<p>(image: the-antidote-spectrum-implicit-view.jpeg)</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Of Funnels and Filters</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 26 Feb 2024 18:35:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/of-funnels-and-filters</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/of-funnels-and-filters</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/of-funnels-and-filters/32d272116f-1708968942/funnel_icon-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/of-funnels-and-filters/32d272116f-1708968942/funnel_icon-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/of-funnels-and-filters/32d272116f-1708968942/funnel_icon-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="A funnel icon">
  </figure>
<p>This icon represents a funnel. A funnel is used to help move liquid from one container to another.</p><p>A hydration highway.</p><p>If the funnel is handled by a person with adequate motor skills, no liquid will be lost. The same amount of liquid that was in the initial container will be moved to the second container.</p><p>A funnel does not filter liquid. That's what filters are for.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/of-funnels-and-filters/32d272116f-1708968942/funnel_icon-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/of-funnels-and-filters/32d272116f-1708968942/funnel_icon-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/of-funnels-and-filters/32d272116f-1708968942/funnel_icon-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="A funnel icon">
  </figure>
<p>This icon represents a funnel. A funnel is used to help move liquid from one container to another.</p><p>A hydration highway.</p><p>If the funnel is handled by a person with adequate motor skills, no liquid will be lost. The same amount of liquid that was in the initial container will be moved to the second container.</p><p>A funnel does not filter liquid. That's what filters are for.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Shorts are Back in Town</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 25 Feb 2024 20:30:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/shorts-are-back-in-town</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/shorts-are-back-in-town</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Those of you visiting this site in your browsers—like peasants in the Middle Ages—will notice that one of my favorite blog features is back: short posts without headlines. Rejoice! That's not all, though! I redesigned the main page to show full posts. Back to classic blogging!</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Those of you visiting this site in your browsers—like peasants in the Middle Ages—will notice that one of my favorite blog features is back: short posts without headlines. Rejoice! That's not all, though! I redesigned the main page to show full posts. Back to classic blogging!</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>The Truth of a Thing Is in the Feel of It, Not in the Think of It</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 22 Feb 2024 20:45:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-truth-of-a-thing-is-in-the-feel-of-it-not-in-the-think-of-it</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-truth-of-a-thing-is-in-the-feel-of-it-not-in-the-think-of-it</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>"The Truth of a Thing Is in the Feel of It, Not in the Think of It"</p><p>Since I heard this quote from Stanley Kubrick for the first time a few weeks ago, I couldn’t let go of it. It encapsulates a moment in design that makes me feel like a hack every time it happens.</p><p>I’m a stern believer that software design is a craft, not an art. There are artsy aspects to it, but for most of the time, rules can and should be followed. They’re flexible and complex, but not inexistent.</p><p>Another belief of mine is that designers have to be able to argue for their solutions. A working designer’s inner monologue should be the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method" target="_blank">Socratic method</a> that is being applied to every design decision, no matter how small.</p><p>Sometimes, truly not often, there are moments where this isn’t enough. You know what the correct solution would be, the one with the most arguments, the one that fits the rules, but it just doesn’t feel right.</p><p>There’s no way to explain this to those who don’t <em>feel</em> it. They just have to trust your instincts. Sometimes, designing something the wrong way creates the right solution.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>"The Truth of a Thing Is in the Feel of It, Not in the Think of It"</p><p>Since I heard this quote from Stanley Kubrick for the first time a few weeks ago, I couldn’t let go of it. It encapsulates a moment in design that makes me feel like a hack every time it happens.</p><p>I’m a stern believer that software design is a craft, not an art. There are artsy aspects to it, but for most of the time, rules can and should be followed. They’re flexible and complex, but not inexistent.</p><p>Another belief of mine is that designers have to be able to argue for their solutions. A working designer’s inner monologue should be the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method" target="_blank">Socratic method</a> that is being applied to every design decision, no matter how small.</p><p>Sometimes, truly not often, there are moments where this isn’t enough. You know what the correct solution would be, the one with the most arguments, the one that fits the rules, but it just doesn’t feel right.</p><p>There’s no way to explain this to those who don’t <em>feel</em> it. They just have to trust your instincts. Sometimes, designing something the wrong way creates the right solution.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>iPadOS Hover Effect with Framer Motion</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 17 Feb 2024 12:50:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/ipados-hover-effect-with-framer-motion</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/ipados-hover-effect-with-framer-motion</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Gavin Nelson recently redesigned <a href="https://nelson.co/">his portfolio</a> and it's looking ✨crisp✨. I wondered how to get an iPadOS hover effect like that to work and with quite a bit of help of<a href="https://bleepbloop.studio/"> my friend Nils</a>, a few discussions with ChatGPT and finally understanding LayoutGroups in Framer Motion, I present to you this solution. I'm sure it's far worse than Gavin's, so please don't think I know what I'm doing.</p><div class="video">
    <video controls autoplay muted loop playsinline preload="metadata">        
    <source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/ipados-hover-effect-with-framer-motion/59cd642379-1708170602/framer-motion-ipados-hover-effect.mp4#t=0.1" type="video/mp4">
    Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
</div><h2>The Theory</h2>
<p>It took me a while to understand this but when I found a SwiftUI comparison it clicked for me. I'm not sure if this will help anybody else, but I'll document this to solidify this knowledge for myself.</p><ul><li>Nothing about this is magic. It's a list of bunch of <code>&lt;a&gt;</code> elements containing an icon and the label.</li><li>The only special thing is an additional <code>div</code> in every <code>&lt;a&gt;</code> that is only rendered on hover.</li><li>What stumped me at first: This is not one single element being moved from link to link. Every single <code>&lt;a&gt;</code> tag has its own light gray background div.</li></ul><p>Here it is, without all the surrounding React and TypeScript nonsense:</p><pre class="hljs"><code data-language="typescript">&lt;a
  {...props}
  className=<span class="hljs-string">"group relative py-1 px-2 flex flex-row text-slate-500 transition-colors hover:text-slate-800 items-center gap-2 underline decoration-slate-200 underline-offset-4"</span>
  onMouseOver={<span class="hljs-function"><span class="hljs-params">()</span> =&gt;</span> setHover(<span class="hljs-literal">true</span>)}
  onMouseOut={<span class="hljs-function"><span class="hljs-params">()</span> =&gt;</span> setHover(<span class="hljs-literal">false</span>)}
&gt;
  &lt;AnimatePresence&gt;
    {hover &amp;&amp; (
      &lt;motion.div
        layoutId=<span class="hljs-string">"homing-hover"</span>
        initial={{ opacity: <span class="hljs-number">0</span> }}
        animate={{ opacity: <span class="hljs-number">1</span> }}
        exit={{ opacity: <span class="hljs-number">0</span> }}
        className=<span class="hljs-string">"absolute rounded-md inset-0 bg-slate-200 -z-10"</span>
        transition={{
          <span class="hljs-keyword">type</span>: <span class="hljs-string">"spring"</span>,
          stiffness: <span class="hljs-number">200</span>,
          damping: <span class="hljs-number">20</span>,
        }}
      /&gt;
    )}
  &lt;<span class="hljs-regexp">/AnimatePresence&gt;
  {IconComponent &amp;&amp; (
    &lt;IconComponent className="text-slate-400 group-hover:text-slate-600 transition-all group-hover:scale-125" /</span>&gt;
  )}
  {children}
&lt;<span class="hljs-regexp">/a&gt;</span></code></pre>
<p>As you can see, <code>onMouseOver</code> sets the <code>hover</code> state to true, <code>onMouseOut</code> to false. With that <code>hover</code> knows when this element has a cursor on top of it. Great. </p><p><code>&lt;AnimatePresence&gt;</code> is Framer Motions solution to conditionally rendered elements being removed from the React tree. Meaning: Since we're using <code>hover</code> as binary indicator for if the background <code>div</code> should be rendered or not, it would plop in and out of existence. If we would not be using <code>AnimatePresence</code>, the disappearance of the div when the mouse leaves the area of the &lt;a&gt; would lead to it not being animated. Or in short: What isn't there can't be pretty.</p><p>Said <code>div</code> is not a normal <code>div</code> anymore. We're transforming it into a <code>motion.div</code> and with that it's ready to accept all sorts of Framer Motion properties. The most important one in this case: <code>layoutId="homing-hover"</code>. We give it a Layout ID. Framer Motion uses this ID to understand where technically different elements are supposed to function as the same element in terms of transitions. </p><p>Everything else is standard Framer Motion, Tailwind and React stuff we don't care about for now. </p><p>Here's the whole component:</p><pre class="hljs"><code data-language="typescript"><span class="hljs-keyword">import</span> { AnimatePresence, LayoutGroup, motion } <span class="hljs-keyword">from</span> <span class="hljs-string">"framer-motion"</span>;
<span class="hljs-keyword">import</span> { IconType } <span class="hljs-keyword">from</span> <span class="hljs-string">"react-icons"</span>;
<span class="hljs-keyword">import</span> {
  AnchorHTMLAttributes,
  PropsWithChildren,
  ReactNode,
  useState,
} <span class="hljs-keyword">from</span> <span class="hljs-string">"react"</span>;

<span class="hljs-keyword">type</span> Props = AnchorHTMLAttributes&lt;HTMLAnchorElement&gt; &amp; {
  children: ReactNode;
  icon: IconType;
};

<span class="hljs-keyword">export</span> <span class="hljs-keyword">const</span> HomingHoverLink = ({
  children,
  icon: IconComponent,
  ...props
}: Props) =&gt; {
  <span class="hljs-keyword">const</span> [hover, setHover] = useState(<span class="hljs-literal">false</span>);
  <span class="hljs-keyword">return</span> (
    &lt;a
      {...props}
      className=<span class="hljs-string">"group relative py-1 px-2 flex flex-row text-slate-500 transition-colors hover:text-slate-800 items-center gap-2 underline decoration-slate-200 underline-offset-4"</span>
      onMouseOver={<span class="hljs-function"><span class="hljs-params">()</span> =&gt;</span> setHover(<span class="hljs-literal">true</span>)}
      onMouseOut={<span class="hljs-function"><span class="hljs-params">()</span> =&gt;</span> setHover(<span class="hljs-literal">false</span>)}
    &gt;
      &lt;AnimatePresence&gt;
        {hover &amp;&amp; (
          &lt;motion.div
            layoutId=<span class="hljs-string">"homing-hover"</span>
            initial={{ opacity: <span class="hljs-number">0</span> }}
            animate={{ opacity: <span class="hljs-number">1</span> }}
            exit={{ opacity: <span class="hljs-number">0</span> }}
            className=<span class="hljs-string">"absolute rounded-md inset-0 bg-slate-200 -z-10"</span>
            transition={{
              <span class="hljs-keyword">type</span>: <span class="hljs-string">"spring"</span>,
              stiffness: <span class="hljs-number">200</span>,
              damping: <span class="hljs-number">20</span>,
            }}
          /&gt;
        )}
      &lt;<span class="hljs-regexp">/AnimatePresence&gt;
      {IconComponent &amp;&amp; (
        &lt;IconComponent className="text-slate-400 group-hover:text-slate-600 transition-all group-hover:scale-125" /</span>&gt;
      )}
      {children}
    &lt;<span class="hljs-regexp">/a&gt;
  );
};

export const HomingHoverGroup = (props: PropsWithChildren) =&gt; (
  &lt;LayoutGroup&gt;{props.children}&lt;/</span>LayoutGroup&gt;
);</code></pre>
<p>The eagle-eyed reader discovered something at the end there. A whole other component!</p><pre class="hljs"><code data-language="typescript"><span class="hljs-keyword">export</span> <span class="hljs-keyword">const</span> HomingHoverGroup = <span class="hljs-function">(<span class="hljs-params"><span class="hljs-params">props</span>: <span class="hljs-params">PropsWithChildren</span></span>) =&gt;</span> (
  &lt;LayoutGroup&gt;{props.children}&lt;<span class="hljs-regexp">/LayoutGroup&gt;
);</span></code></pre>
<p>This is very important for all of this to work. Without <code>&lt;LayoutGroup&gt;</code> we'd only have a sad little gray box, showing up and hiding again, without animating from one link to the next. </p><p><code>LayoutGroup</code> is the container that does all the work to ensure that all elements with the same <code>layoutId</code> are being animated as if they're the same object. With each <code>a</code> having the same <code>layoutId</code>, Framer Motion understands that these are supposed to perform shared layout animations.</p><p>This component is used to group all the links into one of those LayoutGroups. Technically it doesn't require a whole new component to achieve this but this cleans this up nicely.</p><h2>An unhelpful comparison to SwiftUI</h2>
<p>For those of you that are well versed in SwiftUI, this is logically the same as defining a <code>Namespace</code> and using <code>.matchedGeometryEffect()</code> in SwiftUI. It took me quite a while to understand this, because it felt counter-intuitive to have two different elements in two different places that somehow magically animate as if they're the same but that's how it works. And I guess it makes sense, somehow. You kind of define the start and the end and some animation magic creates a transition between those two states.</p><h2>Slapping it all together</h2>
<p>This is nothing special, but for sake of completeness, here's the component that actually uses these components. The only thing worth noticing is that <code>HomingHoverGroup</code> obviously has to group all the instances of <code>HomingHoverLink</code>. </p><pre class="hljs"><code data-language="typescript"><span class="hljs-keyword">import</span> { HomingHoverGroup, HomingHoverLink } <span class="hljs-keyword">from</span> <span class="hljs-string">"./HomingHoverLink"</span>;
<span class="hljs-keyword">import</span> {
  PiAddressBookBold,
  PiHouseBold,
  PiNotepadBold,
  PiCameraBold,
} <span class="hljs-keyword">from</span> <span class="hljs-string">"react-icons/pi"</span>;

<span class="hljs-keyword">export</span> <span class="hljs-keyword">default</span> <span class="hljs-function"><span class="hljs-keyword">function</span> <span class="hljs-title">Navigation</span>(<span class="hljs-params"></span>) </span>{
  <span class="hljs-keyword">return</span> (
    &lt;main className=<span class="hljs-string">"h-screen flex items-center justify-center"</span>&gt;
      &lt;nav className=<span class="hljs-string">"p-20 flex flex-col items-start gap-2"</span>&gt;
        &lt;HomingHoverGroup&gt;
          &lt;HomingHoverLink href=<span class="hljs-string">"/?foo"</span> icon={PiHouseBold}&gt;
            Home
          &lt;<span class="hljs-regexp">/HomingHoverLink&gt;
          &lt;HomingHoverLink href="/</span>?foo<span class="hljs-string">" icon={PiNotepadBold}&gt;
            Posts
          &lt;/HomingHoverLink&gt;
          &lt;HomingHoverLink href="</span>/?foo<span class="hljs-string">" icon={PiCameraBold}&gt;
            Photography
          &lt;/HomingHoverLink&gt;
          &lt;HomingHoverLink href="</span>/?foo<span class="hljs-string">" icon={PiAddressBookBold}&gt;
            About
          &lt;/HomingHoverLink&gt;
        &lt;/HomingHoverGroup&gt;
      &lt;/nav&gt;
    &lt;/main&gt;
  );
}</span></code></pre>
<p>I bet there are quite a few things I don't understand about the intricacies of this but who cares. For now I got the little rectangle to move from A to B and it looks nice.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Gavin Nelson recently redesigned <a href="https://nelson.co/">his portfolio</a> and it's looking ✨crisp✨. I wondered how to get an iPadOS hover effect like that to work and with quite a bit of help of<a href="https://bleepbloop.studio/"> my friend Nils</a>, a few discussions with ChatGPT and finally understanding LayoutGroups in Framer Motion, I present to you this solution. I'm sure it's far worse than Gavin's, so please don't think I know what I'm doing.</p><div class="video">
    <video controls autoplay muted loop playsinline preload="metadata">        
    <source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/ipados-hover-effect-with-framer-motion/59cd642379-1708170602/framer-motion-ipados-hover-effect.mp4#t=0.1" type="video/mp4">
    Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
</div><h2>The Theory</h2>
<p>It took me a while to understand this but when I found a SwiftUI comparison it clicked for me. I'm not sure if this will help anybody else, but I'll document this to solidify this knowledge for myself.</p><ul><li>Nothing about this is magic. It's a list of bunch of <code>&lt;a&gt;</code> elements containing an icon and the label.</li><li>The only special thing is an additional <code>div</code> in every <code>&lt;a&gt;</code> that is only rendered on hover.</li><li>What stumped me at first: This is not one single element being moved from link to link. Every single <code>&lt;a&gt;</code> tag has its own light gray background div.</li></ul><p>Here it is, without all the surrounding React and TypeScript nonsense:</p><pre class="hljs"><code data-language="typescript">&lt;a
  {...props}
  className=<span class="hljs-string">"group relative py-1 px-2 flex flex-row text-slate-500 transition-colors hover:text-slate-800 items-center gap-2 underline decoration-slate-200 underline-offset-4"</span>
  onMouseOver={<span class="hljs-function"><span class="hljs-params">()</span> =&gt;</span> setHover(<span class="hljs-literal">true</span>)}
  onMouseOut={<span class="hljs-function"><span class="hljs-params">()</span> =&gt;</span> setHover(<span class="hljs-literal">false</span>)}
&gt;
  &lt;AnimatePresence&gt;
    {hover &amp;&amp; (
      &lt;motion.div
        layoutId=<span class="hljs-string">"homing-hover"</span>
        initial={{ opacity: <span class="hljs-number">0</span> }}
        animate={{ opacity: <span class="hljs-number">1</span> }}
        exit={{ opacity: <span class="hljs-number">0</span> }}
        className=<span class="hljs-string">"absolute rounded-md inset-0 bg-slate-200 -z-10"</span>
        transition={{
          <span class="hljs-keyword">type</span>: <span class="hljs-string">"spring"</span>,
          stiffness: <span class="hljs-number">200</span>,
          damping: <span class="hljs-number">20</span>,
        }}
      /&gt;
    )}
  &lt;<span class="hljs-regexp">/AnimatePresence&gt;
  {IconComponent &amp;&amp; (
    &lt;IconComponent className="text-slate-400 group-hover:text-slate-600 transition-all group-hover:scale-125" /</span>&gt;
  )}
  {children}
&lt;<span class="hljs-regexp">/a&gt;</span></code></pre>
<p>As you can see, <code>onMouseOver</code> sets the <code>hover</code> state to true, <code>onMouseOut</code> to false. With that <code>hover</code> knows when this element has a cursor on top of it. Great. </p><p><code>&lt;AnimatePresence&gt;</code> is Framer Motions solution to conditionally rendered elements being removed from the React tree. Meaning: Since we're using <code>hover</code> as binary indicator for if the background <code>div</code> should be rendered or not, it would plop in and out of existence. If we would not be using <code>AnimatePresence</code>, the disappearance of the div when the mouse leaves the area of the &lt;a&gt; would lead to it not being animated. Or in short: What isn't there can't be pretty.</p><p>Said <code>div</code> is not a normal <code>div</code> anymore. We're transforming it into a <code>motion.div</code> and with that it's ready to accept all sorts of Framer Motion properties. The most important one in this case: <code>layoutId="homing-hover"</code>. We give it a Layout ID. Framer Motion uses this ID to understand where technically different elements are supposed to function as the same element in terms of transitions. </p><p>Everything else is standard Framer Motion, Tailwind and React stuff we don't care about for now. </p><p>Here's the whole component:</p><pre class="hljs"><code data-language="typescript"><span class="hljs-keyword">import</span> { AnimatePresence, LayoutGroup, motion } <span class="hljs-keyword">from</span> <span class="hljs-string">"framer-motion"</span>;
<span class="hljs-keyword">import</span> { IconType } <span class="hljs-keyword">from</span> <span class="hljs-string">"react-icons"</span>;
<span class="hljs-keyword">import</span> {
  AnchorHTMLAttributes,
  PropsWithChildren,
  ReactNode,
  useState,
} <span class="hljs-keyword">from</span> <span class="hljs-string">"react"</span>;

<span class="hljs-keyword">type</span> Props = AnchorHTMLAttributes&lt;HTMLAnchorElement&gt; &amp; {
  children: ReactNode;
  icon: IconType;
};

<span class="hljs-keyword">export</span> <span class="hljs-keyword">const</span> HomingHoverLink = ({
  children,
  icon: IconComponent,
  ...props
}: Props) =&gt; {
  <span class="hljs-keyword">const</span> [hover, setHover] = useState(<span class="hljs-literal">false</span>);
  <span class="hljs-keyword">return</span> (
    &lt;a
      {...props}
      className=<span class="hljs-string">"group relative py-1 px-2 flex flex-row text-slate-500 transition-colors hover:text-slate-800 items-center gap-2 underline decoration-slate-200 underline-offset-4"</span>
      onMouseOver={<span class="hljs-function"><span class="hljs-params">()</span> =&gt;</span> setHover(<span class="hljs-literal">true</span>)}
      onMouseOut={<span class="hljs-function"><span class="hljs-params">()</span> =&gt;</span> setHover(<span class="hljs-literal">false</span>)}
    &gt;
      &lt;AnimatePresence&gt;
        {hover &amp;&amp; (
          &lt;motion.div
            layoutId=<span class="hljs-string">"homing-hover"</span>
            initial={{ opacity: <span class="hljs-number">0</span> }}
            animate={{ opacity: <span class="hljs-number">1</span> }}
            exit={{ opacity: <span class="hljs-number">0</span> }}
            className=<span class="hljs-string">"absolute rounded-md inset-0 bg-slate-200 -z-10"</span>
            transition={{
              <span class="hljs-keyword">type</span>: <span class="hljs-string">"spring"</span>,
              stiffness: <span class="hljs-number">200</span>,
              damping: <span class="hljs-number">20</span>,
            }}
          /&gt;
        )}
      &lt;<span class="hljs-regexp">/AnimatePresence&gt;
      {IconComponent &amp;&amp; (
        &lt;IconComponent className="text-slate-400 group-hover:text-slate-600 transition-all group-hover:scale-125" /</span>&gt;
      )}
      {children}
    &lt;<span class="hljs-regexp">/a&gt;
  );
};

export const HomingHoverGroup = (props: PropsWithChildren) =&gt; (
  &lt;LayoutGroup&gt;{props.children}&lt;/</span>LayoutGroup&gt;
);</code></pre>
<p>The eagle-eyed reader discovered something at the end there. A whole other component!</p><pre class="hljs"><code data-language="typescript"><span class="hljs-keyword">export</span> <span class="hljs-keyword">const</span> HomingHoverGroup = <span class="hljs-function">(<span class="hljs-params"><span class="hljs-params">props</span>: <span class="hljs-params">PropsWithChildren</span></span>) =&gt;</span> (
  &lt;LayoutGroup&gt;{props.children}&lt;<span class="hljs-regexp">/LayoutGroup&gt;
);</span></code></pre>
<p>This is very important for all of this to work. Without <code>&lt;LayoutGroup&gt;</code> we'd only have a sad little gray box, showing up and hiding again, without animating from one link to the next. </p><p><code>LayoutGroup</code> is the container that does all the work to ensure that all elements with the same <code>layoutId</code> are being animated as if they're the same object. With each <code>a</code> having the same <code>layoutId</code>, Framer Motion understands that these are supposed to perform shared layout animations.</p><p>This component is used to group all the links into one of those LayoutGroups. Technically it doesn't require a whole new component to achieve this but this cleans this up nicely.</p><h2>An unhelpful comparison to SwiftUI</h2>
<p>For those of you that are well versed in SwiftUI, this is logically the same as defining a <code>Namespace</code> and using <code>.matchedGeometryEffect()</code> in SwiftUI. It took me quite a while to understand this, because it felt counter-intuitive to have two different elements in two different places that somehow magically animate as if they're the same but that's how it works. And I guess it makes sense, somehow. You kind of define the start and the end and some animation magic creates a transition between those two states.</p><h2>Slapping it all together</h2>
<p>This is nothing special, but for sake of completeness, here's the component that actually uses these components. The only thing worth noticing is that <code>HomingHoverGroup</code> obviously has to group all the instances of <code>HomingHoverLink</code>. </p><pre class="hljs"><code data-language="typescript"><span class="hljs-keyword">import</span> { HomingHoverGroup, HomingHoverLink } <span class="hljs-keyword">from</span> <span class="hljs-string">"./HomingHoverLink"</span>;
<span class="hljs-keyword">import</span> {
  PiAddressBookBold,
  PiHouseBold,
  PiNotepadBold,
  PiCameraBold,
} <span class="hljs-keyword">from</span> <span class="hljs-string">"react-icons/pi"</span>;

<span class="hljs-keyword">export</span> <span class="hljs-keyword">default</span> <span class="hljs-function"><span class="hljs-keyword">function</span> <span class="hljs-title">Navigation</span>(<span class="hljs-params"></span>) </span>{
  <span class="hljs-keyword">return</span> (
    &lt;main className=<span class="hljs-string">"h-screen flex items-center justify-center"</span>&gt;
      &lt;nav className=<span class="hljs-string">"p-20 flex flex-col items-start gap-2"</span>&gt;
        &lt;HomingHoverGroup&gt;
          &lt;HomingHoverLink href=<span class="hljs-string">"/?foo"</span> icon={PiHouseBold}&gt;
            Home
          &lt;<span class="hljs-regexp">/HomingHoverLink&gt;
          &lt;HomingHoverLink href="/</span>?foo<span class="hljs-string">" icon={PiNotepadBold}&gt;
            Posts
          &lt;/HomingHoverLink&gt;
          &lt;HomingHoverLink href="</span>/?foo<span class="hljs-string">" icon={PiCameraBold}&gt;
            Photography
          &lt;/HomingHoverLink&gt;
          &lt;HomingHoverLink href="</span>/?foo<span class="hljs-string">" icon={PiAddressBookBold}&gt;
            About
          &lt;/HomingHoverLink&gt;
        &lt;/HomingHoverGroup&gt;
      &lt;/nav&gt;
    &lt;/main&gt;
  );
}</span></code></pre>
<p>I bet there are quite a few things I don't understand about the intricacies of this but who cares. For now I got the little rectangle to move from A to B and it looks nice.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Becoming a Design Engineer</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 16 Feb 2024 15:03:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I've been coding for about two years now and it changed my relationship to my role as a run-of-the-mill product designer spending most of his day in some sort of design software.</p><p>It already began many, many years ago: Moving rectangles on a canvas started to feel like a crutch. Most of the time I already know what needs to happen and what lies between me and having done a good job is pushing stuff around in Figma until what I think should be visible is actually visible. It feels like a chore.</p><p>Even though my day job isn't a Swift/SwiftUI based project, I've started creating prototypes with SwiftUI just to scratch my itch to do something "real". The code is as throwaway as it can get but it feels better — and somehow more productive — to create an empty data state based on if an array is empty or not than to duplicate a frame, call it "FeatureName / Empty Data State" and consider my job done.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/6b82f44298-1708092570/figma-design-software-crutch-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/6b82f44298-1708092570/figma-design-software-crutch-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/6b82f44298-1708092570/figma-design-software-crutch-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Screenshot of Figma, a design tool">
  </figure>
<h2>Enter: The Design Engineer</h2>
<p>"Design Engineer" is not a new term. I've known about the concept for years but somehow only considered becoming one after reading Jim Nielsen's <a href="https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2022/the-case-for-design-engineers/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">piece on Design Engineers</a> the other day:</p><blockquote>
  <p>The problem of innumerable artifacts helps show why design engineers are worth their weight in gold. They can bridge the chasm of design to browser engineering, skipping the need for 60+ artifacts. How? They have an understanding of the constraints of the medium, so from sketches to wireframe to high fidelity mocks, they only have to produce one or two artifacts while simultaneously keeping a picture in their head of how the elements of those designs flex and flow and change across different sizes. They can imagine how it works, so they don’t have to articulate it for every iteration. There’s no need to explicitly design and document all possible states for whoever is downstream of the designs because <em>they are the ones downstream of the designs</em>.</p>  </blockquote>
<p>That could be me! Most of it <em>is</em> me already, I only lack some of the skills (and currently also the environment) to produce code on a reliable basis.</p><p>In Jim's <a href="https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2024/the-case-for-design-engineers-pt-ii/" target="_blank">second post</a> he shares an example of what a Design Engineer could bring to the table and I adore everything about this. This is the stuff I love spending hours and hours on to get right. For most of my career I was dependent on a developer who put up with me and my dEsIgN-eXcElLeNcY shenanigans. It's hard to find frontend devs with an appreciation for this kind of work and even if you find them, there's still an obvious translation layer that can be a barrier between vision and result.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/0bd30786dc-1708092695/vs-code-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/0bd30786dc-1708092695/vs-code-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/0bd30786dc-1708092695/vs-code-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Screenshot of VS Code">
      <figcaption>The design tool of my future?</figcaption>
  </figure>
<h2><del>Transforming Marcelf</del> Transforming myself</h2>
<p>So, what's next? Do I want to become a Design Engineer? Imposter Syndrome and fear of failure tell me that it's a safe bet to just stay in my lane, create my little PNG files and be happy with what I've got.</p> <p>However, I doubt that this will be good enough for me in the medium term. I very much enjoy fiddling with code to get something working in a user-friendly and good looking way. I even believe that <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/increased-interactivity-requires-designers-to-code" rel="noopener" target="_blank">the future of computing <em>requires</em> designers to code</a>. So there's really no choice, if I'm honest with <del>Marcelf</del> myself.</p> <p>I'm on a good trajectory with Swift and SwiftUI. It's the iOS/iPad OS/VisionOS framework of the future and Apple's ecosystem is the playground of my choice.</p> <p>My HTML and CSS skills aren't embarrassing but especially the latter has quite a few depths I haven't charted yet. I built one or two things in React and played around with Framer Motion. Both are fun.</p> <p>I feel like this could be a solid foundation for a toolkit that helps me to morph from "just" being a designer who codes to becoming a design engineer. It's time I get the reps in, especially in terms of all things web development. I want to become very good at using Framer Motion.</p> <p>All of this is of course only relevant if I can't come up with a solid project that catapults me into the indie dev league. At the same time becoming a design engineer is the best way of honing my coding skills to become an indie dev.</p> <p>That's what I like to call a win-win situation.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I've been coding for about two years now and it changed my relationship to my role as a run-of-the-mill product designer spending most of his day in some sort of design software.</p><p>It already began many, many years ago: Moving rectangles on a canvas started to feel like a crutch. Most of the time I already know what needs to happen and what lies between me and having done a good job is pushing stuff around in Figma until what I think should be visible is actually visible. It feels like a chore.</p><p>Even though my day job isn't a Swift/SwiftUI based project, I've started creating prototypes with SwiftUI just to scratch my itch to do something "real". The code is as throwaway as it can get but it feels better — and somehow more productive — to create an empty data state based on if an array is empty or not than to duplicate a frame, call it "FeatureName / Empty Data State" and consider my job done.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/6b82f44298-1708092570/figma-design-software-crutch-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/6b82f44298-1708092570/figma-design-software-crutch-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/6b82f44298-1708092570/figma-design-software-crutch-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Screenshot of Figma, a design tool">
  </figure>
<h2>Enter: The Design Engineer</h2>
<p>"Design Engineer" is not a new term. I've known about the concept for years but somehow only considered becoming one after reading Jim Nielsen's <a href="https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2022/the-case-for-design-engineers/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">piece on Design Engineers</a> the other day:</p><blockquote>
  <p>The problem of innumerable artifacts helps show why design engineers are worth their weight in gold. They can bridge the chasm of design to browser engineering, skipping the need for 60+ artifacts. How? They have an understanding of the constraints of the medium, so from sketches to wireframe to high fidelity mocks, they only have to produce one or two artifacts while simultaneously keeping a picture in their head of how the elements of those designs flex and flow and change across different sizes. They can imagine how it works, so they don’t have to articulate it for every iteration. There’s no need to explicitly design and document all possible states for whoever is downstream of the designs because <em>they are the ones downstream of the designs</em>.</p>  </blockquote>
<p>That could be me! Most of it <em>is</em> me already, I only lack some of the skills (and currently also the environment) to produce code on a reliable basis.</p><p>In Jim's <a href="https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2024/the-case-for-design-engineers-pt-ii/" target="_blank">second post</a> he shares an example of what a Design Engineer could bring to the table and I adore everything about this. This is the stuff I love spending hours and hours on to get right. For most of my career I was dependent on a developer who put up with me and my dEsIgN-eXcElLeNcY shenanigans. It's hard to find frontend devs with an appreciation for this kind of work and even if you find them, there's still an obvious translation layer that can be a barrier between vision and result.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/0bd30786dc-1708092695/vs-code-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/0bd30786dc-1708092695/vs-code-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/0bd30786dc-1708092695/vs-code-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Screenshot of VS Code">
      <figcaption>The design tool of my future?</figcaption>
  </figure>
<h2><del>Transforming Marcelf</del> Transforming myself</h2>
<p>So, what's next? Do I want to become a Design Engineer? Imposter Syndrome and fear of failure tell me that it's a safe bet to just stay in my lane, create my little PNG files and be happy with what I've got.</p> <p>However, I doubt that this will be good enough for me in the medium term. I very much enjoy fiddling with code to get something working in a user-friendly and good looking way. I even believe that <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/increased-interactivity-requires-designers-to-code" rel="noopener" target="_blank">the future of computing <em>requires</em> designers to code</a>. So there's really no choice, if I'm honest with <del>Marcelf</del> myself.</p> <p>I'm on a good trajectory with Swift and SwiftUI. It's the iOS/iPad OS/VisionOS framework of the future and Apple's ecosystem is the playground of my choice.</p> <p>My HTML and CSS skills aren't embarrassing but especially the latter has quite a few depths I haven't charted yet. I built one or two things in React and played around with Framer Motion. Both are fun.</p> <p>I feel like this could be a solid foundation for a toolkit that helps me to morph from "just" being a designer who codes to becoming a design engineer. It's time I get the reps in, especially in terms of all things web development. I want to become very good at using Framer Motion.</p> <p>All of this is of course only relevant if I can't come up with a solid project that catapults me into the indie dev league. At the same time becoming a design engineer is the best way of honing my coding skills to become an indie dev.</p> <p>That's what I like to call a win-win situation.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 You Are The Brand by Mike Kim</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 14 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/you-are-the-brand-mike-kim</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/you-are-the-brand-mike-kim</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I've been coding for about two years now and it changed my relationship to my role as a run-of-the-mill product designer spending most of his day in some sort of design software.</p><p>It already began many, many years ago: Moving rectangles on a canvas started to feel like a crutch. Most of the time I already know what needs to happen and what lies between me and having done a good job is pushing stuff around in Figma until what I think should be visible is actually visible. It feels like a chore.</p><p>Even though my day job isn't a Swift/SwiftUI based project, I've started creating prototypes with SwiftUI just to scratch my itch to do something "real". The code is as throwaway as it can get but it feels better — and somehow more productive — to create an empty data state based on if an array is empty or not than to duplicate a frame, call it "FeatureName / Empty Data State" and consider my job done.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/6b82f44298-1708092570/figma-design-software-crutch-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/6b82f44298-1708092570/figma-design-software-crutch-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/6b82f44298-1708092570/figma-design-software-crutch-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Screenshot of Figma, a design tool">
  </figure>
<h2>Enter: The Design Engineer</h2>
<p>"Design Engineer" is not a new term. I've known about the concept for years but somehow only considered becoming one after reading Jim Nielsen's <a href="https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2022/the-case-for-design-engineers/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">piece on Design Engineers</a> the other day:</p><blockquote>
  <p>The problem of innumerable artifacts helps show why design engineers are worth their weight in gold. They can bridge the chasm of design to browser engineering, skipping the need for 60+ artifacts. How? They have an understanding of the constraints of the medium, so from sketches to wireframe to high fidelity mocks, they only have to produce one or two artifacts while simultaneously keeping a picture in their head of how the elements of those designs flex and flow and change across different sizes. They can imagine how it works, so they don’t have to articulate it for every iteration. There’s no need to explicitly design and document all possible states for whoever is downstream of the designs because <em>they are the ones downstream of the designs</em>.</p>  </blockquote>
<p>That could be me! Most of it <em>is</em> me already, I only lack some of the skills (and currently also the environment) to produce code on a reliable basis.</p><p>In Jim's <a href="https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2024/the-case-for-design-engineers-pt-ii/" target="_blank">second post</a> he shares an example of what a Design Engineer could bring to the table and I adore everything about this. This is the stuff I love spending hours and hours on to get right. For most of my career I was dependent on a developer who put up with me and my dEsIgN-eXcElLeNcY shenanigans. It's hard to find frontend devs with an appreciation for this kind of work and even if you find them, there's still an obvious translation layer that can be a barrier between vision and result.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/0bd30786dc-1708092695/vs-code-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/0bd30786dc-1708092695/vs-code-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/becoming-a-design-engineer/0bd30786dc-1708092695/vs-code-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Screenshot of VS Code">
      <figcaption>The design tool of my future?</figcaption>
  </figure>
<h2><del>Transforming Marcelf</del> Transforming myself</h2>
<p>So, what's next? Do I want to become a Design Engineer? Imposter Syndrome and fear of failure tell me that it's a safe bet to just stay in my lane, create my little PNG files and be happy with what I've got.</p> <p>However, I doubt that this will be good enough for me in the medium term. I very much enjoy fiddling with code to get something working in a user-friendly and good looking way. I even believe that <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/increased-interactivity-requires-designers-to-code" rel="noopener" target="_blank">the future of computing <em>requires</em> designers to code</a>. So there's really no choice, if I'm honest with <del>Marcelf</del> myself.</p> <p>I'm on a good trajectory with Swift and SwiftUI. It's the iOS/iPad OS/VisionOS framework of the future and Apple's ecosystem is the playground of my choice.</p> <p>My HTML and CSS skills aren't embarrassing but especially the latter has quite a few depths I haven't charted yet. I built one or two things in React and played around with Framer Motion. Both are fun.</p> <p>I feel like this could be a solid foundation for a toolkit that helps me to morph from "just" being a designer who codes to becoming a design engineer. It's time I get the reps in, especially in terms of all things web development. I want to become very good at using Framer Motion.</p> <p>All of this is of course only relevant if I can't come up with a solid project that catapults me into the indie dev league. At the same time becoming a design engineer is the best way of honing my coding skills to become an indie dev.</p> <p>That's what I like to call a win-win situation.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>This book wasn't what I expected or needed, but that's entirely my fault, not the book's. If you're looking for a comprehensive guide on how to establish an online brand and start selling products of any sort to clients, this book is excellent. It serves as an introduction to marketing and how to sell yourself and what you're doing.</p>
<p>I don't know why I started reading this anymore. Something about this blog and my desire to be more visible online and to become an indie developer made me think I would find something valuable here, but that wasn't really the case.</p>
<p>Perhaps it's because I don't have a real product to sell yet. Or maybe it's because I inherently dislike the idea of having to market something to people. If it's the latter, I should probably give the book another read. If it's the former, I should consider revisiting the book at a later date.</p>
<p>Be that as it may, it's not a bad book. It's well-structured, well-written, very practical, and to the point. It's just not the right book for me at the moment.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Comparing Spatial Apples with Oranges</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 14 Feb 2024 16:56:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/comparing-spatial-apples-with-oranges</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/comparing-spatial-apples-with-oranges</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Comparing the current Quest ecosystem to the very first iteration of Apple's Vision Pro doesn't make sense. This isn't because it wouldn't be a fair comparison, given that Vision Pro is still in its infancy, but rather because the Quest lacks an app ecosystem.</p><p>The word and definition of "app" do the heavy lifting in that sentence.</p><p>The Quest has a plethora of amazing experiences. It's the best platform for diving into literal virtual reality and shared (mostly gaming) experiences. While these are technically applications, they're not what people commonly think about as <em>apps</em>.</p><h2>Spatial Computing</h2>
<p>If you go ahead and browse through <a href="https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/view/777073612853145/">Meta's Quest Store</a>, you'll find everything from drawing in the space around you, to virtual meeting spaces, to ways to learn piano and even a handful of solutions for those who want to work out while wearing their headset, for whatever reason. What you won't find are Slack, Discord, any kind of note-taking app, a way to write down tasks, or anything else you'd expect from your <em>computer</em>.</p><p>That's where Spatial Computing comes into play. The term is more than Apple slapping their branding magic onto something that was already available. Spatial Computing is computing. You, using a computer, in the space around you.</p><p>Let's consider the Xbox. Yes, tEcHniCalLy the Xbox is a computer but only pedants would call it that. It's a console and does a great job at being one. Sure, you can open a web browser on it but there's really no reason to do so on a regular basis. The Quest is more like a console than a computer.</p><h2>A shared design language</h2>
<p>As far as I know, there's not even a UI framework for Quest development. Most of it happens in Unity, which is notoriously bad when it comes to creating 2D interfaces. There are a handful of other solutions to get something running on Quest but there's no chance of Quest apps actually getting to a point where the system as a whole has a unified design language. </p><p>Which is fine for games/experiences, there's no unified design language between Fortnite and Assassin's Creed either. It doesn't matter, because they're unique experiences.</p><p>This is <em>not</em> fine for an operating system of a computing platform.</p><p>It might feel like a small and obvious thing that Apple allows iPad apps to run on Vision Pro but it isn't. On day one of Vision Pro, there were more apps to manage your calendar than after years and years of Quest's existence. Which makes sense, since one of them is a game console and the other is a computer. One of them more or less requires you to start your development in a game engine, the other allows you to create a good-looking, albeit basic todo app with 30 lines of code.</p><p>Can Meta massage Quest into becoming an app platform?</p><p>I guess?! </p><p>It would be a long way to get there and you'll arrive at the same "quality" of apps Android can try to boast about but it's possible in theory. Can Vision Pro be used for VR experiences? Sure. It's already possible, with the only caveat being that there are no available controllers at the moment.</p><p>Quest and Vision Pro only share one similarity: People strap displays to their heads to interact with software. Everything else is fundamentally different. It can be compared but there's not really a good reason to do so.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Comparing the current Quest ecosystem to the very first iteration of Apple's Vision Pro doesn't make sense. This isn't because it wouldn't be a fair comparison, given that Vision Pro is still in its infancy, but rather because the Quest lacks an app ecosystem.</p><p>The word and definition of "app" do the heavy lifting in that sentence.</p><p>The Quest has a plethora of amazing experiences. It's the best platform for diving into literal virtual reality and shared (mostly gaming) experiences. While these are technically applications, they're not what people commonly think about as <em>apps</em>.</p><h2>Spatial Computing</h2>
<p>If you go ahead and browse through <a href="https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/view/777073612853145/">Meta's Quest Store</a>, you'll find everything from drawing in the space around you, to virtual meeting spaces, to ways to learn piano and even a handful of solutions for those who want to work out while wearing their headset, for whatever reason. What you won't find are Slack, Discord, any kind of note-taking app, a way to write down tasks, or anything else you'd expect from your <em>computer</em>.</p><p>That's where Spatial Computing comes into play. The term is more than Apple slapping their branding magic onto something that was already available. Spatial Computing is computing. You, using a computer, in the space around you.</p><p>Let's consider the Xbox. Yes, tEcHniCalLy the Xbox is a computer but only pedants would call it that. It's a console and does a great job at being one. Sure, you can open a web browser on it but there's really no reason to do so on a regular basis. The Quest is more like a console than a computer.</p><h2>A shared design language</h2>
<p>As far as I know, there's not even a UI framework for Quest development. Most of it happens in Unity, which is notoriously bad when it comes to creating 2D interfaces. There are a handful of other solutions to get something running on Quest but there's no chance of Quest apps actually getting to a point where the system as a whole has a unified design language. </p><p>Which is fine for games/experiences, there's no unified design language between Fortnite and Assassin's Creed either. It doesn't matter, because they're unique experiences.</p><p>This is <em>not</em> fine for an operating system of a computing platform.</p><p>It might feel like a small and obvious thing that Apple allows iPad apps to run on Vision Pro but it isn't. On day one of Vision Pro, there were more apps to manage your calendar than after years and years of Quest's existence. Which makes sense, since one of them is a game console and the other is a computer. One of them more or less requires you to start your development in a game engine, the other allows you to create a good-looking, albeit basic todo app with 30 lines of code.</p><p>Can Meta massage Quest into becoming an app platform?</p><p>I guess?! </p><p>It would be a long way to get there and you'll arrive at the same "quality" of apps Android can try to boast about but it's possible in theory. Can Vision Pro be used for VR experiences? Sure. It's already possible, with the only caveat being that there are no available controllers at the moment.</p><p>Quest and Vision Pro only share one similarity: People strap displays to their heads to interact with software. Everything else is fundamentally different. It can be compared but there's not really a good reason to do so.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Befriending Birbs</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 12 Feb 2024 14:25:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/befriending-birbs</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/befriending-birbs</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Not necessarily directly but perhaps slightly related to my <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship" target="_blank">Year of Friendship</a>, I bought a bag of shelled peanuts and stuffed a handful of them in my jacket pocket.</p><p>I'm befriending crows now.</p><p>Nothing can stop me.</p><p>It's legal, it's possible, it's necessary.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/befriending-birbs/7b2714e170-1707744465/a-birds-best-friend-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/befriending-birbs/7b2714e170-1707744465/a-birds-best-friend-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/befriending-birbs/7b2714e170-1707744465/a-birds-best-friend-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>This is what you see before I become your BFF. (Bird Friend Forever)</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>This is not my first foray into bird friendship territory. After reading <a href="https://marcel.io/library/the-bird-way-jennifer-ackerman" target="_blank">The Bird Way</a>, a fantastic book by the way, I started greeting crows. Jennifer Ackerman's half-joking conclusion was that there's a non-zero chance that crows will rule the world one day, and I want to be on their good side, in case this happens faster than expected. Even if they keep their talons still and don't overthrow us, they also <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/13/760666490/crows-are-they-scary-or-just-scary-smart#:~:text=And%20if%20you%20need%20another,also%20remember%20faces%20for%20years.&amp;text=Humans%20aren't%20the%20only,loud%20scolds%2C%20and%20with%20mobbing." target="_blank">can remember human faces for years</a> and are not shy to declare certain people their enemies and even tell their friends about them.</p><p>Anyway! In hopes of being recognized as a good source of snacks, I started throwing peanuts in the general direction of crows.</p><p>There are so many people with crow friends sharing their corvid adventures online, why shouldn't I be one of them?</p><p>I'm not lonely, you're lonely! Expect my <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=home+alone+pigeon+lady&amp;sca_esv=22023dca0c0c277d&amp;sca_upv=1&amp;tbm=isch&amp;sxsrf=ACQVn09Jh6hc9MQ4jnz4ny40qhHS2jUW3A:1707743943787&amp;source=lnms&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjGx4v58aWEAxVR-QIHHUn_DVAQ0pQJegQIAxAE&amp;biw=1477&amp;bih=1033&amp;dpr=1" target="_blank">pivotal role</a> in some Home Alone remake in the future.</p><p>By the way: For more about a world ruled by corvids, I suggest <a href="https://marcel.io/library/children-of-memory-adrian-tchaikovsky" target="_blank">Children of Memory</a>. However, it's best to start with the first two books of the trilogy.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Not necessarily directly but perhaps slightly related to my <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship" target="_blank">Year of Friendship</a>, I bought a bag of shelled peanuts and stuffed a handful of them in my jacket pocket.</p><p>I'm befriending crows now.</p><p>Nothing can stop me.</p><p>It's legal, it's possible, it's necessary.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/befriending-birbs/7b2714e170-1707744465/a-birds-best-friend-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/befriending-birbs/7b2714e170-1707744465/a-birds-best-friend-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/befriending-birbs/7b2714e170-1707744465/a-birds-best-friend-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>This is what you see before I become your BFF. (Bird Friend Forever)</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>This is not my first foray into bird friendship territory. After reading <a href="https://marcel.io/library/the-bird-way-jennifer-ackerman" target="_blank">The Bird Way</a>, a fantastic book by the way, I started greeting crows. Jennifer Ackerman's half-joking conclusion was that there's a non-zero chance that crows will rule the world one day, and I want to be on their good side, in case this happens faster than expected. Even if they keep their talons still and don't overthrow us, they also <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/13/760666490/crows-are-they-scary-or-just-scary-smart#:~:text=And%20if%20you%20need%20another,also%20remember%20faces%20for%20years.&amp;text=Humans%20aren't%20the%20only,loud%20scolds%2C%20and%20with%20mobbing." target="_blank">can remember human faces for years</a> and are not shy to declare certain people their enemies and even tell their friends about them.</p><p>Anyway! In hopes of being recognized as a good source of snacks, I started throwing peanuts in the general direction of crows.</p><p>There are so many people with crow friends sharing their corvid adventures online, why shouldn't I be one of them?</p><p>I'm not lonely, you're lonely! Expect my <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=home+alone+pigeon+lady&amp;sca_esv=22023dca0c0c277d&amp;sca_upv=1&amp;tbm=isch&amp;sxsrf=ACQVn09Jh6hc9MQ4jnz4ny40qhHS2jUW3A:1707743943787&amp;source=lnms&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjGx4v58aWEAxVR-QIHHUn_DVAQ0pQJegQIAxAE&amp;biw=1477&amp;bih=1033&amp;dpr=1" target="_blank">pivotal role</a> in some Home Alone remake in the future.</p><p>By the way: For more about a world ruled by corvids, I suggest <a href="https://marcel.io/library/children-of-memory-adrian-tchaikovsky" target="_blank">Children of Memory</a>. However, it's best to start with the first two books of the trilogy.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 10 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-mountain-in-the-sea-ray-nayler</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-mountain-in-the-sea-ray-nayler</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Not necessarily directly but perhaps slightly related to my <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship" target="_blank">Year of Friendship</a>, I bought a bag of shelled peanuts and stuffed a handful of them in my jacket pocket.</p><p>I'm befriending crows now.</p><p>Nothing can stop me.</p><p>It's legal, it's possible, it's necessary.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/befriending-birbs/7b2714e170-1707744465/a-birds-best-friend-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/befriending-birbs/7b2714e170-1707744465/a-birds-best-friend-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/befriending-birbs/7b2714e170-1707744465/a-birds-best-friend-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>This is what you see before I become your BFF. (Bird Friend Forever)</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>This is not my first foray into bird friendship territory. After reading <a href="https://marcel.io/library/the-bird-way-jennifer-ackerman" target="_blank">The Bird Way</a>, a fantastic book by the way, I started greeting crows. Jennifer Ackerman's half-joking conclusion was that there's a non-zero chance that crows will rule the world one day, and I want to be on their good side, in case this happens faster than expected. Even if they keep their talons still and don't overthrow us, they also <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/13/760666490/crows-are-they-scary-or-just-scary-smart#:~:text=And%20if%20you%20need%20another,also%20remember%20faces%20for%20years.&amp;text=Humans%20aren't%20the%20only,loud%20scolds%2C%20and%20with%20mobbing." target="_blank">can remember human faces for years</a> and are not shy to declare certain people their enemies and even tell their friends about them.</p><p>Anyway! In hopes of being recognized as a good source of snacks, I started throwing peanuts in the general direction of crows.</p><p>There are so many people with crow friends sharing their corvid adventures online, why shouldn't I be one of them?</p><p>I'm not lonely, you're lonely! Expect my <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=home+alone+pigeon+lady&amp;sca_esv=22023dca0c0c277d&amp;sca_upv=1&amp;tbm=isch&amp;sxsrf=ACQVn09Jh6hc9MQ4jnz4ny40qhHS2jUW3A:1707743943787&amp;source=lnms&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjGx4v58aWEAxVR-QIHHUn_DVAQ0pQJegQIAxAE&amp;biw=1477&amp;bih=1033&amp;dpr=1" target="_blank">pivotal role</a> in some Home Alone remake in the future.</p><p>By the way: For more about a world ruled by corvids, I suggest <a href="https://marcel.io/library/children-of-memory-adrian-tchaikovsky" target="_blank">Children of Memory</a>. However, it's best to start with the first two books of the trilogy.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><em>The Mountain in the Sea</em> is a surprising and special book. I sorted it into <a href="https://marcel.io/library/genre:Science%20Fiction">Science Fiction</a> but it would fit into <a href="https://marcel.io/library/genre:Psychology">Psychology</a>, <a href="https://marcel.io/library/genre:Philosophy">Philosophy</a>, <a href="https://marcel.io/library/genre:Dystopia">Dystopia</a> and even <a href="https://marcel.io/library/genre:Nature">Nature</a> just as well.</p>
<p>It deals with "out there" topics such as future technology like personal face scramblers and invisible drones at the same time as all-time classic questions like "What is consciousness?" and "What is culture?" while being very educational about the lives of octopuses.</p>
<p><mark>Ray Nayler juggles all these topics while still telling an engaging story about our relationship to nature, ourselves, capitalism, and.. aliens. It really is an impressive feat.</mark></p>
<p>I don't want to spend too many words on what the story is all about because I feel like it's worth experiencing for yourself, if you're only slightly interested in one or two of the aforementioned topics.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Preliminary Post Mortem for Zettel</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 10 Feb 2024 13:23:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>After babbling about <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/products-people-want-to-use">Products People Want to Use</a> I started to work on a shopping list app. Not because I had a strong vision of what I wanted to build, no, only to have something to work on and not lose my momentum.</p><p>The app, called Zettel, reached an interesting stage I felt was worth sharing. It looks great, it is more or less feature complete and it works, I've used it for all of my recent grocery shopping trips. </p><p>There's only one catch: It doesn't feel right. Stanley Kubrick said "The truth of a thing is in the feel of it, not in the think of it." and this is one of those moments. Something about the gestures, the giant tap targets and how adding items works is not right. <em>The vibe is off.</em></p><p>I still have a couple of ideas that will most likely result in a complete redesign of the whole app. Before that happens, I wanted to share the current state for archival purposes.</p><!-- <div class="callout" style="background-color: #ff00ff;"> -->
<div class="callout">
            <span>🔔</span>
            
