Looking Sideways: 10 Things
A summer hiatus, TC's UK tour, and my favourite novel of 2025 so far.
If you’re new here - welcome! I appear to have picked up a lot of new subscribers during my brief summer hiatus. If you’re wondering what all this is about, Looking Sideways is where I examine the creative life through the lens of surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and other related endeavours.
Looking Sideways started out as a podcast back in 2017, but these days has evolved to encompass books, live events, documentaries (try my critically-acclaimed three-parter The Announcement, which delved into Patagonia’s decision to make ‘Earth’ the company’s only shareholder), blogs, guest posts and my vibrant and fiercely-loyal vibrant paid Insights community (find out more here).
Free subscribers receive my weekly 10 Things newsletter (which is what you’re currently reading), my regular Looking Sideways and Announcement podcast episodes, and some of the Insights content and guest posts.
Paid subscribers get all this, all the Insights content, discounts to mentoring from me, and of course the warm glow of supporting a idiosyncratic, bloody-minded and proudly ad and algorithim-free corner of the internet. (And by God, don’t we need more of those right now?)
Find out more about who I am and my background here. I’ve also given my Home Page a bit of a spring clean which should make it easier to navigate, and further help you understand what Looking Sideways is all about.
Right. Back to it…
1. I went off-grid in south west France for a month, which turned into an unscheduled and complete (and much-needed) Looking Sideways/All Conditions Media/social media break.
Highlights: kneeboarding in tiny waves (above), local sardine festivals, ripping groms, getting panelled in pumping waves, broken boards, a good old-fashioned shiner, pintxos with Boog and Peg in San Sebastián, a memorable lunch with Jamie Brisick and close friends in Biarritz, sunset beers, stair-rod rainstorms, flooded tents; joyous, boozy evenings with friends old and new.
And, of course, not having my brain addled by a constant stream of overwhelming ….stuff. Which, in hindsight, had begun to feel like a bit of a problem (I still can’t bring myself to look at Instagram again, which might be a good thing). Nothing like a feral month living in a van to sort that out.
Anyway, normal Looking Sideways service resumes now - look out for forthcoming interviews with Thomas Campbell, Ed Templeton, Axel Pauporte, Pacha Light, Len Necefer, Johno Verity and many more.
And more Insights instalments for the paid gang to follow the first part of this week’s How To Change Minds piece.
2. No internet or work also meant I got through a load of really good books. Highlights included Andrew O’Hagan’s lengthy Caledonian Road, and the brilliant The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry, which might well by my favourite novel of the year.
I’ve updated the Looking Sideways book store here and 2025 reading list here - jump on the latter to let me know your reading highlights of summer 25.
3. I’m welcoming Thomas Campbell back onto the pod for his third visit next week to discuss all thing Yi-Wo.
I’ve been lucky enough to have a sneak preview and can confirm this long-awaited release is a wondrous, challenging and completely artistically uncompromising piece of work that confirms TC’s position as surfing’s premiere bloody-minded auteur.
Plus! My pals at the London Surf Film Festival are hosting a series of special showings in the UK next week - don’t miss! Details below or here.
4. I actually listened to Malcolm Gladwell on The Science of Sport when it came out, and the thing that struck me about his trans mea culpa was how breezy he was about the whole thing.
The backlash - from both sides of the debate - has been swift (as Gladwell surely must have known it would be).
My code LOOKINGSIDEWAYS10 will get you 10% off any order from Finisterre.
5. I highly recommend this Spike Lee exec-produced doc on Katrina twenty years on.
6. Autodidacts of the world unite in grief - after 27 years and over 1000 episodes, the incomparable Melvin Bragg is hanging up the In Our Time mic.
In Our Time is surely one of the greatest radio shows ever, and Melvin’s are truly enormous shoes to fill - who on earth can take that gig on?
7. Empire came up trumps yet again, this time with a brilliant series about the Suez Crisis.
Use my code LOOKINGSIDEWAYSDB for 15% off anything from Db.
8. MIT produced a report on The State of AI in Business which has been ruffling plenty of LinkedIn feathers.
9. Ross Edgeley completed his 1000 mile swim around Iceland. Yep.
10. I tend to be inundated with crowdfunders to share, and usually steer clear. But this one stood out - Barika Rising, a documentary about a concrete skatepark on a refugee camp in Iraq. Support this worthy project here.
Thanks for reading and supporting Looking Sideways! If you have any thoughts about any of the stories I discuss this week, let me know:
Welcome back! I've found the same about Instagram – feels good when you're dosed up on it all the time, but when you come back after a spell away you can taste the poison. I never logged back in after my little Instagram crisis last November and barely even think about it any more (of course next time I need to sell a new book I might find myself holding my nose and crawling back on there...)
I mean I delete Instagram from my phone for months at a time and it only takes five minutes back on Insta steal and hour or two of my life.
It's so mind numbingly addictive.
At least I learn something on Substack.