Recommended by Mike Sowden
I am DELIGHTED that the mighty Sketchplanations, helmed by illustrator & big-ideas man Jono Hey, is now on Substack. Every week, Jono takes a fascinating idea & turns it into a sketch that bounces around the inside of your head for basically forever. He's so amazingly good at this that his work is in high demand, eg. in Bill Gates's 2022 book "How To Prevent The Next Pandemic". Sketchplanations is also a book! You should get that too. But sign up to the newsletter first. Go do that. It's a joy.
For more than a decade, Brendan Leonard has been creating some of the funniest, wisest & most cheerfully inspiring adventure-related work on the internet, both at semi-rad.com and in a regular column for Outside Magazine - so I am delighted to see him arrive on Substack. Make this your year of maximum enthusiasm & do your brain a massive favour by subscribing to him immediately.
If you're wanting a regular blast of enthusiasm and hope in your Inbox, Evelyn's newsletter will be incredibly welcome. She's a New York Times bestselling novelist, and she works so. damn. hard to help her readers take a similar creative journey, with a voice that's always warm, encouraging & fiercely hopeful. She's like the friend everyone needs when things are tough in the world. Go do your heart a favour and sign up.
I'm so glad Anna has arrived on Substack, and also intimidated, because now I have to describe her work to you. I hate this. I've known her for over ten years & I've NEVER found a way. Look: she’s a writer (food and bicycles and Swedish ways of living...) - but also an artist (her papercutting work is spectacular). And documentary film producer. And teacher! Uh - I give up. (Again.) But she's a terrific guide to living a more creative life, and I think that's all you need. Please read her.
Laura's writing is absolutely sublime. What she's *saying* with that writing is wonderful but - you'll marvel at the writing. Then you'll enjoy how this is a place for exploring ideas, immersing yourself in them to feel just how deep they go, as befitting something created with a philosopher's skillset. Plus you'll laugh, as Laura's effortlessly funny. Am I jealous? No! OK - yes. Don't read Laura, she makes the rest of us look bad. Fine, fine, please do read her. Her work is wonderful. Whatever.
Ali's an accomplished...everything-er in the entertainment industry: writer, actor, film director, it's mad how she fits it all in. (Most notably, writing for AppleTV+'s Emmy-winning "The Morning Show".) And 'Little Things' is about the *big* things in a working writer's life, like regaining faith in your own work, & negotiating the knocks of a whirlwind industry - all hard-won, reliable advice from someone in the trenches doing that work every day, delivered with kindness and wit.
Dr. Mariana Calleja Ross M.D. is a doctor on a mission to stop you needing to go to the doctor. She's teaching healthy habits, physical and emotional wellness, and the fundamental power of taking small, easy, science-based actions every day to ensure you stay happy, healthy and upright. (Also? Full disclaimer: she's my better half.)
Alf is a psychologist tackling mental health issues (not just fixing problems, but finding new ways to understand yourself & others) - and he's doing so in a wonderfully clear-eyed, straight-talking, inclusive & helpful way, which is exactly what you want from someone advising you on these things. Really nicely done, this.
A rare treat for the curious, this newsletter: in every edition, Heather Wall picks a question about natural phenomenon - trees, lightning, the brains of woodpeckers - and then tries to answer it as thoroughly as possible. I always learn something new, and I always love the journey towards the answer (Heather's a great writer). Much to love!
The Substack of the podcast of the upcoming book (!), this is a really fascinating series of profiles of weird & wonderful rulebreakers through history. The production values are terrific, Valorie is a great host & researcher and really knows how to tell a rattling yarn, and - as I said, there'll soon be a book, because it's *that* good.
Not only does Simon write serialised science fiction of the most enviably thoughtful kind, he also *really* understands the newsletter-delivered serialised fiction space - I don't think anyone else gets this stuff better than he does - and on top of all those signs that he has a brain the size of a planet, he's a really nice guy. I kinda hate him? Go read, learn and enjoy.
Miss the heyday of travel blogs - all that thoughtful, adventurous curiosity about what the world's really like beyond the news headlines? Brent & Michael's newsletter is the best of that stuff reborn on Substack: finely written, restlessly interested in everything and everyone, and with all the infectious energy that comes from being written from the road. Reckon you'll like. (They seem like super-nice guys too.)
Yes, it's a newsletter about snacks, but that's like saying 'Dune' is a book about sand. What you get here is a look at snack food through the unique brain of Doug Mack, one of the best travel writers at work today, with fascinating dives in all directions into the history, the meaning & sometimes the utter farcical absurdity of snacks. (Doug's hilarious.) So well-written it often makes me try a lot harder with my newsletter, and while I HATE that (thanks Doug) I'm grateful too. Madly good.