            <span><strong>Note:</strong> The app will never be released like this. Sometimes software looks good but doesn't make sense. This is one of those times. Please don't get too excited.</span>
    </div><h2>The onboarding</h2>
<p>After quite a few iterations (as in: two) I came up with the idea to explain the product and the possible interactions not by slapping on a couple of screens nobody reads anyway but by adding actual products to people's shopping list. I'm using the descriptions to explain possible interactions and to indirectly explain that descriptions are a feature, even though it's not very <em>in your face</em>.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/e09aad6ce2-1707514232/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-onboarding-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/e09aad6ce2-1707514232/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-onboarding-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/e09aad6ce2-1707514232/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-onboarding-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>Zettel Onboarding Experience</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>This has a couple of obvious downsides. The most glaring one is that I'm putting items on somebody's shopping list they probably don't want to buy. Not everybody shares my obsession with yoghurt. <s><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w00HLMCLm9c">Except Terry.</a></s></p><h2>Checking off items</h2>
<p>This is one of the things I'm a bit proud of in this iteration. Checking off items feels great even though it looks a bit laggy in the simulator. Notice how it waits for the animation to finish until the item moves into the bottom list. </p><div class="video">
    <video controls autoplay muted loop playsinline preload="metadata">        
    <source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/15291e2252-1707515027/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-check-items.mp4#t=0.1" type="video/mp4">
    Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
</div><p>No app worth its salt doesn't have a confetti effect somewhere, so of course Zettel celebrates you finishing your shopping accordingly. </p><h2>Adding items</h2>
<p>This is one of my main issues with this iteration. Initially I thought going through a sorted list of items you buy often is a better experience than typing in the item's name every time. Turns out: I don't use this. Like... at all. I still type. It looks great though!</p><div class="video">
    <video controls autoplay muted loop playsinline preload="metadata">        
    <source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/8a115b14e0-1707564140/zettel-shopping-list-app-adding-items.mp4#t=0.1" type="video/mp4">
    Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
</div><p>Typing works as well. If you tap the plus button you can enter some text that filters the list of existing products (and makes it visible if it was previously hidden) or lets you add a completely new product. </p><div class="video">
    <video controls autoplay muted loop playsinline preload="metadata">        
    <source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/ee69d379bc-1707564615/zettel-shopping-list-app-add-new-product.mp4#t=0.1" type="video/mp4">
    Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
</div><p>This looks amazing, doesn't it? Unfortunately it feels kind of weird, though. A part of that is that SwiftUI's <code>TextField</code> is <em>very</em> slow to become active and it takes up to a second before it shows up for the first time. Another part is—and this is just a guess for now—that this might be over-animated. It looks good but feels "blurry" for a lack of a better word. It feels like throwing jello on pudding. And that's my opinion as a professional product designer. </p><h2>Removing products you didn't actually buy</h2>
<p>One of my primary ideas was to store each purchase to be able to over time accurately predict when you might need yoghurt again. <s>Which is a bad example because of course you buy yoghurt every time you go to the store.</s> This brought me down a dark path of failure and problematic decisions. </p><p>The biggest problem: You can't check off items you don't want to buy anymore but didn't actually buy right now or else an inaccurate "purchase" would be stored all calculations would be completely wrong.</p><div class="video">
    <video controls autoplay muted loop playsinline preload="metadata">        
    <source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/7beb939e52-1707567492/removing-items-and-purchase-history.mp4#t=0.1" type="video/mp4">
    Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
</div><p>So I added an interaction (left swipe on item) to remove products from the list without marking them as bought and an interface to see and edit recent purchases. This is so obviously overengineered that it's not even funny. None of this should be something people have to think about. Disgusting! I'm ashamed of myself. </p><p>Again: All of this looks like it would get quite a few likes on X and Dribbble. Unfortunately it's a broken paradigm and needs to be improved.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/57f4a79b14-1707567786/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-dark-mode-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/57f4a79b14-1707567786/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-dark-mode-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/57f4a79b14-1707567786/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-dark-mode-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>By the way: It looks great in dark mode!</figcaption>
  </figure>
<h2>So, what's next?</h2>
<p>I'm not sure yet! I have a few ideas I want to play around with but there's a good chance that I won't be able to create an experience that significantly improves the already available products. </p><p>Which is fine, I'm not doing this to become the next big thing in grocery shopping land but to not stop coding.  </p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>After babbling about <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/products-people-want-to-use">Products People Want to Use</a> I started to work on a shopping list app. Not because I had a strong vision of what I wanted to build, no, only to have something to work on and not lose my momentum.</p><p>The app, called Zettel, reached an interesting stage I felt was worth sharing. It looks great, it is more or less feature complete and it works, I've used it for all of my recent grocery shopping trips. </p><p>There's only one catch: It doesn't feel right. Stanley Kubrick said "The truth of a thing is in the feel of it, not in the think of it." and this is one of those moments. Something about the gestures, the giant tap targets and how adding items works is not right. <em>The vibe is off.</em></p><p>I still have a couple of ideas that will most likely result in a complete redesign of the whole app. Before that happens, I wanted to share the current state for archival purposes.</p><!-- <div class="callout" style="background-color: #ff00ff;"> -->
<div class="callout">
            <span>🔔</span>
            
            <span><strong>Note:</strong> The app will never be released like this. Sometimes software looks good but doesn't make sense. This is one of those times. Please don't get too excited.</span>
    </div><h2>The onboarding</h2>
<p>After quite a few iterations (as in: two) I came up with the idea to explain the product and the possible interactions not by slapping on a couple of screens nobody reads anyway but by adding actual products to people's shopping list. I'm using the descriptions to explain possible interactions and to indirectly explain that descriptions are a feature, even though it's not very <em>in your face</em>.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/e09aad6ce2-1707514232/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-onboarding-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/e09aad6ce2-1707514232/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-onboarding-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/e09aad6ce2-1707514232/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-onboarding-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>Zettel Onboarding Experience</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>This has a couple of obvious downsides. The most glaring one is that I'm putting items on somebody's shopping list they probably don't want to buy. Not everybody shares my obsession with yoghurt. <s><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w00HLMCLm9c">Except Terry.</a></s></p><h2>Checking off items</h2>
<p>This is one of the things I'm a bit proud of in this iteration. Checking off items feels great even though it looks a bit laggy in the simulator. Notice how it waits for the animation to finish until the item moves into the bottom list. </p><div class="video">
    <video controls autoplay muted loop playsinline preload="metadata">        
    <source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/15291e2252-1707515027/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-check-items.mp4#t=0.1" type="video/mp4">
    Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
</div><p>No app worth its salt doesn't have a confetti effect somewhere, so of course Zettel celebrates you finishing your shopping accordingly. </p><h2>Adding items</h2>
<p>This is one of my main issues with this iteration. Initially I thought going through a sorted list of items you buy often is a better experience than typing in the item's name every time. Turns out: I don't use this. Like... at all. I still type. It looks great though!</p><div class="video">
    <video controls autoplay muted loop playsinline preload="metadata">        
    <source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/8a115b14e0-1707564140/zettel-shopping-list-app-adding-items.mp4#t=0.1" type="video/mp4">
    Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
</div><p>Typing works as well. If you tap the plus button you can enter some text that filters the list of existing products (and makes it visible if it was previously hidden) or lets you add a completely new product. </p><div class="video">
    <video controls autoplay muted loop playsinline preload="metadata">        
    <source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/ee69d379bc-1707564615/zettel-shopping-list-app-add-new-product.mp4#t=0.1" type="video/mp4">
    Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
</div><p>This looks amazing, doesn't it? Unfortunately it feels kind of weird, though. A part of that is that SwiftUI's <code>TextField</code> is <em>very</em> slow to become active and it takes up to a second before it shows up for the first time. Another part is—and this is just a guess for now—that this might be over-animated. It looks good but feels "blurry" for a lack of a better word. It feels like throwing jello on pudding. And that's my opinion as a professional product designer. </p><h2>Removing products you didn't actually buy</h2>
<p>One of my primary ideas was to store each purchase to be able to over time accurately predict when you might need yoghurt again. <s>Which is a bad example because of course you buy yoghurt every time you go to the store.</s> This brought me down a dark path of failure and problematic decisions. </p><p>The biggest problem: You can't check off items you don't want to buy anymore but didn't actually buy right now or else an inaccurate "purchase" would be stored all calculations would be completely wrong.</p><div class="video">
    <video controls autoplay muted loop playsinline preload="metadata">        
    <source src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/7beb939e52-1707567492/removing-items-and-purchase-history.mp4#t=0.1" type="video/mp4">
    Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
</div><p>So I added an interaction (left swipe on item) to remove products from the list without marking them as bought and an interface to see and edit recent purchases. This is so obviously overengineered that it's not even funny. None of this should be something people have to think about. Disgusting! I'm ashamed of myself. </p><p>Again: All of this looks like it would get quite a few likes on X and Dribbble. Unfortunately it's a broken paradigm and needs to be improved.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/57f4a79b14-1707567786/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-dark-mode-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/57f4a79b14-1707567786/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-dark-mode-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/preliminary-post-mortem-for-zettel/57f4a79b14-1707567786/zettel-grocery-shopping-app-dark-mode-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>By the way: It looks great in dark mode!</figcaption>
  </figure>
<h2>So, what's next?</h2>
<p>I'm not sure yet! I have a few ideas I want to play around with but there's a good chance that I won't be able to create an experience that significantly improves the already available products. </p><p>Which is fine, I'm not doing this to become the next big thing in grocery shopping land but to not stop coding.  </p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Goodbye Astro</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 08 Feb 2024 19:03:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/goodbye-astro</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/goodbye-astro</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Remember how I <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/goodbye-wordpress">proudly proclaimed</a> that I'm done with Wordpress and moved this blog to Astro? Well, that didn't last very long. I still think that Astro is great but it feels like it's better suited for marketing websites and maybe web apps than blogs. The one thing that got me in the end was the fact that I did not manage to create a proper RSS feed with images and other bells and whistles. </p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/goodbye-astro/e0476cc774-1707417638/marcel-io-january-2024-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/goodbye-astro/e0476cc774-1707417638/marcel-io-january-2024-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/goodbye-astro/e0476cc774-1707417638/marcel-io-january-2024-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Be that as it may, and at the risk of becoming one of <em>those</em> people, I spent the last couple of days building everything from scratch using <a href="https://getkirby.com/">Kirby</a> and I couldn't be happier. It provides me with the wished for flexibility while at the same time offering quite a few easy affordances that I didn't even know I was missing. </p><p>I'm writing these words in my new admin panel, for example. It't not just some run-of-the-mill panel, no, it's very easy to build your own little dashboards and custom views.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/goodbye-astro/499f73c484-1707416448/kirby-backend-marcel-io-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/goodbye-astro/499f73c484-1707416448/kirby-backend-marcel-io-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/goodbye-astro/499f73c484-1707416448/kirby-backend-marcel-io-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>An overview of everything this blog contains</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>But that's not everything. One reason for me to switch away from Wordpress was to use a codebase I can actually wrap my head around. Kirby uses PHP, which was new to me, but after a few "Hey ChatGPT, what does this do in PHP?" sessions, I was able to wrap my head around it. All of this is important to me, because I want this to become more of a digital garden than "just" a blog. </p><p>The <a href="https://marcel.io/library">library</a> is one aspect of it. It should not only be its own thing, somewhere off to the side, I want my books to be interwoven with my thoughts. Let's say I once again start talking about stoicism and want to point you to my favorite book on the topic, here it is:  </p>            <a href="https://www.marcel.io/library/the-practicing-stoic-ward-farnsworth">My review of <strong>The Practicing Stoic</strong></a><br />
   
<p>If you're reading this in a browser, you see a custom made element just for books from my library. If you're reading this in your RSS reader, you see a link to the book. Perfection. Here, have a couple more:</p>            <a href="https://www.marcel.io/library/why-fish-dont-exist">My review of <strong>Why Fish Don't Exist</strong></a><br />
   
            <a href="https://www.marcel.io/library/digital-minimalism-cal-newport">My review of <strong>Digital Minimalism</strong></a><br />
   
<p>But that's not all! I also build a custom element for callouts with the ability to select any emoji my heart desires. I don't know when I'll need this but it's good to have and was a perfect practice for learning how to create blocks in Kirby.</p><!-- <div class="callout" style="background-color: #ff00ff;"> -->
<div class="callout">
            <span>👉</span>
            
            <span>If you feel called out right now that's by design! You'll see this element when I need to put some point I'm trying to make into focus or something. I don't know yet.</span>
    </div><p>Neat, right? </p><p>You're also now able to click on tags to see all posts about that topic. That's not very relevant for now, since the number of posts is still relatively modest, but we'll get there. </p><p>For now, make sure you subscribe to the <a href="https://marcel.io/posts.xml">RSS feed</a> (it contains all posts and books!) in a reader of your choice and make sure to drop by the actual site from time to time, because it's what we Germans call an Augenschmaus.   </p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Remember how I <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/goodbye-wordpress">proudly proclaimed</a> that I'm done with Wordpress and moved this blog to Astro? Well, that didn't last very long. I still think that Astro is great but it feels like it's better suited for marketing websites and maybe web apps than blogs. The one thing that got me in the end was the fact that I did not manage to create a proper RSS feed with images and other bells and whistles. </p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/goodbye-astro/e0476cc774-1707417638/marcel-io-january-2024-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/goodbye-astro/e0476cc774-1707417638/marcel-io-january-2024-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/goodbye-astro/e0476cc774-1707417638/marcel-io-january-2024-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
  </figure>
<p>Be that as it may, and at the risk of becoming one of <em>those</em> people, I spent the last couple of days building everything from scratch using <a href="https://getkirby.com/">Kirby</a> and I couldn't be happier. It provides me with the wished for flexibility while at the same time offering quite a few easy affordances that I didn't even know I was missing. </p><p>I'm writing these words in my new admin panel, for example. It't not just some run-of-the-mill panel, no, it's very easy to build your own little dashboards and custom views.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/goodbye-astro/499f73c484-1707416448/kirby-backend-marcel-io-1200x.png"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/goodbye-astro/499f73c484-1707416448/kirby-backend-marcel-io-1200x.png 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/goodbye-astro/499f73c484-1707416448/kirby-backend-marcel-io-2400x.png 2x"
    alt="Photo">
      <figcaption>An overview of everything this blog contains</figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>But that's not everything. One reason for me to switch away from Wordpress was to use a codebase I can actually wrap my head around. Kirby uses PHP, which was new to me, but after a few "Hey ChatGPT, what does this do in PHP?" sessions, I was able to wrap my head around it. All of this is important to me, because I want this to become more of a digital garden than "just" a blog. </p><p>The <a href="https://marcel.io/library">library</a> is one aspect of it. It should not only be its own thing, somewhere off to the side, I want my books to be interwoven with my thoughts. Let's say I once again start talking about stoicism and want to point you to my favorite book on the topic, here it is:  </p>            <a href="https://www.marcel.io/library/the-practicing-stoic-ward-farnsworth">My review of <strong>The Practicing Stoic</strong></a><br />
   
<p>If you're reading this in a browser, you see a custom made element just for books from my library. If you're reading this in your RSS reader, you see a link to the book. Perfection. Here, have a couple more:</p>            <a href="https://www.marcel.io/library/why-fish-dont-exist">My review of <strong>Why Fish Don't Exist</strong></a><br />
   
            <a href="https://www.marcel.io/library/digital-minimalism-cal-newport">My review of <strong>Digital Minimalism</strong></a><br />
   
<p>But that's not all! I also build a custom element for callouts with the ability to select any emoji my heart desires. I don't know when I'll need this but it's good to have and was a perfect practice for learning how to create blocks in Kirby.</p><!-- <div class="callout" style="background-color: #ff00ff;"> -->
<div class="callout">
            <span>👉</span>
            
