Recommendations you can check.
Neuroscientist and novelist writing on consciousness, AI and culture in his newsletter The Intrinsic Perspective.
8 things
The NutcrackerBook E. T. A. Hoffmann
So too do we own a 1988 edition of The Nutcracker that has become a favorite read beyond its season.
An essay about childhood, winter and the books his family reads together.
2026-01-26·theintrinsicperspective.com ↗
The Decline of DevianceOther Adam Mastroianni
My favorite recent piece on our cultural stagnation is Adam Mastroianni’s
Hoel's essay arguing that culture has become overfitted to its own past.
2025-12-08·theintrinsicperspective.com ↗
The Sistine ChapelOther Michelangelo
Which remains my favorite “painting” I’ve personally seen in my whole life.
Hoel argues that blogs are where maximalist writing survives, taking the Sistine Chapel as his model of maximalism.
2025-01-02·theintrinsicperspective.com ↗
Watership DownOther Martin Rosen
If asked to name my favorite movie, the beautiful 1970s watercolor Watership Down is a contender.
A personal essay that begins with a dying rabbit in his yard.
2024-10-14·theintrinsicperspective.com ↗
PompeiiOther
I recommend visiting Pompeii because it’s one of the few places left where you can touch history itself.
A round-up post in which Hoel reports back from a trip to Italy.
2026-07-24·theintrinsicperspective.com ↗
ILLUSTRATEDOther Alexander Naughton
Expresses an elder wisdom through images innocently childlike and fantastical
Erik Hoel's own recommendation blurb for the newsletter ILLUSTRATED, on their Substack's recommendations page.
2023-11-02·theintrinsicperspective.com ↗
Experimental HistoryOther Adam Mastroianni
Deeply insightful takes on society, culture, and psychology. Oh, and fun!
Erik Hoel's own recommendation blurb for the newsletter Experimental History, on their Substack's recommendations page.
2022-09-19·theintrinsicperspective.com ↗
LitverseOther Blaise Lucey
Literature, culture, music, an eclectic gallery of pieces
Erik Hoel's own recommendation blurb for the newsletter Litverse, on their Substack's recommendations page.
2022-09-06·theintrinsicperspective.com ↗
Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.
The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.
A dashed affiliate link, sponsored or their own label means the post disclosed a relationship. It is shown, never hidden.
The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.
The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Fully green is recent. It drains a quarter at a time as the post gets older, and is empty once it reads as dated.
What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The shading is gone after about:
Stripes mean the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no shading.