Annette is probably the hardest-working newsletter writer on here. She's a historian using Substack to teach US & UK history in a chatty, accessible style, and I *really* don't know how she writes as much as she does. Her work is great, I love how she just throws herself in, and - did I mention the amount she writes? (If I ever discover she's really five different people, I promise I'll come back and edit this recommendation.)
You know the feeling of stepping in out of the wind & rain into a toasty-warm kitchen smelling of freshly cooked bread and other delights? That's the vibe that professional baker Jolene is after here, with her tour of the recipes and kitchen styles of the 20th Century. A newsletter to take the edge off your day.
Florence writes about early medieval women in a way that's sorely needed (as evidenced by what certain British politicians have recently said in a disgracefully truth-twisting manner). This is history with an expert's eye, beautifully written and illustrated, and with a knack for skewering accidental or weaponised myths. (Florence is also well worth following on Twitter where they're hilarious & fearless at mythbusting in realtime.) Like nothing else on Substack, this one.
Tad is a real, honest-to-goodness astrophysicist and physics teacher - meaning, he's a FAR more reliable source of scientific research than I am. He describes his Substack as aiming at the "slightly more 'advanced' lay-person or students of the fields at, say, the sophomore or junior level" - but it's so piercingly clearly written that I'd say it's open to everyone. Delightfully nerdy and filled with wonder.
Jodi is an extraordinarily fine writer with the most curious and wide-ranging interests of anyone I know (sometimes I think she *is* the Internet). Curious About Everything is a fascinating, thoughtful grab-bag of the best of everything she finds online, and her writeups are a treat. Also find more of her work at LegalNomads.com.
Antonia writes about walking (she's the author of a book on the subject), about walkability & the struggle over the commons, the things that should belong to all but are frequently getting nibbled away by private property owners and businesses. And the way she writes about these things, casting her net far & wide, is absolutely delightful. She has a deeply beautiful & thoughtful way of putting things & you'll come away with your head brimming with new ideas. One of the best writers on Substack.
This looks like a newsletter about salad, and it is, but it's ALSO a newsletter about joy. The boundless enthusiasm Emily brings to writing about salad is a wonder of the internet and a work-in-progress masterclass in showing up with exactly the right energy to make everyone fall in love with the topic in hand. Which you will, because all her salads look delicious and she writes about them in such a thoroughly fun way. Simply amazing.
If you're reading my newsletter, I reckon there's a 50/50 chances you're an astronomy enthusiast. That's a solid reason to read WIll Dowd's fascinating, Moon-focused newsletter. But the reason everyone else who *isn't* interested in space should also read it is the quality of the writing here, which is as spectacular as you'd expect from someone with credits at The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, NPR etc. So: I reckon that's all of you? Go click on over.
This is a newsletter about paying deep attention - and Nishant leads by example, by drawing beautiful line-sketches of people with a fountain pen, and documenting his process of becoming an even better artist. He's immensely generous with his ideas, deeply curious about everyone's creative process, and he's a thoughtful guide to life as a professional sketch artist. You'll learn a lot.
Katherine May's writing is spectacular, and makes you feel Really Big Things in a wisely grounded sort of way, like when you're sat with a cup of tea looking out the window and you have a Moment where everything makes a little more sense and you see where you fit in it. Read her newsletter, obsess over her books, delight in how she sees the world, and become utterly enchanted. She's such a good'un.
Britany started Wild Writing (formerly One More Question) well before I started my own newsletter, and she was the inspiration / canary in the coal mine that I needed to take the leap., She's a very talented writer and a master encourager of other writers - and after stepping away for a few years, it seems she is BACK and I'm really delighted to see it. Let the next round of shenanigans commence.
I object to David's newsletter in that it's frequently a lot more interesting than mine, on really fascinating topics that I quickly realise I know nothing about. This is an appalling state of affairs and it makes me look bad - so I'll only recommend it to you for its curiosity, insight, fine writing and infectious sense of adventure. In all the remaining ways it's a total disgrace & I hope he's ashamed.
"Dearest" is about antique jewelry - except, imagine the most interesting person you know knocking back 5 espressos and then researching All The Stories about that jewelry, then coming back and telling you things you'd never hear from anyone else. Monica is the thing you want in any newsletter writer: she's hugely enthusiastic and hugely interested, and she chases both in a ton of delightful and surprising directions. You'll learn stuff, but more importantly you'll *feel* stuff. So, go do that.
Terrell's enthusiasm for running really shines through with his newsletter, along with his passion for helping others get out the door and find their own races to take part in - but I also love his curiosity and willingness to chase ideas wherever they might lead. It's really not hard to see why he's building a great community around his writing.