            <span>If you feel called out right now that's by design! You'll see this element when I need to put some point I'm trying to make into focus or something. I don't know yet.</span>
    </div><p>Neat, right? </p><p>You're also now able to click on tags to see all posts about that topic. That's not very relevant for now, since the number of posts is still relatively modest, but we'll get there. </p><p>For now, make sure you subscribe to the <a href="https://marcel.io/posts.xml">RSS feed</a> (it contains all posts and books!) in a reader of your choice and make sure to drop by the actual site from time to time, because it's what we Germans call an Augenschmaus.   </p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Envy</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 02 Feb 2024 12:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/envy</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/envy</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>The first and last time I felt envious was when my friend Kjell got a Mac before me. It’s not that I grew up in a particularly wealthy household—quite the opposite, in fact—but I had never wanted something as badly as <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/my-first-mac">my first Mac</a>, feeling as though my future as a designer depended on it.</p><p>It took me a while to recognize the feeling, and I experienced quite the epiphany when I was finally able to label what was ruining my mood. I believe this was my first instance of practicing introspection.</p><p>It was also the first time I decided I didn’t want to feel a certain way and began to work on changing my perception of the situation. I wanted to be happy for my friend.</p><p>This experience was significant and continues to resonate throughout my life. I consider self-efficacy one of the most important skills a person can have. Writing about my first Mac brought these memories back, and I hope Kjell never noticed my feelings at the time. Though I doubt it, as I also wasn’t very good at being nice back then. That, however, is a topic for another time.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The first and last time I felt envious was when my friend Kjell got a Mac before me. It’s not that I grew up in a particularly wealthy household—quite the opposite, in fact—but I had never wanted something as badly as <a href="https://marcel.io/posts/my-first-mac">my first Mac</a>, feeling as though my future as a designer depended on it.</p><p>It took me a while to recognize the feeling, and I experienced quite the epiphany when I was finally able to label what was ruining my mood. I believe this was my first instance of practicing introspection.</p><p>It was also the first time I decided I didn’t want to feel a certain way and began to work on changing my perception of the situation. I wanted to be happy for my friend.</p><p>This experience was significant and continues to resonate throughout my life. I consider self-efficacy one of the most important skills a person can have. Writing about my first Mac brought these memories back, and I hope Kjell never noticed my feelings at the time. Though I doubt it, as I also wasn’t very good at being nice back then. That, however, is a topic for another time.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>My First Mac</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/my-first-mac</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/my-first-mac</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>It’s the Mac’s 40th birthday, and people on <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/MyFirstMac" rel="noreferrer">Mastodon</a> are sharing their very first Macs.</p> <p>Mine was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Mini#G4_polycarbonate_(2005)" rel="noreferrer">Mac Mini G4</a>. I didn’t even realize that I actually had started using Macs before the Intel transition happened until I read the Wikipedia article about it just now. The hardware specifics didn’t interest me back then. Fifteen-year-old me wanted to become a designer and knew that all the designers he looked up to used Macs, so there was really no choice.</p> <p>My previous computer was a very old and very slow PC that didn’t even run the games all my friends were playing together online. Let’s not even talk about the performance of my pirated copy of Photoshop CS2.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-first-mac/0eefe8012d-1707345826/me-and-my-first-mac-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-first-mac/0eefe8012d-1707345826/me-and-my-first-mac-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-first-mac/0eefe8012d-1707345826/me-and-my-first-mac-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Me and my first Mac ">
      <figcaption><em>This is me, using my very first Mac, thinking that I can totally get away with this hairstyle.</em></figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>Unboxing and placing the Mac Mini on top of my weird glass corner desk felt like receiving a ticket into a whole new world. I finally could do the things I saw designers do online. OS X felt like it was a gift from the gods. Everything was pretty, worked well, and instilled in me an appreciation for excellence that I hadn’t felt before and that is still going strong.</p> <p>Looking back, that Mac Mini G4 wasn’t just a piece of tech; it was the starting point of my design journey. It turned my aspirations into real projects and set the standard for what I expect from technology. As the Mac celebrates its 40th, I realize it’s not just about the machine but about the doors it opened for me. It’s funny how a small box can play such a big part in your story.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>It’s the Mac’s 40th birthday, and people on <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/MyFirstMac" rel="noreferrer">Mastodon</a> are sharing their very first Macs.</p> <p>Mine was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Mini#G4_polycarbonate_(2005)" rel="noreferrer">Mac Mini G4</a>. I didn’t even realize that I actually had started using Macs before the Intel transition happened until I read the Wikipedia article about it just now. The hardware specifics didn’t interest me back then. Fifteen-year-old me wanted to become a designer and knew that all the designers he looked up to used Macs, so there was really no choice.</p> <p>My previous computer was a very old and very slow PC that didn’t even run the games all my friends were playing together online. Let’s not even talk about the performance of my pirated copy of Photoshop CS2.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-first-mac/0eefe8012d-1707345826/me-and-my-first-mac-1200x.jpg"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-first-mac/0eefe8012d-1707345826/me-and-my-first-mac-1200x.jpg 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/my-first-mac/0eefe8012d-1707345826/me-and-my-first-mac-2400x.jpg 2x"
    alt="Me and my first Mac ">
      <figcaption><em>This is me, using my very first Mac, thinking that I can totally get away with this hairstyle.</em></figcaption>
  </figure>
<p>Unboxing and placing the Mac Mini on top of my weird glass corner desk felt like receiving a ticket into a whole new world. I finally could do the things I saw designers do online. OS X felt like it was a gift from the gods. Everything was pretty, worked well, and instilled in me an appreciation for excellence that I hadn’t felt before and that is still going strong.</p> <p>Looking back, that Mac Mini G4 wasn’t just a piece of tech; it was the starting point of my design journey. It turned my aspirations into real projects and set the standard for what I expect from technology. As the Mac celebrates its 40th, I realize it’s not just about the machine but about the doors it opened for me. It’s funny how a small box can play such a big part in your story.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Products People Want To Use</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 14 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/products-people-want-to-use</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/products-people-want-to-use</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>The other day, I realized why I’m not motivated to finish my current app project. It’s a gratitude journal that isn’t crammed full of esoteric features and inspirational mantras. It would fit perfectly into my existing product portfolio and is genuinely fun to use.</p> <p>After forcing myself to work on it for a couple more weeks, while only making incremental improvements, I couldn’t pretend anymore and took a few days off. Then it finally hit me:</p> <p>It’s yet another app people don’t want to use.</p> <p>They think they want to use it. They know they should use it. But in the end, it’s one of those “I guess I should try to incorporate this habit into my life” apps. Just like my others:</p><ul><li><a href="https://tiptop.software/henlo" rel="noreferrer">Henlo</a>: “I guess I should start reaching out to friends more.”</li><li><a href="https://tiptop.software/stoins" rel="noreferrer">Stoins</a>: “I guess I should walk more.”</li><li><a href="https://tiptop.software/peat" rel="noreferrer">Peat</a>: “I guess I should work on my habits more.”</li></ul><p>I might be a bit biased, but all of those are great apps. They actually help people achieve their goals.</p> <p>It’s just that I don’t have it in me to create another app like that right now.</p> <p>Improving your social life, health, and habits takes weeks of work before you notice a difference. I’d like to work on something that provides value as soon as you download the app.</p> <p>I decided that my next app will provide value in seconds. I put the gratitude journal app on ice and started working on a little app that solves one of the annoyances in my life.</p> <p>Yay for not succumbing to the sunk cost fallacy.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The other day, I realized why I’m not motivated to finish my current app project. It’s a gratitude journal that isn’t crammed full of esoteric features and inspirational mantras. It would fit perfectly into my existing product portfolio and is genuinely fun to use.</p> <p>After forcing myself to work on it for a couple more weeks, while only making incremental improvements, I couldn’t pretend anymore and took a few days off. Then it finally hit me:</p> <p>It’s yet another app people don’t want to use.</p> <p>They think they want to use it. They know they should use it. But in the end, it’s one of those “I guess I should try to incorporate this habit into my life” apps. Just like my others:</p><ul><li><a href="https://tiptop.software/henlo" rel="noreferrer">Henlo</a>: “I guess I should start reaching out to friends more.”</li><li><a href="https://tiptop.software/stoins" rel="noreferrer">Stoins</a>: “I guess I should walk more.”</li><li><a href="https://tiptop.software/peat" rel="noreferrer">Peat</a>: “I guess I should work on my habits more.”</li></ul><p>I might be a bit biased, but all of those are great apps. They actually help people achieve their goals.</p> <p>It’s just that I don’t have it in me to create another app like that right now.</p> <p>Improving your social life, health, and habits takes weeks of work before you notice a difference. I’d like to work on something that provides value as soon as you download the app.</p> <p>I decided that my next app will provide value in seconds. I put the gratitude journal app on ice and started working on a little app that solves one of the annoyances in my life.</p> <p>Yay for not succumbing to the sunk cost fallacy.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>An Involuntary Exercise in Patience</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 11 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/an-involuntary-exercise-in-patience</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/an-involuntary-exercise-in-patience</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p><em>Disclaimer: This is going to sound extremely petty. Poor baby is frustrated because he logistically can’t spend €4000, oh no!</em></p><p>Attentive readers know that I’ve been talking about how VR and AR are going to be the future of interfaces for years. One of the main reasons for me finally getting into coding was <a href="/@/page/eoeZF4bt9RZ35IXS">knowing that I had to be able to manipulate real interfaces directly</a>, especially when interface design is entering the third dimension.</p><p>Apple’s Vision Pro announcement came quite a few years after I first pronounced XR to be the future of computing. I immediately put the required money into a budget meant for Vision Pro as soon as it would become available. It was my goal to be there, on day one, playing around with the hardware, writing software, and experiencing the new frontier of interface design firsthand.</p><p>Well, that didn’t quite work out. I somehow didn’t expect Apple to only sell it in the US at first. That, combined with the fact that you need to go to an Apple Store to have your face and eyes measured for the device to be properly set up, creates a logistical hurdle that I’m not willing to jump over. I won’t fly to the US just to buy a device.</p><p>So, this is me, frustrated that I have to sit on the sidelines, watching other people discover a device I’ve been waiting for for years. This is obviously irrational because I’m not actually losing anything, except perhaps for a head start in spatial computing experience but still… it hurts a little.</p><p>At least it’s a good exercise in patience.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p><em>Disclaimer: This is going to sound extremely petty. Poor baby is frustrated because he logistically can’t spend €4000, oh no!</em></p><p>Attentive readers know that I’ve been talking about how VR and AR are going to be the future of interfaces for years. One of the main reasons for me finally getting into coding was <a href="/@/page/eoeZF4bt9RZ35IXS">knowing that I had to be able to manipulate real interfaces directly</a>, especially when interface design is entering the third dimension.</p><p>Apple’s Vision Pro announcement came quite a few years after I first pronounced XR to be the future of computing. I immediately put the required money into a budget meant for Vision Pro as soon as it would become available. It was my goal to be there, on day one, playing around with the hardware, writing software, and experiencing the new frontier of interface design firsthand.</p><p>Well, that didn’t quite work out. I somehow didn’t expect Apple to only sell it in the US at first. That, combined with the fact that you need to go to an Apple Store to have your face and eyes measured for the device to be properly set up, creates a logistical hurdle that I’m not willing to jump over. I won’t fly to the US just to buy a device.</p><p>So, this is me, frustrated that I have to sit on the sidelines, watching other people discover a device I’ve been waiting for for years. This is obviously irrational because I’m not actually losing anything, except perhaps for a head start in spatial computing experience but still… it hurts a little.</p><p>At least it’s a good exercise in patience.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Same as Ever by Morgan Housel</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/same-as-ever-morgan-housel</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/same-as-ever-morgan-housel</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p><em>Disclaimer: This is going to sound extremely petty. Poor baby is frustrated because he logistically can’t spend €4000, oh no!</em></p><p>Attentive readers know that I’ve been talking about how VR and AR are going to be the future of interfaces for years. One of the main reasons for me finally getting into coding was <a href="/@/page/eoeZF4bt9RZ35IXS">knowing that I had to be able to manipulate real interfaces directly</a>, especially when interface design is entering the third dimension.</p><p>Apple’s Vision Pro announcement came quite a few years after I first pronounced XR to be the future of computing. I immediately put the required money into a budget meant for Vision Pro as soon as it would become available. It was my goal to be there, on day one, playing around with the hardware, writing software, and experiencing the new frontier of interface design firsthand.</p><p>Well, that didn’t quite work out. I somehow didn’t expect Apple to only sell it in the US at first. That, combined with the fact that you need to go to an Apple Store to have your face and eyes measured for the device to be properly set up, creates a logistical hurdle that I’m not willing to jump over. I won’t fly to the US just to buy a device.</p><p>So, this is me, frustrated that I have to sit on the sidelines, watching other people discover a device I’ve been waiting for for years. This is obviously irrational because I’m not actually losing anything, except perhaps for a head start in spatial computing experience but still… it hurts a little.</p><p>At least it’s a good exercise in patience.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Morgan Housel wrote the fantastic <a href="/library/the-psychology-of-money-morgan-housel">Psychology of Money</a> so I was looking forward to Same as Ever and even though it's different, I wasn't disappointed.</p>
<p>The format was something I liked particulary well. No chapter is longer than 10 minutes. Every chapter flows into the next one and Housel manages to create a "just one more" feeling that is rarely seen in non-fiction books.</p>
<p>The content wasn't life-changing but still interesting and thought provoking. Essentially, it's a list of things that never change and the underlying advice to keep concentrate on those, instead of trying to stay afloat in an ever-growing flow of information and complexity.</p>
<h2>Here are a few things that tickled my brain:</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>Every event creates its own offspring, which impact the world in their own special ways. It makes prediction exceedingly hard. The absurdity of past connections should humble your confidence in predicting future ones.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I can promise you that will be the case going forward. The biggest risk and the most important news story of the next ten years will be something nobody is talking about today. No matter what year you’re reading this book, that truth will remain. I can say that confidently because it’s always been true. The fact that you can’t see it coming is exactly what makes it risky.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Montesquieu wrote 275 years ago, “If you only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>If you look at the 1950s and ask, “What was different that made it feel so great?” this is at least part of your answer. The gap between you and most of the people around you wasn’t that large. It created an era when it was easy to keep your expectations in check because few people in your social circle lived dramatically better than you did. Many (but not all) Americans could look around and find that not only were they living comfortable lives, they were living lives that were just about as comfortable as those around them whom they compared themselves to.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Psychologist Jonathan Haidt says people don’t really communicate on social media so much as they perform for one another. You see the cars other people drive, the homes they live in, the expensive schools they go to. The ability to say, I want that, why don’t I have that? Why does he get it but I don’t? is so much greater now than it was just a few generations ago.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>When asked, “You seem extremely happy and content. What’s your secret to living a happy life?” ninety-eight-year-old Charlie Munger replied: The first rule of a happy life is low expectations. If you have unrealistic expectations you’re going to be miserable your whole life. You want to have reasonable expectations and take life’s results, good and bad, as they happen with a certain amount of stoicism.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I think it’s often hard to distinguish high expectations from motivation. And low expectations feels like giving up and minimizing your potential.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>A one-hundred-year event doesn’t mean it happens every one hundred years. It means there’s about a 1 percent chance of it occurring in any given year. That seems low. But when there are hundreds of different independent one-hundred-year events, what are the odds that one of them will occur in a given year? Pretty good. If next year there’s a 1 percent chance of a new disastrous pandemic, a 1 percent chance of a crippling depression, a 1 percent chance of a catastrophic flood, a 1 percent chance of political collapse, and on and on, then the odds that something bad will happen next year—or any year—are . . . not bad.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>There is too much information in the world for everyone to calmly sift through the data, looking for the most rational, most correct answer. People are busy and emotional, and a good story is always more powerful and persuasive than ice-cold statistics.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s good to always assume the world will break about once per decade, because historically it has. The breakages feel like low-probability events, so it’s common to think they won’t keep happening. But they do, again and again, because they’re actually just smaller high-probability events compounding off one another.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Psychologist Amos Tversky once said that “the secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours.” A successful person purposely leaving gaps of free time on their schedule to do nothing in particular can feel inefficient. And it is, so not many people do it. But Tversky’s point is that if your job is to be creative and think through tough problems, then time spent wandering around a park or aimlessly lounging on a couch might be your most valuable hours. A little inefficiency is wonderful.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s not about working less. It’s the opposite: A lot of thought jobs basically never stop, and without structuring time to think and be curious, you wind up less efficient during the hours that are devoted to sitting at your desk cranking out work. This is the opposite of the concept of “hustle porn,” where people want to look busy at all times because they think it’s noble.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>This is one of the most useful life skills—enduring the pain when necessary rather than assuming there’s a hack, or a shortcut, around it.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>The typical attempt to clear up an uncertain future is to gaze further and squint harder—to forecast with more precision, more data, and more intelligence. Far more effective is to do the opposite: Look backward, and be broad. Rather than attempting to figure out little ways the future might change, study the big things the past has never avoided.</p>
</blockquote><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>The Year of Friendship</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 08 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-year-of-friendship</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>It just so happened that I now live in a city where I don’t really know anyone. That could be a problem, but only if I let it become one. Instead, I want to embrace it as a project.</p> <p>If I were someone who defined a <a href="https://www.relay.fm/cortex" rel="noreferrer">Cortex</a> style <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE" rel="noreferrer">yearly theme</a>, my theme for 2024 would be “The Year of Friendship”. Numerous studies, scientists, and - I guess - life coaches agree: Your relationships shape your life. Having a robust social life is key to happiness. The book <a href="https://marcel.io/library/the-good-life-robert-waldinger-marc-schulz" rel="noreferrer">The Good Life</a> discusses this at length. It’s about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Study" rel="noreferrer">Grant Study</a> that has been running for literally <em>generations</em> and conclusively shows that people consider their life to have been a good one when they had strong relationships.</p> <p>My condolences to myself, as I don’t have a choice and somehow have to make new friends.</p> <p>This shouldn’t be hard. Statistically, nearly half of the German people my age feel lonely. I just have to find those who are eager to change something about their situation.</p> <p>Unfortunately, I’m not somebody who signs up for soccer practice or some kind of choir. I actually can’t come up with any group activity I’d like to do, except for joining a book club, but there doesn’t seem to be one in Schwerin. I’d start one, but… yes, I don’t know people yet. Apps like Bumble BFF are a no-go as well, I’m afraid. Nobody seems to use them here. Working remotely also removes the possibility of befriending colleagues.</p> <p>Which leaves me with a couple of not very good ideas for now:</p><ul><li>Joining a gym. I’d do this anyway, and it’s not the most social thing ever, but it’s something where I might meet people? Maybe?</li><li>Getting into running. That’s on my bucket list for this year as well, and - again - not a very social activity, but as soon as I become something of a runner, I can join some kind of running group…? That’s something people do, right?</li><li>Bouldering? I guess? I did this once and it ended up with me having to ram thrombosis injections into my then-girlfriend’s leg every day for six weeks. The half hour of trying to get up a fake-mountain was kind of fun, though. But do people make friends while hanging off an indoor cliff?</li><li>Start working in coworking spaces and cafes. This one has potential. The only problem is that I actually like to work when I’m working, and I tend to be focused and not very talkative when trying to get stuff done. I would need to not do that and instead try to talk to people. “Hello, fellow human, what are your thoughts about caffeinated beverages?” This will be great.</li></ul><p>Why is this list so sports-heavy? Something like competitive knitting or hackathons would be much more in my wheelhouse. Unfortunately both aren’t available.</p> <p>I’m optimistic that <em>something</em> will work, even though I haven’t found the perfect solution yet. This post isn’t supposed to sound self-pitying. It’s just the text I can link to when I tell you about all the friends I made in my review of 2024. There will be check-ins along the way. Looking at this like a project makes it easier for me to actually try new things and see what works.</p> <p><strong>If you have other ideas, or by some kind of freak accident, know somebody who lives in Schwerin and needs somebody to hang out with, <a href="mailto:hi@marcel.io" rel="noreferrer">let me know</a>.</strong></p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>It just so happened that I now live in a city where I don’t really know anyone. That could be a problem, but only if I let it become one. Instead, I want to embrace it as a project.</p> <p>If I were someone who defined a <a href="https://www.relay.fm/cortex" rel="noreferrer">Cortex</a> style <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE" rel="noreferrer">yearly theme</a>, my theme for 2024 would be “The Year of Friendship”. Numerous studies, scientists, and - I guess - life coaches agree: Your relationships shape your life. Having a robust social life is key to happiness. The book <a href="https://marcel.io/library/the-good-life-robert-waldinger-marc-schulz" rel="noreferrer">The Good Life</a> discusses this at length. It’s about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Study" rel="noreferrer">Grant Study</a> that has been running for literally <em>generations</em> and conclusively shows that people consider their life to have been a good one when they had strong relationships.</p> <p>My condolences to myself, as I don’t have a choice and somehow have to make new friends.</p> <p>This shouldn’t be hard. Statistically, nearly half of the German people my age feel lonely. I just have to find those who are eager to change something about their situation.</p> <p>Unfortunately, I’m not somebody who signs up for soccer practice or some kind of choir. I actually can’t come up with any group activity I’d like to do, except for joining a book club, but there doesn’t seem to be one in Schwerin. I’d start one, but… yes, I don’t know people yet. Apps like Bumble BFF are a no-go as well, I’m afraid. Nobody seems to use them here. Working remotely also removes the possibility of befriending colleagues.</p> <p>Which leaves me with a couple of not very good ideas for now:</p><ul><li>Joining a gym. I’d do this anyway, and it’s not the most social thing ever, but it’s something where I might meet people? Maybe?</li><li>Getting into running. That’s on my bucket list for this year as well, and - again - not a very social activity, but as soon as I become something of a runner, I can join some kind of running group…? That’s something people do, right?</li><li>Bouldering? I guess? I did this once and it ended up with me having to ram thrombosis injections into my then-girlfriend’s leg every day for six weeks. The half hour of trying to get up a fake-mountain was kind of fun, though. But do people make friends while hanging off an indoor cliff?</li><li>Start working in coworking spaces and cafes. This one has potential. The only problem is that I actually like to work when I’m working, and I tend to be focused and not very talkative when trying to get stuff done. I would need to not do that and instead try to talk to people. “Hello, fellow human, what are your thoughts about caffeinated beverages?” This will be great.</li></ul><p>Why is this list so sports-heavy? Something like competitive knitting or hackathons would be much more in my wheelhouse. Unfortunately both aren’t available.</p> <p>I’m optimistic that <em>something</em> will work, even though I haven’t found the perfect solution yet. This post isn’t supposed to sound self-pitying. It’s just the text I can link to when I tell you about all the friends I made in my review of 2024. There will be check-ins along the way. Looking at this like a project makes it easier for me to actually try new things and see what works.</p> <p><strong>If you have other ideas, or by some kind of freak accident, know somebody who lives in Schwerin and needs somebody to hang out with, <a href="mailto:hi@marcel.io" rel="noreferrer">let me know</a>.</strong></p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Goodbye Wordpress</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 07 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/goodbye-wordpress</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/goodbye-wordpress</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been using WordPress since I was 15, which is now over 15 years ago. Since I never bothered to learn PHP or read the documentation, I’d be lying if I said I knew how to actually build something with it. I’ve always relied on friends for help.</p><p>This is the first time in forever that I’m blogging on something other than WordPress. There’s no backend, no theming, no plugins, and for the first time, I actually understand how to add whatever I want.</p><p>It feels great.</p><p>There’s a slight chance that I’ll grow tired of using a <a href="https://astro.build/" rel="noreferrer">static site generator</a> as my blog framework, sure. But in the context of my ongoing effort to get better at coding, I feel like gifting myself this playground, with all its possibilities, might make the few downsides worth it.</p><p>Look at this cool <a href="https://marcel.io/library" rel="noreferrer">library</a> of all the books I’ve read in 2023! I wouldn’t even know where to start with something like that in Wordpress.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been using WordPress since I was 15, which is now over 15 years ago. Since I never bothered to learn PHP or read the documentation, I’d be lying if I said I knew how to actually build something with it. I’ve always relied on friends for help.</p><p>This is the first time in forever that I’m blogging on something other than WordPress. There’s no backend, no theming, no plugins, and for the first time, I actually understand how to add whatever I want.</p><p>It feels great.</p><p>There’s a slight chance that I’ll grow tired of using a <a href="https://astro.build/" rel="noreferrer">static site generator</a> as my blog framework, sure. But in the context of my ongoing effort to get better at coding, I feel like gifting myself this playground, with all its possibilities, might make the few downsides worth it.</p><p>Look at this cool <a href="https://marcel.io/library" rel="noreferrer">library</a> of all the books I’ve read in 2023! I wouldn’t even know where to start with something like that in Wordpress.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Not exactly the greatest start</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/not-exactly-the-greatest-start</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/not-exactly-the-greatest-start</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Just a day after leaving Berlin for good, I got sick for the first time in seven years. It wasn’t Corona, just the flu. There I was, feeling lousy, with all my stuff still in boxes, in a new apartment, in a new city, smack in the middle of winter.</p><p>Not exactly the greatest start.</p><p>I noticed my mental health starting to slip. Over the years, I had developed several daily rituals that amounted to what I’d call a healthy and happy life. But being too weak to walk for more than a minute for about one and a half weeks, I couldn’t keep up with any of them.</p><p>Now, two and a half weeks later, I’m mostly back to my old self. Feeling strong, hitting 10,000 steps daily, and pushing myself to do something productive for at least an hour each day. I’m not just over the flu—I feel like myself again.</p><p>Then Gigabyte got sick. She couldn’t open her eye fully. At first, I thought it might just be a passing thing, but it got worse the next day. So there I was, new city, no trusted vet, and no idea how to navigate around here.</p><p>Turns out, this was a hidden blessing. I had to tackle this issue head-on, learned that calling a taxi the traditional way still works—kind of a throwback experience. I found a great new vet I’m really happy with, and Giga’s eye is almost back to normal. It’s just conjunctivitis, nothing that a few eye drops (3 times a day, five days in a row. She’s not amused) can’t fix.</p><p>The upside of all this was it made me feel like I’d really settled in. My apartment’s turned into a cozy space, and I’ve been making use of what’s available in my new neighborhood. It’s working out well. This gave me a sense of progress, like I’m moving in the right direction.</p><p>Growing pains!</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Just a day after leaving Berlin for good, I got sick for the first time in seven years. It wasn’t Corona, just the flu. There I was, feeling lousy, with all my stuff still in boxes, in a new apartment, in a new city, smack in the middle of winter.</p><p>Not exactly the greatest start.</p><p>I noticed my mental health starting to slip. Over the years, I had developed several daily rituals that amounted to what I’d call a healthy and happy life. But being too weak to walk for more than a minute for about one and a half weeks, I couldn’t keep up with any of them.</p><p>Now, two and a half weeks later, I’m mostly back to my old self. Feeling strong, hitting 10,000 steps daily, and pushing myself to do something productive for at least an hour each day. I’m not just over the flu—I feel like myself again.</p><p>Then Gigabyte got sick. She couldn’t open her eye fully. At first, I thought it might just be a passing thing, but it got worse the next day. So there I was, new city, no trusted vet, and no idea how to navigate around here.</p><p>Turns out, this was a hidden blessing. I had to tackle this issue head-on, learned that calling a taxi the traditional way still works—kind of a throwback experience. I found a great new vet I’m really happy with, and Giga’s eye is almost back to normal. It’s just conjunctivitis, nothing that a few eye drops (3 times a day, five days in a row. She’s not amused) can’t fix.</p><p>The upside of all this was it made me feel like I’d really settled in. My apartment’s turned into a cozy space, and I’ve been making use of what’s available in my new neighborhood. It’s working out well. This gave me a sense of progress, like I’m moving in the right direction.</p><p>Growing pains!</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Hello 2024</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/hello-2024</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/hello-2024</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>It’s not surprising to read something like what you’re about to at the beginning of a new year. People find time to relax and think over the holidays. They find motivation, feel like everything is possible, and decide to finally give it a go in January. Whatever “it” may be.</p><p>For me, it’s gardening. <a href="https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history">Digital gardening</a>. Because I needed to code something and my current app project (more on that later) needed a bit of time to breathe, I started playing around with a couple of web frameworks. The previous iteration of this site used good old WordPress, but I never felt like I was able to sculpt it to my liking, even after more than 15 years of using it.</p><p>These lines are now powered by Astro. My current goal is to use this not only as a blog but as a playground for whatever comes to mind. A flexible canvas for all things I’m interested in. Something I’m able to craft into whatever I need it to be. I never got there using WordPress, so this can be considered a freedom strike.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>It’s not surprising to read something like what you’re about to at the beginning of a new year. People find time to relax and think over the holidays. They find motivation, feel like everything is possible, and decide to finally give it a go in January. Whatever “it” may be.</p><p>For me, it’s gardening. <a href="https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history">Digital gardening</a>. Because I needed to code something and my current app project (more on that later) needed a bit of time to breathe, I started playing around with a couple of web frameworks. The previous iteration of this site used good old WordPress, but I never felt like I was able to sculpt it to my liking, even after more than 15 years of using it.</p><p>These lines are now powered by Astro. My current goal is to use this not only as a blog but as a playground for whatever comes to mind. A flexible canvas for all things I’m interested in. Something I’m able to craft into whatever I need it to be. I never got there using WordPress, so this can be considered a freedom strike.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 20 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/what-i-talk-about-when-i-talk-about-running-haruki-murakami</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/what-i-talk-about-when-i-talk-about-running-haruki-murakami</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>It’s not surprising to read something like what you’re about to at the beginning of a new year. People find time to relax and think over the holidays. They find motivation, feel like everything is possible, and decide to finally give it a go in January. Whatever “it” may be.</p><p>For me, it’s gardening. <a href="https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history">Digital gardening</a>. Because I needed to code something and my current app project (more on that later) needed a bit of time to breathe, I started playing around with a couple of web frameworks. The previous iteration of this site used good old WordPress, but I never felt like I was able to sculpt it to my liking, even after more than 15 years of using it.</p><p>These lines are now powered by Astro. My current goal is to use this not only as a blog but as a playground for whatever comes to mind. A flexible canvas for all things I’m interested in. Something I’m able to craft into whatever I need it to be. I never got there using WordPress, so this can be considered a freedom strike.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>A few of my highlighted sections:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is the same sort of tack I find necessary when writing a novel. I stop every day right at the point where I feel I can write more. Do that, and the next day’s work goes surprisingly smoothly. I think Ernest Hemingway did something like that. To keep on going, you have to keep up the rhythm. <highlight>This is the important thing for long-term projects. Once you set the pace, the rest will follow.</highlight></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>For me, running is both exercise and a metaphor. Running day after day, piling up the races, bit by bit I raise the bar, and by clearing each level I elevate myself. At least that’s why I’ve put in the effort day after day: to raise my own level. I’m no great runner, by any means. I’m at an ordinary—or perhaps more like mediocre—level. But that’s not the point. The point is whether or not I improved over yesterday. In long-distance running the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>It might be a little silly for someone getting to be my age to put this into words, but I just want to make sure I get the facts down clearly: I’m the kind of person who likes to be by himself. To put a finer point on it, I’m the type of person who doesn’t find it painful to be alone. <highlight>I find spending an hour or two every day running alone, not speaking to anyone, as well as four or five hours alone at my desk, to be neither difficult nor boring.</highlight> I’ve had this tendency ever since I was young, when, given a choice, I much preferred reading books on my own or concentrating on listening to music over being with someone else. I could always think of things to do by myself.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>For me—and for everybody else, probably—this is my first experience growing old, and the emotions I’m having, too, are all first-time feelings. If it were something I’d experienced before, then I’d be able to understand it more clearly, but this is the first time, so I can’t. For now all I can do is put off making any detailed judgments and accept things as they are. Just like I accept the sky, the clouds, and the river. And there’s also something kind of comical about it all, something you don’t want to discard completely.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Emotional hurt is the price a person has to pay in order to be independent.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>The main thing was not the speed or distance so much as running every day, without taking a break. <highlight>So, like my three meals a day—along with sleeping, housework, and work—running was incorporated into my daily routine.</highlight> As it became a natural habit, I felt less embarrassed about it.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I asked him, “Does a runner at your level ever feel like you’d rather not run today, like you don’t want to run and would rather just sleep in?” He stared at me and then, in a voice that made it abundantly clear how stupid he thought the question was, replied, “Of course. All the time!”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>At any rate, that’s how I started running. <highlight>Thirty-three—that’s how old I was then. Still young enough, though no longer a young man.</highlight> The age that Jesus Christ died. The age that Scott Fitzgerald started to go downhill. That age may be a kind of crossroads in life. That was the age when I began my life as a runner, and it was my belated, but real, starting point as a novelist.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>People sometimes sneer at those who run every day, claiming they’ll go to any length to live longer. But I don’t think that’s the reason most people run. Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest. If you’re going to while away the years, it’s far better to live them with clear goals and fully alive than in a fog, and I believe running helps you do that. Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that’s the essence of running, and a metaphor for life—and for me, for writing as well. I believe many runners would agree.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m aware of myself as one tiny piece in the gigantic mosaic of nature. I’m just a replaceable natural phenomenon, like the water in the river that flows under the bridge toward the sea.</p>
</blockquote><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 11 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/shards-of-earth-adrian-tchaikovsky</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/shards-of-earth-adrian-tchaikovsky</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>It’s not surprising to read something like what you’re about to at the beginning of a new year. People find time to relax and think over the holidays. They find motivation, feel like everything is possible, and decide to finally give it a go in January. Whatever “it” may be.</p><p>For me, it’s gardening. <a href="https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history">Digital gardening</a>. Because I needed to code something and my current app project (more on that later) needed a bit of time to breathe, I started playing around with a couple of web frameworks. The previous iteration of this site used good old WordPress, but I never felt like I was able to sculpt it to my liking, even after more than 15 years of using it.</p><p>These lines are now powered by Astro. My current goal is to use this not only as a blog but as a playground for whatever comes to mind. A flexible canvas for all things I’m interested in. Something I’m able to craft into whatever I need it to be. I never got there using WordPress, so this can be considered a freedom strike.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Allein by Daniel Schreiber</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 07 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/allein-daniel-schreiber</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/allein-daniel-schreiber</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>It’s not surprising to read something like what you’re about to at the beginning of a new year. People find time to relax and think over the holidays. They find motivation, feel like everything is possible, and decide to finally give it a go in January. Whatever “it” may be.</p><p>For me, it’s gardening. <a href="https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history">Digital gardening</a>. Because I needed to code something and my current app project (more on that later) needed a bit of time to breathe, I started playing around with a couple of web frameworks. The previous iteration of this site used good old WordPress, but I never felt like I was able to sculpt it to my liking, even after more than 15 years of using it.</p><p>These lines are now powered by Astro. My current goal is to use this not only as a blog but as a playground for whatever comes to mind. A flexible canvas for all things I’m interested in. Something I’m able to craft into whatever I need it to be. I never got there using WordPress, so this can be considered a freedom strike.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/infinity-gate-m-r-carey</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/infinity-gate-m-r-carey</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>It’s not surprising to read something like what you’re about to at the beginning of a new year. People find time to relax and think over the holidays. They find motivation, feel like everything is possible, and decide to finally give it a go in January. Whatever “it” may be.</p><p>For me, it’s gardening. <a href="https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history">Digital gardening</a>. Because I needed to code something and my current app project (more on that later) needed a bit of time to breathe, I started playing around with a couple of web frameworks. The previous iteration of this site used good old WordPress, but I never felt like I was able to sculpt it to my liking, even after more than 15 years of using it.</p><p>These lines are now powered by Astro. My current goal is to use this not only as a blog but as a playground for whatever comes to mind. A flexible canvas for all things I’m interested in. Something I’m able to craft into whatever I need it to be. I never got there using WordPress, so this can be considered a freedom strike.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Eines der besten Auftaktbücher, die ich seit geraumer Zeit las. Spannende Charaktere, tatsächlich neue Ideen und ein toller Mix aus Hard Sci-Fi und Abenteuerroman. Freue mich schon auf Mitte 2024, wenn der nächste Teil rauskommen soll.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Good ideas, loosely held</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 23 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/good-ideas-loosely-held</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/good-ideas-loosely-held</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Zero Bullsh*t Meditation by Vishen Lakhiani</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 13 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/zero-bullshit-meditation-vishen-lakhiani</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/zero-bullshit-meditation-vishen-lakhiani</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Habe die 94 Cent, die mich das Buch kostete, nicht bereut. Es war aber letztendlich doch ein bisschen seicht und mehr oder weniger Werbung für die App des Autoren.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Contact by Carl Sagan</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 05 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/contact-carl-sagan</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/contact-carl-sagan</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Eine gute Geschichte, die nicht gut geschrieben ist. Schade, aber teilweise war es so faselig, dass ich ganze Seiten übersprang aber nichts von Relevanz verpasst habe.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Hidden Potential by Adam Grant</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 02 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/hidden-potential-adam-grant</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/hidden-potential-adam-grant</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Einige Kapitel waren etwas zu sehr special interest für meinen Geschmack, aber insgesamt ist es eine gute Zusammenfassung von "Es geht nur selten um inhärente Intelligenz und eigentlich immer darum, wie ein Hirn genutzt wird".</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Zur See by D&#246;rte Hansen</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 24 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/zur-see-dorte-hansen</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/zur-see-dorte-hansen</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 23 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/station-eleven-emily-st-john-mandel</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/station-eleven-emily-st-john-mandel</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Congratulations, by the Way by George Saunders</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 16 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/congratulations-by-the-way-george-saunders</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/congratulations-by-the-way-george-saunders</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-seven-husbands-of-evelyn-hugo-taylor-jenkins-reid</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-seven-husbands-of-evelyn-hugo-taylor-jenkins-reid</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>If you had told me that this novel about a Hollywood actress telling her life's story would move me this much, I would not have believed you. This book has slightly changed the way I think about life. What more could a story ever achieve?</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 09 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/a-short-stay-in-hell-steven-l-peck</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/a-short-stay-in-hell-steven-l-peck</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Anything you Want by Derek Sivers</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/anything-you-want-derek-sivers</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/anything-you-want-derek-sivers</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 04 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/how-to-talk-to-anyone-leil-lowndes</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/how-to-talk-to-anyone-leil-lowndes</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/sea-of-tranquility-emily-st-john-mandel</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/sea-of-tranquility-emily-st-john-mandel</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Social Lives of Animals by Ashley Ward</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 28 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-social-lives-of-animals</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-social-lives-of-animals</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Good Life by Robert Waldinger, Marc Schulz</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 13 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-good-life-robert-waldinger-marc-schulz</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-good-life-robert-waldinger-marc-schulz</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Creative Act by Rick Rubin</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 05 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-creative-act-rick-rubin</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-creative-act-rick-rubin</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’ve been programming for a bit over a year now and I’m far from giving substantial advice on how to write good code. What I actually do know a bit about is the right mindset for shipping products.</p><h2>Perfectionism</h2>
<p>Embrace the truth that wanting to ship something perfect is the same as not shipping anything. You’ll never(!) get to a point where everything is to your absolute liking. It’s impossible. It has nothing to do with how skilled you are either. You can be the very best designer and programmer ever, entropy doesn’t allow perfection. On the contrary: Entropy is perfection. Embrace the fact that “good enough” is a moving goalpost. It means that you don’t have to try to be perfect. How soothing is that!?</p><h2>Imposter syndrome</h2>
