Looking Sideways: 10 Things

Jon Krakauer on the offensive, a brilliant novel, and a new Chouiniard biography.

1. Confession-time - I’ve been having such a good time in Sri Lanka that I didn’t get round to recording the final Announcement episode three video diary, as promised last week. I’ll post that next week when I’m back in Blighty.

I haven’t been idle though - alongside a lot of surfing, eating and reading, I’ve also recorded a couple of regular Looking Sideways episodes; the first of which, with Ed from Soul and Surf, I’ll also be posting next week.

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2. Something I’ve been especially enjoying while in Sri Lanka - the right book at the right time and place.

This reimagining of Quint’s early years is like some bastard mash-up of Moby Dick, The Old Man and the Sea, and - yes - Jaws, and was the perfect book to read on a sweltering beach in front of the Indian Ocean.

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3. Something else I’ve been enjoying in Sri Lanka this week - the kindness of strangers, like Rupee and his family, who have showed us such hospitality this week.

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4. Re The Announcement: was it the plan to release a three-part series that extols nuance and thoughtfulness when discussing the climate crisis and sustainable business in the month of the LA fires AND Trump and Musk going tonto and subverting our democratic institutions?

Not really tbh. But as somebody far, far cleverer than me (OK, OK: it was Shakespeare) once wrote:

‘There is a tide in the affairs of men/Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune/And we must take the current when it serves/Or lose our ventures’.

In other words: timing is everything. And as more time passes, the themes I explored in The Announcement (unaccountable billionaires making decisions that impact the rest of us, for a start) seem to become more eerily prescient by the day.

And I’m happy to say that countless commentators across the worlds of surf, the outdoors, sustainable business and philanthropy have recognised this in The Announcement.

The latest of these is Surfer Magazine, who referred to the series as “The definitive work on the subject of sustainable business”. Read the piece here.

The response to the series has been so great that I’m going to continue The Announcement as an ongoing series in which I explore some of the issues and conversations the series has elicited. Think of it as Type 2, but super-charged. And yes, it’ll be free.

Coming soon? Interviews with Jon Alexander about the ideas explored in on his book Citizens, and New York Times climate writer David Gelles about Dirtbag Billionaire, his forthcoming biography of Yvon Chouinard. There’s also most specific Announcement bits on the way, including my long form interviews with John Elkington, Erinch Sahan and Audette Exel.

Stay tuned and thanks to everybody once again for the incredible response and support 🙌

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5. On the above - congratulations to my colleague David Gelles, climate reporter for the New York Times (he made an appearance in episode 1) on the forthcoming release of his biography of Yvon Chouiniard ‘Dirtbag Billionaire. Click here to pre-order you copy.

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6. More Announcement-related ephemera - soap brand Dr Bronner just announced they’re voluntarily dropping their B Corps certification over concerns over it’s ‘lax standards’ - another relevant theme I discussed in episode 3 of the series. More here

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7. A YouTuber has been impugning the reputation of Jon Krakauer and accusing him of fabricating large parts of Into Thin Air. The author has responded with his own series of lengthy blog and YouTube posts, the first of which you a watch above.

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8. This classic Atlantic account of the sinking of the Estonia popped up on my feeds last week. I recommend it.

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9. Outside Magazine seems to be in trouble.

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Use Db Journey discount code LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 15% on any purchase.

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10. Does outdoor recreation lead to improved conservation? This Mountain Journal piece takes issues with this received outdoor industry wisdom.

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