Looking Sideways: 10 Things
My new book store, why Substack really is just social media, and Gladwell on RFK Jr.
1. I’ve started a Looking Sideways book store! Yep, inspired by the fellow book geekery of my Looking Sideways listeners and readers, I’m now listing each book I read on the brand spanking new LS bookshop here.
Buy anything from here and you’ll be supporting independent UK book stores (ie you won’t be paying for Jeff Bezos’ next rocket), as well as helping finance Looking Sideways (I get a 10% commission) in a really simple way. Big up reader Tim LeRoy for giving me this idea.
Related: want to discuss any of my selections, or share any of your own 2025 reads? Click here.
2. On topic - I haven’t been able to stop thinking about John Williams’ brilliant novel Stoner since I finished it this week. I can’t remember the last time a novel had such an impact on me.
Julian Barnes sums up its unique appeal well in this piece from a few years ago.
Use my code LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for massive ski rental discounts and snowboard rental discounts from my pals at Intersport.
3. Some really interesting responses to this thread I posted on Notes the other day. And thanks to Al Humphreys for sharing this very Anil Dash post which makes similar points to me much more forcefully and effectively.
4. Last summer, when Travis Rice and Kelly Slater posted messages of support for RFK Jr, which were enthusiastically praised by other prominent members of the US surf and snow communities, I was somewhat perplexed.
(And not just because a few weeks earlier I’d listened to Anthony Scaramucci predict that part of Trump’s election strategy would be to partner with RFK to harvest votes from the credulous MAHA crowd. In return, RFK Jr would get the job he so coveted. And so it proved).
Now that I’ve listened to Malcolm Gladwell get to the heart of the true imbecility of RFK Jr’s various beliefs (germ theory doesn’t exist, Louis Pasteur is a fraud, the Spanish Flu wasn’t a virus) in the last two Revisionist History episodes, I’m even more perplexed.
5. More great outdoor writing on Substack, this time from
on the damage Trump has wrought on the environment and climate in his first 100 days.Again, the lack of discussion about this vital topic among prominent members of our community is strange, to say the least.
6. Congratulations to Eric Blehm - his magisterial biography of Craig Kelly, which in my view is the best book about snowboarding ever written, has been optioned. More here (and listen to our chat about the book above).
Use my code LOOKINGSIDEWAYS10 for 10% off any Finisterre purchase.
7. Surf film-makers Ben Judkins and Taylor Lane are touring their Cigarette Surfboard documentary around the UK and Ireland in May.
My pal Chris Hines is hosting: watch the trailer above and click here for venues and tickets.
8. Another plug for this week’s interview with renowned documentary-maker and director of Mountain Queen Lucy Walker. It’s a conversation that goes well beyond action sports into questions of representation, climate change, the craft of documentary making, and what it means to truly capture someone’s story.
I had a great time chatting to Lucy, who really opened up about her career, process and influences. Listen above.
9. Committed is a really interesting podcast series from Novara Media about Britain’s jailed climate activists, and the way we are steadily and alarmingly outlawing protest.
Use my discount code LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 20% on any Goodrays purchase.
10. Finally - I have free UK shipping on everything in my Looking Sideways shop until midnight Monday. Click here to get stuck in - and make sure you check out the new SS styles now the sun is out.