<p>You’ll never be as good as you think you should be. I feel like human existence is a binary state. Either you’re overconfident or suffer from imposter syndrome. Both are problematic but the latter is easier to manage, in my opinion. Acknowledge the fact that your being capable of shipping something in theory is good enough to do it in practice. Worst case: Nobody will care about your project. The good news: That’s already what’s happening. There’s no chance anyone will ever truly care about your unreleased project and pre-release hype is not real.</p><h2>Maximalism</h2>
<p>Ideas are cheap. You don’t want to be one of those people that are stuck in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” land and never get around to actually confronting their ideas with reality. Or reality with their ideas. The common pitfall is to think that you only have to cram enough ideas (read: features) into your product for it to be the very best out there. The opposite is the case: You need to get rid of all the features that don’t reflect the essence of what you’re trying to do. There’s a reason why basically everything ever written by people who ship reiterates this point over and over: it’s true. Confronting your ideas with reality can’t happen fast enough.</p><h2>The right goals</h2>
<p>This might be the most important point: The product isn’t the destination. Shipping is. If you think that your current idea is the be-all and end-all, you’ll most likely make the aforementioned mistakes over and over again. Good ideas, loosely held. Shipping must be the motivation because only shipping creates the positive mental feedback-loop that is required to keep shipping. If you’re somebody who shipped something once, you can do it a second time and the third time is even easier. That’s the process. You build, you ship, you keep building. A project fails? You don’t care because you’re in it for the process of shipping and iterating.</p> <p>The status quo is the worst case. Ship yourself out of the status quo, everything else will follow automatically.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Increased interactivity requires designers to code</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 26 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/increased-interactivity-requires-designers-to-code</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/increased-interactivity-requires-designers-to-code</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>It happened. The switch flipped and I‘m now one of those people who believe that it‘s far more productive to design in code than to move boxes and text in some design software.</p><p>I spent the last decade not wanting to believe the people who praised designers who code, but I‘m convinced now.</p><p>It‘s been about a year since I worked through 100 Days of SwiftUI. I built four iOS apps and about 4-5 web projects using React since then. I‘m obviously still a coding-baby but it‘s already very clear to me that being able to code made me a better designer.</p><p>AR interfaces are going to take this up a notch.</p><p>Three years ago, when I had an epiphany and realized that AR/VR interfaces are going to be the future of computing, I wondered how current design software would ever be able to allow me to do a good job designing AR interfaces.</p><p>I came to the conclusion that it wouldn‘t. It couldn’t.</p><p>If I would wait until the Figma of AR/VR interface design shows up, I‘d be behind the curve of what‘s going to be considered modern interfaces in the blink of an eye.</p><p>Fast forward to earlier this week, three years later.</p><p>I‘m downloading the visionOS SDK, after watching a couple of WWDC23 sessions about spatial computing and how to use SwiftUI and ARKit to create AR experiences for what has a good chance of becoming the AR platform of the future.</p><p>I was right.</p><p>You can‘t design AR experiences in Figma. Floaty 2D windows are only the baseline of what’ll be expected. The bare minimum.</p><p>True modern experiences will switch fluently between 2D windows and immersive experiences.</p><p>Designers need to be ready for it.</p><p>I spent the week playing around with visionOS, trying out interactions, building small apps and getting a literal grip on how to interact with 3D models in AR space and I‘m convinced that I‘d be utterly lost hadn‘t I spent the last couple of years working on what will be (is?) the required skillset for AR interface designers.</p><p>Designers need to understand 3D modeling, meshes, materials, textures, shaders, faces, vertices and edges. I knew nothing about any of this three years ago and it was already required knowledge in this very first week of AR interface experimentation.</p><p>Designers need to be able to code. 3D drag gestures, interactive 3D models, a blend of immersive experiences and 2D windows in real life environments can‘t be properly reproduced in some AR-Figma of the future. AR design is the climax of self-efficacy in interface design.</p><p>Designers need to adapt to be able to provide experiences that are as personal as spatial computing is going to be. They can’t be several degrees removed from what users are going to interact with anymore.</p><p>Being a designer who codes makes you a better designer in 2023.</p><p>Being a designer who doesn‘t code might make you a bad designer in 2024 and beyond.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>It happened. The switch flipped and I‘m now one of those people who believe that it‘s far more productive to design in code than to move boxes and text in some design software.</p><p>I spent the last decade not wanting to believe the people who praised designers who code, but I‘m convinced now.</p><p>It‘s been about a year since I worked through 100 Days of SwiftUI. I built four iOS apps and about 4-5 web projects using React since then. I‘m obviously still a coding-baby but it‘s already very clear to me that being able to code made me a better designer.</p><p>AR interfaces are going to take this up a notch.</p><p>Three years ago, when I had an epiphany and realized that AR/VR interfaces are going to be the future of computing, I wondered how current design software would ever be able to allow me to do a good job designing AR interfaces.</p><p>I came to the conclusion that it wouldn‘t. It couldn’t.</p><p>If I would wait until the Figma of AR/VR interface design shows up, I‘d be behind the curve of what‘s going to be considered modern interfaces in the blink of an eye.</p><p>Fast forward to earlier this week, three years later.</p><p>I‘m downloading the visionOS SDK, after watching a couple of WWDC23 sessions about spatial computing and how to use SwiftUI and ARKit to create AR experiences for what has a good chance of becoming the AR platform of the future.</p><p>I was right.</p><p>You can‘t design AR experiences in Figma. Floaty 2D windows are only the baseline of what’ll be expected. The bare minimum.</p><p>True modern experiences will switch fluently between 2D windows and immersive experiences.</p><p>Designers need to be ready for it.</p><p>I spent the week playing around with visionOS, trying out interactions, building small apps and getting a literal grip on how to interact with 3D models in AR space and I‘m convinced that I‘d be utterly lost hadn‘t I spent the last couple of years working on what will be (is?) the required skillset for AR interface designers.</p><p>Designers need to understand 3D modeling, meshes, materials, textures, shaders, faces, vertices and edges. I knew nothing about any of this three years ago and it was already required knowledge in this very first week of AR interface experimentation.</p><p>Designers need to be able to code. 3D drag gestures, interactive 3D models, a blend of immersive experiences and 2D windows in real life environments can‘t be properly reproduced in some AR-Figma of the future. AR design is the climax of self-efficacy in interface design.</p><p>Designers need to adapt to be able to provide experiences that are as personal as spatial computing is going to be. They can’t be several degrees removed from what users are going to interact with anymore.</p><p>Being a designer who codes makes you a better designer in 2023.</p><p>Being a designer who doesn‘t code might make you a bad designer in 2024 and beyond.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Self-Efficacy in Spatial Computing</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 17 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/self-efficacy-in-spatial-computing</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/self-efficacy-in-spatial-computing</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>There’s this concept of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-efficacy">self-efficacy</a> in psychology that really resonates with me. I see a lot of life through this lens. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:</p><blockquote>
  In psychology, self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals. A strong sense of self-efficacy promotes human accomplishment and personal well-being. A person with high self-efficacy views challenges as things that are supposed to be mastered rather than threats to avoid.  </blockquote>
<p>I believe that you can choose to be self-efficacious and things you do can make you feel self-efficacious. Most people fail to recognize when these moments occur, and even fewer make a conscious effort to intentionally create such moments for themselves.</p><p>Changing the physical world does this to humans. That’s one of the reasons so many people daydream about gardening and why pottery feels a bit like therapy. You create something that wasn’t there before. You moved something and it stayed in place. You’ve literally made a teeny-tiny <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-famous-quote-misunderstood-laurene-powell-2020-2#:~:text=%22We're%20here%20to%20make,of%20Jobs'%20most%20iconic%20quotes.">dent in the universe</a>.</p><p>You won’t be able to describe to a person who never experienced anything like it, how gardening makes you feel. Starting with nothing, spending hours of work, accepting failures and imperfections to then see a result of something you made, tickles the core of what we are. Sure, you can explain all the steps of the process and tell them you felt “good” doing so but there’s no way to describe the intensity of that feeling.</p><p>Turning a rotary dial to call someone, pressing buttons to control a SNES video game character and swiping and tapping on glass to send an email did this to us with ever increasing amounts of directness. Every evolution of digital technology helped us feel more self-efficacy.</p><p>For better or worse.</p><p>I think AR interfaces are the inevitable next step in computing because they make us feel more self-efficacious. You won’t be able to properly describe how moving digital windows in the physical space of real life made you feel. It’s counter-intuitive to even think that the way you interact with the window your bursting inbox makes a difference, yet it does.</p><p>Spatial computing can’t be described. It must be felt to be understood.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>There’s this concept of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-efficacy">self-efficacy</a> in psychology that really resonates with me. I see a lot of life through this lens. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:</p><blockquote>
  In psychology, self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals. A strong sense of self-efficacy promotes human accomplishment and personal well-being. A person with high self-efficacy views challenges as things that are supposed to be mastered rather than threats to avoid.  </blockquote>
<p>I believe that you can choose to be self-efficacious and things you do can make you feel self-efficacious. Most people fail to recognize when these moments occur, and even fewer make a conscious effort to intentionally create such moments for themselves.</p><p>Changing the physical world does this to humans. That’s one of the reasons so many people daydream about gardening and why pottery feels a bit like therapy. You create something that wasn’t there before. You moved something and it stayed in place. You’ve literally made a teeny-tiny <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-famous-quote-misunderstood-laurene-powell-2020-2#:~:text=%22We're%20here%20to%20make,of%20Jobs'%20most%20iconic%20quotes.">dent in the universe</a>.</p><p>You won’t be able to describe to a person who never experienced anything like it, how gardening makes you feel. Starting with nothing, spending hours of work, accepting failures and imperfections to then see a result of something you made, tickles the core of what we are. Sure, you can explain all the steps of the process and tell them you felt “good” doing so but there’s no way to describe the intensity of that feeling.</p><p>Turning a rotary dial to call someone, pressing buttons to control a SNES video game character and swiping and tapping on glass to send an email did this to us with ever increasing amounts of directness. Every evolution of digital technology helped us feel more self-efficacy.</p><p>For better or worse.</p><p>I think AR interfaces are the inevitable next step in computing because they make us feel more self-efficacious. You won’t be able to properly describe how moving digital windows in the physical space of real life made you feel. It’s counter-intuitive to even think that the way you interact with the window your bursting inbox makes a difference, yet it does.</p><p>Spatial computing can’t be described. It must be felt to be understood.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
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                    <title>📚 The Gap and The Gain by Dan Sullivan, Benjamin P. Hardy</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 11 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-gap-and-the-gain-dan-sullivan-benjamin-p-hardy</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-gap-and-the-gain-dan-sullivan-benjamin-p-hardy</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>There’s this concept of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-efficacy">self-efficacy</a> in psychology that really resonates with me. I see a lot of life through this lens. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:</p><blockquote>
  In psychology, self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals. A strong sense of self-efficacy promotes human accomplishment and personal well-being. A person with high self-efficacy views challenges as things that are supposed to be mastered rather than threats to avoid.  </blockquote>
<p>I believe that you can choose to be self-efficacious and things you do can make you feel self-efficacious. Most people fail to recognize when these moments occur, and even fewer make a conscious effort to intentionally create such moments for themselves.</p><p>Changing the physical world does this to humans. That’s one of the reasons so many people daydream about gardening and why pottery feels a bit like therapy. You create something that wasn’t there before. You moved something and it stayed in place. You’ve literally made a teeny-tiny <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-famous-quote-misunderstood-laurene-powell-2020-2#:~:text=%22We're%20here%20to%20make,of%20Jobs'%20most%20iconic%20quotes.">dent in the universe</a>.</p><p>You won’t be able to describe to a person who never experienced anything like it, how gardening makes you feel. Starting with nothing, spending hours of work, accepting failures and imperfections to then see a result of something you made, tickles the core of what we are. Sure, you can explain all the steps of the process and tell them you felt “good” doing so but there’s no way to describe the intensity of that feeling.</p><p>Turning a rotary dial to call someone, pressing buttons to control a SNES video game character and swiping and tapping on glass to send an email did this to us with ever increasing amounts of directness. Every evolution of digital technology helped us feel more self-efficacy.</p><p>For better or worse.</p><p>I think AR interfaces are the inevitable next step in computing because they make us feel more self-efficacious. You won’t be able to properly describe how moving digital windows in the physical space of real life made you feel. It’s counter-intuitive to even think that the way you interact with the window your bursting inbox makes a difference, yet it does.</p><p>Spatial computing can’t be described. It must be felt to be understood.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Magnificent Rebels by Andrea Wulf</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 31 May 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/magnificent-rebels-andrea-wulf</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/magnificent-rebels-andrea-wulf</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>There’s this concept of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-efficacy">self-efficacy</a> in psychology that really resonates with me. I see a lot of life through this lens. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:</p><blockquote>
  In psychology, self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals. A strong sense of self-efficacy promotes human accomplishment and personal well-being. A person with high self-efficacy views challenges as things that are supposed to be mastered rather than threats to avoid.  </blockquote>
<p>I believe that you can choose to be self-efficacious and things you do can make you feel self-efficacious. Most people fail to recognize when these moments occur, and even fewer make a conscious effort to intentionally create such moments for themselves.</p><p>Changing the physical world does this to humans. That’s one of the reasons so many people daydream about gardening and why pottery feels a bit like therapy. You create something that wasn’t there before. You moved something and it stayed in place. You’ve literally made a teeny-tiny <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-famous-quote-misunderstood-laurene-powell-2020-2#:~:text=%22We're%20here%20to%20make,of%20Jobs'%20most%20iconic%20quotes.">dent in the universe</a>.</p><p>You won’t be able to describe to a person who never experienced anything like it, how gardening makes you feel. Starting with nothing, spending hours of work, accepting failures and imperfections to then see a result of something you made, tickles the core of what we are. Sure, you can explain all the steps of the process and tell them you felt “good” doing so but there’s no way to describe the intensity of that feeling.</p><p>Turning a rotary dial to call someone, pressing buttons to control a SNES video game character and swiping and tapping on glass to send an email did this to us with ever increasing amounts of directness. Every evolution of digital technology helped us feel more self-efficacy.</p><p>For better or worse.</p><p>I think AR interfaces are the inevitable next step in computing because they make us feel more self-efficacious. You won’t be able to properly describe how moving digital windows in the physical space of real life made you feel. It’s counter-intuitive to even think that the way you interact with the window your bursting inbox makes a difference, yet it does.</p><p>Spatial computing can’t be described. It must be felt to be understood.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 29 May 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/children-of-memory-adrian-tchaikovsky</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/children-of-memory-adrian-tchaikovsky</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>There’s this concept of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-efficacy">self-efficacy</a> in psychology that really resonates with me. I see a lot of life through this lens. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:</p><blockquote>
  In psychology, self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals. A strong sense of self-efficacy promotes human accomplishment and personal well-being. A person with high self-efficacy views challenges as things that are supposed to be mastered rather than threats to avoid.  </blockquote>
<p>I believe that you can choose to be self-efficacious and things you do can make you feel self-efficacious. Most people fail to recognize when these moments occur, and even fewer make a conscious effort to intentionally create such moments for themselves.</p><p>Changing the physical world does this to humans. That’s one of the reasons so many people daydream about gardening and why pottery feels a bit like therapy. You create something that wasn’t there before. You moved something and it stayed in place. You’ve literally made a teeny-tiny <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-famous-quote-misunderstood-laurene-powell-2020-2#:~:text=%22We're%20here%20to%20make,of%20Jobs'%20most%20iconic%20quotes.">dent in the universe</a>.</p><p>You won’t be able to describe to a person who never experienced anything like it, how gardening makes you feel. Starting with nothing, spending hours of work, accepting failures and imperfections to then see a result of something you made, tickles the core of what we are. Sure, you can explain all the steps of the process and tell them you felt “good” doing so but there’s no way to describe the intensity of that feeling.</p><p>Turning a rotary dial to call someone, pressing buttons to control a SNES video game character and swiping and tapping on glass to send an email did this to us with ever increasing amounts of directness. Every evolution of digital technology helped us feel more self-efficacy.</p><p>For better or worse.</p><p>I think AR interfaces are the inevitable next step in computing because they make us feel more self-efficacious. You won’t be able to properly describe how moving digital windows in the physical space of real life made you feel. It’s counter-intuitive to even think that the way you interact with the window your bursting inbox makes a difference, yet it does.</p><p>Spatial computing can’t be described. It must be felt to be understood.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Eine der Schwierigkeiten an Büchern mit einem Twist ist, dass man nur schwer über sie reden kann ohne zu viel zu verraten. Children of Memory ist der dritte Teil in Tchaikowskys großartiger "Children of Time" Serie und ist durch besagten Twist sowohl ganz besonders, als auch für mich kein Highlight.</p>
<p>Während der inhaltliche Umfang der ersten beiden Bücher teilweise atemberaubend ist und die Evolution ganzer Spezies beschreibt, zoomt Children of Memory in die Ereignisse in einem einzigen kleinen Städtchen hinein, um später daraus etwas mitzunehmen, was für etwaige weitere Bücher der Serie relevant werden könnte.</p>
<p>Children of Time gefiel mir gut, allerdings hatte ich etwas völlig anderes erwartet und würde mich freuen, wenn künftige Installationen wieder mehr an die ersten beiden Bücher angelehnt sein könnten.</p>
<p>Diese Meinung ist relativ gehaltlos, eben weil ich nicht viel sagen kann ohne zu viel zu sagen, aber eines ist klar: Diese Buchserie ist großartig und Children of Memory ist kein Lowlight, sondern eine würdige, wenn auch überraschende Fortsetzung.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Kindred by Octavia E. Butler</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 29 May 2023 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/kindred-octavia-e-butler</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/kindred-octavia-e-butler</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>There’s this concept of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-efficacy">self-efficacy</a> in psychology that really resonates with me. I see a lot of life through this lens. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:</p><blockquote>
  In psychology, self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals. A strong sense of self-efficacy promotes human accomplishment and personal well-being. A person with high self-efficacy views challenges as things that are supposed to be mastered rather than threats to avoid.  </blockquote>
<p>I believe that you can choose to be self-efficacious and things you do can make you feel self-efficacious. Most people fail to recognize when these moments occur, and even fewer make a conscious effort to intentionally create such moments for themselves.</p><p>Changing the physical world does this to humans. That’s one of the reasons so many people daydream about gardening and why pottery feels a bit like therapy. You create something that wasn’t there before. You moved something and it stayed in place. You’ve literally made a teeny-tiny <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-famous-quote-misunderstood-laurene-powell-2020-2#:~:text=%22We're%20here%20to%20make,of%20Jobs'%20most%20iconic%20quotes.">dent in the universe</a>.</p><p>You won’t be able to describe to a person who never experienced anything like it, how gardening makes you feel. Starting with nothing, spending hours of work, accepting failures and imperfections to then see a result of something you made, tickles the core of what we are. Sure, you can explain all the steps of the process and tell them you felt “good” doing so but there’s no way to describe the intensity of that feeling.</p><p>Turning a rotary dial to call someone, pressing buttons to control a SNES video game character and swiping and tapping on glass to send an email did this to us with ever increasing amounts of directness. Every evolution of digital technology helped us feel more self-efficacy.</p><p>For better or worse.</p><p>I think AR interfaces are the inevitable next step in computing because they make us feel more self-efficacious. You won’t be able to properly describe how moving digital windows in the physical space of real life made you feel. It’s counter-intuitive to even think that the way you interact with the window your bursting inbox makes a difference, yet it does.</p><p>Spatial computing can’t be described. It must be felt to be understood.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Delta-V by Daniel Suarez</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 17 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/delta-v-daniel-suarez</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/delta-v-daniel-suarez</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>There’s this concept of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-efficacy">self-efficacy</a> in psychology that really resonates with me. I see a lot of life through this lens. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:</p><blockquote>
  In psychology, self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals. A strong sense of self-efficacy promotes human accomplishment and personal well-being. A person with high self-efficacy views challenges as things that are supposed to be mastered rather than threats to avoid.  </blockquote>
<p>I believe that you can choose to be self-efficacious and things you do can make you feel self-efficacious. Most people fail to recognize when these moments occur, and even fewer make a conscious effort to intentionally create such moments for themselves.</p><p>Changing the physical world does this to humans. That’s one of the reasons so many people daydream about gardening and why pottery feels a bit like therapy. You create something that wasn’t there before. You moved something and it stayed in place. You’ve literally made a teeny-tiny <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-famous-quote-misunderstood-laurene-powell-2020-2#:~:text=%22We're%20here%20to%20make,of%20Jobs'%20most%20iconic%20quotes.">dent in the universe</a>.</p><p>You won’t be able to describe to a person who never experienced anything like it, how gardening makes you feel. Starting with nothing, spending hours of work, accepting failures and imperfections to then see a result of something you made, tickles the core of what we are. Sure, you can explain all the steps of the process and tell them you felt “good” doing so but there’s no way to describe the intensity of that feeling.</p><p>Turning a rotary dial to call someone, pressing buttons to control a SNES video game character and swiping and tapping on glass to send an email did this to us with ever increasing amounts of directness. Every evolution of digital technology helped us feel more self-efficacy.</p><p>For better or worse.</p><p>I think AR interfaces are the inevitable next step in computing because they make us feel more self-efficacious. You won’t be able to properly describe how moving digital windows in the physical space of real life made you feel. It’s counter-intuitive to even think that the way you interact with the window your bursting inbox makes a difference, yet it does.</p><p>Spatial computing can’t be described. It must be felt to be understood.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wenn man mich fragen würde, ob ich von einem Science-Fiction Buch, dessen Prämisse es ist, dass eine Gruppe aus Personen in naher Zukunft zu einem Asteroiden fliegt um dort Rohstoffe abzubauen, viel erwarten würde, wäre meine Antwort "nein".</p>
<p>Trotzdem wurde ich von Delta-V enttäuscht. Die Charaktere sind austauschbar und steif. Die Geschichte wenig überraschend, wenig interessant und an vielen Stellen langatmig und dadurch langweilig. Ein großer Teil des Buches dreht sich darum, wie sich zig Leute auf eine Mission vorbereiten, von der sie nicht annehmen, dass sie wirklich passieren wird. Da kommt nicht nur keine Spannung auf, es liest sich als würde man jemandem bei seinem Bullshit-Job beobachten.</p>
<p>Die Geschichte wird aber immerhin durch atemgebende (ist das das Gegenteil von atemberaubend?) Abstecher in die Welt der Weltraum-Rechtssprechung und Finanzierung angereichert. Somit hat man zwei Aspekte, an denen man gar nicht interessiert ist und es entsteht ein kreatives Zusammenspiel von "Ugh, wann passiert endlich etwas" Momenten.</p>
<p>Selbst die Momente in denen theoretisch Spannung aufkommen könnte sind so hölzern erzählt, dass ich nicht nur nicht mitfieberte, ich schweifte sogar gedanklich ab.</p>
<p>Das war nichts.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 04 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/how-to-be-perfect-michael-schur</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/how-to-be-perfect-michael-schur</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>There’s this concept of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-efficacy">self-efficacy</a> in psychology that really resonates with me. I see a lot of life through this lens. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:</p><blockquote>
  In psychology, self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals. A strong sense of self-efficacy promotes human accomplishment and personal well-being. A person with high self-efficacy views challenges as things that are supposed to be mastered rather than threats to avoid.  </blockquote>
<p>I believe that you can choose to be self-efficacious and things you do can make you feel self-efficacious. Most people fail to recognize when these moments occur, and even fewer make a conscious effort to intentionally create such moments for themselves.</p><p>Changing the physical world does this to humans. That’s one of the reasons so many people daydream about gardening and why pottery feels a bit like therapy. You create something that wasn’t there before. You moved something and it stayed in place. You’ve literally made a teeny-tiny <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-famous-quote-misunderstood-laurene-powell-2020-2#:~:text=%22We're%20here%20to%20make,of%20Jobs'%20most%20iconic%20quotes.">dent in the universe</a>.</p><p>You won’t be able to describe to a person who never experienced anything like it, how gardening makes you feel. Starting with nothing, spending hours of work, accepting failures and imperfections to then see a result of something you made, tickles the core of what we are. Sure, you can explain all the steps of the process and tell them you felt “good” doing so but there’s no way to describe the intensity of that feeling.</p><p>Turning a rotary dial to call someone, pressing buttons to control a SNES video game character and swiping and tapping on glass to send an email did this to us with ever increasing amounts of directness. Every evolution of digital technology helped us feel more self-efficacy.</p><p>For better or worse.</p><p>I think AR interfaces are the inevitable next step in computing because they make us feel more self-efficacious. You won’t be able to properly describe how moving digital windows in the physical space of real life made you feel. It’s counter-intuitive to even think that the way you interact with the window your bursting inbox makes a difference, yet it does.</p><p>Spatial computing can’t be described. It must be felt to be understood.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Maybe web development is kind of fun</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 19 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/maybe-web-development-is-kind-of-fun</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/maybe-web-development-is-kind-of-fun</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Okay, hear me out. Web development is actually kind of fun. I mentioned that I worked through The Joy of React recently and while the course managed to transfer a lot of valuable knowledge, it didn’t do a great job at keeping me motivated.</p><p>I’m not one of those people waiting for motivation to magically hit me. I know that it’s something you create by actually sitting down and doing the work. Nevertheless, something about the course constantly trying to trick me into working on something it hasn’t taught me before, made me just watch the solution videos before actually trying to solve the problems. I knew that I could not possibly know the “right” solution, so I stopped trying. That resulted in me finishing the course without applying most of the things it covered.</p><p>100 Days of SwiftUI‘s approach worked far better for me. It covered a couple of concepts, then gave me a challenge and told me that I already know everything needed to solve it properly. I knew that it’s completely my fault if I don’t manage to come up with a solution and I also knew that I only had to re-watch the previous lessons to stumble upon the answer at some point. That’s motivating! Telling me that I’m theoretically able to solve the challenges gave me enough confidence to sit down and try until something worked.</p><p>So here’s how I got over my disgruntled and unmotivated “Web dev sucks” state:</p><p>I forced myself to build something.</p><p>At first my goal was to set up a project. Hard enough with all the tooling involved. That worked more or less smoothly. Then I started playing around with a button that puts something into an array, which led to an input element that allows to customize what to put in there and so on and so forth. I didn’t plan on building a shitty to-do list app but it happened because motivation came as soon as I started experimenting.</p><p>I wandered from “Oh, I wonder if I could…” to “What if I try to…” and grew increasingly more excited. Our brains are hilariously easy to manipulate. Create a few achievable moments of success and you can string yourself along until something exists that previously didn’t.</p><p>Nobody is in need of a to-do app called “Your Plate” but it exists now. I’m a bit proud of that.</p><p>So, here’s what I did:</p><ul><li>Set up Visual Studio Code in a way that’s acceptable.</li><li>Learned how to deploy something through Vercel and the Terminal. This was a huge “Wow, this is so easy and cool” moment for me.</li><li>Played around with objects and destructuring.</li><li>Added a few libraries for random stuff like playing sounds (and added a setting to turn sound off!), throwing confetti and animating the list.</li><li>Figured out what TailwindCSS is and how to use it. Another “Oh wow” moment.</li><li>Added local storage capabilities.</li><li>None of this was very hard, I built far more complicated things in Swift and SwiftUI already. It’s something though and it managed to drag me out of my “Ugh, where to start?” rut.</li></ul><p>Next up: Upgrading to Typescript. I want types. Type me up, baby.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Okay, hear me out. Web development is actually kind of fun. I mentioned that I worked through The Joy of React recently and while the course managed to transfer a lot of valuable knowledge, it didn’t do a great job at keeping me motivated.</p><p>I’m not one of those people waiting for motivation to magically hit me. I know that it’s something you create by actually sitting down and doing the work. Nevertheless, something about the course constantly trying to trick me into working on something it hasn’t taught me before, made me just watch the solution videos before actually trying to solve the problems. I knew that I could not possibly know the “right” solution, so I stopped trying. That resulted in me finishing the course without applying most of the things it covered.</p><p>100 Days of SwiftUI‘s approach worked far better for me. It covered a couple of concepts, then gave me a challenge and told me that I already know everything needed to solve it properly. I knew that it’s completely my fault if I don’t manage to come up with a solution and I also knew that I only had to re-watch the previous lessons to stumble upon the answer at some point. That’s motivating! Telling me that I’m theoretically able to solve the challenges gave me enough confidence to sit down and try until something worked.</p><p>So here’s how I got over my disgruntled and unmotivated “Web dev sucks” state:</p><p>I forced myself to build something.</p><p>At first my goal was to set up a project. Hard enough with all the tooling involved. That worked more or less smoothly. Then I started playing around with a button that puts something into an array, which led to an input element that allows to customize what to put in there and so on and so forth. I didn’t plan on building a shitty to-do list app but it happened because motivation came as soon as I started experimenting.</p><p>I wandered from “Oh, I wonder if I could…” to “What if I try to…” and grew increasingly more excited. Our brains are hilariously easy to manipulate. Create a few achievable moments of success and you can string yourself along until something exists that previously didn’t.</p><p>Nobody is in need of a to-do app called “Your Plate” but it exists now. I’m a bit proud of that.</p><p>So, here’s what I did:</p><ul><li>Set up Visual Studio Code in a way that’s acceptable.</li><li>Learned how to deploy something through Vercel and the Terminal. This was a huge “Wow, this is so easy and cool” moment for me.</li><li>Played around with objects and destructuring.</li><li>Added a few libraries for random stuff like playing sounds (and added a setting to turn sound off!), throwing confetti and animating the list.</li><li>Figured out what TailwindCSS is and how to use it. Another “Oh wow” moment.</li><li>Added local storage capabilities.</li><li>None of this was very hard, I built far more complicated things in Swift and SwiftUI already. It’s something though and it managed to drag me out of my “Ugh, where to start?” rut.</li></ul><p>Next up: Upgrading to Typescript. I want types. Type me up, baby.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Web development is a pain in the ass</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/web-development-is-a-pain-in-the-ass</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/web-development-is-a-pain-in-the-ass</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I bought the limited early access to <a href="https://www.joyofreact.com/">The Joy of React</a> the other day and worked through the whole course since then. Switching to web development while still being at the very beginning of my journey of becoming a Swift developer might not be the smartest choice but I never claimed to follow a thought-through master plan in regards to my learning, so whatever.</p><p>Before we get started: These are my current thoughts on getting into web development as somebody who has only a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. These thoughts will be different in a year from now. Cool your jets and consider this as something like a user test for the question of “How accessible is becoming a web developer?”.</p><hr />
<p>Web development is a pain in the ass. You need to understand what a terminal is, what it’s used for and how to use it to even get to the point of asking yourself “What the fuck is NPM?”. Then NPM needs to be installed which feels like hacking the Matrix, since it does something somewhere but you won’t see anything but lines of text in your little terminal window into the soul of your computer that you’re afraid to touch because what if you sudo your SSD or something.</p><p>If you managed to install NPM, you have to… boot up your project by hacking even more Avada Kedavra shit into your cOmMaNd LiNe. Something happens and suddenly there’s a terminal you can’t use for anything else anymore because it’s doing… something and is busy forever. You end up with a browser tab directly plugged into whatever terminal magic is now showing you your empty project.</p><p>Great. It took only two and a half years to understand all of this and to get it to work. Fun!</p><p>Even if you managed to do all of this, you’ll end up in Visual Studio Code which only seems to work properly if you install a dozen plugins and hope for the best. I bet there’s some kind of user experience to be found in VS Code but it sure doesn’t stack up against anything I’ve grown accustomed to while using Xcode.</p><p>My whinging doesn’t stop there, no worries!</p><p>I’m not happy with JavaScript and React either. JavaScript feels weirdly incomplete after getting used to Swift, even though (or because?) it’s old as fuck. Even simple things like capitalizing a string is a non-trivial endeavour with something like three different solutions. I found those in Stack Overflow threads from 1932, by the way.</p><p>React does have similarities to SwiftUI and I see why people can grow to like it but it lacks the fun of SwiftUI. It feels clunky and verbose. JSX, CSS, a sheer endless amount of semicolons and angle brackets… it’s a little ugly? Granted, I don’t know anything and haven’t used it for half as long as I’ve spent with SwiftUI but still… there’s a lack of grace there that’s a liiittle bit repugnant.</p><hr />
<p>So, where am I at right now?</p><p>I couldn’t wait to start my first project after finishing 100 Days of SwiftUI. Xcode was fun, the iOS simulator worked great and everything felt thought-through and like a paradise of possibilities. Finishing The Joy of React on the other hand left me with a feeling of dread and a weird taste in my mouth. Everything related to web development seems to be fragile, fiddly and like a late-game Jenga situation.</p><p>I’m not giving up though. This seems to be modern web development and since I want to be able to create web apps I’m going to stick with it. It’ll get better.</p><hr />
<p>Anyway, here’s my little “You did it” achievement the course gave me. I’ll slap that on my LinkedIn profile now and consider myself a junior frontend web developer.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I bought the limited early access to <a href="https://www.joyofreact.com/">The Joy of React</a> the other day and worked through the whole course since then. Switching to web development while still being at the very beginning of my journey of becoming a Swift developer might not be the smartest choice but I never claimed to follow a thought-through master plan in regards to my learning, so whatever.</p><p>Before we get started: These are my current thoughts on getting into web development as somebody who has only a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. These thoughts will be different in a year from now. Cool your jets and consider this as something like a user test for the question of “How accessible is becoming a web developer?”.</p><hr />
<p>Web development is a pain in the ass. You need to understand what a terminal is, what it’s used for and how to use it to even get to the point of asking yourself “What the fuck is NPM?”. Then NPM needs to be installed which feels like hacking the Matrix, since it does something somewhere but you won’t see anything but lines of text in your little terminal window into the soul of your computer that you’re afraid to touch because what if you sudo your SSD or something.</p><p>If you managed to install NPM, you have to… boot up your project by hacking even more Avada Kedavra shit into your cOmMaNd LiNe. Something happens and suddenly there’s a terminal you can’t use for anything else anymore because it’s doing… something and is busy forever. You end up with a browser tab directly plugged into whatever terminal magic is now showing you your empty project.</p><p>Great. It took only two and a half years to understand all of this and to get it to work. Fun!</p><p>Even if you managed to do all of this, you’ll end up in Visual Studio Code which only seems to work properly if you install a dozen plugins and hope for the best. I bet there’s some kind of user experience to be found in VS Code but it sure doesn’t stack up against anything I’ve grown accustomed to while using Xcode.</p><p>My whinging doesn’t stop there, no worries!</p><p>I’m not happy with JavaScript and React either. JavaScript feels weirdly incomplete after getting used to Swift, even though (or because?) it’s old as fuck. Even simple things like capitalizing a string is a non-trivial endeavour with something like three different solutions. I found those in Stack Overflow threads from 1932, by the way.</p><p>React does have similarities to SwiftUI and I see why people can grow to like it but it lacks the fun of SwiftUI. It feels clunky and verbose. JSX, CSS, a sheer endless amount of semicolons and angle brackets… it’s a little ugly? Granted, I don’t know anything and haven’t used it for half as long as I’ve spent with SwiftUI but still… there’s a lack of grace there that’s a liiittle bit repugnant.</p><hr />
<p>So, where am I at right now?</p><p>I couldn’t wait to start my first project after finishing 100 Days of SwiftUI. Xcode was fun, the iOS simulator worked great and everything felt thought-through and like a paradise of possibilities. Finishing The Joy of React on the other hand left me with a feeling of dread and a weird taste in my mouth. Everything related to web development seems to be fragile, fiddly and like a late-game Jenga situation.</p><p>I’m not giving up though. This seems to be modern web development and since I want to be able to create web apps I’m going to stick with it. It’ll get better.</p><hr />
<p>Anyway, here’s my little “You did it” achievement the course gave me. I’ll slap that on my LinkedIn profile now and consider myself a junior frontend web developer.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>Boundaries</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 09 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/boundaries</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/boundaries</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>The other day I stood in a meadow, waiting for a puppy to poop when I somehow got involved in a conversation with an 83-year-old woman. It started by me asking her if it’s okay if we come closer so the still not pooping puppy can say hi and learn that there’s no need to bark at people.</p><p>She answered: “Sure, but I won’t pet him!”.</p><p>We chatted for something like 30 minutes and I found out that she not only doesn’t want to pet this specific dog but dogs in general. She even enjoys looking after her daughter’s dog sometimes (who likes to sleep at the end of her bed when he’s visiting) and still won’t pet him.</p><p>I didn’t ask why. It didn’t really matter. She told me her rule and I understood that this is one of the foundational truths of her life. She doesn’t pet dogs.</p><p>There’s something intriguing about people who set boundaries that you can’t understand, but you can respect.</p><p>In the end, there was no poo. We found an interesting stick that had to be gnawed on for a long time, though.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The other day I stood in a meadow, waiting for a puppy to poop when I somehow got involved in a conversation with an 83-year-old woman. It started by me asking her if it’s okay if we come closer so the still not pooping puppy can say hi and learn that there’s no need to bark at people.</p><p>She answered: “Sure, but I won’t pet him!”.</p><p>We chatted for something like 30 minutes and I found out that she not only doesn’t want to pet this specific dog but dogs in general. She even enjoys looking after her daughter’s dog sometimes (who likes to sleep at the end of her bed when he’s visiting) and still won’t pet him.</p><p>I didn’t ask why. It didn’t really matter. She told me her rule and I understood that this is one of the foundational truths of her life. She doesn’t pet dogs.</p><p>There’s something intriguing about people who set boundaries that you can’t understand, but you can respect.</p><p>In the end, there was no poo. We found an interesting stick that had to be gnawed on for a long time, though.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 08 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-golden-enclaves-naomi-novik</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-golden-enclaves-naomi-novik</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>The other day I stood in a meadow, waiting for a puppy to poop when I somehow got involved in a conversation with an 83-year-old woman. It started by me asking her if it’s okay if we come closer so the still not pooping puppy can say hi and learn that there’s no need to bark at people.</p><p>She answered: “Sure, but I won’t pet him!”.</p><p>We chatted for something like 30 minutes and I found out that she not only doesn’t want to pet this specific dog but dogs in general. She even enjoys looking after her daughter’s dog sometimes (who likes to sleep at the end of her bed when he’s visiting) and still won’t pet him.</p><p>I didn’t ask why. It didn’t really matter. She told me her rule and I understood that this is one of the foundational truths of her life. She doesn’t pet dogs.</p><p>There’s something intriguing about people who set boundaries that you can’t understand, but you can respect.</p><p>In the end, there was no poo. We found an interesting stick that had to be gnawed on for a long time, though.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Everything requires a disclaimer</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 04 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/everything-requires-a-disclaimer</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/everything-requires-a-disclaimer</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Unfortunately, things are made by people. People have the tendency to live for quite some time and go through several iterations of being while existing. This, combined with the fact that nearly all 8 billion of us are now permanently connected through a series of tubes, results in everything having the potential of being tainted forever.</p><p>Everything requires a disclaimer now.</p><p>So, you enjoyed watching Seinfeld? Did you know that one of the actors had a weird racist breakdown live on stage? Oh, you’re looking forward to what seems to be the best Harry Potter game ever? Please keep in mind that the original author of the books is transphobic! You’re enjoying the wrong thing! Please be entertained by products made by, with and based on less flawed people!</p><p>These things are wrong and absolutely worth criticising. No doubt.</p><p>However, I wonder if the dynamic of always watching out for the next bad thing, being on edge because everything has the possibility of being tainted, never being able to enjoy something for what it is, because it has to be dissected on a socioecological level, does something to us.</p><p>There must be a cost to always having to watch your back in case you’re enjoying something a little too much that others feel should not be enjoyed anymore. I don’t think that’s helpful for anyones mental health.</p><p>Not criticising wrong behaviour is obviously not the solution. Attacking ourselves and everyone else all the time, because things are made by people and people are inherently flawed, doesn’t seem like the way to a content life either.</p><p>I don’t know.</p><p>It’s complicated.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Unfortunately, things are made by people. People have the tendency to live for quite some time and go through several iterations of being while existing. This, combined with the fact that nearly all 8 billion of us are now permanently connected through a series of tubes, results in everything having the potential of being tainted forever.</p><p>Everything requires a disclaimer now.</p><p>So, you enjoyed watching Seinfeld? Did you know that one of the actors had a weird racist breakdown live on stage? Oh, you’re looking forward to what seems to be the best Harry Potter game ever? Please keep in mind that the original author of the books is transphobic! You’re enjoying the wrong thing! Please be entertained by products made by, with and based on less flawed people!</p><p>These things are wrong and absolutely worth criticising. No doubt.</p><p>However, I wonder if the dynamic of always watching out for the next bad thing, being on edge because everything has the possibility of being tainted, never being able to enjoy something for what it is, because it has to be dissected on a socioecological level, does something to us.</p><p>There must be a cost to always having to watch your back in case you’re enjoying something a little too much that others feel should not be enjoyed anymore. I don’t think that’s helpful for anyones mental health.</p><p>Not criticising wrong behaviour is obviously not the solution. Attacking ourselves and everyone else all the time, because things are made by people and people are inherently flawed, doesn’t seem like the way to a content life either.</p><p>I don’t know.</p><p>It’s complicated.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-last-graduate-naomi-novik</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-last-graduate-naomi-novik</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Unfortunately, things are made by people. People have the tendency to live for quite some time and go through several iterations of being while existing. This, combined with the fact that nearly all 8 billion of us are now permanently connected through a series of tubes, results in everything having the potential of being tainted forever.</p><p>Everything requires a disclaimer now.</p><p>So, you enjoyed watching Seinfeld? Did you know that one of the actors had a weird racist breakdown live on stage? Oh, you’re looking forward to what seems to be the best Harry Potter game ever? Please keep in mind that the original author of the books is transphobic! You’re enjoying the wrong thing! Please be entertained by products made by, with and based on less flawed people!</p><p>These things are wrong and absolutely worth criticising. No doubt.</p><p>However, I wonder if the dynamic of always watching out for the next bad thing, being on edge because everything has the possibility of being tainted, never being able to enjoy something for what it is, because it has to be dissected on a socioecological level, does something to us.</p><p>There must be a cost to always having to watch your back in case you’re enjoying something a little too much that others feel should not be enjoyed anymore. I don’t think that’s helpful for anyones mental health.</p><p>Not criticising wrong behaviour is obviously not the solution. Attacking ourselves and everyone else all the time, because things are made by people and people are inherently flawed, doesn’t seem like the way to a content life either.</p><p>I don’t know.</p><p>It’s complicated.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 21 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/a-deadly-education-naomi-novik</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/a-deadly-education-naomi-novik</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Unfortunately, things are made by people. People have the tendency to live for quite some time and go through several iterations of being while existing. This, combined with the fact that nearly all 8 billion of us are now permanently connected through a series of tubes, results in everything having the potential of being tainted forever.</p><p>Everything requires a disclaimer now.</p><p>So, you enjoyed watching Seinfeld? Did you know that one of the actors had a weird racist breakdown live on stage? Oh, you’re looking forward to what seems to be the best Harry Potter game ever? Please keep in mind that the original author of the books is transphobic! You’re enjoying the wrong thing! Please be entertained by products made by, with and based on less flawed people!</p><p>These things are wrong and absolutely worth criticising. No doubt.</p><p>However, I wonder if the dynamic of always watching out for the next bad thing, being on edge because everything has the possibility of being tainted, never being able to enjoy something for what it is, because it has to be dissected on a socioecological level, does something to us.</p><p>There must be a cost to always having to watch your back in case you’re enjoying something a little too much that others feel should not be enjoyed anymore. I don’t think that’s helpful for anyones mental health.</p><p>Not criticising wrong behaviour is obviously not the solution. Attacking ourselves and everyone else all the time, because things are made by people and people are inherently flawed, doesn’t seem like the way to a content life either.</p><p>I don’t know.</p><p>It’s complicated.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 I&#039;m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 17 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/im-glad-my-mom-died-jennette-mccurdy</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/im-glad-my-mom-died-jennette-mccurdy</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Unfortunately, things are made by people. People have the tendency to live for quite some time and go through several iterations of being while existing. This, combined with the fact that nearly all 8 billion of us are now permanently connected through a series of tubes, results in everything having the potential of being tainted forever.</p><p>Everything requires a disclaimer now.</p><p>So, you enjoyed watching Seinfeld? Did you know that one of the actors had a weird racist breakdown live on stage? Oh, you’re looking forward to what seems to be the best Harry Potter game ever? Please keep in mind that the original author of the books is transphobic! You’re enjoying the wrong thing! Please be entertained by products made by, with and based on less flawed people!</p><p>These things are wrong and absolutely worth criticising. No doubt.</p><p>However, I wonder if the dynamic of always watching out for the next bad thing, being on edge because everything has the possibility of being tainted, never being able to enjoy something for what it is, because it has to be dissected on a socioecological level, does something to us.</p><p>There must be a cost to always having to watch your back in case you’re enjoying something a little too much that others feel should not be enjoyed anymore. I don’t think that’s helpful for anyones mental health.</p><p>Not criticising wrong behaviour is obviously not the solution. Attacking ourselves and everyone else all the time, because things are made by people and people are inherently flawed, doesn’t seem like the way to a content life either.</p><p>I don’t know.</p><p>It’s complicated.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Ikigai by Hector Garcia Puigcerver, Francesc Miralles</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 08 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/ikigai-hector-garcia-puigcerver-francesc-miralles</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/ikigai-hector-garcia-puigcerver-francesc-miralles</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Unfortunately, things are made by people. People have the tendency to live for quite some time and go through several iterations of being while existing. This, combined with the fact that nearly all 8 billion of us are now permanently connected through a series of tubes, results in everything having the potential of being tainted forever.</p><p>Everything requires a disclaimer now.</p><p>So, you enjoyed watching Seinfeld? Did you know that one of the actors had a weird racist breakdown live on stage? Oh, you’re looking forward to what seems to be the best Harry Potter game ever? Please keep in mind that the original author of the books is transphobic! You’re enjoying the wrong thing! Please be entertained by products made by, with and based on less flawed people!</p><p>These things are wrong and absolutely worth criticising. No doubt.</p><p>However, I wonder if the dynamic of always watching out for the next bad thing, being on edge because everything has the possibility of being tainted, never being able to enjoy something for what it is, because it has to be dissected on a socioecological level, does something to us.</p><p>There must be a cost to always having to watch your back in case you’re enjoying something a little too much that others feel should not be enjoyed anymore. I don’t think that’s helpful for anyones mental health.</p><p>Not criticising wrong behaviour is obviously not the solution. Attacking ourselves and everyone else all the time, because things are made by people and people are inherently flawed, doesn’t seem like the way to a content life either.</p><p>I don’t know.</p><p>It’s complicated.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Babylon&#039;s Ashes by James S.A. Corey</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 29 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/babylons-ashes-james-sa-corey</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/babylons-ashes-james-sa-corey</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Unfortunately, things are made by people. People have the tendency to live for quite some time and go through several iterations of being while existing. This, combined with the fact that nearly all 8 billion of us are now permanently connected through a series of tubes, results in everything having the potential of being tainted forever.</p><p>Everything requires a disclaimer now.</p><p>So, you enjoyed watching Seinfeld? Did you know that one of the actors had a weird racist breakdown live on stage? Oh, you’re looking forward to what seems to be the best Harry Potter game ever? Please keep in mind that the original author of the books is transphobic! You’re enjoying the wrong thing! Please be entertained by products made by, with and based on less flawed people!</p><p>These things are wrong and absolutely worth criticising. No doubt.</p><p>However, I wonder if the dynamic of always watching out for the next bad thing, being on edge because everything has the possibility of being tainted, never being able to enjoy something for what it is, because it has to be dissected on a socioecological level, does something to us.</p><p>There must be a cost to always having to watch your back in case you’re enjoying something a little too much that others feel should not be enjoyed anymore. I don’t think that’s helpful for anyones mental health.</p><p>Not criticising wrong behaviour is obviously not the solution. Attacking ourselves and everyone else all the time, because things are made by people and people are inherently flawed, doesn’t seem like the way to a content life either.</p><p>I don’t know.</p><p>It’s complicated.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>2022 step by step</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 26 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/2022-step-by-step</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/2022-step-by-step</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>Earlier this year I decided that I’m not walking enough. It’s supposed to be healthy and my average daily step count for 2021 looked like this:</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/2022-step-by-step/6f99b77bed-1707225369/steps-2021-1200x.webp"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/2022-step-by-step/6f99b77bed-1707225369/steps-2021-1200x.webp 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/2022-step-by-step/6f99b77bed-1707225369/steps-2021-2400x.webp 2x"
    alt="My daily average step count of 4003 steps per day in 2021">
  </figure>
<p>That’s obviously not good enough. An average of 4000 steps is not only embarrassing but also a far cry from the 10,000 steps you’re supposed to walk if you trust some company’s advertisements. Or <a href="https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/health-exercise-fitness-walking-study.html">science</a>.</p><p>I tried walking 10,000 steps a day previously and found that it’s basically impossible to do if you don’t have a commute or two hours a day to walk through the city. Since I’ve been working from home for six years now and I didn’t plan on walking through Berlin Mitte two hours each day, I needed a better solution.</p><p>My friend Luise told me about her WalkingPad. A slow treadmill you can put under your standing desk to walk while working. A worthwhile investment, as you can see by my stats for 2022.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/2022-step-by-step/fbbdd64720-1707225369/steps-2022-1200x.webp"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/2022-step-by-step/fbbdd64720-1707225369/steps-2022-1200x.webp 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/2022-step-by-step/fbbdd64720-1707225369/steps-2022-2400x.webp 2x"
    alt="My daily average step count of 11.656 steps in 2022">
  </figure>
<p>If you want to walk more in 2023, make sure to check out <a href="https://stoins.com/">Stoins</a>. It’s a step counter I designed and programmed that lets you repair your walking streak by collecting Stoins. It’s a whole thing.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Earlier this year I decided that I’m not walking enough. It’s supposed to be healthy and my average daily step count for 2021 looked like this:</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/2022-step-by-step/6f99b77bed-1707225369/steps-2021-1200x.webp"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/2022-step-by-step/6f99b77bed-1707225369/steps-2021-1200x.webp 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/2022-step-by-step/6f99b77bed-1707225369/steps-2021-2400x.webp 2x"
    alt="My daily average step count of 4003 steps per day in 2021">
  </figure>
<p>That’s obviously not good enough. An average of 4000 steps is not only embarrassing but also a far cry from the 10,000 steps you’re supposed to walk if you trust some company’s advertisements. Or <a href="https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/health-exercise-fitness-walking-study.html">science</a>.</p><p>I tried walking 10,000 steps a day previously and found that it’s basically impossible to do if you don’t have a commute or two hours a day to walk through the city. Since I’ve been working from home for six years now and I didn’t plan on walking through Berlin Mitte two hours each day, I needed a better solution.</p><p>My friend Luise told me about her WalkingPad. A slow treadmill you can put under your standing desk to walk while working. A worthwhile investment, as you can see by my stats for 2022.</p><figure>
  <img
    src="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/2022-step-by-step/fbbdd64720-1707225369/steps-2022-1200x.webp"
    srcset="https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/2022-step-by-step/fbbdd64720-1707225369/steps-2022-1200x.webp 1x, https://www.marcel.io/media/pages/posts/2022-step-by-step/fbbdd64720-1707225369/steps-2022-2400x.webp 2x"
    alt="My daily average step count of 11.656 steps in 2022">
  </figure>
<p>If you want to walk more in 2023, make sure to check out <a href="https://stoins.com/">Stoins</a>. It’s a step counter I designed and programmed that lets you repair your walking streak by collecting Stoins. It’s a whole thing.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>On intentionality</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 12 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/on-intentionality</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/on-intentionality</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’m thinking a lot about intentionality lately.</p><p>Most people are drifting. Passively cruising along a path defined by others. Not even some specified “others” with a plan, playing us like puppeteers. “Others” as in an amalgam of randos with ill-conceived opinions and products.</p><p>It’s just so delightfully easy to ditch responsibility and with it many forms of constructive friction.</p><p>True intentionality is perhaps the quality I have come to value most in others. People who thoroughly think about the what, why and how of what they spend their severely limited lifetime with.</p><p>Embracing constructive friction, not accepting what feels right but isn’t, may be one of the most essential and attractive qualities of a person.</p><p>It certainly is the quality I try to live by.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I’m thinking a lot about intentionality lately.</p><p>Most people are drifting. Passively cruising along a path defined by others. Not even some specified “others” with a plan, playing us like puppeteers. “Others” as in an amalgam of randos with ill-conceived opinions and products.</p><p>It’s just so delightfully easy to ditch responsibility and with it many forms of constructive friction.</p><p>True intentionality is perhaps the quality I have come to value most in others. People who thoroughly think about the what, why and how of what they spend their severely limited lifetime with.</p><p>Embracing constructive friction, not accepting what feels right but isn’t, may be one of the most essential and attractive qualities of a person.</p><p>It certainly is the quality I try to live by.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 25 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/nemesis-games-james-sa-corey</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/nemesis-games-james-sa-corey</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I’m thinking a lot about intentionality lately.</p><p>Most people are drifting. Passively cruising along a path defined by others. Not even some specified “others” with a plan, playing us like puppeteers. “Others” as in an amalgam of randos with ill-conceived opinions and products.</p><p>It’s just so delightfully easy to ditch responsibility and with it many forms of constructive friction.</p><p>True intentionality is perhaps the quality I have come to value most in others. People who thoroughly think about the what, why and how of what they spend their severely limited lifetime with.</p><p>Embracing constructive friction, not accepting what feels right but isn’t, may be one of the most essential and attractive qualities of a person.</p><p>It certainly is the quality I try to live by.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>My definition of success</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 24 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/my-definition-of-success</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/my-definition-of-success</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>One thing I wanted to be very clear about when I embarked on my journey to finally learn how to code was my definition of success. Not knowing how a good outcome would look like only results in disappointment and loss of motivation. Great ambitions are worthless if you don’t manage to keep the ball rolling.</p><p>My definition of success is of such small scale that the only way for me to fail is to stop working.</p><p>Here it is:</p><ol><li>The project must launch</li><li>One person’s life must be improved</li><li>One Euro must be made</li></ol><p>Because I believe in my ability to bring my projects to a point where these three aspects are true, my motivation stays strong and I know that success (defined by myself, not by external sources) is around the corner. Stoins launched, improved the lives of a couple of friends and made a couple of Euros. I consider this a huge success. For now. I’ll update my definition of success when the context changes.</p><p>Aiming too high creates brittle motivation.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>One thing I wanted to be very clear about when I embarked on my journey to finally learn how to code was my definition of success. Not knowing how a good outcome would look like only results in disappointment and loss of motivation. Great ambitions are worthless if you don’t manage to keep the ball rolling.</p><p>My definition of success is of such small scale that the only way for me to fail is to stop working.</p><p>Here it is:</p><ol><li>The project must launch</li><li>One person’s life must be improved</li><li>One Euro must be made</li></ol><p>Because I believe in my ability to bring my projects to a point where these three aspects are true, my motivation stays strong and I know that success (defined by myself, not by external sources) is around the corner. Stoins launched, improved the lives of a couple of friends and made a couple of Euros. I consider this a huge success. For now. I’ll update my definition of success when the context changes.</p><p>Aiming too high creates brittle motivation.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>Just go &#8220;aah!&#8221; Hardcore!</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 18 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/just-go-aah-hardcore</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/just-go-aah-hardcore</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>My best work happens when a certain kind of relaxed determinism converges with methodic productivity.</p><p>If you work long enough in software you’ll meet people who think that success is the result of brute forcing through everything. Work needs to be fast, sleep needs to be less, overtime doesn’t exist because why would you want to do anything but work.</p><p>That’s not how life works. That might very well be how certain moments in life lead to a certain form of success, but t’s not a scalable solution to a successful and happy life.</p><blockquote>
  Let’s take action. I’m a big believer in having just a maniacal sense of urgency. So if you can do it after this meeting, I would do it after this meeting. Just a maniacal sense of urgency. Like, if you want to get stuff done, maniacal sense of urgency. Just go “aah!” Hardcore!    <footer>
    <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/10/23452196/elon-musk-twitter-employee-meeting-q-and-a">Inside Elon Musk’s first meeting with Twitter employees</a>  </footer>
  </blockquote>
<p>Some people succeed by being loud and hectic.They shroud themselves in an aura of ever increasing urgency and hustle because – and that’s only my interpretation – they lack the skills to do deep work. They don’t understand that this different way of working even exists. If you seem like you’re busy and confident you must be doing something right.</p><p>The unfortunate truth is that people who do the actual work have to pick up the shards of those who rumbled and bumbled through life, breaking things on their way. This brand of workaholism is not cool anymore. It’s just another symptom of toxic alpha male energy nobody needs.</p><p>I’ve been blinded by people like this in my early years working. Now I understand that toxic hustle is nothing but a mating dance between somebody and their own ego. It’s not impressive or cool. It’s just clownish behaviour. Everybody is allowed to be a clown. As long as they don’t hurt others by being one.</p><hr />
<p>The <a href="https://atp.fm/509">most recent episode of ATP</a> has a segment on workaholism culture that’s worth listening to. They go a little more into depth on how a culture like this is detrimental to your health and even to the quality of your work.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>My best work happens when a certain kind of relaxed determinism converges with methodic productivity.</p><p>If you work long enough in software you’ll meet people who think that success is the result of brute forcing through everything. Work needs to be fast, sleep needs to be less, overtime doesn’t exist because why would you want to do anything but work.</p><p>That’s not how life works. That might very well be how certain moments in life lead to a certain form of success, but t’s not a scalable solution to a successful and happy life.</p><blockquote>
  Let’s take action. I’m a big believer in having just a maniacal sense of urgency. So if you can do it after this meeting, I would do it after this meeting. Just a maniacal sense of urgency. Like, if you want to get stuff done, maniacal sense of urgency. Just go “aah!” Hardcore!    <footer>
    <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/10/23452196/elon-musk-twitter-employee-meeting-q-and-a">Inside Elon Musk’s first meeting with Twitter employees</a>  </footer>
  </blockquote>
<p>Some people succeed by being loud and hectic.They shroud themselves in an aura of ever increasing urgency and hustle because – and that’s only my interpretation – they lack the skills to do deep work. They don’t understand that this different way of working even exists. If you seem like you’re busy and confident you must be doing something right.</p><p>The unfortunate truth is that people who do the actual work have to pick up the shards of those who rumbled and bumbled through life, breaking things on their way. This brand of workaholism is not cool anymore. It’s just another symptom of toxic alpha male energy nobody needs.</p><p>I’ve been blinded by people like this in my early years working. Now I understand that toxic hustle is nothing but a mating dance between somebody and their own ego. It’s not impressive or cool. It’s just clownish behaviour. Everybody is allowed to be a clown. As long as they don’t hurt others by being one.</p><hr />
<p>The <a href="https://atp.fm/509">most recent episode of ATP</a> has a segment on workaholism culture that’s worth listening to. They go a little more into depth on how a culture like this is detrimental to your health and even to the quality of your work.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>Manufactured motivation and perfectionism</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 16 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/manufactured-motivation-and-perfectionism</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/manufactured-motivation-and-perfectionism</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>The hardest thing about learning to code is when my ingrained software-design-perfectionism clashes with what I’m able to do. Stoins is going great. I’d say it’s an above average app for somebody who just started coding. Yet I can’t wrap my head around the solutions to some of the problems I’m facing and I struggle with accepting flaws that are solely there because I’m not good enough yet.</p><p>Everything works, don’t get me wrong. It’s just not as good as I know it could be. I think a better understanding of concurrency could solve one of the problems. Perhaps a second problem would go away with more knowledge about threads. Oh and something, something state machines? I just don’t understand any of it enough to solve my app’s bugs.</p><p>Here’s the thing though: Motivation doesn’t come and go by some magical whim of fate. Motivation is something you create. I know that my motivation is heavily influenced by progress. I tried fixing these issues for so long without getting anywhere that I’m at a point where I need to accept that those are flaws I need to live with. It’s my second self-coded app ever, of course it has problems.</p><p>I’m sure my next project will teach me some of the things I need to learn to come back to Stoins and fix it. A cycle of learning through manufactured motivation and not giving in to perfectionism.</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The hardest thing about learning to code is when my ingrained software-design-perfectionism clashes with what I’m able to do. Stoins is going great. I’d say it’s an above average app for somebody who just started coding. Yet I can’t wrap my head around the solutions to some of the problems I’m facing and I struggle with accepting flaws that are solely there because I’m not good enough yet.</p><p>Everything works, don’t get me wrong. It’s just not as good as I know it could be. I think a better understanding of concurrency could solve one of the problems. Perhaps a second problem would go away with more knowledge about threads. Oh and something, something state machines? I just don’t understand any of it enough to solve my app’s bugs.</p><p>Here’s the thing though: Motivation doesn’t come and go by some magical whim of fate. Motivation is something you create. I know that my motivation is heavily influenced by progress. I tried fixing these issues for so long without getting anywhere that I’m at a point where I need to accept that those are flaws I need to live with. It’s my second self-coded app ever, of course it has problems.</p><p>I’m sure my next project will teach me some of the things I need to learn to come back to Stoins and fix it. A cycle of learning through manufactured motivation and not giving in to perfectionism.</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>The woes of a personal brand</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 15 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-woes-of-a-personal-brand</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/posts/the-woes-of-a-personal-brand</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Principles by Ray Dalio</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 08 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/principles-ray-dalio</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/principles-ray-dalio</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★☆☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 06 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/cibola-burn-james-sa-corey</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/cibola-burn-james-sa-corey</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Earned Life by Marshall Goldsmith</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 03 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-earned-life-marshall-goldsmith</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-earned-life-marshall-goldsmith</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Abbadon&#8217;s Gate by James S.A. Corey</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 09 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/abbadons-gate-james-sa-corey</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/abbadons-gate-james-sa-corey</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Caliban&#039;s War by James S.A. Corey</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 21 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/calibans-war-james-sa-corey</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/calibans-war-james-sa-corey</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 03 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-obstacle-is-the-way-ryan-holiday</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-obstacle-is-the-way-ryan-holiday</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 30 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built-becky-chambers</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built-becky-chambers</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Upgrade by Blake Crouch</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 28 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/upgrade-blake-crouch</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/upgrade-blake-crouch</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 I Don&#039;t Like Your Kids by Brian Craig</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 17 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/i-dont-like-your-kids-brian-craig</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/i-dont-like-your-kids-brian-craig</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Julie Smith</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 14 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/why-has-nobody-told-me-this-before-julie-smith</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/why-has-nobody-told-me-this-before-julie-smith</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★☆☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 08 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-minimalist-entrepreneur-sahil-lavingia</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-minimalist-entrepreneur-sahil-lavingia</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 05 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-kaiju-preservation-society-john-scalzi</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-kaiju-preservation-society-john-scalzi</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 03 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-psychology-of-money-morgan-housel</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-psychology-of-money-morgan-housel</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Courage to be Happy by Ichiro Kishimi</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 27 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-courage-to-be-happy-ichiro-kishimi</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-courage-to-be-happy-ichiro-kishimi</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Eloquence of the Sardine by Bill Fran&#231;ois</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 21 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/eloquence-of-the-sardine-bill-francois</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/eloquence-of-the-sardine-bill-francois</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 19 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/building-a-second-brain-tiago-forte</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/building-a-second-brain-tiago-forte</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Cleaner, the Cat and the Space Station by Fay Abernethy</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 14 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-cleaner-the-cat-and-the-space-station-fay-abernethy</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-cleaner-the-cat-and-the-space-station-fay-abernethy</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 31 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/cytonic-brandon-sanderson</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/cytonic-brandon-sanderson</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 In Emergency, Break Glass by Nate Anderson</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 20 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/in-emergency-break-glass-nate-anderson</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/in-emergency-break-glass-nate-anderson</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 I Am Legend by Richard Matheson</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/i-am-legend-richard-matheson</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/i-am-legend-richard-matheson</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-scout-mindset-julia-galef</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-scout-mindset-julia-galef</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 22 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/record-of-a-spaceborn-few-becky-chambers</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/record-of-a-spaceborn-few-becky-chambers</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 13 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/a-closed-and-common-orbit-becky-chambers</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/a-closed-and-common-orbit-becky-chambers</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 04 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet-becky-chambers</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet-becky-chambers</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Practice by Seth Godin</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-practice-seth-godin</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-practice-seth-godin</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>tbd</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 11 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/four-thousand-weeks-oliver-burkeman</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/four-thousand-weeks-oliver-burkeman</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>This book has lingered with me, even if it's not the most remarkable. It subtly shifted my view on the time I spend on Earth, though its core insights might have been succinctly shared in a blog post.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 28 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/friday-black-nana-kwame-adjei-brenyah</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/friday-black-nana-kwame-adjei-brenyah</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Opinion</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Redshirts by John Scalzi</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 24 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/redshirts-john-scalzi</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/redshirts-john-scalzi</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Opinion</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 22 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/all-the-lonely-people-mike-gayle</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/all-the-lonely-people-mike-gayle</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Opinion</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 20 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/why-buddhism-is-true-robert-wright</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/why-buddhism-is-true-robert-wright</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Opinion</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
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                    <title>📚 The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 28 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-almanack-of-naval-ravikant</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-almanack-of-naval-ravikant</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Opinion</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
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                    <title>📚 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 23 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-subtle-art-of-not-giving-a-fuck-mark-manson</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-subtle-art-of-not-giving-a-fuck-mark-manson</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Opinion</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 21 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/snow-crash-neal-stephenson</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/snow-crash-neal-stephenson</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Opinion</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Last Town by Blake Crouch</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 09 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-last-town-blake-crouch</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-last-town-blake-crouch</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Opinion</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 07 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-extended-mind-annie-murphy-paul</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-extended-mind-annie-murphy-paul</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Puh. Was für eine Katastrophe. The Extended Mind hat mir gar nicht gefallen. Das liegt in erster Linie daran liegt, dass dieses Buch ziemlich kurz wäre, hätte man es nicht mit nicht enden wollenden Beschreibungen von Experimenten gefüllt, die letztendlich alle zum Ergebnis kamen. Dieses Ergebnis wurde allerdings am Anfang jedes Kapitels bereits erklärt. Alles darauffolgende kann man getrost überspringen, handelt es sich doch nicht um mehr als ein ausführliches "Und hier sind ein paar Beweise für diese Aussage".</p>
<p>Mal ganz davon abgesehen, dass ich nicht überrascht wäre, wenn viele dieser Studien Opfer der Replication Crisis sein könnten, ist das einfach nicht wie man unterhaltsame Bücher schreibt. Selbst, wenn das eigentliche Thema ganz interessant sein könnte.</p>
<p>The Extended Mind will einem nahebringen, dass wir alle unseren Verstand als zentralisiertes Objekt in unserem Kopf verstehen. Allerdings wurde offenbar bewiesen, dass externe Einflüsse großen... Einfluss auf unseren Verstand haben. Irgendwie fand ich das nicht sonderlich überraschend, aber teilweise waren nette kleinere Fakten zu finden. Leute lernen zum Beispiel besser, wenn die lehrende Person viele und gute Gesten benutzen. Selbst Babys lernen besser Sprache, wenn die Eltern gut gestikulierende Menschen sind.</p>
<p>Die Fähigkeit den eigenen Körper gut zu spüren ist ebenfalls dafür verantwortlich, wie man auf Sachen reagiert, wie Natur, Räume, Architektur und Gruppen in denen man sich befindet. Alles irgendwie auf der Hand liegend. Deine Umgebung hat Einfluss auf dein Denken. Turns out.</p>
<p>War nicht begeistert. Meine Meinung ist allerdings ziemlich unterschiedlich zu der vieler anderer, muss also nicht viel heißen. Für mich hat The Extended Mind aber so gar nicht funktioniert.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Wayward by Blake Crouch</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 02 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/wayward-blake-crouch</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/wayward-blake-crouch</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Blake Crouch weiß, wie man spannende Geschichten schreibt. Eigentlich geht es in der <em>Wayward Pines</em> Trilogie gar nicht um viel und Komplexität sucht man auch vergebens, aber sein Schreibstil hält einen bei der Stange.</p>
<p>Spoiler für das erste Buch: Wayward Pines ist eine aus der Zeit gefallene Stadt. Nicht weil Konservative die Regierung stellen, sondern weil ein sehr reicher Wissenschaftler ein paar tausend Jahre zuvor entdeckt hat, dass sich das menschliche Genom evolutionär zeitnah schlagartig verändern und damit die Menschheit  in den Ruin schicken wird. Er sorgt also dafür, dass knapp 2000 Leute in Cryo-Schlaf versetzt werden und baut dann in ferner Zukunft eine Stadt auf, in der die Einwohner leben ohne zu wissen, was außerhalb abgeht. Und außerhalb leben Monster.</p>
<p>Nachdem der Protagonist im ersten Teil überzeugt wurde, dass Wayward Pines tatsächlich die letzte Enklave Menschlichkeit bildet, hilft er im zweiten Buch dem Kopf hinter dem Projekt. Zumindest bis er bemerkt, dass nicht alles mit ethischen Dingen zugeht.</p>
<p>Kurzweilig und lesenswert. Ein guter Mittelteil.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen by Victor E. Frankl</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 30 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/trotzdem-ja-zum-leben-sagen-victor-e-frankl</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/trotzdem-ja-zum-leben-sagen-victor-e-frankl</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Langjährige Fans von buch.fyi wissen, dass ich sehr gerne Augenzeugenberichte der Weltkriege lese. Warum ich bis jetzt brauchte, um endlich den Klassiker ...trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen las, weiß ich selbst nicht. Geschadet hat es allerdings nicht.</p>
<p>Dieses Buch, dessen wirklich mieser Titel in den kommenden Zeilen nicht mehr erwähnt wird, bietet einen faszinierenden Einblick in das Konzentrationslagerleben. Der Autor, Viktor E. Frankl, war Psychologe und hat schon im Lager angefangen, seine Beobachtungen zum Verhalten von Menschen in absolut unvorstellbaren Situationen zu notieren.</p>
<p>Einige Aspekte seiner Erzählung haben sich sehr in mein Bewusstsein gebrannt. So erwähnt er, dass die besten Gefangenen nicht das Lager verlassen haben, weil sie nicht bereit waren, über ihre Mitgefangenen hinwegzusteigen und sich selbst Vorteile zu verschaffen. Eine beeindruckende Tiefe der Selbstreflexion. Die Kernaussage des Buches ist allerdings wohl, dass nur diejenigen überlebten, die niemals die Hoffnung aufgaben und wussten, dass sie etwas haben, für das es sich zu überleben lohnt. Diejenigen, die sich fragten, was das Leben ihnen noch zu bieten hat, haben es nicht geschafft. Diejenigen, die das Gefühl hatten, dass sie dem Leben noch was bieten können, hatten eine größere Chance, die Gräuel der Konzentrationslager über sich ergehen zu lassen und zu überleben.</p>
<p>Sehr, sehr lesenswert.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 24 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-4-hour-workweek-tim-ferriss</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-4-hour-workweek-tim-ferriss</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Tim Ferriss ging bisher an mir vorbei. Nicht wortwörtlich, vielleicht aber auch doch, und ich habe es nicht gemerkt, schließlich ging er an mir vorbei. Verbinde nichts mit ihm, weiß nur, dass er eine dieser Personen ist, die viele Leute als Vorbild auserkoren haben.</p>
<p>Warum also nicht mal sein Buch <em>The 4-Hour Workweek</em> lesen, dachte ich mir. Hat sich nicht gelohnt, denke ich jetzt.</p>
<p>Die grundsätzliche Prämisse ist, dass Tim einem erklären möchte, wie man sich völlig aus seinem Job herausoptimiert und nur noch vier Stunden pro Woche grobe Verwaltungsaufgaben erfüllen muss. Eigentlich ganz spannend.</p>
<p>Es ist aber irgendwie ein bisschen eklig. Ganz grundsätzlich ist es zu alt und beschreibt eine Welt, in der man mit jedem zweiten Dropship-Shop noch Geld machen konnte. Das macht alles im Buch merkwürdig beige. Technologie hat die im Buch beschriebenen Ansätze nicht unbedingt überholt, aber so wirklich ist halt auch kein Blumentopf mehr damit zu gewinnen, dass man theoretisch mal eben schnell ein Produkt verkaufen kann. 20 Millionen andere Leute versuchen derweil das gleiche. 2007 ist halt nicht 2021.</p>
<p>Während Ferriss' Art einigen negativ aufstößt, fand ich sie nicht sonderlich aneckend. Klar, er spricht wie jemand, der geschafft hat, was er im Buch anderen verklickern möchte, aber das ist noch lange nicht angreifend genug, um mich zu stören. Problematischer fand ich, dass Survivorship-Bias irgendwie durchgehend stattfand und in keiner Form besprochen wurde. Cool, dass du mir drei Leute nennen kannst, die deinem Plan folgten und Erfolg hatten, Tim, aber was ist mit den anderen und was ging da schief?</p>
<p>Das Buch gab mir immerhin den Gedanken, dass ich vielleicht mal irgendwann einen App-Design-Kurs erstellen und verkaufen könnte, war aber ansonsten nicht sonderlich aufschlussreich.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 How To Live by Derek Sivers</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 20 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/how-to-live-derek-sivers</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/how-to-live-derek-sivers</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Eigentlich sind Subtitel von Büchern und Filmen immer nur Marketing-Gelaber, um möglichst viele Leute vom Kauf zu überzeugen. Wie "Riesiges Robowabohu" in der deutschen Version von Big Hero 6, der aus irgendeinem Grund hier Baymax heißt, weil... sicher irgendwas mit Leitkultur.</p>
<p>Wie dem auch sei. Der Subtitel von How To Live ist tatsächlich relevant und man muss ihn sich einprägen, damit man dieses fantastische Buch schätzen kann: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion.</p>
<p>Derek Sivers beleuchtet die wichtigen Themen des Lebens in stakkatohafter Präzision und einer Ambivalenz, die Leuten auf der Suche nach einfachen Antworten die Ohren schlackern lässt.</p>
<p>Dieses Buch erfordert, dass man bereit sein muss, die Grauzonen des Lebens zu akzeptieren. Wer glaubt, dass alles in richtig und falsch eingeordnet werden kann, wird keine Freude mit diesen Seiten haben.</p>
<p>Alle anderen können diesen knapp 120 Seiten als Standardwerk immerwährender Inspiration für ein Leben voller intelligenter Ambivalenz huldigen. Großartig.</p>
<p>(Beim Link handelt es sich nicht um einen Amazon-Link. Man kann das Buch nur auf Sivers Webseite kaufen, diese Seite kann aktuell aber nicht mit diesem verrückten Konzept umgehen.)</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The 7&#189; Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 18 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-seven-deaths-of-evelyn-hardcastle-stuart-turton</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-seven-deaths-of-evelyn-hardcastle-stuart-turton</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wow. Was für ein langweiliges und gleichzeitig nerviges Buch. Als Fan von Geschichten mit Zeitreisen-Faktor dachte ich, dass diese Murder Mystery mit Time Loop Twist eigentlich genau das sein sollte, was mich endlich von "Whodunnit" Geschichten würde. Pustekuchen.</p>
<p>Zu viele Charaktere, zu viele Namen, zu viele langweilige Beschreibungen von Dingen, zu viele Auflistungen von Adjektiven, zu wenig nachvollziehbare Time-Loop Mechanik. Dazu kamen zu viele überraschende Twists auf dem Weg zur Auflösung, die einem nur gesagt, aber nicht gezeigt wurden. Letztendlich war ich ganz stark von allem genervt und mehrfach kurz davor das Buch abzubrechen.</p>
<p>Es gibt eine gute Chance, dass Murder Mysteries einfach nicht mein Ding sind. Man liest 490 Seiten, auf denen einem vorenthalten wird, was man zum Mitdenken bräuchte. Auf den Seiten 491 bis 500 hat die Protagonist:in dann irgendeine Offenbarung und erklärt einem die famose Lösung. Gibt mir nichts. Ich streiche Murder Mysteries hiermit bis auf weiteres von meiner Liste an in Frage kommenden Genres. Es wird durch mittelmäßige Zeitschleifen-Mechaniken nicht besser, sondern schlechter gemacht. Wer hätte das gedacht.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 12 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-jk-rowling</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-jk-rowling</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Streit! Intrigen! Geheimnisvolle Augen in Spiegeln! Schwerter in Tümpeln, Hilfe aus dem Nichts, Friedhöfe, Schlangen in Frauenkörpern! Gefangenschaft! Folter! Grindelwald, Jugendsünden, Mysterien!</p>
<p>Was für ein Buch voller Details, die ich damals gar nicht richtig verstanden habe! Ich befürchte, dass die ganze Sache mit der Prophezeiung, dem Opfer Harrys, seinem Abstecher ins Limbo und dem großen Finale, das sich letztendlich um den Elderstab dreht, nicht verstanden habe.</p>
<p>Das kann auch daran liegen, dass ich auch dieses mal damit zu kämpfen hatte. Ich befürchte, dass Rowling sich etwas übernommen hat, was die Menge an Details angeht, die sie am Ende versucht hat zusammenzubringen.</p>
<p>Nichtsdestotrotz ein würdiges Ende der besten Buchreihe meines bisherigen Lebens. Ich freue mich auf den dritten Re-Read in 10-20 Jahren.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 03 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince-jk-rowling</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince-jk-rowling</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Auch wenn der ganze Half-Blood-Prince Subplot nur einen bedingten Mehrwert mit sich bringt, handelt es sich hierbei vermutlich um mein Lieblingsbuch der Harry Potter Reihe. Es hat alles. Überraschende Twists links und rechts, sterbende Hauptcharaktere, aufregende Reisen an verrückte Orte, Romantik!</p>
<p>Außerdem wird das erste Mal das volle Ausmaß der Voldemort-Problematik klar. Es ist nicht nur ein mieser Typ mit überdurchschnittlichen Fähigkeiten, nein, er ist auch noch mehr oder weniger unsterblich.</p>
<p>Am meisten mag ich fast, dass das Ende dieses Buches so durchdringend melancholisch ist, dass man schlecht gelaunt zurückgelassen wird. Jede Hoffnung ist zerstört, einer der beliebtesten Charaktere gestorben und so wirklich sieht man keinen Weg aus der Misere.</p>
<p>Was für ein Ende! Was für eine Basis für das Finale der Serie!</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Book Thief by Markus Zusak</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-book-thief-markus-zusak</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-book-thief-markus-zusak</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Irgendwie dachte ich immer – natürlich völlig ohne faktische Basis – dass es sich bei The Book Thief um eine mittelmäßige Trilogie von Jugendromanen handelt. Sowas wie Tintenherz. Davon denke ich – völlig ohne faktische Basis – dass es ein mittelmäßiger Roman für Jugendliche ist.</p>
<p>Sollte ich mich über Tintenherz so irren, wie ich es über The Book Thief tat, dann ist auch Tintenherz ein Buch über ein junges Mädchen, das im zweiten Weltkrieg in einem Dorf in Süddeutschland aufwächst. Das halte ich allerdings dann doch für sehr unwahrscheinlich.</p>
<p>Dieses Mädchen, sie ist die Titelgebende Diebin der Bücher, erfährt im Laufe der Geschichte, zusammen mit den anderen Leuten um sie herum, was es bedeutet in einem faschistischen Staat zu leben, der sich selbst in den Krieg gestürzt hat.</p>
<p>Als jemand der sehr gerne Dinge über den zweiten Weltkrieg liest, weil die Geschichten so grundlegend echt und emotional sind, dass sie mich auf einer ganz anderen Ebene berühren, war ich vom süßen Stil dieses Buches erst angetan, dann leicht genervt, dann aber wieder relativ begeistert. Das kann auch damit zusammenhängen, dass ich gerade erst Im Westen nichts Neues beendet hatte.</p>
<p>Es ist kein Spoiler (stellt es sich doch auf den ersten drei Seiten heraus) zu erwähnen, dass der Erzähler von The Book Thief der wortwörtliche Tod ist. Und er hat Humor. Nichts regt einen zum Klopfen von Schenkeln an, aber der Tod hat eine Meinung und hält mit ihr auch nicht hinterm Berg. Das ist auch genau der Teil, der mich auf meine Achterbahnfahrt einer Meinung zum Stil des Buches beförderte.</p>
<p>Ich spürte ganz stark, dass die reine Geschichte für mich besser funktioniert hätte, wenn etwas weniger Erzähler-Gimmick und mehr tiefe Emotionen stattgefunden hätten. So versandeten aufkommende Schluchzer schnell wieder, weil der Text zum nächsten Einwurf des Erzählers sprang.</p>
<p>Ziemlich viel Gemotze dafür, dass es mir insgesamt sehr gut gefallen hat. Der Erzähler hat es kurzweilig gemacht und damit seine Aufgabe erfüllt. Was mir außerdem positiv auffiel war, dass die Geschichte den Drahtseilakt zwischen Täter- und Opfervolk ganz interessant vollführt. Man kann sich am Ende selbst ein Bild davon machen, inwiefern Deutschen in den 40er Jahren ein Schicksal widerfahren ist, das angemessene Strafe, oder unmenschliches Dasein war.</p>
<p>Vermutlich habe ich mir jetzt eingebrockt, dass ich beizeiten mal Tintenherz lesen sollte, damit ich meine blatanten Vorurteile aus dem Weg räumen kann.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Im Westen nichts Neues by Erich Maria Remarque</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 17 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/im-westen-nichts-neues-erich-maria-remarque</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/im-westen-nichts-neues-erich-maria-remarque</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Mit den Weltkriegen ist das wie mit Kindern. Das zweite findet irgendwie mehr Beachtung, das erste tat aber auch weh.</p>
<p>Darum ist es nicht überraschend, dass in meinem Konsum von weltkriegsbetreffenden Medien, der erste bisher kaum eine Rolle gespielt hat. Die intensivste Erfahrung war Peter Jackson‘s They Shall Not Grow Old für mich. Jackson hat Filmmaterial aus dem ersten Weltkrieg (Es gibt welches! Total verrückt!) durch endlose Handarbeit und AI aufbereitet, damit es aussieht wie moderner Farbfilm. Nachsynchronisiert wurde auch alles. Das Team beinhaltete Leute, die die Lippen der Sprechendenden in den Filmen gelesen haben, damit herausgefunden werden konnte, was damals gesagt wurde. Irre.</p>
<p>Wie auch immer. Nach They Shall Not Grow Old ist Im Westen nichts Neues für mich bisher die zweitintensivste Erfahrung mit dem ersten Weltkrieg, wenn wir Battlefield 1 nicht beachten. Das habe ich allerdings auch nur zwei Nachmittage gespielt.</p>
<p>Die im Buch erzählte Geschichte basiert auf den eigenen Erfahrungen des Autoren, ist aber keine biografische Wiedergabe der Ereignisse. Sie begleitet einen jungen Mann von der Schulbank in die Schützengräben und auf dem Weg durch eine Menge Senfgas, im Detail beschriebene Verletzungen und Tod.</p>
<p>Der teilweise überraschend analytische Schreibstil reimt sich auf besondere Weise mit der Beobachtung des Protagonisten, dass man den Krieg nicht an sich heranlassen darf, weil man sonst nicht durchhält. So wird das Umbringen anderer Menschen und Sterben von Freunden mir nichts, dir nichts als ein Ereignis erzählt, das halt so irgendwie stattgefunden hat. Was stimmt. Diese Ereignisse haben stattgefunden. Im echten Leben. Selbst, wenn sie als Erzählung wie etwas klingen, das Menschen nicht anderen Menschen antun könnten.</p>
<p>Sehr, sehr lesenswert. Ein, trotz der analytischen Sprache, sehr aufreibender Einblick in den ersten Krieg, der mit automatischen Gewehren, Panzern und Gasen geführt wurde und damit eine neue Liga der Grässlichkeit in die Welt brachte.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 14 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-order-of-the-phoenix-jk-rowling</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-order-of-the-phoenix-jk-rowling</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Damals™ habe ich an diesem Buch nicht gemocht, dass es keine wirkliche Geschichte gibt. Kein neuer Lehrer, der sich als Bösewicht herausstellt, kein großer Twist, wo jemand böses plötzlich gut wird, keine fantastische Auflösung und gute Laune am Ende.</p>
<p>Jetzt denke ich weiterhin, dass dieses Buch eines der wenigen Lowlights der (originalen) Harry-Potter-Saga ist, konnte aber das Worldbuilding und die Vorbereitung auf die nächsten zwei Bücher mehr wertschätzen.</p>
<p>So vieles in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix gibt einem ein besseres Gefühl für die anderen Charaktere der Reihe, dass es fast als fundamentales Werk zu verstehen ist, das das große Finale erst ermöglicht. Rowlings große Metapher zu allen autokratischen Regierungen des Landes wurde erst möglich, indem dieses Buch anfing, die Politik der Zaubererwelt mehr in den Vordergrund zu stellen.</p>
<p>Weiterhin nicht mein Lieblingsbuch der Serie, aber ich habe gelernt, es für das, was es erreichen will, schätzen zu lernen. Es gibt einer vorher guten, wenn auch seichten Welt eine Tiefe und damit eine Fallhöhe, die gefehlt hat.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Midnight Library by Matt Haig</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 03 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-midnight-library-matt-haig</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-midnight-library-matt-haig</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Nora stirbt. Sie stirbt nicht nur, sie bringt sich sogar selbst um.</p>
<p>Nachdem ihr Leben etwas holprig verlief, sie mit vielen Problemen zu kämpfen hat, die sich langsam alle zum schlechteren wenden und ein ganz besonders mieser Tag ihr den Rest gibt, entschied Nora nicht mehr existieren zu wollen.</p>
<p>Die Ereignisse von Midnight Library spielen nach ihrem Suizid in einer interdimensionalen Bücherei, in der die Bücher ihrer ungelebten Leben stehen.</p>
<p>Natürlich gibt es eine halb gruselige, halb aufbauende Bibliothekarin, die Nora durch ihre möglichen Leben aus anderen Dimensionen führt. Natürlich ist sie in einem dieser Leben ein Rockstar und in einem anderen eine Polarforscherin.</p>
<p>Nichts an diesem Buch, von der Prämisse mal abgesehen, die Sci-Fi Fans allerdings auch nicht neu vorkommen wird, ist überraschend.</p>
<p>Trotzdem fand ich es lesenswert und angenehm lebensbejahend. The Midnight Library war etwas zu vorhersehbar, hat das Altbekannte aber so gut verpackt, dass es ein lesenswertes Buch ergab.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 30 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-goblet-of-fire-jk-rowling</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-goblet-of-fire-jk-rowling</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Damals, als ich mit 15 das erste Mal die Ereignisse um den Feuerkelch verfolgte, war das Trimagische Turnier für mich der Höhepunkt dieses Buches. Irgendwie fand ich die Vorstellung total faszinierend, dass so gefährliche Spiele in einer Schule stattfinden könnten. Dass es neben Hogwarts noch andere Schulen für Zauberei gibt, hat meinen präpubertären Verstand geblowed.</p>
<p>Dieses Mal war ich davon begeistert, dass so viel Zeit des Buches außerhalb der Schule verbracht wird. Harrys Visionen in Voldemorts Leben, die Quidditch Weltmeisterschaft, die ganzen historischen Ereignisse, die sich jetzt auf das Geschehen in der Schule niederschlagen. Da steckt so viel drin, was ich damals als egale Füller-Infos abgetan hatte. Ich wollte mehr Drachen und Meermenschen und Abenteuer.</p>
<p>Neben den Büchern schaue ich auch die Filme gerade zum zweiten Mal. Einige sind wirklich gut, andere sind überraschend schlecht. Der Film zum vierten Teil bildet den traurigen, invertierten Höhepunkt. Alles wirkt billig und peinlich. Hogwarts ist eine schmuddelige Ruine und zu jeder Gelegenheit spielt eine miese Blaskapelle. Faszinierend, wie man ein Buch dieser Qualität so sehr cinematisch ruinieren kann.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 21 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/why-we-sleep-matthew-walker</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/why-we-sleep-matthew-walker</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ein Werk aus der Reihe "Bücher, die man so oft irgendwo sieht, dass man sie endlich gelesen haben will, damit man nicht mehr darüber nachdenken muss, ob man sie irgendwann lesen wollen würde".</p>
<p>Was als popwissenschaftliches Standardwerk zum Thema Schlaf gehandelt wird, ist auch ein Buch, das viel Kritik erfahren hat. Da ich keine Ahnung habe, aber auch nicht die Muße aufbringen kann, alles nachzuprüfen, was Matthew Walker über Schlaf und seine magischen Kräfte der Heilung schrieb, betrachte ich also einfach alles mit einer Messerspitze Salz.</p>
<p>Das Buch in kurz: Schlaf ist gut für das Gehirn. Eine Milliarde Studien und Tests haben alles ergeben, was in irgendeiner Form positiv war. Nichts war jemals schlecht. Schlaf ist toll.</p>
<p>Anfangs war ich noch interessiert genug, um aufmerksam zu lesen. Mein Schlaf ist zwar meistens gut genug, aber warum nicht mal an ihm arbeiten, wenn besserer Schlaf so endlos viele positive Aspekte mit sich bringt. Zum Ende hin war ich allerdings vom immer gleichen "Hier ist noch ein Aspekt, der durch Schlaf besser gemacht wird!" so gelangweilt, dass ich teilweise ganze Kapitel nur grob überflog.</p>
<p>Obwohl Walker am Anfang erwähnt, dass es für ihn eine große Ehre wäre, wenn man zur Lektüre von Why We Sleep einschläft, merkt man sich doch offenbar am besten, was man kurz vor dem Schlaf konsumierte, so glaube ich doch nicht, dass er mich auf diesem Level langweilen wollte. Schade.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 18 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban-jk-rowling</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban-jk-rowling</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Dieses Buch ist der Moment, in dem Harry Potter eigentlich erst so richtig anfängt. Wenn man es bis hierher geschafft hat, kann man die Serie eigentlich nicht mehr nicht mögen. Die Komplexität nimmt steil zu und man merkt langsam, dass es sich hierbei eindeutig nicht um klassische Kinderbücher handelt. Es sind lediglich Bücher, die auch von Kindern gelesen werden können.</p>
<p>Ich würde jede Wette eingehen, dass es fast keine Leute gibt, die es bis zum Ende des dritten Buches geschafft haben und dann nicht am Ausgang der übergreifenden Geschichte interessiert waren. Während die ersten beiden Bücher in der Lage waren auf eigenen Füßen zu stehen und keinen größeren Kontext erforderten, kommt mit Sirius Black im dritten Teil die Vergangenheit in die Gegenwart gekracht und man stellt plötzlich sehr viele Fragen.</p>
<p>Beine werden gebrochen, Kinder verschleppt, Intrigen aufgedeckt, die die ganze Zeit unbemerkt unter der Nase des Lesers stattfanden. Was für eine Geschichte! Was für Twists! Ein frühes Highlight der Harry Potter Saga.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 10 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets-jk-rowling</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets-jk-rowling</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wie erwähnt lese ich die ganzen Harry Potter Bücher das erste Mal auf Englisch, nachdem ich sie mit 11-14 auf Deutsch las. Was mir dabei auffällig ist, dass die deutsche Übersetzung zwar in Ordnung war, aber der Englischen in einigem nachsteht. Ich wusste nicht, dass Rowling so viele Wortspiele benutzt! "Knockturn Alley"! I get it! "Nokturngasse" brannte sich zwar in meine Erinnerung, hat aber nur halb so viel Charme.</p>
<p>In diesem Buch fiel mir das erste Mal so richtig auf, wie Rowling winzige Spuren legt, teilweise in Wegwerf-Nebensätzen, die später noch zu wichtigen Ereignissen führen. Ein "Oh! Wow!" entfuhr mir, als alle am Anfang in einem großen Tohuwabohu The Burrow verlassen und vier Mal umgekehrt werden musste, weil jemand was vergessen hat. Unter anderem Ginny. Ihr Tagebuch. Wäre das nicht passiert, hätte die gesamte Handlung des Buches nicht stattfinden können. So ein Detail! So genial!</p>
<p>Die ersten beiden Bücher sind natürlich insgesamt noch sehr seicht. Charaktere werden eingeführt, die Welt wird geschliffen, das Fundament wird gelegt. Niemand stirbt. Trotzdem hat man sich im ersten Buch schon so sehr in die Welt eingefunden, dass sich das zweite Bereits anfühlt als würde man nach Hause kommen.</p>
<p>Man bekommt außerdem die ersten Informationen zu Voldemorts Backstory, die dann erst im sechsten Buch weiter aufgegriffen wird. Damals, als Teenager, lag so viel Zeit zwischen den Büchern, dass ich all diese Zusammenhänge nicht wirklich wertschätzen konnte. Ich würde sogar so weit gehen zu behaupten, dass ich dieses Mal mehr Spaß an den Büchern habe, als damals. Und mit 12 habe ich sie bereits geliebt.</p>
<p>Dabei hilft auch, dass ich massig Details vergessen hatte und diese mir gerade fast am meisten Freude bereiten.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 06 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/leviathan-wakes-james-sa-corey</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/leviathan-wakes-james-sa-corey</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wenig Bücher habe ich so oft versucht zu konsumieren wie Leviathan Wakes. Zuerst in Papierform, was scheiterte, weil ich den Anfang langweilig fand. Dann als Hörbuch während einer fast vierstündigen Wurzelbehandlung (totaler Geheimtipp, übrigens. Einfach Podcasts und Hörbücher bei unangenehmen Zahnarztbesuchen hören) und dann noch mal als Buch. Selbst die TV-Serie habe ich im ersten Anlauf nicht gemocht.</p>
<p>Weil aber alle immer so begeistert vom Buch sind, wollte ich mir die Chance nicht entgehen lassen es doch noch mögen zu lernen. Letztendlich habe ich es geschafft. Kostete mich knapp 100 Seiten und einen Mix aus Buch und Hörbuch, aber dann war ich drin und gut unterhalten.</p>
<p>Grob zusammengefasst geht es um eine Gruppe von Personen, die vom Schicksal zusammengewürfelt aus verschiedensten Ecken des menschlichen Universums zusammenkommen um die Menschheit vor ihrer Habgier zu schützen. Und nebenbei auch noch vor einem außerirdischen Material, von dem man noch nicht so ganz weiß, was es alles kann.</p>
<p>Leviathan Wakes scheint der Auftakt einer Space-Opera zu sein, die sich nicht schämen muss. Unterschiedlichste Charaktere, kreative Schauplätze und Herausforderungen, die sich stark von denen anderer Bücher dieser Art unterscheiden. Hat mir gefallen. Es gibt nur einen kleinen Abzug für den holprigen Anfang.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Catalyst Gate by Megan E. O&#039;Keefe</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/catalyst-gate-megan-e-okeefe</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/catalyst-gate-megan-e-okeefe</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Mir gefällt Sci-Fi besonders gut, wenn die Realität der Geschichte nicht total weit von unserer aktuellen entfernt ist, aber trotzdem genug Mysterien beinhaltet, dass man gerne darüber nachdenkt, was sie für Auswirkungen auf das eigene Leben haben könnten.</p>
<p>Die The Protectorate Reihe hat das sehr gut gehandhabt. Jedes Buch erweitert das Mysterium sowohl um Antworten als auch um weitere Fragen. Die Geschichte bewegt sich in expandierenden Kreisen um ein zentrales Thema, das erst im dritten Teil eine Auflösung findet.</p>
<p>Und was für eine Auflösung das ist! Die ersten beiden Teile haben mir gefallen, weil sie relativ bodenständig die Erlebnisse diverser (Doppeldeutigkeit nicht zufällig. Die Geschichte ist recht woke.) Charaktere wiedergaben, die in einer nachvollziehbaren Welt stattfinden. Das nimmt aber mit dem großen Ender der Trilogie ein Ende und alles wird recht abgefahren.</p>
<p>Ich habe nicht damit gerechnet, dass ich zum Ende dieser Reihe so begeistert von der ganzen Reise sein werde, bin aber froh zu verkünden, dass es sich hierbei für mich um eine ganz großartige Trilogie handelt, die mich sehr gut unterhalten hat.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Harry Potter and the Philosopher&#039;s Stone by J.K. Rowling</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone-jk-rowling</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone-jk-rowling</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Harry Potter! In 2021! Nicht unbedingt ein Geheimtipp und mittlerweile vielleicht sogar eine edgy Form der Unterhaltung, muss man doch jetzt lange Diskussionen darüber führen, ob man Autorin von Werk trennen kann, bevor man zugibt, dass man die Geschichten liebt.</p>
<p>Das spare ich mir an dieser Stelle und gebe zu, dass ich zur Generation gehöre, die gerne von sich behauptet, dass sie immer im gleichen Alter wie Harry war, als die Bücher rauskamen. Dementsprechend intensiv gebrandmarkt wurde ich durch die Anwesenheit der Reihe in meinem Leben. Trotzdem, wie ich kürzlich schockiert feststellte, habe ich die Bücher nur zwei Mal gelesen. Beide Male auf Deutsch und als Teenager.</p>
<p>Während ich diese Zeilen zum Ersten der sieben Bücher (Sieben. Wir beachten den Unfall nicht, den das Buch zum Theaterstück darstellt, das einen vermeintlichen achten Teil ergeben sollte) schreibe, bin ich eigentlich schon mit allen sieben Teilen fertig. Weil in 2021 niemand mehr neue Gedanken zu Harry Potter hat, nutze ich also die Beiträge zu diesen Büchern, um ein paar mehr oder weniger unzusammenhängende Gedanken zu den einzelnen Büchern festzuhalten. Wie in einem Lesetagebuch. Die hat man auch nie geführt, während man die Bücher las, sondern erst später nachgetragen.</p>
<p>Eigentlich hatte ich erwartet, dass das erste Buch erheblich stärker an ein Kinderbuch erinnern würde. Die Charaktere sind 11. Ich war 11, als ich es das erste Mal las. Allerdings war ich mit meinen jetzt 32 Jahren nicht schlecht unterhalten. Ja, das Englisch ist merklich simpler als in den kommenden Büchern, aber auch nicht anspruchsloser als einige der Sci-Fi Bücher, die ich sonst so lese. Wobei ich das nicht zu laut schreiben sollte, weil eine Freundin von mir heimlich seit Jahren die These vertritt, dass das gesamte Genre Science-Fiction der Jugendliteratur zugeordnet werden sollte. Sie würde das allerdings abstreiten, wenn man sie fragt.</p>
<p>Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ist das Buch, was mir noch am besten in Erinnerung war. Es ist mit seinen knapp über 300 Seiten auch kein wirklich ausschweifendes Werk. Trotzdem fand ich sehr, sehr, sehr beeindruckend, wie viele später aufkommende Themen in diesem Buch schon Anklang finden. Ich weiß nicht, ob das daran liegt, dass sehr viel von Beginn an geplant war oder später geschickt aufgegriffen und in die größere Geschichte eingebaut wurde, aber das Ergebnis weiß zu überzeugen.</p>
<p>Was ich Rowling hoch anrechne, ist ihre einzigartige Fähigkeit des World-Buildings. Die gesamte Welt fühlt sich lebendig an. Mit gar nicht so vielen Worten entstehen die intensivsten Bilder, die ich jemals in einer Buchreihe im Kopf hatte. Teilweise so sehr, dass ich nach meinen Lese-Sessions nachts den Tetris-Effekt mit Harry Potter Situationen habe.</p>
<p>Nach dem Lesen des ersten Buches wusste ich schon, dass ich die Reihe nach dem siebten wieder schmerzlich vermissen werde. Ich hatte recht.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The War of Art by Steven Pressfield</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 09 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-war-of-art-steven-pressfield</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-war-of-art-steven-pressfield</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The War of Art ist so ein Buch, das in einer ganz bestimmten Bubble aus selbstkritischen Kreativen gerne mal als Geheimtipp erwähnt, wenn es darum geht, Selbstzweifel zu überwinden.</p>
<p>Steven Pressfield scheint eine Person mit einer starken Meinung zu sein und sich nicht zu scheuen, diese zu Papier zu bringen. Leider gleitet sein Versuch, ein Werk zu schaffen, das Leute motiviert zu kreieren, zum Ende hin in religiöses und merkwürdig spirituelles Geschwafel ab.</p>
<p>Der Schreibstil ist der eines fragwürdigen, sich selbst hassenden Selbsthilfe-Gurus, dessen Tough-Love Herangehensweise einen mitreißen soll, bei mir aber nur für intensives Augenrollen gesorgt hat.</p>
<p>Irgendwo zwischen dem Schwachsinn sind einige kleine Nuggets der Weisheit versteckt. Man muss sich aber nicht durch den restlichen Müll arbeiten, um diese zu erhalten.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Think Again by Adam Grant</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 07 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/think-again-adam-grant</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/think-again-adam-grant</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Nachdem ich relativ hart von Originals abgeprallt bin, hatte ich eigentlich vor, nicht mehr so schnell ein Buch von Adam M. Grant zu lesen. Zum Glück habe ich, angeregt durch einen guten Artikel, der von ihm irgendwo veröffentlich wurde, again gethunkt und Think Again gelesen. Instant Allzeit-Favorit!</p>
<p>Sehr passend zu meiner Lektüre von Atomic Habits, in der mir der Identitätsaspekt besonders gut gefiel, fokussiert sich Think Again ganz besonders auf dieses Thema.</p>
<p>Grant beginnt das Buch damit ein System einzuführen, das die verschiedenen Positionen beschreibt, die eine Person in einer Diskussion mit anderen oder sich selbst einnehmen kann. Ob man in einem Modus ist, in dem man eine Idee verkaufen will (Preacher), die dazu führt, dass man anderen nicht mehr genug zuhört, oder in einem Modus, der darauf abzielt, die Ideen des Gegenübers zu attackieren (Prosecutor) oder in einem, der nur darauf erpicht ist, die Zustimmung des Gegenübers zu bekommen, aber Ehrlichkeit Nebensache sein lässt (Politican).</p>
<p>Was Grant stattdessen empfiehlt, ist das Mindset eines Scientists, jemand, der Wahrheiten finden möchte, indem er die wissenschaftliche Methode an Gedanken ansetzt.</p>
<p>Es wird niemanden überraschen, dass dieser Ansatz mir sehr gut gefällt. Als jemand, der oft halb-scherzhaft von Leuten als Roboter bezeichnet wird, weil ich versuche, die Welt auf eine Scientist-Weise zu betrachten, fühlte ich mich durch Think Again sehr gesehen.</p>
<p>Grant klammert alles an die Identität. Leute, die etwas zu stark an falschen Meinungen festhalten, tun dies, weil sie sich als eine Person sehen, die diese Meinung vertritt. Social Media Echo Chambers unterstützen den Effekt, weil Menschen sich zu einer Gruppe zugehörig fühlen wollen. Die eigene Identität ist dann irgendwann die einer Person, die der Meinung ist, dass die Welt eine Scheibe darstellt, dass Impfungen nichts bringen oder QAnon existiert. Diese Leute umgeben sich immer mehr mit Leuten, die die gleichen Ansichten haben, und plötzlich ist die Meinung an die Identität gebunden, und jedes Herausfordern dieser vermeintlichen Wahrheit ist ein Angriff an die Persönlichkeit einer Person.<br />
Man merkt schon, dass dieses Buch aktueller nicht sein könnte. Think Again gehört für mich auf jeden Fall auf den "Muss man gelesen haben" Stapel.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Atomic Habits by James Clear</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 01 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/atomic-habits-james-clear</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/atomic-habits-james-clear</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ich mag nicht an mir, dass ich eine inhärente, unbegründete Antipathie gegen sehr beliebte Sachen habe. Mittlerweile bin ich sehr gut darin, sie zu erkennen und nicht groß zu beachten. Dass ich Atomic Habits erst so spät gelesen habe, war allerdings dieser idiotischen Antipathie zu verdanken.</p>
<p>Irgendwie dachte ich deswegen vorher, dass das Buch nicht viel mehr bieten kann, als einem zu sagen, dass man halt die Dinge, die man regelmäßig machen möchte, in kleinen Maßen beginnen soll und sich dann über den kumulativen Effekt freuen kann. Das ist auch ein wichtiger Teil des Buches. Weil Atomic Habits aber ein gutes Buch ist, bleibt es nicht dabei. James Clear argumentiert einem, ähnlich wie Cal Newport, die Sinnhaftigkeit dieser Herangehensweise so klar, dass es einem schwer fällt sie nicht zu verstehen und für gut zu befinden.</p>
<p>Was mir persönlich am meisten brachte, war Clears Bezug zur eigenen Identität: Man wird, was man sein will, indem man sich nicht nur vornimmt, so zu werden, sondern sich als eine Person versteht, die schon so ist. "Ich bin eine Person, die jeden Tag Zahnseide benutzt", statt "Ich würde gerne jeden Tag Zahnseide benutzen". Ersteres steigert die Fallhöhe so sehr, dass man eher geneigt ist den Aufwand zu investieren.</p>
<p>Das Buch hat bei mir nicht sehr intensiv eingeschlagen, weil ich vieles von dem, was es einem beibringen möchte, schon machte. Das macht es aber nicht zu einem schlechteren Buch. Wer einen inspirierenden theoretischen Unterbau für seine Habit-Vorhaben braucht, ist mit diesem Buch gut beraten.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Heaven&#039;s River by Dennis E. Taylor</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 25 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/heavens-river-taylor-dennis</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/heavens-river-taylor-dennis</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Es ist fragwürdig, ob Heaven's River tatsächlich als der vierte Teil der Bobiverse Saga zählen sollte.</p>
<p>Ein Klon von Bob, der sich im ersten Buch von der restlichen Gruppe absetzte, stößt auf eine andere Zivilisation (Grundsätzlich kann man sagen, dass es sich um kluge Biber handelt), deren aktueller Existenzzustand mehr Fragen als antworten liefert.</p>
<p>Weil ein daraufhin zusammengestelltes Team aus Bob-Klonen wittert, dass bei der Sache nicht alles mit rechten Dingen zugehen kann, schleusen sie sich in Form von Biber-Robotern (lange Geschichte) in die Zivilisation ein und arbeiten daran, das Mysterium zu lösen.</p>
<p>Viel SciFi ist in diesem Teil der Geschichte nicht mehr zu finden. Stattdessen bekommt man viel von der Kultur einer fiktiven Lebensform mit, was immerhin ganz nett war, mich aber nicht vom Hocker gehauen hat.</p>
<p>Ganz nebenbei, im Hintergrund des Buches, wird von einem Aufstand innerhalb des Bobiverses (so nennt sie die riesige Gruppe an Bob-Klonen) erzählt, der allerdings so nebensächlich abgefrühstückt wird, dass es mich etwas unzufrieden zurückließ.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 17 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/all-these-worlds-taylor-dennis</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/all-these-worlds-taylor-dennis</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Im dritten Teil der Bobiverse-Saga geht es um die sprichwörtliche Wurst. Eigentlich nicht, weil Bob und seine Klone nicht mehr essen müssen, aber dahingehend, dass das Universum vor einer schier unlösbaren Bedrohung steht, schon.</p>
<p>Eine andere, erheblich weiter entwickelte Lebensform verschlingt ganze Planetensysteme um ihre Heimatwelt mit einer Dyson-Sphere auszustatten. Das wäre kein Problem, würden damit nicht die, von den Bobs innerhalb der letzten 100 Jahre aufgebauten, menschlichen Kolonien bedroht werden.</p>
<p>Es gibt weiterhin die Sekundärgefahr der brasilianischen Sonden, die im ersten Buch ebenfalls von der Erde losgeschickt worden sind. Eine weitere Gruppe replizierender Raumschiffe, die allerdings, im direkten Vergleich zu einer Alien-Übermacht, merkwürdig irrelevant sind, obwohl sie so viel Platz im Buch einnehmen.</p>
<p>Hat dem Spaß an All These Worlds allerdings keinen Abbruch getan.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 14 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/for-we-are-many-taylor-dennis</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/for-we-are-many-taylor-dennis</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Nachdem Bob in Teil 1 der Bobiverse Reihe sein Leben nach dem Tod als Ersatz für eine KI in Form einer Sonde gefunden hat, die sich selbst replizieren kann, geht es im zweiten Teil um nichts anderes als das Retten der Menschheit.</p>
<p>Die Erde ist dahin, 99 % der Menschen sind ausgestorben und Bob macht es sich, zusammen mit seinen Klonen, zur Aufgabe nicht nur die restliche Menschheit zu retten, sondern auch etwaigen Zivilisationen zu helfen, die auf anderen Planeten leben.</p>
<p>For We Are Many ist ein guter zweiter Teil, der seinen Fokus auf interessante Weise auf mehrere große Themen lenkt, die im Detail beleuchtet werden (Zum Beispiel: Was, wenn einer der Bobs Gott für eine andere Zivilisation spielt?) und zum Ende hin alle zusammenfinden.</p>
<p>Kurzweilig, kreativ und lesenswert. Unterhaltungs-SciFi wie es, wait for it, im Buche steht. Ha!</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 10 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/we-are-legion-we-are-bob-taylor-dennis</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/we-are-legion-we-are-bob-taylor-dennis</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Was würde passieren, wenn heutzutage ein reicher Tech-Milliardär-Nerd plötzlich vom Bus überfahren wird und stirbt, aber vorher dafür gesorgt hat, dass sein Körper und Bewusstsein auf eine vielleicht in der Zukunft funktionierende Cryo-Weise erhalten bleiben sollen?</p>
<p>Das ist die Prämisse von We Are Legion (We Are Bob).</p>
<p>Langweilig wäre, würde das Ergebnis der Angelegenheit  sein, dass der Protagonist (Bob) einfach ein paar hundert Jahre später aufwachen würde und plötzlich mit seinem Körper und Bewusstsein in der Zukunft leben müsste. Das hat man schon zu oft gelesen.</p>
<p>Was stattdessen passiert und keine Angst, das ist kein relevanter Spoiler: Die Welt hat sich zugrunde gerichtet und es gibt für die Menschheit nur noch die Chance im Weltall zu überleben. Elon Musk, den es in den Büchern nicht gibt, sie aber sicher gerne lesen würde, reibt sich die Hände.</p>
<p>Die verschiedenen, gegeneinander Krieg führenden Fraktionen der Erde schicken selbst replizierende Sonden ins Weltall, die eigentlich von AI betrieben werden sollten, bis man auf eine bessere Idee kam: Das Bewusstsein echter Menschen.</p>
<p>So landet Bob also in dem fliegenden Space-3D-Drucker, der von dem ins All geschossen wird, was von den Vereinigten Staaten übrig ist. (Spoiler: Ein hart konservativer, christlicher Gottesstaat.) Er hat zwar keinen Körper mehr, dafür aber das gesamte Weltall als Spielplatz und alle Zeit der Welt.</p>
<p>Das nenne ich mal einen kreativen Rahmen für eine SciFi-Geschichte!</p>
<p>Gespickt mit vielen popkulturellen Nerd-Referenzen und philosophischen Fragen (Wer sind die Duplikate, die Bob von sich macht? Wie viel Verantwortung haben die Bobs der verbleibenden Menschheit gegenüber?) beginnt auf diese Weise die Reise, die sich über drei weitere Bücher strecken wird.</p>
<p>Dieses erste Buch beschäftigt sich in erster Linie mit dem Problem der Sonden, die von den anderen Ländern ins All geschickt wurden. In der Agenda für die Übermacht im Weltall ist kein Platz für zwei Staaten. Blöd nur, dass Bob in seinem vorherigen Leben Pazifist war.</p>
<p>Mir hat die grundlegende Neuartigkeit der Prämisse so gut gefallen, dass ich alle vier Bücher innerhalb kürzester Zeit las. Dieses erste ist vielleicht das beste, wenn auch kein Meisterwerk. Sehr kurzweilig und unterhaltsam war es allemal. Eine Empfehlung meinerseits!</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Bird Way by Jennifer Ackerman</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 05 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-bird-way-jennifer-ackerman</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-bird-way-jennifer-ackerman</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The Bird Way von Jennifer Ackerman ist für mich das perfekte Sachbuch und schafft, was ich mir hier von einem Buch über Schafe wünschte: Einen Einblick in ein Themengebiet, von dem man vorher keine Ahnung hatte und danach ganz fasziniert von all den fantastischen Tatsachen ist, die dieses Themengebiet zu bieten hat.</p>
<p>In The Bird Way (Was hoffentlich keine Referenz an "The Third Way" ist, aber seit ich das dachte, kann ich den Titel kaum noch anders interpretieren) macht Ackerman das für Vögel. Wie bei einer guten Folge Radiolab denkt man zuerst, dass es sich dabei nicht um einen spannenden Themenbereich handeln kann, ist dann aber von Anfang bis Ende davon begeistert, wie unglaublich viele superspannende Dinge im Reich der Vögel passieren.</p>
<p>Wenn man auch nur denkt, dass man leichtes Interesse für dieses Thema aufbringen kann, wird einem mit The Bird Way hervorragende Unterhaltung geboten. Am Ende kommt ein Ornithologe zur Sprache, der nur halb witzig gemeint erwähnt, dass er davon überzeugt ist, dass die Familie der Krähen nur 1-2 Evolutionsstufen davon entfernt sei, die klügste Lebensform auf dem Planeten zu sein. Das Verrückte: Nach dem Lesen dieses Buches stimme ich ihm zu.</p>
<p>Riesige Empfehlung. Musste noch Wochen später an das Buch denken und es hat meine Sicht auf Vögel nachhaltig verändert.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 17 May 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-lesson-cadwell-turnbull</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-lesson-cadwell-turnbull</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Dass ich gerne SciFi lese ist für echte Fans keine Überraschung. Seit einiger Zeit versuche ich ein Augenmerk auf SciFi zu legen, das sich nicht primär um weiße Amerikaner dreht. The Lesson war eines der Bücher, auf denen mein Augenmerk landete. Leider enttäuschte es mich ein wenig.</p>
<p>Die grundsätzliche Prämisse war nicht schlecht. Aliens landen, Leute sind panisch, blabla, immer das gleiche. Aber was, wenn die Aliens in der Lage sind die Form von Menschen anzunehmen, damit sie wenige erschreckend sind und seit Jahrhunderten Menschheit studierten und dementsprechend bereits in der Lage sind zu kommunizieren und anfangen unter Menschen zu leben?</p>
<p>Wie das ganze in einem kleineren Inselstaat in den U.S. Virgin Islands vonstatten geht und was die Aliens versuchen zu erreichen, wird in The Lesson leider nur so indirekt behandelt, dass ich nur bedingt Spaß am Lesen hatte. Das liegt nicht an der vermeintlichen Inkompetenz Turnbulls, sondern an einem bewusst gewählten Stilmitte: Die Geschichte legt den Fokus nicht auf die Aliens, sondern die Menschen. Was geschieht mit dem alkoholkranken Familienvater, wenn eine Situation dieser Art eintritt? Wie ergeht es dem Enkel, der bei seiner Großmutter lebt, weil seine Eltern starben? Wie verändert sich die Welt für die Nachbarstochter der Großmutter, die in den Enkel verliebt ist?</p>
<p>Ein neuartiger und kreativer Ansatz, der mir leider nicht viel Freude bereitete.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 13 May 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/a-short-history-of-the-world-according-to-sheep-sally-coulthard</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/a-short-history-of-the-world-according-to-sheep-sally-coulthard</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Mir macht es besonders viel Freude, wenn ein Buch meinen Blick auf ein ganzes Themengebiet verändern kann. Sowas wie Weltmacht auf Sechs Beinen lässt einen für immer anders über Ameisen nachdenken.</p>
<p>Also dachte ich mir, dass ich das auch für Schafe will. Mein Gefühl war, dass Schafe irgendwie langweilig wirken, aber sicher viele spannende schafbezogene Fakten in der Welt herumschwirren, als ich A Short History of the World According to Sheep in die Hand nahm und letztendlich kaufte.</p>
<p>Pustekuchen! Der bessere Titel dieses Buches wäre "A Short History of Wool". Es geht nicht um Schafe. Nicht annähernd. Nur um ihre Abwürfe und das, was aus ihnen gemacht wurde.</p>
<p>Versteht mich nicht falsch, ich empfinde meine oben erklärte Affinität für zufällig gewählte Themenfelder, von denen man keine Ahnung hat, auch für Gegenstände. Ein gutes Buch über Wolle würde mich also auch freuen. Aber abgesehen davon, dass dieses Buch mich mit seinem Titel hinters Licht führte, gibt es offenbar nicht sonderlich viele wirklich interessante Fakten zu Wolle. Schade.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 07 May 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/project-hail-mary-andy-weir</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/project-hail-mary-andy-weir</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Auf wenig Bücher habe ich mich im Vorfeld so sehr gefreut, wie auf das The Martian Nachfolgewerk von Andy Weir. Kein Wunder also, dass ich diese knapp 500 Seiten innerhalb von zwei Tagen verschlang und danach deprimiert war, dass es keine weiteren 500 Seiten mit sich brachte.</p>
<p>Diese SciFi-Geschichte hat alles, was ich von einem Buch dieser Art erwarte: Humor, spannende Ideen und Herausforderungen und kurzweilige Dialoge, in denen einem Semi-Pseudeo-Science so erklärt wird, dass sie logisch klingt und man vielleicht sogar noch ein paar tatsächliche Sachen lernt.</p>
<p>Der Plot klingt zuerst recht generisch: Unsere Sonne ist in Gefahr und die Erde droht zu sterben, weil sehr schnell nicht mehr genug Sonnenlicht vorhanden sein wird. Sobald aber klar wird, dass die Sonne stirbt, weil ein Weltall-Plankton sie frisst, merkt man bereits, dass das hier nicht das übliche "Aliens böse" Geplänkel wird, das man von vielen anderen Science Fiction Büchern kennt.</p>
<p>Im Zuge des Lebens habe ich mehrfach pausiert und "Oh wow, das ist so cool!" Ausrufe von mir gelassen. Immer wenn man dachte, dass jetzt keine wirklich bahnbrechende Angelegenheit mehr kommen kann, packt Weir noch eine aus. Ich musste sogar mehrfach laut lachen. Fantastisch.</p>
<p>Wenn man The Martian mochte, wird man Project Hail Mary ebenfalls mögen, sofern man nicht erwartet, dass Weir völlig mit seinem Stil bricht. Sein Stil ist erkennbar und ich persönlich habe mich darüber gefreut, dass ich mehr von der guten Unterhaltung bekam, die The Martian mich hat erwarten lassen.</p>
<p>Wenn zu diesem Buch nicht ebenfalls ein Film gemacht wird, verklage ich Hollywood.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 04 May 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/piranesi-susanna-clarke</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/piranesi-susanna-clarke</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Mir gefallen übermäßig kreative Konzepte meistens nicht besonders gut, weil Makel umso intensiver auffallen. Piranesi hatte eine echte Chance von mir gehasst zu werden, stattdessen habe ich es, trotz seines übermäßig kreativen Konzepts, geliebt.</p>
<p>Das Problem an diesem Buch ist, dass man die beste Leseerfahrung hat, wenn man sich einfach darauf einlässt, ohne vorher etwas darüber erfahren zu haben. So las ich es, weil man mir das Buch entsprechend empfahl und so möchte ich es weitergeben.</p>
<p>Dinge, die ich verraten kann: Es lässt einem mit vielen Bildern und Fragen zurück, beantwortet aber genug um nicht unbefriedigend zu sein. Nur noch eine Sache: Es geht nicht, wie es das Cover vermuten lassen könnte, um Fantasie-Kreaturen. Diese Vermutung hat mich lange vom Lesen abgehalten und ich war froh, dass meine Annahme falsch war.</p>
<p>Kaufen. Lesen. Genießen. Sind auch nur 250 Seiten.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 02 May 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-invention-of-nature-andrea-wulf</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-invention-of-nature-andrea-wulf</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Was für ein Buch! Was für ein Typ! Als versierter „Book by the Cover“ Judger, nahm ich The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt im Buchladen in die Hand, weil ich es hübsch fand, war dann aber vom Klappentext nicht sehr begeistert, weil „Was weiß ich schon über Humboldt, vermutlich so ein alter Sexist und Rassist, der zufällig am richtigen Ort war“ mein erster Gedanke war.</p>
<p>Natürlich kaufte ich es dann, weil mir der „Was weiß ich schon“ und „Vermutlich“ Teil meines Gedankens nicht gefiel und ausgemerzt werden musste.</p>
<p>Großartig! Eine Biografie über Humboldt, die sich liest, als wäre es ein Sachbuch-Abenteuerroman. Was für ein Typ! Was für ein Leben! Offenbar kein Sexist, ganz im Gegenteil. Auch das Gegenteil eines Rassisten. Wie beruhigend für alles, was nach ihm benannt wurde!</p>
<p>Sehr, sehr lesenswert. Bin sehr beeindruckt von der Person Alexander von Humboldts als auch vom Buch selbst. Kurzweilig, gespickt mit spannenden Informationen und Exkursen zu anderen wichtigen Leuten (Napoleon! Darwin! Jefferson!) und sehr bereichernd, wenn man, wie ich, keine Ahnung hat.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Foundation by Isaac Asimov</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 30 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/foundation-isaac-asimov</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/foundation-isaac-asimov</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Meine Beziehung zu alten SciFi Büchern ist ambivalent. Mal gedanklich beeindruckend und spannend, mal stark überholt und nur noch als ganz witziges historisches Werk von Wert. Foundation ist beides in einem.</p>
<p>Die Geschichte ist fantastisch und gigantisch, spannt sich über hunderte Jahre und Generationen von Menschen, die sich in politischen und gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen wiederfinden, die in der Größe beeindruckend sind.</p>
<p>Leider ist das Buch schrecklich langweilig – und wenn wir ehrlich sind, nicht besonders gut – geschrieben. Umso besser gefällt mir, dass bald alle Apple TV+ Serie rauskommen soll, die die Story aufgreift, aber hoffentlich den langweiligen Stil kompensieren wird.</p>
<p>Unrelated Fun Fact: Zu Wool, einer meiner Lieblingstrilogien, kommt vermutlich auch bald eine Apple TV+ Serie! Das wird ein Fest.</p>
<p>Wie auch immer. Foundation, als Buch, war nichts.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 18 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/ancillary-justice-ann-leckie</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/ancillary-justice-ann-leckie</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ancillary Justice ist eines dieser Bücher, über die man ständig stolpert, wenn man SciFi mag und versucht die aktuell hochgelobten Bücher zu entdecken. Leider gefiel es mir nicht.</p>
<p>Vielleicht ist es der weiße, alte Mann in mir, aber Leckies Versuch ein Universum ohne sprachliches Geschlecht zu erschaffen, ging meiner Meinung nach schief. Ihr Ansatz hat zwei Ebenen: Es gibt Völker, in denen Geschlecht keine Rolle mehr spielt, aber auch welche, bei denen es eine Rolle spielt, aber unabhängig vom biologischen Geschlecht ist. Außerdem sprechen die Charaktere verschiedene Space-Sprachen (allerdings alle ins Englische übertragen), aber einige haben linguistische Geschlechtsformen, andere nicht. Das alles kombiniert führt zu einem Tohuwabohu, das dazu führte, dass ich einige Absätze drei Mal lesen musste, damit ich verstehe, wer sich auf wen beziehen könnte.</p>
<p>Ich verstehe und respektiere den Versuch, habe aber schon erheblich erfolgreichere Varianten von „Gender in Space“ gesehen. Velocity Weapon von Megan E. O’Keefe ist dahingehend erheblich angenehmer und nicht weniger woke.</p>
<p>Dass einer der Charaktere eine AI eines gigantischen Kriegsschiffes ist, die ursprünglich hunderte Menschenkörper steuerte, aber jetzt nur noch in einem einzigen Körper gefangen ist, hilft auch nicht.</p>
<p>Dazu kommt, dass Leckie offenbar kein Interesse an Spannung hat. Es ist ein Buch voller Dialoge, die sich wild aufeinander beziehen, aber so wirklich passieren tut nichts.</p>
<p>Es gefiel mir nicht, aber war sehr eigenartig. In beiden Auslegungen des Wortes. Auf die folgenden Teile der Serie werde ich verzichten.</p><br>★☆☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Dare to Lead by Bren&#233; Brown</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/dare-to-lead-brene-brown</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/dare-to-lead-brene-brown</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Als ich vor einiger Zeit vor der Frage stand, ob ich mehr Personalverantwortung annehmen möchte, kaufte ich eine Handvoll Bücher, die sich grob um Management drehten. Einige davon las ich allerdings nie. In einer Buchmangel-Phase nahm ich mir Dare to Lead vor und… fand es schlimm.</p>
<p>Brené Brown ist sicherlich nicht grundlos eine sehr angesehene Person, die vielen Leuten mit ihrer Arbeit hilft. Dieses Buch ist allerdings nichts anderes als eine Aneinanderreihung von Anekdoten aus ihrem Arbeitsleben und der ständig wiederholten, ach so amerikanischen Erkenntnis, dass man sich verletzlich machen muss, damit ein gutes Miteinander entstehen kann.</p>
<p>Der Schreibstil gefiel mir ebenfalls nicht, weil ich generell ungerne Bücher lese, die sich anfühlen, als würde jemand inspirierende LinkedIn-Einträge abdrucken. Dass selbst das Layout teilweise dafür optimiert ist, dass man die tollen Catchphrases und Trueisms abfotografieren und bei Instagram teilen kann, spricht ebenfalls für sich.</p>
<p>Zwei Sterne, weil ich vermutlich einfach die falsche Person für dieses Buch war. Es gibt Leute, die diesen Stil mögen und oft hören müssen, dass sie offen und ehrlich kommunizieren dürfen.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Breath by James Nestor</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 06 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/breath-james-nestor</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/breath-james-nestor</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Es gibt viele Gründe dafür, dass ich schnell raus bin, wenn etwas auch nur ganz leicht nach Pseudo-Science riecht. Keine Handbreit dem Schwachsinn. Allerdings schafft James Nestor mit Breath, dass ich am Ende wirklich davon überzeugt war, dass die Medizin dem Komplex Atmung nicht genug Aufmerksamkeit schenkte.</p>
<p>In Deep, einem seiner vorherigen Bücher, hat Nestor Extremtaucher begleitet, die ohne Equipment nahezu ewig unter Wasser bleiben können. Darauf aufbauend ist Breath: Wenn Atmung bei diesen Tauchern eine für jeden trainierbare Fähigkeit ist, was kann sie sonst noch beeinflussen?</p>
<p>Ich fand das Buch sehr(!) interessant. Teilweise leider etwas schwach, was wissenschaftliche Hintergründe angeht, was Nestor aber gut damit begründet, dass Atmung einfach ein im westlichen Raum missachteter Teil der Medizinhistorie ist. Er bringt aber genug und sehr breit gestreute Beispiele und Theorien an, dass ich letztendlich mit einem Gefühl von „Da kann was dran sein“ aus dem Buch ging.</p>
<p>Lesenswert und kurzweilig.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Last Emperox by John Scalzi</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 31 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-last-emperox-john-scalzi</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-last-emperox-john-scalzi</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Originals by Adam M. Grant</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 28 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/originals-adam-m-grant</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/originals-adam-m-grant</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Irgendwas an der Infrastruktur meines Buch-Nachschubs holperte und ich stand plötzlich ohne Lesestoff da. In einem Anflug von Verzweiflung, griff ich zu meinem alten Kindle Voyage und fand dieses ungelesene Buch darauf. Warum nicht mal lesen, dachte ich mir.</p>
<p>Hätte ich mir sparen können. Lose aneinandergereihte Anekdoten von erfolgreichen Leuten, die in irgendeiner Form etwas gemacht haben, das „original“ war. Jedes Kapitel fängt mit einer totaaal inspirierenden Geschichte zu einer neuen Person an, die im Rest des Kapitels grob in das übergreifende Themenkonstrukt gepresst wird.</p>
<p>Habe mir ein paar Sachen notiert, die ich interessant fand, aber insgesamt war das nichts.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Stone Sky by N.K. Nemisin</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 26 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-stone-sky-nk-nemisin</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-stone-sky-nk-nemisin</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Über The Obelisk Gate den zweiten Teil der Trilogie schrieb ich:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ansonsten: Eine gute Fortführung der Geschichte. The Obelisk Gate hatte zwar einige Längen und völlig vorhersehbare Twists, aber hat mir Lust auf Teil 3 gemacht. Ich hoffe sehr, dass die Geschichte zu einem unterhaltsamen Ende gebracht werden kann.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meine Hoffnung wurde nicht enttäuscht und ich kann diese Buchreihe, die sowieso schon alle relevanten Preise abgeräumt hat, empfehlen.</p>
<p>Das merkwürdige Gefühl von „Ist das SciFi oder Fantasy“ wird in diesem Teil auf die Spitze getrieben und man bekommt genügend Antworten auf alle drängenden Fragen. Es gibt einige Szenen und Themen, die ich gekürzt hätte, aber nachdem ich las, dass die Autorin mit dieser Reihe den Verlust ihrer Mutter verarbeitet hat, ergaben diese auch Sinn.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Weltmacht auf sechs Beinen by Susanne Foitzik</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 22 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/weltmacht-auf-sechs-beinen-susanne-foitzik</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/weltmacht-auf-sechs-beinen-susanne-foitzik</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Gut geschriebene Bücher über Themen, von denen ich gar keine Ahnung und an denen ich kein intrinsisches Interesse habe, sind mir die liebsten. Wenn jemand mit viel Wissen voller Begeisterung von etwas berichtet, das für mich eine ganz neue Welt eröffnet, bin ich direkt ganz Ohr und plötzlich sehr interessiert.</p>
<p>Ameisen! Faszinierend! Wer hätte das Gedacht. Klar, jeder kennt Koriander-Fakten wie „Ameisen können ein vielfaches ihres Gewichts tragen“, die erst total nischig und faszinierend klingen, aber letztendlich doch etwas sind, das jeder weiß.</p>
<p>Dieses Buch ist gefüllt mit anderen, übermäßig interessanten, Informationen über Ameisen und ist dabei auch noch kurzweilig geschrieben. Es gefiel mir sehr gut. Kein Das Evangelium der Aale, aber trotzdem toll.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 A World Without Email by Cal Newport</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 18 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/a-world-without-email-cal-newport</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/a-world-without-email-cal-newport</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Als Cal Newport Ultra habe ich sein neues Buch natürlich vorbestellt, als es angekündigt wurde. Dann entschied ich irgendwann, dass ich es nicht kaufen oder lesen möchte, weil ich eigentlich gar kein Problem mit E-Mail habe: Bekomme keine und wenn doch, beantworte ich sie meistens nicht, weil ich es wochenlang vergesse. Allerdings hatte ich zu dem Zeitpunkt bereits vergessen, dass ich es vorbestellte und es erschien irgendwann in Form eines Pakets an meiner Wohnungstür.</p>
<p>Es ist ein gutes Buch. Der Titel ist allerdings wieder mehr Marketing, als den eigentlichen Inhalt beschreibend. Newport beschreibt den „Hyperactive Hive Mind Workflow“, in dem jeder möglichst schnell alles kommuniziert und dementsprechend in Büros eine Dynamik eintritt, in der jeder gestresst, unkonzentriert und dauerkommunizierend ist. Das betrifft nicht nur E-Mail, sondern auch Slack und jede andere Form von „fire and forget“ Kommunikation. Geringer Aufwand in der Kommunikationsart führt zu geringer Hemmschwelle jemanden anzusprechen, führt zu mehr Unterbrechungen und schlechterer Arbeit, die länger dauert.</p>
<p>Es liegt auf der Hand, dass darunter viele Leute leiden. Ich allerdings meistens nicht, weswegen mein ursprünglicher Plan es nicht lesen zu wollen, der richtige gewesen wäre. Für alle, die in irgendeiner Form denken, dass sie unter dem Hyperactive Hive Mind Workflow leiden könnten, empfehle ich es allerdings stark. Newport macht, was er immer macht: Ein Argument so gut argumentiert und mit nötigen Hintergrundinformationen ausgestattet formulieren, dass man letztendlich eigentlich nur noch zustimmen kann.</p>
<p>Ein gutes Buch. Kein Buch für mich.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/how-to-avoid-a-climate-disaster-bill-gates</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/how-to-avoid-a-climate-disaster-bill-gates</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Meinen unterschwelligen, misanthropischen Tendenzen wurde nicht geholfen, als ich vor einigen Wochen sah, dass die Pandemie eigentlich kein Problem wäre, würden einfach alle Masken tragen und lüften. ZEIT Online hat irgendwo eine Seite, auf der man interaktiv und multimedial alle Vorzüge des Cyberspace nutzen konnte um zu sehen, wie hoch die Wahrscheinlichkeit einer Ansteckung in verschiedenen Szenarien ist. Das Ergebnis: Eigentlich reichen geöffnete Fenster und Masken, damit nichts passiert.</p>
<p>Das hat mich schockiert. Es ist schwer mich zu schockieren, wenn es um die Abgründe der Menschheit geht, aber seit ich das sah, denke ich jeden Tag mehrfach daran. Wir müssten nur lüften und Masken tragen. Schaffen Leute offenbar nicht. Jeder hat seine kleinen Ausreden für Ausnahmen und das Ergebnis ist eine weiterhin anhaltende Pandemie.</p>
<p>Weil ich schon seit einigen Jahren daran zweifle, dass die Menschheit das Klimawandel-Problem in den Griff bekommt, dachte ich mir, dass ein bisschen realistischer Optimismus helfen könnte. Das Buch von Gates sollte mir dabei helfen.</p>
<p>Es ist super. Voll mein Ding. Genau wie Hans Roslings Factfulness, betrachtet How to Avoid A Climate Disaster alles aus einer realistischen Sichtweise. Gates, natürlich Kapitalist, betreibt dabei keine Augenwischerei und macht klar, dass es insgesamt drei Pfeiler gibt, auf denen wir aufbauen müssen:</p>
<ol>
<li>Niemand darf zurückgelassen werden.</li>
<li>Wir müssen „Zero Carbon“ bis 2050 erreichen und</li>
<li>Wir dürfen nicht erwarten, dass alle Systeme der Welt veränderbar sind, also bewegen wir uns in kapitalistischen Strukturen.</li>
</ol>
<p>Das ergibt auch alles Sinn und er malt für jeden wichtigen Bereich Lösungen und Hoffnungen auf, erklärt für mich aber insgesamt nur sehr detailliert, wie unendlich schwierig das alles sein wird.</p>
<p>Sehr, sehr lesenswert. Hat meinen Optimismus allerdings weiter reduziert.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 06 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-consuming-fire-john-scalzi</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-consuming-fire-john-scalzi</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Der erste Teil der The Interdependency Saga gefiel mir bereits gut und machte Lust auf mehr. Der zweite Teil gefiel mir wieder gut und machte Lust auf mehr.</p>
<p>Beide bekommen einen leichten Abzug, weil sie ein bisschen unfertig wirken. Als wäre die Trilogie eigentlich ein dickes Buch, das relativ willkürlich in drei Teile geteilt wurde. Nicht schlimm, besonders weil alle drei Teile verfügbar sind, aber merklich anders, als in anderen Trilogien.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 26 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/mythos-the-greek-myths-retold-stephen-fry</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/mythos-the-greek-myths-retold-stephen-fry</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>So! Ein! Gutes! Buch! Habe es richtig genossen. Die griechischen Mythen kamen bisher nur als grob diffundiertes Wissen bei mir an und irgendwie konnte ich nie die Muße aufbringen, mich so richtig mit ihnen zu beschäftigen. Alte Sprache lesen bereitet mir wenig Freude.</p>
<p>Stephen Fry, in seinem bekannten Humor, setzt die Mythen in einen logischen Kontext, versieht sie mit guten Witzen, sehr interessanten Verbindungen zur Neuzeit und unserer Sprache und zeigt, wie die Geschichten eigentlich das MCU von damals waren. Seit ich das Buch las, muss ich andauernd an einige der griechischen Götter und die um sie rankenden Geschichten denken. Mag sehr, wenn ein Buch einen so viel im normalen Leben begleitet.</p>
<p>Fantastisch. Kann es nicht erwarten die zwei anderen Bücher aus dieser Reihe zu lesen.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 &#8222;Versuche, dein Leben zu machen&#8220; by Margot Friedlander</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 16 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/versuche-dein-leben-zu-machen-margot-friedlander</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/versuche-dein-leben-zu-machen-margot-friedlander</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Kein einziges Buch einer Person, die ihre Flucht vor den Nazis und den Aufenthalt in einem der Konzentrationslager beschreibt, ist nicht lesenswert. Auch dieses ist eines, das man gelesen haben sollte. Jeder trägt eine Verantwort die Kollektivschuld unseres Volkes zu verstehen und weiterzutragen. Bücher wie dieses sind eines der besten Mittel um zu verstehen, was mit Menschen damals gemacht wurde.</p>
<p>Ich fand besonders interessant, dass Margot Friedlanders Überleben kein klarer Weg von Gefahr zu Versteck zu Sicherheit war. Sie stolpert von einer Station zur nächsten und ist jedes Mal auf das Erbarmen irgendwelcher fremder Leute angewiesen. Das sie häufig fand, wenn auch oft Verbunden mit Erwartungen, oder einer Frist.</p>
<p>Ein sehr trauriger Einblick in eine schlimme Zeit.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Kein Kapitalismus ist auch keine L&#246;sung by Ulrike Herrmann</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 11 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/kein-kapitalismus-ist-auch-keine-loesung-ulrike-herrmann</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/kein-kapitalismus-ist-auch-keine-loesung-ulrike-herrmann</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wenn man im richtigen Alter ist und in die falschen Richtungen horcht, bekommt man immer wieder mit, dass Kapitalismus als Gesamtkonzept von Leuten so stark kritisiert wird, dass sie fordern ihn ganz loszuwerden. Kam mir schon immer merkwürdig vor, aber irgendwann hört man etwas oft genug, dass das kollektive Gaslighting Wirkung zeigt.</p>
<p>Weil ich nicht verstehe, wie das Abschaffen funktionieren soll und ungerne sehr starke Meinungen ohne solides Grundwissen habe, las ich dieses Buch als eines der ersten, um besser zu verstehen, wie globaler Handel und Finanzsysteme funktionieren. Ich bin mir sicher, dass alle, die (digital) herumkrakeelen, dass Kapitalismus abgeschafft gehört, das gleiche tun und ihre Meinungen auf mehr als vagen Gefühlen und unkritisch wiederholten Aussagen anderer basieren.</p>
<p>Wie auch immer. Gutes Buch! Zwei Drittel sind eigentlich nur Biografien von Smith, Marx und Keynes, die an sich schon interessant waren. Am Ende bringt Herrmann alles zusammen, erklärt, was schon probiert wurde, was es für Gründe für den Status Quo gibt und wo auf jeden Fall Verbesserungspotential liegt. Als Buch ein merkwürdiges Produkt, weil man nicht damit rechnet in erster Linie Biografien zu lesen, aber insgesamt hat es für mich funktioniert.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Mit Staunen und Zittern by Amelie Nothomb</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/mit-staunen-und-zittern-amelie-nothomb</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/mit-staunen-und-zittern-amelie-nothomb</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Eine kurzweilige, sprachlich schöne und humoristische Erzählung, die mich gut unterhalten hat. Keine großartigen Einblicke in tiefgründige Gedanken, keine abgefahrene Story, nicht mehr und nicht weniger als ein ein netter Roman.</p>
<p>Die Grundpfeiler der Geschichte in kurz: Junge, französische Frau, versucht in Japan Teil der Arbeitswelt zu werden und scheitert humoristisch beschrieben an kulturellen Unterschieden. Ich kann nicht einschätzen, wie viele potentiell rassistische Ressentiments potenziell im Hintergrund mitschwingen, aber es wirkte wie eine ausgeglichene Beobachtung, nicht wie ein Herablassen.</p>
<p>Hat Spaß gemacht.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-courage-to-be-disliked-ichiro-kishimi</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-courage-to-be-disliked-ichiro-kishimi</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ein Japaner, der die Auslegung der Philosophie eines deutschen Philosophen und Psychiaters eines anderen Japaners in Dialogform zwischen einem fiktiven Jugendlichen und Philosophen aufschreibt.</p>
<p>Was komisch klingt, ist letztendlich auch in seiner Form nicht unbedingt gelungen. Inhaltlich allerdings so nah an Stoizismus plus Gedanken von Adler, dass ich es lesenswert fand. Nicht ganz überraschend, fand ich viel von meinem persönlichen Wertesystem und Weltbild auch hier wiedergespiegelt.</p>
<p>Wer eine leicht verdauliche Heranführung an solche Themen sucht, findet hier etwas, das mir persönlich durch seine Form etwas zu albern war, aber durchaus lernenswerte Inhalte beherbergt.</p>
<p>Es scheint, anderen Rezensionen nach zu urteilen, viele Leute zu geben, denen einige der Lehren des Buches negativ aufstoßen, weil sie nicht ihrem aktuellen Weltbild entsprechen, oder zu harsch wirken. Mir ging es nicht so, aber man sollte vielleicht bereit sein, seinen mentalen Status Quo zu hinterfragen, wenn man mit diesem Buch Freude haben möchte.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Chaos Vector by Megan E. O&#8217;Keefe</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 25 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/chaos-vector-megan-e-okeefe</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/chaos-vector-megan-e-okeefe</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Der zweite Teil der The Protectorate Trilogie knüpft direkt an den ersten an. Die Geschichte und Charaktere entwickeln sich weiter, das Universum wächst und ich bin so dermaßen drin, dass ich den dritten Teil, der im Sommer rauskommen soll, kaum erwarten kann.</p>
<p>Es ist ein grundsolider SciFi-Action-Roman ohne viel Weltraumgeballer, aber dafür mit vielen Intrigen, guten Dialogen und Charakteren, bei denen man durchaus mal nachdenken darf, um für sich zu definieren ob sie gut oder schlecht sind.</p>
<p>Kurzweiliges SciFi auf hohem Niveau. Auch perfekt für Einsteiger in das Genre. Es gibt Technik-Schnickschnack, aber niemand erklärt in ausführlichem Detail die physikalische Basis irgendeines Raumschiff-Antriebs.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Blockchain Chicken Farm by Xiaowei Wang</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 14 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/blockchain-chicken-farm-xiaowei-wang</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/blockchain-chicken-farm-xiaowei-wang</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Manchmal etwas langweilig, oder unnötig kreativ, beschreibt Blockchain Chicken Farm das rurale Leben in China und wie es von etwas verändert wird, das tatsächlich Digitalisierung genannt werden kann. Im Gegensatz zu dem, was wir in Deutschland machen. Ganze Dörfer arbeiten ausschließlich für Alibaba. Ganze! Dörfer!</p>
<p>Sehr, sehr interessant und man fühlt sich beim Lesen, als würde man Geheimnisse über Orte erfahren, zu denen man sonst keinen Zugang hätte.</p>
<p>Was auch der Sinn meiner diesjährigen Übung ist, mehr von Autor:innen zu lesen, die nicht unbedingt weiße Männer sind. Letztes Jahr waren meine Statistiken dahingehend nicht sehr lobenswert. Dieses Jahr versuche ich mir etwas mehr Mühe zu geben. Dieses Buch ist einer von mehreren Beweisen dafür, dass es sich lohnt.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Enigma of Reason by Hugo Mercier, Dan Sperber</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 09 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Fan-tas-tisch. Allerdings anfangs so kompliziert und komplex, dass ich das Buch nach dem ersten Drittel fast abgebrochen hätte. Der Rest war allerdings wortwörtlich lebensverändernd. Mercier und Sperber erklären das, was Thinking Fast And Slow offen lässt: Wenn Reason eine menschliche Superkraft ist, die uns von (anderen) Tieren abhebt, warum verhalten sich Leute oft so irrational?</p>
<p>Habe im Januar über kein Buch mehr nachgedacht, als über dieses. Es gab mir neue Werkzeuge um über meine Umwelt nachzudenken. Mehr kann man von einem Buch nicht erwarten.</p>
<p>Ich befürchte ein bisschen, dass ich mir nicht sehr viel im Detail merken können werde, eben wegen der erwähnten Komplexität. Das macht dieses Buch zu einem, das leider kein Allzeit-Favoritenpotenzial hat. Vielleicht irgendwann, wenn ich es ein zweites (und drittes?) Mal gelesen habe und mir mehr merken konnte.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Nudge by Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 07 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/nudge-richard-h-thaler</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/nudge-richard-h-thaler</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Anfangs interessant, weil ein Konzept erklärt wird, das viele Nicht-Designer nicht kennen: Gute Ausgangszustände und kleine Kniffe um Verhalten in gewünschte Richtungen zu bugsieren. Da ist in der Theorie auch viel zu holen. Man kann ganz neu auf die Welt blicken und feststellen, dass man links und rechts manipuliert wird. Allerdings ist das ganze Thema dann schnell ausglaugt, wenn man diese, doch recht simple, Mechanik verstanden hat.</p>
<p>Danach, auf den restlichen 150 Seiten, kommen allerdings nur endlose Beispiele für Situationen, in denen Nudges von Vorteil sein könnten. Die meisten davon mit Fokus auf das amerikanische System und für Europäer maximal der Theorie interessant. In der Praxis war es das für mich aber nicht.</p>
<p>Nudge ist, meiner Meinung nach, nicht sonderlich lesenswert, wenn man vom schnell erklärten Grundkonzept absieht.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Altes Land by D&#246;rte Hansen</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/altes-land-doerte-hansen</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/altes-land-doerte-hansen</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Aus einem Regal gezogen, weil das Cover mir so gut gefiel, wurde Altes Land zu einem der besten deutschsprachigen Romane, die ich dieses Jahr las.</p>
<p>Viele ahnen es nicht, aber ich bin im Norden aufgewachsen, sturmfest und erdverwachsen. Teile meiner Familie sprachen Plattdeutsch, viele waren Bauern und irgendwie fand ich nie so richtig Zugang zu diesem Teil der Charaktere, die meine Familie darstellten.</p>
<p>Altes Land dreht sich um diese Leute. Ihre Geschichten, ihre Ängste, Nöte und kleinen Dramen. Am Ende ist es ein Buch über Töchter, aber gleichzeitig hat es mir viel über die Männer meiner Familie beigebracht.</p>
<p>Ganz fantastisch.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 28 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/seven-and-a-half-lessons-about-the-brain-lisa-feldman-barrett</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/seven-and-a-half-lessons-about-the-brain-lisa-feldman-barrett</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Als App Designer kann ich respektieren, wenn Produkte auf den Punkt kommen. Kurz, knapp, produktiv. Dieses Buch verliert keine Seite an unnötiges Geblubber und hat mir daher gut gefallen.</p>
<p>Siebeneinhalb Kapitel, knapp 200 Seiten, viele neue und sehr interessante Informationen über das grob wie eine Walnuss aussehende Organ in unseren Köpfen.</p>
<p>Ein Punkt, der mich nachhaltig begleiten wird ist dieser: Es ist eine wissenschaftlich bewiesene Tatsache, dass Gehirne durch äußere Umstände messbare und fast dauerhafte (durch Training aber wieder reparierbare) Veränderungen erfahren. Was bedeutet, dass Kinder, die in schlechter Luftqualität und mit viel Lärm aufwachsen, schlechter funktionierende Gehirne besitze. Was dazu führt, dass Armut Kinder erzeugt, die auch biologisch dazu tendieren weiterhin in Armut zu leben. Wir aber als Gesellschaft nicht so ganz bereit sind diesen Fakt zu akzeptieren, weil es von unserer „Alle Menschen sind gleich“ Phantasie abweicht.</p>
<p>Essen für Gedanken.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O&#8217;Keefe</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/velocity-weapon-megan-e-okeefe</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/velocity-weapon-megan-e-okeefe</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ganz zufällig in der SciFi-Abteilung meiner Lieblingsbuchhandlung gesehen, reingelesen und direkt gemerkt, dass es mir gefallen wird. Keine große Kunst, keine völlig verrückte Geschichte. Keine noch nie dagewesenen Charaktere. Trotzdem sehr unterhaltsam.</p>
<p>Die Geschichte wird durch kurze Kapitel, die alle mit einem kleinen Cliffhanger enden, über mehrere Blickwinkel verteilt erzählt und behält damit über 500 Seiten eine gute Spannung. Die Dialoge sind kurzweilig, die Welt ist interessant und die Geschichte ist am Ende gleichzeitig gut abgeschlossen, als auch offen genug um mich dafür zu begeistern Teil 2 lesen zu wollen.</p>
<p>Eigentlich gibt es nichts zu motzen, aber irgendwie hat es mich nicht fünf-sterne-intensiv berührt. Trotzdem absolut solide Space Opera, die sich nicht verstecken muss.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/sapiens-yuval-noah-harari</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/sapiens-yuval-noah-harari</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>„Sapiens“ ist wie „Thinking Fast and Slow“ ein Buch, das die meisten Leute kaufen, anfangen, aber vermutlich nie beenden. Dabei ist es im Gegensatz zu „Thinking Fast and Slow“ fast durchgehend unterhaltsam und kurzweilig geschrieben. Daniel Kahneman hat mittendrin einfach aufgegeben und den Versuch gestartet Leuten das wissenschaftliche Feld der Statistik nahezubringen, indem sie möglichst schnell am Stockholm Syndrom erkranken und ihren Aufenthalt in seiner Welt der Prozente als angenehm empfinden. Klappte nicht.</p>
<p>Sorry für den Rant über „Thinking Fast and Slow“, der tut wirklich gar nichts zur Sache, weil mir „Sapiens“ nämlich tatsächlich sehr gut gefallen hat. Abgesehen von ein paar Kapiteln, die vielleicht kleinere Längen hatten, zumindest.</p>
<p>Harari zeigt den Verlauf der Menschheit von Tier zu quasi gottgleicher Existenz auf und beleuchtet die dafür relevanten großen Veränderungen in Denken, Gesellschaft und Technologie. Manchmal mit Humor, immer mit schöner, aber leicht verständlicher Sprache, war der Leseprozess im Schnitt anspruchsvoll, aber bereichernd.</p>
<p>Viel gelernt, viel genickt, gerne gelesen.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Hiking with Nietzsche by John Kaag</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/hiking-with-nietzsche-john-kaag</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/hiking-with-nietzsche-john-kaag</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ein weiteres dieser Bücher, die einerseits Sachbuch sind und einem ein Thema näher bringen, andererseits ein Form von Autobiografie des Autoren darstellen. Why Fish Don’t Exist und Das Evangelium der Aale verfolgten das gleiche Prinzip und gefielen mir auch sehr gut.</p>
<p>Vermutlich hätte ich mich im Vorfeld mehr mit Nietzsche beschäftigt haben müssen um dieses Buch wirklich zu verstehen. Kaag beschreibt einerseits, wie er mit 19 auf den Spuren von Nietzsche durch die Alpen reiste, andererseits, wie er die gleiche Reise wiederholt, aber mit Frau und Kind als Begleitung. Und wie Nietzsche sie ursprünglich selbst erlebte.</p>
<p>Dabei erklärt er worum es Nietzsche ging, gibt eine grobe autobiografische Abhandlung über dessen Leben und Ansichten und erklärt auf der Metaebene, wie Leute dessen Worte im Laufe der Zeit verstanden und wie er sie selbst einordnen würde.</p>
<p>Mir gefiel es richtig gut. Ich habe viel gelernt und es passte perfekt in meine aktuelle „Was ist eigentlich Philosophie?“ Phase. Aber ich denke, dass jemand, der sich besser mit Nietzsche auskennt, die Feinheiten und Meinungen des Buches besser zu schätzen wissen würde. Ich musste alles einfach als Information aufnehmen und konnte keine Vergleiche aufmachen und mitdenken.</p>
<p>Hat mir trotzdem sehr gefallen. Von vorne bis hinten.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 19 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-fifth-season-nk-jemisin</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-fifth-season-nk-jemisin</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Nach einer Empfehlung von Mona habe ich das erste Mal seit einer gefühlten Ewigkeit etwas gelesen, das man vermutlich als Fantasy beschreiben kann. Wobei wir zum Ergebnis kamen, dass es sich laut Wikipedia offiziell um „Science Fantasy“ handelt, aber das klingt wie ein quatschiges Genre.</p>
<p>„The Fifth Season“ hat etwas geschafft, was schon lange kein Buch mehr mit mir machte: Eine Welt eröffnet, die tatsächliche Bilder in meinem Kopf hinterließ. Die Charaktere befinden sich eine Zeit lang an einem Wegesrand und ich könnte meine Vorstellung davon jetzt noch beschreiben. Später sind sie auf einer Insel. Auch für die habe ich Bilder.</p>
<p>Das klingt merkwürdig profan und ich kann nicht gut beschreiben was dieses Buch von anderen unterscheidet, aber ich glaube, dass es eine Art des Schreibens gibt, die mehr mentale Bilder erzeugt. Harry Potter hat das damals für mich (und viele andere) gut gemacht. Jeder hatte eine Vorstellung davon wie der Flur vor dem Gemeinschaftsraum von Gryffindor aussah, obwohl er nie explizit beschreiben wurde oder eine große Rolle spielte. Mal davon abgesehen, dass unsere subjektiven Vorstellungen dann irgendwann kollektiv von den Filmen überschrieben wurden.</p>
<p>Abgesehen davon: Gute Geschichte. Bin sehr auf die nächsten beiden Bücher der Serie gespannt, die, so habe ich mir sagen lassen, die erste Trilogie bilden, in der jeder Teil den Hugo Award gewonnen hat. Beeindruckend!</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-ghost-brigades-john-scalzi</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-ghost-brigades-john-scalzi</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Der Nachfolger von Old Man‘s War überrascht wenig und kann trotzdem – oder gerade deswegen – gut unterhaltend schnell weggelesen werden. Die Geschichte aus dem ersten Teil wird zwar fortgesetzt, dreht sich aber in erster Linie um andere Charaktere, die gewisse Anknüpfungspunkte zu denen aus dem ersten Teil haben. Ich mag, dass sich das Universum (pun intended) langsam erweitert und man ein besseres Gefühl für die interplanetaren Strukturen der verschiedenen Völker bekommt.</p>
<p>Allerdings muss man auch sagen, dass vieles von dem, was den ersten Teil interessant machte, in diesem Nachfolger dementsprechend bereits bekannt und nicht mehr so intellektuell kitzelnd war. Was oft ein Problem von SciFi ist, finde ich. Die ersten Bücher eröffnen eine Welt und spannende neue Konzepte, die dann aber in den folgenden Büchern nur noch wiederholt und leicht erweitert werden. „The Three-Body Problem“ war deswegen für mich so eine unglaublich Erfahrung, weil jedes Buch von Idee zu Idee zu Idee springt und kaum genug Platz lässt um sich an ein Konzept zu gewöhnen.</p>
<p>Ich fühlte mich unterhalten und werde die anderen Teile der Serie bald ebenfalls durch meine Augäpfel in mein Gehirn pressen.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Practicing Stoic by Ward Farnsworth</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 15 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-practicing-stoic-ward-farnsworth</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-practicing-stoic-ward-farnsworth</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>My interest in philosophy is quite pragmatic. The own lifetime is strongly limited, so I want to find out as quickly as possible how to make the most out of the available time. Why not use the groundwork of others who have already found functioning forms of life and ways of thinking ages ago. One does not need to reinvent the wheel.</p>
<p>Or as Ward Farnsworth writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Life is regrettably short because it does not allow us enough trials to become as wise as we would wish. Stoic philosophy is a compensation – a substitute for time, or simulation of it. Stoicism means to offer the wisdom while skipping the repetition; it tries to get by contemplation some of the lessons, immunities, and other features of character we would acquire naturally if we lived long enough.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What makes stoic philosophy so special for me is that it wonderfully combines with my existing image of a good life. My claim to a good life, a beautiful coexistence, and solid emotional health fits perfectly with Stoicism and is expanded and improved by what people like Seneca and Epictetus said over 2000 years ago. That these ideas have survived since then and still glow with relevance leaves me with a strangely soothed feeling.</p>
<p>It will be difficult for me here to explain how much The Practicing Stoic has given me. Just as it was difficult to explain how much the books by Cal Newport have expanded my life. This is not my first book on Stoicism, How To Be A Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci I already liked a lot. The Practicing Stoic, however, has good potential to become my personal bible.</p>
<p>While reading, I underlined something on almost every page. My approving nod, enriched with murmurs of "Yes, exactly!" did not end, and quite a few people had to live with me constantly sending them pictures of excerpts from the book and commenting on them with profound insights like "this, so much," "big mood," and "!!!!".</p>
<p>I would love to quote 200 things from the book here so everyone realizes how good every bit of wisdom in it is. However, the book is also so beautiful as an object that one should own it and browse through it.</p>
<p>Fan-tas-tic! Maybe my book of the year.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/homo-deus-yuval-noah-harari</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/homo-deus-yuval-noah-harari</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Der Trick um Homo Deus gut zu finden ist, dass man es nicht als Sachbuch, sondern als sehr, sehr lange Meinung einer Person lesen muss. Es geht bei diesem Buch nicht um die Wahrheit, sondern um eine Möglichkeit, eine Form von begründeter Vision.</p>
<p>Anfangs dachte ich, dass ich einem Scam aufgesessen bin. Das denke ich überraschend häufig und habe, wie auch dieses Mal, sehr selten damit recht. Ich lerne aber nicht daraus und bin lieber sicher als Entschuldigung. (Es scheint als könnte man „better safe than sorry“ nicht direkt ins Deutsche übersetzen.)</p>
<p>Ganz viel von dem, was in Homo Deus als Herleitung für die letztendliche Vision erzählt wird, hat man in Sapiens bereits ausführlicher erfahren. Damit fühlt sich die erste Hälfte des Buches ein wenig überflüssig an. Auf der anderen Seite könnte man die zweite Hälfte des Buches aber nicht ohne die erste verständlich machen, wenn man nicht davon ausgeht, dass jeder Sapiens gelesen hat. Was natürlich Unsinn wäre. Ich mache Harari also keinen Vorwurf, möchte aber, dass die oder der geneigte potentielle Leserin oder Leser sich der Tatsache bewusst ist, dass Sapiens gelesen zu haben beim Lesen von Homo Deus sowohl hilft als auch gleichzeitig schadet. Ebenso ist nur Homo Deus lesen nicht ausreichend um alles aus Sapiens mitbekommen zu haben.</p>
<p>Ich war also ungefähr 50 % des Buches genervt. Am Ende gab ich ihm fünf von fünf Sternen. Harari macht etwas, womit in 2020 wenig Leute gut umgehen können: Er erklärt lang und breit und gut argumentiert, warum die Zukunft so aussehen könnte, wie er aufmalt und will Leute dazu auffordern mit dieser potentiellen Realität umgehen zu lernen. Es ergibt keinen Sinn hier seine Vision zu erklären. Lest halt das Buch. Es lohnt sich. Aber diese Meta-Ebene, die für mich das Buch ganz besonders macht, ist sehr spannend, finde ich. Seit längerem habe ich schon das Gefühl, dass wir als Gesellschaft nicht bereit sind vermeintlich negative Zukünfte in Betracht zu ziehen und früh genug etwas dagegen zu unternehmen. Von endlos komplexen Problem wie Klimawandel über Digitalisierung bis hin zur Zukunft von Demokratie. Wir hoffen auf‘s Beste, führen den Diskurs auf einer „Naja, das darf halt nicht sein“-Basis und verdrängen absehbare Probleme bis sie uns mit der Faust die Nase brechen. Da kam plötzlich eine unnötig gewaltvolle Metapher mit ins Spiel, aber sie funktioniert.</p>
<p>Nur zu sagen, dass man eine wahrscheinliche Zukunft nicht gut fände, bringt nichts. Harari stellt den (meiner Meinung nach ganz süß optimistischen) Versuch an einen Diskurs früh genug ins Rollen zu bringen, damit wir nicht überrascht sein werden. Mein Menschenbild ist nicht positiv genug um davon auszugehen, dass er damit Erfolg haben wird, aber ich wünschte, mehr Menschen würden machen, was er versucht.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/2001-a-space-odyssey-arthur-c-clarke</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/2001-a-space-odyssey-arthur-c-clarke</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Eigentlich beeindruckend, dass ich nach dem Autounfall, den Dune für mich darstellte, ein weiteres SciFi Buch aus der gleichen Zeit lesen wollte. Zum Glück bin ich so ein halsbrecherischer Daredevil und habe es gewagt.</p>
<p>Irgendwann versuchte ich den Film zu schauen, schlief in einer der endlosen, aber sicher sehr kunstvollen, Szenen ein und versuchte es nie wieder. Popkultur-Diffusion hat mich außerdem jahrelang glauben lassen, dass es eine Geschichte ist, in der es um eine verrückt gewordene AI geht. Das… ist völlig falsch! Wer hätte das Gedacht?!</p>
<p>Gefiel mir. Darf weiterhin als zeitloser Klassiker verstanden werden, ich erlaube es.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Old Man&#8216;s War by John Scalzi</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/old-mans-war-john-scalzi</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/old-mans-war-john-scalzi</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Einige Bücher kann man einfach so wegsnacken, wie wir coolen Kids gerne sagen. Dieses ist eines davon!</p>
<p>Was, wenn alte Leute wieder jung gemacht werden könnten um dann einen intergalaktischen Weltraum-Krieg zu kämpfen? Das beantwortet Old Man‘s War.</p>
<p>Ein perfektes Beispiel für optimales Mittelmaß, das in sich geschlossen perfekte Unterhaltung bietet. Die Story ist völlig in Ordnung. Die Charaktere auch. Die Ideen ebenfalls. Nichts ist herausragend, nichts ist störend und ich freue mich auf Teil 2.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Die Pest by Albert Camus</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/die-pest-albert-camus</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/die-pest-albert-camus</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Dieses Buch hat in erster Linie einen guten Bildwitz geliefert. Die Leseerfahrung hielt sich allerdings in Grenzen.</p>
<p>Eigentlich habe ich erwartet, dass mir Camus einen guten Einblick in Absurdismus gibt, aber am Ende las ich eine Geschichte über eine Stadt, die einen Ausbruch der Pest erlebt und darüber, wie die Bürger damit umgehen. Vielleicht war der philosophische Unterbau für mich zu subtil und ich brauche explizit, dass jemand „Vorsichtig Philosophie!“ ruft, damit ich mitbekomme, wenn es passiert. So blieb für mich wenig hängen. Nach einem halben Jahr Real-Life-Pandemie hatte ich auch, wie ich im Zuge des Buches merkte, irgendwie kein Interesse an Geschichten über Pandemien. Ganz nett, wie viele Parallelen man entdecken kann, aber emotional bin ich mit Pandemien durch. Kann gerne das nächste globale Problem kommen.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Children Of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/children-of-time-adrian-tchaikovsky</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/children-of-time-adrian-tchaikovsky</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Als ich vor ungefähr einem Jahr die The Three-Body Problem Trilogie von Cixin Liu las, war ich von den Ideen und der Reichweite der Geschichte absolut begeistert. Seitdem habe ich kein neues Buch gefunden, was mit annähernd großen Konzepten hantiert. Bis zu Children Of Time.</p>
<p>Die Grundgeschichte in Kurz: Die Menschheit ist so weit entwickelt, dass sie andere Planeten terraformen kann. Eines kommt zum anderen, ein Teil der Menschheit ist mit dem anderen nicht zufrieden, Krieg, alle tot. Auf einem der Planeten tut die Evolution allerdings ihr Übriges und es entwickelt sich eine Spinnenart, die auf sehr menschliche Art intelligent wird.</p>
<p>Da sich die ganze Geschichte über Jahrtausende erstreckt, findet sich irgendwann eines der Letzte-Rettung-Archeschiffe der Menschheit im gleichen System wie der Spinnenplanet wieder und ein großes Drama entwickelt sich.</p>
<p>Ich will keine der interessanten Ideen vorwegnehmen, aber wenn man auf SciFi, Worldbuilding und gute Bücher steht, kann dieses auf jeden Fall als eine absolute Empfehlung herhalten. Freue mich sehr auf den zweiten Teil.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Die unertr&#228;gliche Leichtigkeit des Seins by Milan Kundera</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 23 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/die-unertraegliche-leichtigkeit-des-seins-milan-kundera</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/die-unertraegliche-leichtigkeit-des-seins-milan-kundera</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Einige Buchtitel sind so berühmt, dass sie in mir eine völlig grundlose Antipathie gegen das Buch auslösen. Die ist auf nichts außer der Tatsache begründet, dass ich den Titel schon zu oft gehört habe. Zum Glück gibt es Menschen in meinem Leben, die mich dann überzeugen ihnen trotzdem eine Chance zu geben.</p>
<p>Was für ein Roman! Stilistisch wunderschön und besonders. Es gibt einen Erzähler, der ganz ungewöhnlich erzählt als wäre er der Autor des Buches. Es gibt verschiedene Handlungsstränge, die initial stark verschlungen, aber dann abrupt getrennt werden und auch nicht wieder zusammenfinden. Wie gesagt. Sehr besonders. Dass teilweise 10 Seiten am Stück philosophische Gedanken Platz finden, die witzig und intelligent sind, aber nur am Rande zur eigentlichen Geschichte gehören, hat mir auch sehr gut gefallen.</p>
<p>Es geht um Liebe und Freiheit. Darum, dass jede Entscheidung für etwas auch eine Entscheidung gegen unendlich viele Dinge ist, von denen man nicht mal ahnen, kann, dass sie Teil der Entscheidung waren. Und – entgegen der Aussage des Autoren, der aus irgendeinem Grund der Meinung ist, dass es sich hierbei nicht um ein politisches Werk handelt – es geht um Politik. Insbesondere darum, was kommunistische Diktaturen mit Menschen machen und inwiefern im Leid trotzdem ein Leben stattfinden kann, das die einzelnen nicht als Albtraum verstehen.</p>
<p>Fantastisch.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Dune by Frank Herbert</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/dune-frank-herbert</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/dune-frank-herbert</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Meine Erwartung war, dass ich Dune lese und dann zu den Personen gehören kann, die endlos davon schwärmen, wie sehr dieses Buch aus 1965 den Weg für moderne Science Fiction bereitet hat. Das ist leider nicht eingetreten.</p>
<p>Anfangs war ich ganz angetan. Sehr dekorative Sprache und teils indirektes Storytelling, das einem erst mehr Fragen als Antworten mitgibt. Erinnerte mich ein bisschen an A Song Of Ice And Fire. Wo letzteres aber mit der Zeit interessanter, komplexer und fantastischer wird, hat mich Dune zum Ende hin so sehr genervt, dass ich die letzten 100 Seiten übersprungen und die Zusammenfassung des Endes auf Wikipedia nachgelesen habe.</p>
<ul>
<li>Die ständigen inneren Monologe sind furchtbar.</li>
<li>Die mäandernden Beschreibungen irgendwelcher Felsformationen sind das langweiligste was jemals zu Papier gebracht wurde.</li>
<li>Alle Charaktere sind unsympathisch oder völlig verachtenswert. Warum ist die Mutter… so wie sie ist. Ekelhaft.</li>
<li>Irgendwie schwingt ein genereller rassistischer Unterton in der Geschichte mit</li>
</ul>
<p>Das ist alles ärgerlich. Die Welt hat so viel Potential. Eigentlich will ich mehr über alles erfahren, aber der Weg rechtfertigt nicht das Ziel.</p>
<p>Ja. Nee.</p><br>★☆☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Essentialism by Greg McKeown</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 09 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/essentialism-greg-mckeown</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/essentialism-greg-mckeown</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Zugegeben: Die Buchauswahl war an sich bereits fehlerhaft. Irgendwann hat Cal Newport es in seinem Podcast erwähnt, ich schrieb es auf meine Liste und las es dann. Dabei hätte ich auch fünf Sekunden überlegen und zum Ergebnis kommen können, dass ich keine Schwierigkeiten damit habe zu entscheiden, worauf es mir ankommt.</p>
<p>Das ist auch der Inhalt des Buches. Tipps, wie man für sich und für die Firma, die man vielleicht leitet, entscheidet, worauf es ankommt. Also wirklich substantiell ankommt, nicht nur kurzfristig. Das macht das Buch vermutlich sogar ganz gut, zumindest fand ich keine Stelle, der ich tatsächlich widersprach.</p>
<p>Brauchte ich allerdings nicht.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Company Of One by Paul Jarvis</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 08 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/company-of-one-paul-jarvis</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/company-of-one-paul-jarvis</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Dieses Buch kann sicher vielen Leuten dabei helfen zu verstehen, dass man als einzelne Person oder kleines Team ein profitables und auch sonst erfolgreiches Unternehmen gründen kann. Mir half es nicht.</p>
<p>Meine Erwartung an das Buch war eine andere, glaube ich. Alles, was gesagt wird, wusste ich schon, glaubte ich schon lange und habe ich im Kern vor langer Zeit verstanden. Daher war mein Leseerlebnis anfangs viel Kopfnicken aus Zustimmung, dann viel Kopfnicken, weil ich vor Langeweile einschlief.</p>
<p>Nichts für mich.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Supernova Era by Cixin Liu</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-supernova-era-cixin-liu</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-supernova-era-cixin-liu</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Huch. Liu Cixin hat mit The Three-Body Problem eine der besten SciFi Trilogien geschrieben, die ich jemals las. The Supernova Era, eine Geschichte die auf einem Entwurf von vor 30 Jahren basiert, ist so schlecht, dass dieser Kontrast nur als gutes Argument dafür sehen kann, dass Übung tatsächlich den Meister macht.</p>
<p>Niemand sollte dieses Buch lesen, dementsprechend verrate ich jetzt die gesamte Story, die in der Theorie viel Potential bietet: Eine Supernova sorgt dafür, dass die Erde bestrahlt wird und alle Menschen über 13 in rund einem Jahr sterben werden. Die Menschheit bereitet sich also darauf vor den Planeten an die Kinder zu übergeben.</p>
<p>Das erste Viertel ist interessant genug und beschreibt die Probleme der Erwachsenen, ihren Kindern verschiedene Berufe nahezubringen. Danach geht es allerdings steil bergab.</p>
<p>Die Kinder sind, nachdem alle Erwachsenen gestorben sind, gleichzeitig sehr klug und absolut dämlich. Führen intensive Gespräche über Geopolitik, während sie nur Eiscreme essen wollen.</p>
<p>Ein Viertel des Buches geht es um irgendwelche langweiligen Militäraktionen in der Antarktis, die zu den langweiligsten Dingen gehören, die ich jemals gelesen habe.</p>
<p>Der Schreibstil ist schlimm. Sehr schlimm. Es gibt keinen Spannungsbogen, keine guten Charaktere und keine Momente, die positiv in Erinnerung bleiben.</p>
<p>Am Ende, 30 Jahre nach dem Aussterben der Erwachsenen, stellt sich heraus, dass die Geschichte aus der Sicht einer Person geschrieben wurde, die auf einem anderen Planeten lebt, weil die Kinder offenbar dafür gesorgt haben, dass das Bewohnen anderer Planeten möglich ist. Wie es dazu kam? Wird nicht erzählt.</p>
<p>Hard nope.</p><br>★☆☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Test by Sylvain Neuvel</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 29 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-test-sylvain-neuvel</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-test-sylvain-neuvel</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wenn jemand denkt, dass das hier nicht zu der Liste gelesener Bücher für 2020 zählt, weil es nur 110 Seiten hat, hat die Person sich aber geschnitten. Es zählt. So.</p>
<p>Die Geschichte ist so kurz, dass ich sie nicht groß zusammenfassen will, aber es ist eine Dark-Mirror-esque Kurzgeschichte, in der eine Person einen Einbürgerungstest über sich ergehen lässt, der viele ethische Fragen aufwirft. Lesenswert, kurzweilig und wie gesagt, kaum Zeitaufwand.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Tabu by Ferdinand von Schirach</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/tabu-ferdinand-von-schirach</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/tabu-ferdinand-von-schirach</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wenn ich etwas nicht leiden kann, dann sind es möchtegern-tiefgründige Kunstprojekte, die wirken als hätte sie sich irgendein HTK Student in seinem zweiten Semester ausgedacht. Tabu hat, warum auch immer, einen Protagonisten, der Kunst auf diesem Niveau erzeugt und… ugh.</p>
<p>Achtung, ich verrate die gesamte Handlung und den völlig vorhersehbaren Plottwist des Buches: Künstler mit ganz schrecklich bewegter Vergangenheit tut so als hätte er jemanden umgebracht um den Rechtsstaat vorzuführen. Was ist Schuld? Was ist Kunst?? Tragen wir nicht alle eine Maske??? So deep.</p>
<p>War Quatsch.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Only Humans by Sylvain Neuvel</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/only-humans-sylvain-neuvel</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/only-humans-sylvain-neuvel</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Teil drei der „Themis Files“ Serie. Ehrlich gesagt habe ich keine sehr ausgeprägte Meinung zu diesem Buch. Es ist das Ende der Geschichte aus Teil 1 und 2. Es ist ein okayes Ende und der Weg dahin war auch in Ordnung.</p>
<p>Kein Meisterwerk, aber auch nicht nicht schlecht. Eine stabile Qualität, die mich bei der Stange gehalten hat. Alles, was ich über die eigentliche Geschichte sagen könnte, wäre ein zu großer Spoiler, aber insgesamt wird die Frage behandelt: Was wäre wenn unsere Gruppe aus Protagonisten auf etwas alberne Weise auf einen fremden Planeten teleportiert werden würde?</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/waking-gods-sylvain-neuvel</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/waking-gods-sylvain-neuvel</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Teil zwei der „Themis Files“, wie die Serie offenbar genannt wird. Weiterhin kurzweilig. Weiterhin nicht besonders gut geschrieben, aber voller guter Ideen.</p>
<p>Dieses Mal: Was wäre wenn ein gigantischer Killerroboter in einer der bevölkerungsreichsten Städte Westeuropas auftaucht? Direkt an die Geschehnisse des ersten Teil anknüpfend, mochte ich, wie zwischen geopolitischen Abläufen und privaten Problemen der Charaktere eine Welt entsteht, die machte, dass ich während der Lesepausen weiter darüber nachdenken wollte.</p>
<p>Mehr vom gleichen, was es ein bisschen weniger erfrischend als Teil 1 machte.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 21 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/sleeping-giants-sylvain-neuvel</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/sleeping-giants-sylvain-neuvel</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Gute SciFi-Geschichten haben meiner Meinung nach zwei Standbeine, die getrennt voneinander ausreichen können um ein gutes Buch zu erzeugen. Das eine ist gute Sprache, das andere sind gute Ideen. Wenn Autoren das kombinieren können: Umso besser.</p>
<p>Sleeping Giants (und die folgenden zwei Teile der Serie) sind nicht besonders gut geschrieben. Aber die Welt und Ideen haben mich so gut unterhalten, dass ich alle drei Bücher in einer Woche las.</p>
<p>In Sleeping Giants findet die Menschheit einen vor 3000 Jahren vergrabenen, gigantischen Roboter, der technologisch weit über alles hinausgeht, was die Menschheit aktuell in der Lage ist zu bauen. Das wirft natürlich Fragen und Machtgefälle auf, die es vorher nicht gab.</p>
<p>Fantastische „Was wäre wenn“ Prämisse in kurzweiligem Dialog-Format aufgeschrieben.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Children Of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 19 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/children-of-ruin-adrian-tchaikovsky</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/children-of-ruin-adrian-tchaikovsky</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Der Nachfolger von Children Of Time hat mir auch sehr gut gefallen. Children Of Ruin knüpft an das Ende von Children Of Time an, soweit man das von einer Geschichte, die sich über Jahrtausende erstreckt sagen kann.</p>
<p>Die Menge an abgefahrenen Ideen nimmt auch im zweiten Teil nicht ab. Neben intelligenten Spinnen wird eine Oktopus-Zivilisation und eine weitere Lebensform eingeführt, die ich nicht verraten will. Die daraus entstehenden Schwierigkeiten sind, worum es in diesem Buch geht. Hat Spaß gemacht. Gerne wieder.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Small World by Martin Suter</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/small-world-martin-suter</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/small-world-martin-suter</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Jemand schrieb mir eine E-Mail und dankte mir dafür, dass er dieses Buch durch meinen Blog gefunden hat. Das wird euch überraschen, weil das hier ja der Eintrag zum Buch ist, ich es dementsprechend vorher noch nicht las. Ja. Hat mich auch überrascht. Muss ein anderer Blog gewesen sein. Das war für mich aber ein guter Anreiz das ganze als versehentliche Empfehlung zu verstehen.</p>
<p>Nicht völlig irrelevant: Das war mein erstes Buch von Diogenes und ich bin vom Objekt ganz angetan. Tolles Format, tolles Papier, tolle Typografie. Hat mir gefallen.</p>
<p>Die Geschichte war okay. Weder hat sie mich gestört, noch hat sie mich sehr mitgenommen. Eine solide Geschichte über einen Mann, der an Alzheimer leidet. Drumherum entspannt sich eine ein wenig fadenscheinige Dramatik mit einem Twist, den ich aus weiter Ferne habe kommen sehen.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 How the World Thinks by Julian Baggini</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/how-the-world-thinks-julian-baggini</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/how-the-world-thinks-julian-baggini</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Die Unterüberschrift des Buches ist „A Global History of Philosophy“, was eine gute Beschreibung des Inhalts ist. Baggini betreibt „vergleichende Philosophie“ und schaut sich an, wie die Ursprünge und Unterschiede verschiedener Philosophieformen sich aufeinander auswirken.</p>
<p>Dieses Buch ist ein typischer Fall von „schrecklich interessant, aber leider unangenehm“. Ja, ich will wissen, was die indischen, chinesischen, japanischen und türkischen philosophischen Fundamente sind und wie sie herangezogen werden können um unser heutiges Verhalten zu erklären. Nein, ich möchte dabei nicht das Gefühl haben die Doktorarbeit von jemandem zu lesen.</p>
<p>Guter Inhalt. Schlechte UX.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Auschwitz: A Doctor&#8217;s Eyewitness Account by Miklos Nyiszli</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/auschwitz-a-doctors-eyewitness-account-miklos-nyiszli</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/auschwitz-a-doctors-eyewitness-account-miklos-nyiszli</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Dieses Buch wurde in einer Fußnote in Das Verschwinden des Josef Mengele erwähnt und von mir im Handumdrehen bestellt. Ein Augenzeugenbericht eines Arztes, der ungefähr ein Jahr lang in Auschwitz für Mengele Leichen seziert hat.</p>
<p>Jede Form der Beschreibung der Ungeheuerlichkeiten, die in deutschen Konzentrationslagern stattgefunden haben ist immer wieder schockierend. Das hier ist bei weitem nicht mein erstes Buch, das ich zu diesem Thema lese, aber es ist genau so besonders, wie jedes andere. Was in den Lagern stattgefunden hat ist so unbegreiflich, dass keine Beschreibung dem vermutlich jemals gerecht werden kann. Weshalb man es der Erinnerung schuldig ist, möglichst viele dieser Beschreibungen zu lesen.</p>
<p>Jeder kann und sollte die Zeit finden diese 200 Seiten zu lesen.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Das Evangelium der Aale by Patrik Svensson</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/das-evangelium-der-aale-patrik-svensson</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/das-evangelium-der-aale-patrik-svensson</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Offenbar ist der Mix aus Fisch-Informationen und halber Autobiografie jetzt ein Genre und nichts macht mich glücklicher. Eine Freundin hat die Existenz dieses Buches in einem Nebensatz erwähnt und ich rannte noch am selben Tag los um es zu kaufen. Aale!</p>
<p>Wie beim Autoren selbst, spielen Aale in meinem Leben eine große Rolle. Viele Sommer meiner Jugend verbrachte ich mit meinen Großeltern an der Nordsee. Wattwürmer sammeln und dann Aale angeln. Ob von der Küste, oder von einem Boot, am Ende landeten sie nach dem Töten und Ausnehmen entweder in der Pfanne, oder später im Räucherofen. Köstlich. Noch heute ist Räucheraal meistens unsere primäre Speise an Heiligabend.</p>
<p>Patrik Svensson beleuchtet einerseits, warum Aale ganz besondere Tiere sind. Keine Spoiler, aber wenn man nicht viel über sie weiß, aber in irgendeiner Form Interesse aufbringen kann, wird dieses Buch mindblowing sein. Selbst ich, jemand, der schon recht viel Aalwissen hatte, aber nicht allwissend war, habe noch sehr viele Aal-Facts aufgreifen können, die unendlich interessant waren.</p>
<p>Andererseits spricht er über sein Verhältnis zu seinem Vater und wie der Aal sie als Thema zusammenschweißte und wie viel davon er erst nach seines Vaters ableben verstanden hat.</p>
<p>Ich nahm leider mit, dass Aale vom Aussterben bedroht sind. Eine Information, die ich noch mit der Tatsache, dass Aal sehr lecker ist, abgleichen muss. Aber scheinbar überlegt die EU Aalfang ganz zu verbieten. Fände ich gut. Und schlecht. Aber auch gut.<br />
‍Nachtrag aus 2021: Kaum ein Buch hat mich mit so vielen Fun Facts zurückgelassen, die ich noch über ein Jahr später gerne mit Leuten teile.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Das Verschwinden des Josef Mengele by Olivier Guez</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 21 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/das-verschwinden-des-josef-mengele-olivier-guez</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/das-verschwinden-des-josef-mengele-olivier-guez</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ganz schwierig. Einerseits ein Buch voller interessanter Fakten über das Verbleiben von Mengele nach Ende des 2. Weltkriegs. Andererseits ein völlig misslungener Versuch aus diesen Fakten einen Roman zu zimmern.</p>
<p>Mengeles Gräueltaten und sein jahrzehntelanges Verschwinden sind Themen, die in mir schon seit Jahren immer wieder eine morbide Faszination auslösen. Wie konnte es sein, dass einer der größten Verbrecher des Krieges so lange nicht gefunden wurde?</p>
<p>Guez beschreibt Mengeles Nachkriegsleben. Basierend auf realen Fakten wird eine Geschichte um Charaktere gesponnen, die so hätte echt passieren können. Allerdings vermutlich nicht in den Details so passiert ist.</p>
<p>Zwischendurch driftet der Roman vollkommen ins Sachbuch-Format ab und beschreibt einige Kapitel lang die geopolitischen Abläufe der Jahre nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg. Interessant, allerdings völlig unpassend zum Rest des Buches.</p>
<p>Weiß nicht. Merkwürdig, aber interessant. Nicht gut, aber nicht schlecht.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 17 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/things-we-lost-in-the-fire-mariana-enriquez</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/things-we-lost-in-the-fire-mariana-enriquez</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Aus der Reihe: Bücher, die ich mir niemals selbst gekauft hätte, aber als Geschenk ihren Weg auf meinen Lesestapel gefunden haben und deren Lektüre mich bereicherte.</p>
<p>Ich habe das Gefühl, dass ich nicht wirklich die richtigen Worte finden werde, um dieses Buch zu beschreiben, also versuche ich es mit einer ungeordneten Liste von Meinungen:</p>
<ul>
<li>Alle Kurzgeschichten spielen in Argentinien, oder anderen Teilen von Südamerika und ich bilde mir ein durch sie ein wenig vom Lebensgefühl der verschiedenen Protagonisten gespürt zu haben.</li>
<li>Klügere Leute bezeichnen den Stil als Gothic Horror, aber ich weiß nicht, was das bedeutet. Für mich waren es Geschichten, die zwar leicht spoopy, aber auf keinen Fall wirklich gruselig waren.</li>
<li>Am Ende las ich es als Buch über Mental Health Themen und wie Leute im Umfeld von leidenden Personen und die leidenden Personen selbst mit den daraus resultierenden Problemen und den fehlenden Möglichkeiten des Staats umgehen.</li>
<li>Es hat mir gefallen. Ich bin weiterhin kein Fan von Kurzgeschichtensammlungen, glaube ich, aber diese waren kurzweilig, interessant und genug einen Einblick in eine andere Kultur verschaffend, dass ich das Gefühl hatte etwas mitnehmen zu können.</li>
</ul><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
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                    <title>📚 Miss Peregrine&#8217;s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 13 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/miss-peregrines-home-for-peculiar-children-ransom-riggs</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/miss-peregrines-home-for-peculiar-children-ransom-riggs</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Als ich testen wollte, ob das Horror-Genre etwas für mich ist, spuckte meine naive Suche nach „Best Horror Books“ unter anderem „Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children“ aus. Insgeheim mache ich für dieses Unglück also Google verantwortlich. Wozu füttere ich die seit Jahren mit meinen privatesten Daten, wenn so ein Schwachsinn dabei rauskommt.</p>
<p>Ich habe nichts gegen Young Adult Geschichten. Aber ich hab etwas gegen Geschichten, die schlecht geschriebene Charaktere, schlecht geschriebene Zeitreisen und schlecht geschriebene Romanzen zwischen 85-Jährigen in Körpern von 16 Jährigen haben, die mit dem Enkel ihres Exfreundes rummachen.</p>
<p>Absolut keine Lust noch mehr über dieses Buch zu schreiben. Diese Rezension sagt alles, was man wissen will.</p>
<p>Metakommentar zu Bewertungen: Dachte zuerst, dass ich diesem Buch zwei Sterne geben sollte, allerdings konnte ich dann nicht beantworten, wann ich jemals nur einen Stern vergeben würde. Wäre das Buch minimal schlechter gewesen, hätte ich es einfach abgebrochen und es wäre hier nie aufgetaucht.</p><br>★☆☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Ethics in the Real World by Peter Singer</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 11 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/ethics-in-the-real-world-peter-singer</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/ethics-in-the-real-world-peter-singer</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Peter Singer war in einer Folge Hidden Brain zu Gast und hatte Meinungen, die ich nachvollziehen und respektieren konnte. Vorher kannte ich ihn nicht, aber offenbar ist er ein relativ bekannter Philosoph, der sich selbst als Utilitarist bezeichnet. Nach der Folge wollte ich herausfinden, ob ich vielleicht auch in meinen Meinungen zu vielen Themen als Utilitarist bezeichnet werden könnte, oder mich selbst bezeichnen würde und kaufte eines seiner Bücher.</p>
<p>Der Titel hätte mich direkt verdächtig werden lassen sollen. Natürlich kann ein Buch, das 82 Essays auf knapp 330 Seiten behandelt, keine sonderlich tiefgründigen Essays beinhalten. Im Schnitt ist jeder rund 4 Seiten lang, gibt ein kurzes Intro zu einem Thema, das in der Zeit des Schreibens relevant war und dann eine kurze Meinung von Singer.</p>
<p>Ich fand seine Meinung meistens nachvollziehbar und klug. Allerdings lernte ich nicht wirklich viel über Utilitarismus. Oder über irgendwas anderes. Dafür gab die Länge der Texte einfach nicht genug her. Schade.</p>
<p>Generell nicht das beste Buch, weil es nur Reprints von Texten enthält, die er an anderen Orten als vergängliche Kommentare zu aktuellen Situationen veröffentlichte. Auf jeden Fall auch das falsche Buch für die Fragen, die ich hatte.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Acht Tage im Mai by Volker Ullrich</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 07 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/acht-tage-im-mai-volker-ullrich</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/acht-tage-im-mai-volker-ullrich</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Es gibt kaum Ausstellungen zum 2. Weltkrieg, die ich in Berlin noch nicht angeschaut habe. Generell ist alles um den Aufstieg und den Fall des dritten Reiches eines meiner Lieblingsthemen. Daher war ich überrascht, wie viel Neues ich in Acht Tage im Mai lernte.</p>
<p>Ullrich beschreibt grundsätlich die Ereignisse des Zeitraums vom 1. Mai 1945 bis zum 8. Mai 1945, aber macht auch darüber hinaus zeitliche Exkurse, die helfen den Kontext der komplexen Abläufe zu verstehen, die in dieser kurzen Zeit stattgefunden haben.</p>
<p>Sehr wenig von den beschriebenen Ereignissen waren mir bewusst. Ich wusste nicht, wer nach Hitlers Selbstmord die Regierungsverantwortung überschrieben bekommen hat, oder was aus dem Typen dann wurde. Ich wusste nicht, dass versucht wurde eine Teilkapitulation mit der Westfront zu erringen, damit der Krieg an der Ostfront noch länger weitergeführt werden konnte. Tatsächlich war dieses 250 Seiten Buch so sehr gefüllt mit für mich neuen Infos, dass ich überrascht bin, wie ich vorher nicht schon auf etwas stieß, dass diesen Zeitraum entsprechend ausführlich beleuchtete. Unglaublich interessant.</p>
<p>Ich hatte ein wenig Angst, dass es ganz trocken, langweilig und schwer nachvollziehbar geschrieben sein würde, allerdings war es das Gegenteil. Gut strukturiert, gut formuliert, keine unnötig semiintellektuell verschwurbelten Satzkonstrukte. Das ganze ist gespickt mit Beobachtungen verschiedener Zeitzeugen. Besonders die Tagebucheinträge von “normalen” Leuten empfand ich als spannenden Kontrast zu den geopolitischen Dramen, die sich zu der Zeit abspielten.</p>
<p>Ullrich schafft es außerdem an den richtigen Stellen immer wieder Dinge ins rechte (ha!) Licht zu rücken. Am Ende des Buches wird zum Beispiel präzise beschrieben, dass der Drang zur Verdrängung der Geschehnisse bei den Deutschen direkt nach der Kapitulation einsetzte. Alle Hakenkreuze verschwanden und niemand war in 12 Jahren Nationalsozialismus jemals Teil des Problems gewesen. Dass unsere Erinnerungskultur sehr frisch ist, führt einem noch mal vor Augen, wie wertlos die “Jetzt ist ja auch mal gut, das Thema ist durch!” Einstellung einiger Idioten ist.</p>
<p>Das Schlusswort des Buches ist so schön, dass ich es euch nicht vorenthalten möchte:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Neben all der Zerstörung, der Selbstgerechtigkeit und der Unfähigkeit zu trauern zeigten sich so schon erste zarte Knospen des Neubeginns. Doch es sollte noch dauern, bis die Demokratie, die unter Anleitung von Amerikanern, Briten und Franzosen reimplantiert wurde, in der Bevölkerung der Westzonen Wurzeln schlug. Man muss sich das Ausmaß der Verheerungen, der materiellen wie moralischen, vor Augen halten, um zu begreifen, wie unwahrscheinlich dies am 8. Mai 1945 erscheinen musste und welche Errungenschaft es bedeutet, heute in einem stabilen, freiheitlichen und friedlichen Land leben zu können. Vielleicht ist es an der Zeit daran zu erinnern.</p>
</blockquote><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes-suzanne-collins</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes-suzanne-collins</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Dieser Text wird Spoiler zum neuen Hunger Games Buch „The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes“ enthalten. Sowohl zur original Trilogie als auch zur Handlung des aktuellen Buches. Nach dem Bild geht es so richtig los. Dies ist eine offizielle Warnung. Aber vorweg: Ich fand das Buch nicht so wirklich gut.</p>
<p>Das war ja wohl nichts. Die Originalbücher habe ich geliebt. Tolle Welt, tolle Charaktere, tolle Storyline. Die Idee die Hintergrundgeschichte von Präsident Snow zu erzählen, gefiel mir in der Theorie auch. Mir gefällt sogar die Geschichte, die „The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes“ erzählt. Allerdings wird sie einfach nicht gut erzählt.</p>
<p>Snow ist unsympathisch und ein Psychopath. Keine große Überraschung, wenn man bedenkt, was er später wird. Allerdings macht es keinen Spaß einen Protagonisten zu haben, der irgendwie gleichzeitig Antagonist ist, weil man ihn nie wirklich leiden kann. Trotzdem wirkt es, als würde das Buch versuchen ihn sympathisch wirken zu lassen. Aber natürlich auch nicht zu sehr, damit später nicht zu überraschend ist, dass er allen in den Rücken fällt und ein Arsch ist.</p>
<p>Ich mochte, dass mir mehr von der Welt gezeigt und erklärt wurde. Man erfährt einiges über die Geschichte der Hunger Games und wie Dinge, die man aus den später spielenden Büchern kennt, entstanden sind. Eigentlich eine gute Erweiterung der Welt. Diese spannenden Informationen sind allerdings in einer Geschichte verpackt, die weder spannend, nett oder emotional ist. Jeder Twist ist um drei Ecken zu erwarten, die Sekundärcharaktere sind flach und einige aufgemachte Storylines bleiben einfach unbeendet.</p>
<p>Sehr schade. Vielleicht wird der Film besser.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 31 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-man-in-the-high-castle-philip-k-dick</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-man-in-the-high-castle-philip-k-dick</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ich musste tatsächlich etwas online recherchieren um am Ende zu verstehen, was dieses Buch mir sagen wollte. Es war außerdem relativ anstrengend geschrieben und unterm Strich vielleicht nur die Mühe wert, weil ich jetzt an der Serie zum Buch interessiert bin.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
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                    <title>📚 Why Fish Don&#039;t Exist by Lulu Miller</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 31 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/why-fish-dont-exist</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/why-fish-dont-exist</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
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                    <title>📚 Ein Ganzes Leben by Robert Seethaler</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 25 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/ein-ganzes-leben-robert-seethaler</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/ein-ganzes-leben-robert-seethaler</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Auf Goodreads kritisieren einige Leute dieses Buch dafür, dass der Protagonist keine besondere Figur mit besonderen Erlebnissen und Ansichten ist. Mir gefiel genau das sehr gut.</p>
<p>Ein ganzes Leben. Von Anfang bis Ende. Ein Leben, wie es seine realistischen Höhepunkte und Tiefen präsentiert. Nichts davon wirkt bombastisch, alles allerdings echt und greifbar. Geschichten entwickeln nicht nur einen Wert, wenn die Geschehnisse außergewöhnlich sind. Sage ich mal so.</p>
<p>Hat mir gut gefallen. Kurz, präzise, schön. Nichts zu meckern.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Creativity Code by Marcus du Sautoy</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-creativity-code-marcus-du-sautoy</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-creativity-code-marcus-du-sautoy</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Eine Mogelpackung in Buchform. Als Sachbuch darüber, inwiefern AI kreativ sein kann verkauft, ist es am Ende mehr ein Buch über Mathematik als alles andere.</p>
<p>Mir ist schon klar, dass es sich bei AI und Algorithmen primär um Mathematik handelt, aber ich hätte nicht erwartet, dass sich ganze Kapitel um die Geschichte von Mathematik, die Entdeckung von Primzahlen und die mögliche Schönheit von Gleichungen und mathematischen Herleitungen drehen.</p>
<p>Nach einem ganz interessanten Anfang habe ich zum Ende hin dutzende Seiten nur grob überflogen.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit by Sten Nadolny</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 19 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/die-entdeckung-der-langsamkeit-sten-nadolny</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/die-entdeckung-der-langsamkeit-sten-nadolny</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wenn man historische Romane als invertiertes Science Fiction betrachtet, kommt man schnell zum Ergebnis, dass sie sich eine Scheibe von der SciFi-Nutzerfreundlichkeit abschneiden sollten.</p>
<p>Bin ich Seefahrer, der Freude daran empfindet wenn ihm hunderte nautische Begriffe um die Ohren geworfen werden? Nein. Bin ich Wissenschaftler aus dem Jahr 2382, der versteht wie ein Space Elevator funktionieren würde? Auch nicht. Aber wenn unbekannte Konzepte in SciFi-Büchern erwähnt werden, dann auf eine Art, die erklärend und faszinierend ist. Historische Romane setzen häufig voraus, dass man sich in der Zeit und Themen zurechtfindet. Was die ersten 100 Seiten von Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit für mich zu einer Qual machten.</p>
<p>Mal davon abgesehen, dass diese Ausgabe überraschend viele Grammatik- und Tippfehler aufweist, kam ich anfangs so gar nicht in die Geschichte. Seefahrt! Voll spannend. Eine halbe Seite Beobachtungen irgendwelcher Segel, Taue und Bereiche eines Schiffes, die alle ausschließlich mit ihren nautischen Namen erwähnt werden: Nicht so spannend!</p>
<p>Eigentlich ärgerlich. Das Konzept historischer Roman gefällt mir gut. Die gesamte Geschichte dieses Buches basiert auf echten Ereignissen und ich mag, dass man so grobes Halbwissen über Dinge in der echten Welt erfährt, während man gut unterhalten einer Geschichte folgt. Die eigentliche Geschichte des Protagonisten ist auch absolut faszinierend. Die Form hat mir allerdings bis zum Ende nicht gefallen. Erklärt auch, warum ich ganze 9 Tage für dieses 350 Seiten Buch gebraucht habe.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Dogs Of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/dogs-of-war-adrian-tchaikovsky</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/dogs-of-war-adrian-tchaikovsky</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Hätte ich dieses Buch im Laden entdeckt, die Rückseite gelesen und dann entscheiden müssen, ob ich es kaufen und ganz konsumieren wollen würde, wäre die Antwort „Nein. Absolut nicht. Nie im Leben.“ gewesen. Aber es wurde mir von einer Person empfohlen, die Geschmack hat und so kaufte und las ich es.</p>
<p>Die Rückseite und auch einige Kapitel des Buches sind aus der Sicht eines Hundes geschrieben. Ja, ein genetisch und technologisch modifizierter Kriegshund, der als Soldat der Zukunft benutzt wird, aber trotzdem ein Hund. Und aus der Sicht von Tieren schreiben eigentlich nur unerträgliche Haustierbesitzer auf Instagram.</p>
<p>Diese Kapitel waren bis zum Ende nicht unbedingt meine Favoriten, aber sie wurden weniger unerträglich. Die gesamte Geschichte dreht sich um einen ganzen Haufen moralischer, ethischer und gesellschaftlicher Fragen und ich muss zugeben, dass die Sicht des Hundes durchaus dem ganzen etwas gab, das sonst gefehlt hätte.</p>
<p>Good Book. Good Dog.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                            <item>
                    <title>📚 Tschick by Wolfgang Herndorf</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/tschick-wolfgang-herndorf</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/tschick-wolfgang-herndorf</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Tschick ist so ein Buch, das ich 99 Mal empfohlen bekam, mich irgendwie mit jeder neuen Empfehlung mehr dagegen sträubte und die hundertste hat dann den Rücken des Kamels gebrochen. Um hier mal eine amerikanische Redewendung einzudeutschen.</p>
<p>Für mich war es jetzt nicht unbedingt eine augenöffnende Offenbarung. Eine nette, streckenweise sprachlich sehr schöne Roadtrip-Geschichte, ja. Allerdings war der Plot teilweise so sehr an den Haaren herbeigezogen, dass es mehr wie ein Fiebertraum als eine Sache wirkte, die tatsächlich so hätte passieren können.</p>
<p>Kurzweilig. Las es gestern. Also wortwörtlich. 250 Seiten, die man flott hinter sich bringen kann. Es war unterhaltsam und man kann wenig falsch machen, wenn man es jemandem empfiehlt. Allerdings hat es mich mit nichts zurückgelassen.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Qube by Tom Hillenbrand</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/qube-tom-hillenbrand</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/qube-tom-hillenbrand</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Die in Hologrammatica angefangene Geschichte wird in Qube weitererzählt Zwar nicht zeitlich direkt im Anschluss, aber inhaltlich relativ lückenlos.</p>
<p>Auch Qube gefiel mir sehr gut. Das einzige, was mich minimal störte war, dass die Anzahl neuer Ideen im direkten Vergleich zum Vorgänger stark zurückging. Stattdessen wird die in Hologrammatica angefangene Geschichte mittels der bestehenden Idee-Bausteinen weitererzählt. Das ist nicht unbedingt eine schlechte Sache, aber mich begeistern bei SciFi Geschichten in erster Linie neue Konzepte. Jetzt blieb „nur noch“ die eigentliche Handlung.</p>
<p>Was die Storyline angeht, bin ich sehr angetan von Hillenbrands Fähigkeit sowohl das große Ganze zu beschreiben, einem einen Einblick darin zu geben, wie die Welt funktioniert, als auch in verschiedenen Detailgraden kleinere Elemente zu beleuchten. Das funktionierte im ersten Teil schon gut und im zweiten wurde es noch mal interessanter.</p>
<p>Ich bin Fan. Freue mich auf Teil 3.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Grit by Angela Duckworth</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/grit-angela-duckworth</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/grit-angela-duckworth</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Grit las sich, als hätte es So Good They Can‘t Ignore You als Notizengrundlage genutzt und alles noch mal ausführlich und mit vielen Beispielen aufgeschrieben.</p>
<p>Für die erste Hälfte war das eine sehr gute Leseerfahrung und ich hatte viel Spaß daran die Konzepte aus Cal Newports Buch zu vertiefen. Dann dann verlor ich allerdings alles Interesse an Geschichten von irgendwelchen Leuten, die in verschiedenen Formen „Grit“ erwiesen haben. Leider kamen immer mehr. Noch schlimmer: Ein ganzer Teil drehte sich darum, wie man seine Kinder vermeintlich richtig erzieht, damit sie Grit an den Tag legen. Dieses Wissen wird bei meinen Katzen vermutlich wenig Anwendung finden.</p>
<p>Es ist kein schlechtes Buch. Tatsächlich wäre es um 100 bis 150 Seiten gekürzt ein fünf Sterne Buch für mich. So habe ich rund ein Viertel nur grob überflogen und kann es lediglich Leuten empfehlen, die Interesse an vielen Anekdoten und Kindeserziehung, oder mehr Hoffnung als ich an die Lernfähigkeit ihrer Katzen haben.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 So Good They Can&#8216;t Ignore You by Cal Newport</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/so-good-they-cant-ignore-you-cal-newport</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/so-good-they-cant-ignore-you-cal-newport</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Damit endet meine anachronisitische Reise durch die Bibliographie von Cal Newport. Gegen „So Good They Can‘t Ignore you“ habe ich mich lange gewehrt, weil ich den Titel so dämlich finde und auch davon ausging, dass ich mit den darin erklärten Konzepten nicht einer Meinung sein würde.</p>
<p>Ich hatte Unrecht. Das ist gut, weil ich mich jetzt nicht für das lebensgroße Tattoo des Portraits von Cal Newport auf meinem Rücken schämen muss. Das ist auch gut, weil ich ein weiteres Buch gelesen habe, das mir sehr gefiel.</p>
<p>Newport erklärt, wie wir uns seit den 70ern als Gesellschaft immer mehr in die Wahnvorstellung manövriert haben, dass Passion ist, was einen Job und eine Karriere erfolgreich macht. Man muss seiner Passion folgen und schon wird alles gut. Newport erklärt, inwiefern Passion an sich absolut wertlos ist und ein Passion Mindset einem „Craftsman Mindset“, wie er es nennt, in allen belangen nachsteht.</p>
<p>Er geht natürlich mehr ins Detail als ich es hier tun werde, aber ich unterschreibe jeden Aspekt dieses Buches. Für mich war es eine Lektüre, die mir gut strukturiert erklärte, warum mein eigener Weg funktioniert. Ohne es zu wissen, habe ich in den letzten 15 Jahren gemacht, was er empfiehlt. Für die nächsten 15 Jahre hat mir aber geholfen das ganze als tatsächliches System zu verstehen, das bewusst angewendet werden kann.</p>
<p>Besonders angetan bin ich vom Konzept der Deliberate Practice. Man muss verstehen, dass tatsächlicher imposanter persönlicher Fortschritt nicht passieren kann, wenn man nicht bereit ist Arbeit zu leisten, die anstrengend und schwierig ist. Nur wer in der Lage ist, wiederholt und anhaltend dem daraus resultierenden „Mental Strain“ zu widerstehen, wächst und wird besser.</p>
<p>Loved it. Newport-Ultras unite!</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Hologrammatica by Tom Hillenbrand</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/hologrammatica-tom-hillenbrand</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/hologrammatica-tom-hillenbrand</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Eigentlich erwarte ich nichts von deutschen Produkten. Deutsche Software ist im Schnitt mindestens schlecht gestaltet. Deutsche Filme sind alle grünblau, jeder raucht und hat Krebs und deutsche SciFi Bücher sind irgendwie einfach nur ein bisschen peinlich.</p>
<p>Darum habe ich erwartet, dass Hologrammatica ein Hate-Read wird, über das ich mich hier ein bisschen lustig machen kann. Tja, Pustekuchen. Ich fand’s toll.</p>
<p>Hillenbrand erzeugt eine überraschend komplexe und spürbar “reale” Welt, von der genau richtig viel erzählt, aber auch verschwiegen wird. Die Charaktere sind besonders, die Geschichte spannend und unvorhersehbar. Hat einfach, ganz ohne große Abstriche, richtig viel Spaß gemacht. Es war nicht mindblowing und ist auch weit entfernt vom besten, was ich im Bereich gelesen habe, aber ich habe mit gutem Gewissen das zweite Buch der Serie bestellt.</p><br>★★★★☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Stillness Is The Key by Ryan Holiday</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/stillness-is-the-key-ryan-holiday</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/stillness-is-the-key-ryan-holiday</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wirkt man nicht direkt viel tiefgründiger, wenn man seine Texte mit massig rhetorischen Fragen spickt? Gibt das dem Leser einen indirekten Auftrag der Selbstreflexion? Kann ich in die Notaufnahme fahren, weil meine Augen vom ganzen Eyerolling, das ich beim Lesen von Holidays vier Millionen rhetorischer Fragen machte, überstrapaziert sind?</p>
<p>Ugh. Nachdem Kevin so viel von Ryan Holiday erzählte und ihn als “seinen Cal Newport” bezeichnete, wollte ich ihm mal eine Chance gegeben haben.<br />
Tat ich auch. Ich arbeitete mich durch ein Buch, in dem jeder einzelne Absatz eine andere Person erwähnt, die in den letzten 2000 Jahren etwas gemacht, oder gesagt hat. Jedes Kapitel endet mit möchtegern-inspirierenden Aufrufen zum Handeln. Ein Kapitel versucht einem sogar nahezulegen, dass man sich was vormacht, wenn man denkt, dass man sein Leben nicht-spirituell verbringen kann.</p>
<p>Abgesehen von der Spiritualität, was objektiv Blödsinn ist, sorry Ryan, halte ich die reinen Ratschläge des Buches für richtig. Aber ich verachte die Art, wie es aufgeschrieben wurde. Hier ist die Struktur von jedem der grob 20 Kapitel:</p>
<ol>
<li>Diese spezifische Sache ist gut und du solltest sie machen.</li>
<li>Hier ist eine Anekdote aus dem Leben irgendeiner berühmten Person.</li>
<li>So ist die Sache, die du machen sollst, mit der Anekdote und dem Erfolg dieser Person verbunden.</li>
</ol>
<p>Am Ende war ich irrational wütend auf dieses Buch. Danke, aber nein danke.</p><br>★☆☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Ride Of a Lifetime by Robert Iger</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-ride-of-a-lifetime-robert-iger</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-ride-of-a-lifetime-robert-iger</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Als großer Fan von Disney, Pixar und Marvel erwartete ich irgendwie spannende Einblicke in den kreativen Prozess der Firmen. War eine falsche Erwartung.</p>
<p>Stattdessen bekam ich eine nur selten interessante Abhandlung der Akquisitionen verschiedener Firmen und der Gespräche, die irgendwelche Milliardäre dahingehend hatten.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Educated by Tara Westover</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/educated-tara-westover</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/educated-tara-westover</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wenn Die Schärfsten Gerichte der Tatarischen Küche mich teilweise an meine Kindheit erinnerte, aber in einer Light-Version, beschreibt Educated vieles von dem, was ich auch erlebt habe, aber in der Extremvariante.</p>
<p>Es fühlt sich falsch an zu sagen, dass meine Kindheit Parallelen zu der von Tara Westover aufweist, aber es ist faktisch korrekt. Sie hat mit sehr toxischen und unangemessenen Verhaltensweisen in ihrer Familie zu kämpfen gehabt und beschreibt, wie ihr lange nicht bewusst wahr, dass die von ihr gelebte Wahrheit nicht die einzige existente Wahrheit sein muss.</p>
<p>Vieles von dem, was sie empfand und von den Gründen, warum sie es empfand, finde ich auch in meiner Erinnerung. Will gar nicht zu sehr ins Detail gehen, gehört eher in eine Therapie als in einen Blogpost, aber das Buch hat mich stark berührt. Sowohl auf einem Empathie-Level, weil sie schon ziemlich krasses Zeug durchmachen musste, als auch aus ganz albernen Selbstmitleidsgründen.</p>
<p>Am Ende kam sie aus ihrer Situation und ich auch aus meiner. Dieses Buch ist besonders. Vielleicht nur subjektiv, aber ich glaube für jeden.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/when-breath-becomes-air-paul-kalanithi</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/when-breath-becomes-air-paul-kalanithi</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>When Breath Becomes Air ist eines der Bücher, von denen ich von zehn verschiedenen Personen 10 Mal hörte, dass es sehr lesenswert sein soll. Im Zuge meiner Vorbereitungen zur Selbstisolation kaufte ich es dann endlich und stimme allen Empfehlungen zu.</p>
<p>Tod und Sterben sind Themen, denen ich bisher aus dem Weg ging. Gar nicht wegen einer irrationalen Angst vor beidem, sondern weil ich mich ungerne schlecht fühle. Am Ende des Buches vergoss ich viele Tränen, aber fühlte mich nicht unbedingt schlecht, sondern… emotional berührt. Auf eine gute Art.</p>
<p>Teile des Buches sind sehr detailliert medizinisch. Kalanithi war Arzt, daher ist das wenig überraschend. Anfangs war ich vor den Kopf gestoßen, weil ich mit vielen Begriffen nichts anfangen konnte, aber am Ende verstand ich, dass sie nötig waren um mir ein Gefühl für ihn als Person zu geben.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The God Game by Danny Tobey</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-god-game-danny-tobey</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-god-game-danny-tobey</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Eine Review, die das Buch als “Like A Black Mirror Episode” beschriebt, ließ mich meine Ohren spitzen. Allerdings ist die Geschichte aus “The God Game” genau das, was es in einer tatsächlichen Black Mirror Folge schon gibt: Was, wenn eine AI Menschen durch Erpressung steuern würde?</p>
<p>Das Buch erzählt eine gute Geschichte mit guten Charakteren. Keine Frage. Kurzweilig und trotzdem umfangreich. Tatsächlich schafft Tobey es sogar technische Konzepte zu beschreiben ohne dabei kostbare Lebenszeit zu verschwenden. Allerdings ist die Geschichte so nah am Konzept der gleichen Black Mirror Folge, dass ich alles ein wenig vorhersehbar fand. War aber gut genug, dass ich Tobey künftig weitere Chancen geben würde.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 NSA by Andreas Eschbach</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/nsa-andreas-eschbach</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/nsa-andreas-eschbach</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Das einzig gute an diesem Buch ist die dahinterliegende Idee. Was wäre, wenn im deutschen Kaiserreich die digitale Revolution schon angefangen hätte und Social Media im zweiten Weltkrieg existierte und von Hitlers Schergen eingesetzt worden wäre?</p>
<p>Eschbach beschreibt das, mehr schlecht als recht, auf rund 800 Seiten. 500 davon könnte man kürzen, in denen erklärt er lediglich, völlig grundlos, simple technische Konzepte, die der Geschichte nicht helfen. Die anderen 300 wären dann mit hölzernen Charakteren, für die man sich keine Sekunde in irgendeiner Form interessiert und schwachen Storylines gefüllt. Big oof, Andreas.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 On Writing by Stephen King</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 14 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/on-writing-stephen-king</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/on-writing-stephen-king</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Dass ich weder Pläne habe Autor zu werden, noch großer Fan von Stephen King bin, merkte ich daran, dass mir dieses Buch wenig gab.</p>
<p>Es war interessant zu erfahren wie einer der bekanntesten Autoren unserer Zeit arbeitet, klar. Die ganzen Fun Facts zu seinen, mir größtenteils unbekannten, Werken waren an mir allerdings stark verschwendet. Weiß jetzt mehr über King als Person und habe auch einige realistische Tipps zu “kreativer” Arbeit daraus mitgenommen. So richtig genossen habe ich die Lektüre allerdings nicht.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/conversations-with-friends-sally-rooney</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/conversations-with-friends-sally-rooney</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ugh. Normal People, Sally Rooneys zweites Buch, gefiel mir tatsächlich sehr gut. Die Charaktere und ihre Probleme wirkten auf eine besondere Art realistisch und die Geschichte hat mir gefallen.</p>
<p>Hätte ich Conversations With Friends vor Normal People gelesen, hätte ich es vermutlich besser gefunden und Normal People schlechter. Das liegt daran, dass die Bücher und Charaktere sich merkwürdig ähnlich sind. Es wirkt als hätte Rooney nur so fünf Schablonen für Charaktere, die sie nimmt und auf ihre Protagonisten klebt.</p>
<p>Werde vermutlich kein drittes Buch von ihr lesen.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Strafe by Ferdinand von Schirach</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/strafe-ferdinand-von-schirach</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/strafe-ferdinand-von-schirach</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Nachdem ich Der Fall Collini als Experiment las, nahm ich „Strafe“, weil ich wusste, dass es gut werden würde, spontan mit. Gäbe es einen Ferdinand Von Schirach Fanclub-Aufnäher, nähte ich ihn mir wohl an mein Hemd.</p>
<p>Habe es innerhalb von zwei Lesesessions durchgelesen. Das liegt einerseits daran, dass die 12 Kurzgeschichten sehr gut waren, aber andererseits auch daran, dass das Buch irgendwie in 18pt mit doppeltem Zeilenabstand gedruckt ist und die 200 Seiten eigentlich normalerweise 80 wären, oder so.<br />
Ich mag, dass die Geschichten von Schirach mir sowohl einen Einblick in das deutsche Justizsystem, als auch in die Abgründe der Menschlichkeit geben. Das ist ein spannender Mix.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Facebook: The Inside Story by Steven Levy</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/facebook-the-inside-story-steven-levy</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/facebook-the-inside-story-steven-levy</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Vor Jahren las ich von Steven Levy bereits In The Plex und war beeindruckt, wie viel Zugang er von Google bekam. Mit Facebook ist es genau so. Als jemand, der seit Facebooks Gründung Tech-Blogs liest, wusste ich zwar von seiner Entstehung, Gegenwart und absehbaren Zukunft, aber Levy hat so guten Zugang zu Insidern, dass die Interna dieses Buch für mich lesenswert machten.</p>
<p>Es ist eine faire Abhandlung der Erfolgsgeschichte Facebooks, die irgendwann zu der Geschichte eines Unternehmens wird, mit einer Handvoll Personen an der Spitze, das heillos überfordert mit dem ist, was es gebaut hat. Ich hätte es nicht erwartet und verstehe mich eigentlich als eine relativ wirtschaftsliberale Person, aber aus dieser Lektüre ging ich mit dem Gefühl, dass es vielleicht nicht gut ist, wenn eine einzige Firma und damit so 10 relevante Personen, einen so umfassenden Halt über die Kommunikation der Menschheit hat. Was nicht bedeutet, dass ich für Enteignungen bin. Allerdings müssen wir, als Weltbevölkerung, wohl fragen, ob maximale Connectedness so große Vorteile hat, dass die Nachteile (Leute sterben. Demokratien werden bekämpft.) aufgewogen werden.</p>
<p>Inhaltlich erste Sahne. Für mich allerdings eine mittelmäßige Leseerfahrung, weil ich eben so vieles schon wusste.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Das Gr&#246;&#223;ere Wunder by Thomas Glavinic</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 26 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/das-groessere-wunder-thomas-glavinic</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/das-groessere-wunder-thomas-glavinic</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Making of a Manager by Julia Zhuo</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 22 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-making-of-a-manager-julia-zhuo</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-making-of-a-manager-julia-zhuo</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The Making of a Manager hat mir gleichzetiig nicht besonders gut gefallen und mir sehr geholfen.</p>
<p>Einerseits fand ich es etwas flach. Die Tipps und Denkanstöße waren auf einem Level, die ich in den Bereich des gesunden Menschenverstandes einordnen würde.</p>
<p>Gleichzeitig hat Zhuo in einem einzigen Abschnitt mein gesamtes berufliches Ziel verändert. Sie erklärt, dass Management keine Beförderung, sondern ein eigener Beruf ist. Leute, die zu einer Mananagerposition befördert werden, erhalten damit also eigentlich nicht eine neue Stufe auf der Karriereleiter ihres aktuellen Berufes, sondern machen einen Schritt auf eine völlig andere Leiter. Das leuchtet mir sehr ein.</p>
<p>Sie führt den Gedanken dann noch konsequent weiter und erklärt auch, dass man als Manager:in, die auf diese Weise in den Job befördert wurde, erwarten sollte, dass man noch seine ursprünglichen Aufgaben erfüllen kann. Managementaufgaben erfordern Zeit und man muss sich damit abfinden, dass man nicht mehr Designen wird, sondern in erster Linie verwalten.</p>
<p>Abschreckend.</p>
<p>Kein schlechtes Buch, denke ich. Nur nicht das richtige Buch für mich. Selbst, wenn es mir dem oben erwähnten Abschnitt gut geholfen hat, die anderen 96 % des Buches waren für mich etwas zu seicht.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Die Sch&#228;rfsten Gerichte der Tatarischen K&#252;che by Alina Bronsky</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 18 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/die-schaerfsten-gerichte-der-tatarischen-kueche-alina-bronsky</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/die-schaerfsten-gerichte-der-tatarischen-kueche-alina-bronsky</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wenn man mit einer Mutter aufgewachsen ist, die viele der narzistischen Verwirrungen der Protagonistin abbildete, erzeugt dieses Buch eine interessante Leseerfahrung.</p>
<p>Einerseits habe ich gehasst lesen zu müssen, wie diese Person alle um sie herum terrorisierte und niemand wusste, wie man sich gegen sie wehren kann. Andererseits hat mich auf einer sehr tiefen Ebene glücklich gemacht, dass Alina Bronsky in der Lage war eine Verhaltensweise, von der ich mir lange nicht sicher war, ob ich sie mir vielleicht nur eingebildet habe, so perfekt zu beschreiben, dass ich mich „gesehen“ fühlte.</p>
<p>Als jemand, der seinen Kontakt zum persönlichen Familientyrannen abgebrochen hat, sage ich: Empfehlenswert.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Deep Work by Cal Newport</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 15 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/deep-work-cal-newport</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/deep-work-cal-newport</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Man muss Cal Newport lassen, dass sein Gesamtwerk es irgendwie schafft ein und das selbe Thema aus verschiedenen Sichtweisen zu beleuchten und damit vollumfassend verständlich macht. Dabei wird es nicht mal langweilig.</p>
<p>In Deep Work spricht Newport über eine Form des Arbeitens, die nur möglich ist, wenn man sich Digital Minimalism und A World Without Email zu Herzen nahm. Das Problem an Deep Work, wie mit all seinen Büchern ist, dass man, wenn man eine grobe Zusammenfassung hört, fälschlicherweise denkt, dass man den Inhalt des Buches erraten kann.</p>
<p>Newports größte Fähigkeit als Autor ist aber, dass er seine Argumente so angenehm grundlegend aufbereitet, dass einem beim Lesen kaum eine Wahl gelassen wird als zu akzeptieren, dass er vermutlich recht hat. Klar. Deep Work lässt sich mit "Wenn man sehr konzentriert arbeitet schafft man mehr in kürzerer Zeit" zusammenfassen. Das Buch erklärt einem dann aber im Detail, wie man skalierbar die Momente tiefer Arbeit herstellen kann.</p>
<p>Deep Work erzeugt etwas, das wertvoller nicht sein könnte: Lust auf konzentrierte Arbeit. Wenn man Newports Argumentation folgt und sie nachvollziehbar findet, will man danach unbedingt in seinem eigenen Leben Deep Work integrieren. Was will man mehr.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Der Fall Collini by Ferdinand von Schirach</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 15 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/der-fall-collini-ferdinand-von-schirach</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/der-fall-collini-ferdinand-von-schirach</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Aber hallo! Ein Roman, geschrieben von einem Juristen, der als Twist hat, dass das Recht am Ende eine große Rolle spielen wird. Klingt ziemlich langweilig, wurde aber von Von Schirach so kurzweilig umgesetzt, dass ich dieses Buch innerhalb kürzester Zeit (1 Tag) las.</p>
<p>Dazu kam, dass die Geschichte sich teilweise um Verbrechen aus dem zweiten Weltkrieg dreht, was natürlich sowieso ein guter Weg ist, um Tür und Tor in mein literarisches Herz zu öffnen.</p>
<p>Sehr gut. Hat mich dazu bewegt mehr von Von Schirach lesen zu wollen.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 15 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-kill-artist-daniel-silva</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-kill-artist-daniel-silva</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Es kann gut sein, dass man mehr Bücher dieser Reihe gelesen haben muss, damit man sie in ihrer Stabilität zu schätzen wissen lernt. Dieser Auftakt in die Welt der Thriller von Daniel Silva hat mich allerdings recht kalt gelassen.</p>
<p>Für mich kam keine Spannung auf und Interesse hat auch kein Aspekt der Geschichte geweckt. Dafür konnte man alles schnell weglesen und musste sich mit keiner Stelle länger aufhalten, weil alles so schön egal war.</p>
<p>Nicht schlimm. Nur langweilig.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/invisible-women-caroline-criado-perez</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/invisible-women-caroline-criado-perez</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Mein Freund Andreas beschreibt Invisible Women mit den besten Worten:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are two kinds of people that should read this book: people who think there is almost no gender based discrimination in our society left and those who do. Both will be shocked by reality.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Caroline Criado Pérez hat keine Mühen gescheut um anhand mannigfaltiger Beispiele aufzuzeigen, dass unsere gesamte Gesellschaft einen eingebauten, nur schwer trennbaren Fokus auf Männer mit sich bringt.</p>
<p>Das so analytisch durch ein Beispiel nach dem anderen aufgezeigt zu bekommen, ist sehr eindrucksvoll. Leider ist es aber auch sehr, sehr langweilig.</p>
<p>Ich wünschte, dass dieses Buch mit mehr Rücksicht auf angenehme Verdaubarkeit geschrieben worden wäre. In seinem stumpfen Auflisten von eigentlich schockierenden Beispielen, verlor ich irgendwann die Willenskraft weiterzulesen.</p>
<p>Ich habe mich durchgekämpft, aber ich befürchte, dass die Form viele Leute vom guten und wichtigen Inhalt abhalten wird.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Normal People by Sally Rooney</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 06 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/normal-people-sally-rooney</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/normal-people-sally-rooney</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ich dachte, dass Normal People Sally Rooneys erstes Buch sei, weswegen ich mit ihm startete und nicht mit Conversations With Friends anfing. Tja. Ändert nichts daran, dass es mir überraschend gut gefallen hat.</p>
<p>Eigentlich hätte ich erwartet, dass ich von einem Text über die Lebens- und Liebesprobleme von jugen Leuten eher genervt sein würde, aber der Teil hat mir dann, nicht zuletzt durch die überraschend realistischen Dialoge, viel Freude bereitet.</p>
<p>Was mich hingegen endlos nervte war, dass Sally Rooney offenbar entschieden hat, dass Anführungsstrich nichts für sie sind. Weswegen das ganze Buch sich wie ein Suchspiel nach dem Anfang und Ende wörtlicher Rede anfühlt. Hat die Erfahrung nicht verbessert, muss ich sagen. Zum Glück war die Geschichte gut genug, dass diese dämliche, kreative Entscheidung dem ganzen keinen Abbruch tat.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Difficult Conversations by Bruce Patton</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 03 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/difficult-conversations-bruce-patton</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/difficult-conversations-bruce-patton</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ein Buch über Kommunikation und wie sie viele Fallstricke mit sich bringt, das mich nicht vom Hocker gehauen hat. Relativ wenig Aha-Momente mit einem riesigen Potenzial, dass jede Erinnerung an dieses Buch zeitnah verblassen werden.</p>
<p>Austauschbar. Nicht mal schlecht genug, damit man sich darüber aufregen könnte.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury</title>
                    <pubDate>Wed, 29 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/fahrenheit-451-ray-bradbury</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/fahrenheit-451-ray-bradbury</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ohne irgendein Vorwissen, nahm ich das Buch im Laden in die Hand, weil ich es hübsch fand. Dann las ich die Rückseite, entschied, dass es offenbar eine Dystopie über Bücher ist und war interessiert genug.</p>
<p>Plot-Twist! Es ist ein Buch über Dauerbeschallung durch minderwertige Informationen und die Vorzüge von Ruhe, in der man seinen eigenen Gedanken folgen und verarbeiten kann, was man aufnahm.</p>
<p>Ich weiß, dass ich wie eine broken record klinge, weil ich immer Digital Minimalism referenziere, aber das generelle Thema beschäftigt mich seit geraumer Zeit. Here I go again: Dieses Buch, obwohl es lange vor der Erfindung von Social Media, oder gar dem Internet, geschrieben wurde, ist auf eine ganz überraschende Art das zweitbeste Buch, das ich bisher zum Thema las. Alle Aussagen lassen sich perfekt auf unser aktuelles Verhältnis zu sozialen Medien beziehen und kritisieren es auf eine Art, die mir weiterhin helfen wird, meine Beziehung zu Social Media kritisch zu betrachten.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
                </item>
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                    <title>📚 This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 27 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/this-is-how-you-lose-the-time-war-amal-el-mohtar</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/this-is-how-you-lose-the-time-war-amal-el-mohtar</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wenn man mich fragen würde, ob ich einen lyrisch anspruchsvollen, poetisch-romantischen Briefwechsel zwischen zwei Protagonisten lesen wolle würde, wäre ich eher so „no thanks“. Wenn man aber Zeitreise und SciFi mit in den Mix gibt, stellen sich... äh meine Ohren auf.</p>
<p>Sprachlich ist dieses Buch fantastisch. Inhaltlich ist es hervorragend. Visuell ist es auch hübsch. Die Länge ist mit 200 Seiten perfekt.</p>
<p>Gibt keinen Grund es nicht zu lesen. Loved it.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Reclaiming Conversation by Sherry Turkle</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 25 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/reclaiming-conversation-sherry-turkle</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/reclaiming-conversation-sherry-turkle</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Seit Digital Minimalism suche ich ein Buch in dem das gleiche Thema gleich gut, oder sogar besser behandelt wird. Einfach, weil ich mir denke, dass man nicht oft genug daran erinnert werden kann, wie wertlos die meiste Zeit online eigentlich ist. Reclaiming Conversation fing vielversprechend an. Ich lernte, dass Studien ergeben haben, dass die Qualität und Tiefe von Gesprächen messbar sinkt, wenn ein Smartphone in der Nähe ist. Nur in der Nähe. Nicht gerade in Benutzung. Die reine Möglichkeit, dass auf ihm etwas ankommen, oder es genutzt werden könnte, sorgt für eine Reduktion in Gesprächsqualität. Krass!</p>
<p>Leider gibt es diesen Fakt auf den ersten 100 Seiten und die nächsten 300 sagen eigentlich die ganze Zeit das gleiche: Digitale Kommunikation schlecht. Echte Gespräche gut.</p>
<p>Die Begründungen halten sich in Grenzen und die Lösungsansätze sind quasi nicht existent. Stattdessen bekommt man wortwörtlich in jedem zweiten Absatz einfach nur weitere Beispiele von Familien, Firmen, Partnerschaften, Freundschaften und allen anderen Situationen, in denen digitale Kommunikation mehr schadet als hilft. Immer und immer wieder. Keine neuen Erkenntnisse, nur endlos aneinandergereihte Beispiele ohne Informationsgewinn.</p>
<p>Am Ende war ich so wütend, dass ich ganze Seiten überblätterte, kurz wieder einstieg um zu gucken, worum es gerade geht – aha, ein weiteres dieser endlosen Beispiele – und dann wieder einen Sprung machte.</p>
<p>Das ganze gespickt damit, dass das Buch nicht das allerneueste und damit technologisch hinterherhinkend ist (3 Seiten beschäftigen sich mit Google Glass...), würde ich es niemandem empfehlen. Also wirklich wortwörtlich niemandem. Lest Digital Minimalism.</p><br>★☆☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Hold Me Tight by Dr. Sue Johnson</title>
                    <pubDate>Fri, 24 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/hold-me-tight-dr-sue-johnson</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/hold-me-tight-dr-sue-johnson</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Der, mit Verlaub, blöde Titel und das noch hässlichere Cover werden diesem Buch nicht gerecht. Jeder in einer Beziehung, oder mit der Absicht jemals wieder eine Beziehung zu haben, sollte dieses Buch lesen.</p>
<p>Große Worte, klar. Allerdings ist Dr. Sue Johnsons Ansatz so logisch und nachvollziehbar, dass selbst emotionale Roboter nachvollziehen können, dass die von ihr gepredigten Verhaltensweisen gut sind.</p>
<p>Eigentlich vermittelt Johnson eine Denkweise und darauf aufbauende Kommunikationsart, die sich, da muss ich sagen, dass der Titel vielleicht doch nicht so schlecht ist, im "Hold Me Tight" Satz wiederfindet. Sie bricht Kommunikation zwischen zwei Personen, die sich eigentlich mögen, auf einfache Prinzipien herunter und gibt der Leser:in ein Vokabular an die Hand, das bei Situationen im echten Leben hilft. Ich habe es erprobt und für gut befunden.</p>
<p>Für mich war es teilweise auf einem so fundamentalen Level augenöffnend, dass es mir etwas unangenehm ist, nicht vorher selbst auf die Gedanken im Buch gekommen zu sein.</p>
<p>Lest irgendwo eine gescheite Review, wenn ihr mehr Details wollt, aber wenn das generelle Thema euch interessiert: Einfach kaufen und lesen. Man wird sicher kein schlechterer Mensch und Partner durch Hold Me Tight.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Der Mann, der kein M&#246;rder war by Michael Hjorth</title>
                    <pubDate>Mon, 20 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/der-mann-der-kein-moerder-war-michael-hjorth</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/der-mann-der-kein-moerder-war-michael-hjorth</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Wenn die Bücher von Dan Brown keine Krimis sind, habe ich vor diesem noch nie einen gelesen. Dan Browns Bücher mag ich sehr. Sie bringen mir ein bisschen was über Kunst, Geschichte und Architektur bei, während sie eine sehr spannende Story erzählen.Dieses Buch hatte nur eine ganz okay spannende Story und brachte mir nichts bei. Ich habe jetzt nicht großartig erwartet, dass es eine lebensverändernde Erfahrung wird, allerdings hätte ich auch nicht gedacht, wie wenig ich empfinden und mitnehmen würde.Gute Geschichte, nicht ganz so guter Spannungsbogen und insgesamt am Ende eher… verpufft. Wäre relativ überrascht, wenn ich mich in einem halben Jahr noch an die Story erinnern kann.<br />
Update aus 2021: Ich habe nicht mehr den Hauch einer Ahnung, worum es in dieser Geschichte ging.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/a-gentleman-in-moscow-amor-towles</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/a-gentleman-in-moscow-amor-towles</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Sehr, sehr schön geschrieben. Inhaltlich, sowie sprachlich. Sehr witzig, sehr emotional, sehr unterhaltsam und sehr traurig. Bill Gates hat in seinem Blog einen Eintrag, in dem er das Buch besser beschreibt als ich es könnte. Daher von mir nur: Große(!) Empfehlung.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa</title>
                    <pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-memory-police-yoko-ogawa</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-memory-police-yoko-ogawa</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Langsam zeichnet sich ab, dass ich vielleicht einfach nichts mit japanischer Literatur anfangen kann. Zumindest basierend auf meiner n=2 Erfahrung.</p>
<p>The Memory Police hat eine tolle Prämisse: Auf einer Insel vergessen alle Einwohner gleichzeitig Dinge. Von heute auf morgen gehen ganze Konzepte verloren. Niemand versteht mehr was Blumen sind oder jemals waren. Alle Blumen werden dann entfernt und wenn sie doch noch eine finden, erkennen sie sie nicht.</p>
<p>Genau mein Ding! Aber die Geschichte war ganz klein und ganz egal und obwohl ich erkennen kann, dass sie auf einer gewissen Ebene eine hohe Qualität hat, kann ich mit der gesamten Art von Qualität nichts anfangen.</p>
<p>Aber visuell auf jeden Fall eine Bereicherung für mein Regal. Das Cover ist wunderschön.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 04 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/thinking-fast-and-slow-daniel-kahneman</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/thinking-fast-and-slow-daniel-kahneman</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Thinking Fast and Slow ist eines dieser Bücher, die alle gelesen haben wollen, aber kaum jemand schafft es dann tatsächlich. Mich hat es mehrere Anläufe gekostet und ich würde lügen, behauptete ich nicht einige der endlosen Beispiele zu Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung grob übersprungen zu haben.</p>
<p>Einige Grundgedanken des Buches sind superspannend und erleuchtend. Wenn man es liest und Kahnemans überzeugender Argumentationsführung folgt, denkt man, dass das alles Hand und Fuß haben muss. Seit ich es allerdings las, habe ich schon öfter gehört, dass da nicht alles ganz richtig zu sein scheint.</p>
<p>Einerseits bezieht sich The Enigma of Reason auf Kahnemans Grundthese und widerspricht ihr zwar nicht, aber erweitert und verändert sie schon maßgeblich. Und diese Folge von Cortex, einer meiner Lieblingspodcasts, beschäftigt sich ebenfalls ausführlich mit den negativen Seiten des Buches.</p>
<p>Eigentlich bin ich nicht der Meinung, dass Zusammenfassungen einem Buch gerecht werden, aber in diesem Fall reicht wohl irgendwo eine Liste der wichtigsten Punkte gelesen zu haben.</p><br>★★★☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 27 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-dark-forest-cixin-liu</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-dark-forest-cixin-liu</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Nachdem der erste Teil, The Three-Body Problem, mich so sehr begeisterte, konnte ich den zweiten nicht lange auf sich warten lassen. Ich musste einfach wissen, ob das spannendste SciFi Konzept, das ich jemals gelesen hatte, angemessen fortgeführt wird.</p>
<p>Spoiler: Ja. Nicht nur angemessen, sondern so überraschend, kreativ und trotzdem beeindruckend logisch, dass ich – wie ich eigentlich nie sage – von den Socken war.</p>
<p>Wenn ich hier anfangen würde die endlose Reihe an unglaublich atemberaubenden Konzepten vorzustellen, die Liu raushaut, als hätte er eine unbegrenzte Menge fantastischer Ideen, wäre ich morgen noch nicht fertig. Was hier in 100 Seiten an Gedankenspielen durchexerziert wird, ist sonst das Material ganzer Buchreihen. Einige seiner Konzepte haben sogar in der Wissenschaft als potentielle Erklärungen für... Dinge... Einzug gehalten, deren Erwähnung hier ein zu großer Spoiler wäre.</p>
<p>Ich weiß, dass diese Absätze einem nichts über den Inhalt verraten, aber ich habe wirklich Angst jemandem in irgendeiner Form irgendeine Überraschung zu nehmen. Wenn man Hard SciFi mag, wird man in diesen Büchern seine Freude finden.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Ruined by Design by Mike Monteiro</title>
                    <pubDate>Sun, 14 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/ruined-by-design-mike-monteiro</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/ruined-by-design-mike-monteiro</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Obwohl ich meinen Job liebe, bin ich keiner der Designer, die viele Bücher oder Artikel zu seinem Fachbereich liest. Ich glaube nicht, dass ständiger Konsum von neuen Best Practices in irgendeiner Form notwendig ist um am Puls der Zeit zu bleiben.</p>
<p>Daher habe ich auch wirklich wenig Bücher zu Design gelesen. Die Liste umfasst: Ruined by Design von Mike Monteiro.</p>
<p>Meine Meinung, dass es sich hierbei um das wichtigste Buch über Design handelt, ist dementsprechend auf wackligen Beinen stehend. Allerdings kann ich diese Einschätzung ganz gut begründen. Es ist kein Buch über Design. Es ist ein Buch über Ethik.</p>
<p>Monteiro, von dem ich schon seit Jahren Fan bin, beschreibt eindringlich, wie Designer und alle Leute, die in irgendeiner Form daran beteiligt sind Systeme zu bauen (Programmierer, Project Manager, Backend Engineers gehören alle dazu, gestalten sie die Prozesse doch mit) eine ethische Verantwortung haben, dass sie keinen Schaden anrichten.</p>
<p>Das ist nicht wie Menschen normalerweise über ihren Job nachdenken. Viele sehen sich nur als kleines Rädchen in einem großen Getriebe. Monteiro argumentiert hingegen, dass auch Facebook Designer Nummer 349 dafür verantwortlich ist, dass der Button, den sie gerade gestaltet, nicht in einem Produkt benutzt wird, das am Ende dafür genutzt wird Leute racially zu profilen.</p>
<p>Wer Monteiro kennt weiß, dass sein Schreibstil seinem Sprachstil ähnlich ist. Dementsprechend kann man sich darauf freuen, dass er keine Hand vor den Mund nimmt und Wahrheiten klar ausspricht.</p>
<p>Ein absolutes Muss für jede an Softwareentwicklung beteiligte Person.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 13 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/the-three-body-problem-cixin-liu</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/the-three-body-problem-cixin-liu</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Ich liebe Science-Fiction, aber war etwas von dem immer gleichen "Wir sind Amerikaner, lasst uns die Welt retten"-Ding gelangweilt. Also informierte ich mich über die besten SciFi Autoren aus anderen Kulturen und landete bei Cixin Liu, der in China schon länger große Berühmtheit genießt. Vielleicht auch hier, aber ich, in meiner endlosen Ignoranz, habe nichts von seinen Werken mitbekommen.</p>
<p><em>The Three-Body Problem</em> hat eines der besten SciFi-Konzepte, die ich jemals zu Gesicht bekam. Der Anfang ist für ignorante Westeuropäer wie mich etwas holprig gewesen. Viele kulturelle Referenzen, deren Bedeutung mir nur durch die (sehr hilfreichen) Fußnoten klar wurde. Wenn man aber reingefunden hat, eröffnet sich eine Problematik, die umfassender und atemberaubender nicht sein könnte. Das ganze Ausmaß stellt sich erst in den folgenden beiden Büchern heraus, aber nach dem ersten ist klar: Wir sind nicht allein. Und wir sind eindeutig nicht in der Lage es mit einer technologisch erheblich überlegenen Lebensform aufzunehmen.</p>
<p>Dieses Buch beginnt allerdings relativ überschaubar. Aber ich kann vorwegnehmen: Das letzte Buch endet einige hundert Milliarden Jahre in der Zukunft. Und die reise dahin ist unglaublich unterhaltsam.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Factfulness by Hans Rosling</title>
                    <pubDate>Sat, 06 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/factfulness-hans-rosling</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/factfulness-hans-rosling</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Factfulness von Hans Rosling ist eines der Bücher, die alle Menschen gelesen haben sollten. Das klingt wie eine alberne Übertreibung, wie kann ein Sachbuch diesen Anspruch jemals erfüllen, aber ich bin überzeugt davon, dass es die Welt verbessern würde.</p>
<p>In Ländern wie Deutschland, seit langer Zeit steinreich und ohne größere Probleme, entwickeln Leute irgendwie das merkwürdige Gefühl, dass alles immer schlechter werden würde und schieben das auf den Kapitalismus. Vom Klimawandel mal abgesehen, zeigt Factfulness, dass an diesem überheblichen Gefühl nichts dran ist.</p>
<p>Überraschend empathisch beweist Rosling anhand eiskalter Zahlen, dass die Welt, im großen und ganzen, besser wird. Auch und besonders an den Stellen, wo es zählt. In Ländern, wo man sich nicht darüber beschwert, dass man einen Klodeckel hat, der nicht leise schließt.</p>
<p>Factfulness hat so viele augenöffnende Momente, dass man sich am Ende schon sehr anstrengen muss, um weiterhin der Meinung zu sein, dass das Grundsystem Kapitalismus generell abgeschafft gehört. Muss es verbessert werden? Klar. Ist Revolution fordern naiv und uninformiert? Offenbar.</p>
<p>Sehr, sehr, sehr lesenswert. Besonders, wenn man daran zweifelt, das stimmen kann, was ich hier nur grob umrissen habe.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 02 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/digital-minimalism-cal-newport</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/digital-minimalism-cal-newport</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>(Ich schreibe diese Meinung in 2021, kann also mittlerweile auf zwei Jahre Digitalen Minimalismus zurückblicken.)</p>
<p>Wenn irgendein Buch als meine Bibel bezeichnet werden kann, dann dieses. Kein Buch hatte jemals eine größere Wirkung auf mich und es half mir in einer Phase meines Lebens, in der es mir wirklich nicht gut ging.</p>
<p>Seit es Social Media gibt war ich Teil der entsprechenden Services. Als eine der ersten Personen mit einem Blog würde ich sogar sagen, dass ich, so global betrachtet, mitgeholfen habe Social Media zu einer Sache in der Welt zu machen. Irgendwann Anfang 2019 war aber die Luft raus. Ständiges checken von Timelines und aktualisieren von Feeds hat mich selbst so sehr genervt, dass ich wütend auf mich wurde, weil ich es trotzdem nicht lassen konnte.</p>
<p>Ich war süchtig.</p>
<p>Erst dachte ich, dass ein Reduzieren die Antwort wäre. Hier mal eine Woche ganz ohne Social Media, dann aber wieder volle Kanne. Brachte nichts. Dann dachte ich, dass ich nur meine Timelines genug aufräumen müsste. Also habe ich viele Leute entfolgt und sehr darauf geachtet, dass ich nur hochqualitatives digitales Crack zu mir nehme. Hat zu nichts geführt. Ich habe weiterhin zig Mal am Tag meine Timelines aktualisiert und wenig Zeit für wertvolle Aktivitäten gefunden.</p>
<p>Digital Minimalism von Cal Newport ist, meiner Meinung nach, das perfekte Sachbuch zu diesem Thema. Newports Art seine Argumente zu strukturieren und das Thema fundamental aufzuarbeiten, lässt einem gar keine andere Chance als seine Argumente zu verstehen. In meinem Fall habe ich sie nicht nur verstanden, ich habe sie gefühlt. Alles was er als negative Auswirkungen von Social Media Timelines beschrieb, empfand ich täglich und neuerdings übermäßig intensiv.</p>
<p>Newport erklärt nicht nur, warum Social Media ein Problem darstellt. Er macht einem auch total klar, dass man nicht davon loskommt, wenn man keine hochqualitativen Alternativen findet. Für mich wurde das das Lesen von Büchern und arbeiten an Side Projects wie dieser Webseite hier.</p>
<p>Die Subline des Titels ist "Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World". Dass man dieses Leben wählen muss ist ein wichtiger Bestandteil des Erfolgs dieses Buches. Wenn man erkannt hat, dass Social Media einem weniger hilft als schadet und sich vorstellen kann, dass es ein anderes, fokussierteres und ruhigeres Leben geben kann, ist Digital Minimalsm die perfekte Anleitung. Man muss aber wollen.</p>
<p>Man kann sagen, dass Digital Minimalism mich geheilt hat und ich würde diesem Buch einen Schrein bauen, wäre ich etwas bekloppter veranlagt. Es hat mein Leben verändert. Nicht nur das: Es hat auch das Leben von vielen Freunden von mir verändert, die seitdem ich mit ihm durchs Land ziehe und davon schwärme, ebenfalls Social Media hinter sich gelassen haben und glücklicher nicht sein könnten.</p><br>★★★★★ ]]></content:encoded>
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                    <title>📚 Der Gang vor die Hunde by Erich K&#228;stner</title>
                    <pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2019 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
                    <link>https://www.marcel.io/library/der-gang-vor-die-hunde-erich-kaestner</link>
                    <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.marcel.io/library/der-gang-vor-die-hunde-erich-kaestner</guid>
                                        <description><![CDATA[ <p>I detest influencer culture. I’d rather not be a personal brand but a person. As clear-cut as this might sound, it’s virtually impossible to detach one from the other as soon as you’re visible online. By using marcel.io as the domain for my personal blog, I feel like I somehow slid into influencer territory. At the same time it’s the best name for a personal blog written by a human being called Marcel. Oh well.</p><p>Since my urge to start blogging again came up, I ogled tiptop.software as the venue for what I want to write about. I’ve spent most of 2022 learning programming, designed, coded and released an app to the App Store and thought it would be great to write about this under the name Tiptop Software. I installed WordPress, build this theme, wrote the first post and even released it.</p><p>However I quickly discovered that writing about cats, games and the weather will undoubtedly be something I want to do (you can look forward to that) and it wouldn’t feel right to put more personal topics into a publication hosted by my “software company”. I also don’t want to limit the frequency of posts to make the blog feel valuable. This isn’t supposed to be one of those blogs where every article has to be a work of art. I want to be able to throw out a quick thought and even end a post in the middle of a senten</p> ]]></description>
                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>In einem Anflug von "Ich muss weniger auf Screens starren" kaufte ich dieses Buch und fand es letztendlich so mittelmäßig. Es hat aber mein neues Leben als Person, die viel liest eingeläutet.</p>
<p>Der Gang vor die Hunde spielt zwischen den Weltkriegen in Berlin. Fabian, der Protagonist nach dem die ursprüngliche, zensierte Ausgabe dieser Geschichte benannt war, findet sich in diversen prekären Lagen wieder. Eine davon: Ein Land im Tumult und ein neuer Krieg auf der Türschwelle.</p>
<p>Irgendwas an dieser an einen Fiebertraum erinnernden Erzählung hat mir nicht so gut gefallen. Dabei sind die Rahmenbedingungen (Zeit zwischen den Kriegen, schwelende politische Differenzen, spielt an meinem Wohnort) eigentlich Dinge, von denen ich mir viel erhofft hatte.</p><br>★★☆☆☆ ]]></content:encoded>
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