One of my favorite things to read lately has been The Atlantic's "What I Read" series, where writers, journalists, and various other media-/politics-related people discuss what they read. So, I'm going to do one of my own.
The day starts with Google Reader, since that's where the majority of my news/opinion/analysis comes through, no matter the source. At 6am PST on a weekday, I already have 200+ items to browse through, and, according to the statistics, it numbers somewhere between 400-600 items/day, although the amount I read actually hovers near 30%. What gets pulled through Google Reader? In terms of strictly general news: NPR and the NYT are it.
My life is very politically-oriented, so what I read weighs heavier in that direction, some of it with an overt bias that I take into account when processing. A shortlist of these sources: The Atlantic (Online), Foreign Policy (Online), The Atlantic Wire, NYT Opinion, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Slate, The Nation (Online), and Wonkette. Yes, Wonkette is absurd and offensive, but they're a good source of information occasionally, or even just a laugh. There's also a few individuals that I follow, because I respect their opinion and analysis: Paul Krugman (economics/politics), Ezra Klein (economics/politics), Chris Hayes (politics), Dave Weigel (politics), Eugene Robinson (politics), and Matt Yglesias (politics).
The rest of my feeds are odds-and-ends: technology/geek through io9, ArsTechnica; film/movies through Film School Rejects; a handful of official corporate blogs; gossip/hilarity through Gawker; and a bunch of webcomics like theWAREHOUSE and Pants Are Overrated. Longform.org is a valuable source for long, well-written, insightful pieces from both the past and present - Instapaper is a fantastic tool that I use to move long pieces onto my Kindle. Everything I read on Google Reader that's worth noting is reposted on @KyleBradyRead or my Google shared items page.
My day continues through Twitter, where I follow some of the same people for their daily or shortform thoughts, but I don't depend upon the service as some sort of news replacement - I think it's naive to believe that important, or relevant, news/information can come to you through random chance or your social network. Sometimes you have to self-select and seek it out, otherwise you'd end up with a bunch of worthless infotainment. Like CNN.
Google Reader and Twitter are checked throughout the day, but I also subscribe to real magazines too - even if they're the Kindle versions. The Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Policy, The Nation, and The Economist are all loaded on my Kindle monthly subscriptions at the moment. I don't read newspapers, unless I find an article that's worth checking out, because it's almost always what I've already seen elsewhere, with less detail and less timely relevance.
On top of all this, yes, I read books. Some science fiction (Orson Scott Card, Pullman, Stross, etc.), but that's been pushed to the side, in favor of politics and modern history. I obviously have texts to read for school, ranging from actual textbooks to the written works of theorists and thinkers like Plato or Marx, and they occupy alot of my time. When I can squeeze it in, I read for myself as well, and I'm currently a few chapters into Arthur Schlessinger's The Imperial Presidency, while also preparing to read a substantial amount as the research portion of my book.
As if that weren't enough, I listen to a number of news, politics, and opinion podcasts. From NPR: On the Media, Talk of the Nation, Weekends on All Things Considered, News Summary, Foreign Dispatch, Fresh Air, and It's All Politics. From APM: American RadioWorks and Marketplace. From PRI: To the Best of Our Knowledge. From PBS: Nova and Frontline. A few others: The Nation's Breakdown, the Commonwealth Club, BBC's Documentaries, and Freakonomics Radio. Finally, I'll be listening to Keith Olbermann when he returns at Current. The average audio I consume each day is about four hours, while I'm walking around downtown or at the gym - I can't read or work while listening to podcasts, so it's my mobile material.
I think it's fair to say that I have a somewhat narrow range of interests that's well-informed from a wide variety of sources. It's extremely rare that I read only one piece on any given topic, and this helps me form a more whole opinion.
Is it a perfect system? Probably not; at least it's organized, structured, and useful.
The day starts with Google Reader, since that's where the majority of my news/opinion/analysis comes through, no matter the source. At 6am PST on a weekday, I already have 200+ items to browse through, and, according to the statistics, it numbers somewhere between 400-600 items/day, although the amount I read actually hovers near 30%. What gets pulled through Google Reader? In terms of strictly general news: NPR and the NYT are it.
My life is very politically-oriented, so what I read weighs heavier in that direction, some of it with an overt bias that I take into account when processing. A shortlist of these sources: The Atlantic (Online), Foreign Policy (Online), The Atlantic Wire, NYT Opinion, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Slate, The Nation (Online), and Wonkette. Yes, Wonkette is absurd and offensive, but they're a good source of information occasionally, or even just a laugh. There's also a few individuals that I follow, because I respect their opinion and analysis: Paul Krugman (economics/politics), Ezra Klein (economics/politics), Chris Hayes (politics), Dave Weigel (politics), Eugene Robinson (politics), and Matt Yglesias (politics).
The rest of my feeds are odds-and-ends: technology/geek through io9, ArsTechnica; film/movies through Film School Rejects; a handful of official corporate blogs; gossip/hilarity through Gawker; and a bunch of webcomics like theWAREHOUSE and Pants Are Overrated. Longform.org is a valuable source for long, well-written, insightful pieces from both the past and present - Instapaper is a fantastic tool that I use to move long pieces onto my Kindle. Everything I read on Google Reader that's worth noting is reposted on @KyleBradyRead or my Google shared items page.
My day continues through Twitter, where I follow some of the same people for their daily or shortform thoughts, but I don't depend upon the service as some sort of news replacement - I think it's naive to believe that important, or relevant, news/information can come to you through random chance or your social network. Sometimes you have to self-select and seek it out, otherwise you'd end up with a bunch of worthless infotainment. Like CNN.
Google Reader and Twitter are checked throughout the day, but I also subscribe to real magazines too - even if they're the Kindle versions. The Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Policy, The Nation, and The Economist are all loaded on my Kindle monthly subscriptions at the moment. I don't read newspapers, unless I find an article that's worth checking out, because it's almost always what I've already seen elsewhere, with less detail and less timely relevance.
On top of all this, yes, I read books. Some science fiction (Orson Scott Card, Pullman, Stross, etc.), but that's been pushed to the side, in favor of politics and modern history. I obviously have texts to read for school, ranging from actual textbooks to the written works of theorists and thinkers like Plato or Marx, and they occupy alot of my time. When I can squeeze it in, I read for myself as well, and I'm currently a few chapters into Arthur Schlessinger's The Imperial Presidency, while also preparing to read a substantial amount as the research portion of my book.
As if that weren't enough, I listen to a number of news, politics, and opinion podcasts. From NPR: On the Media, Talk of the Nation, Weekends on All Things Considered, News Summary, Foreign Dispatch, Fresh Air, and It's All Politics. From APM: American RadioWorks and Marketplace. From PRI: To the Best of Our Knowledge. From PBS: Nova and Frontline. A few others: The Nation's Breakdown, the Commonwealth Club, BBC's Documentaries, and Freakonomics Radio. Finally, I'll be listening to Keith Olbermann when he returns at Current. The average audio I consume each day is about four hours, while I'm walking around downtown or at the gym - I can't read or work while listening to podcasts, so it's my mobile material.
I think it's fair to say that I have a somewhat narrow range of interests that's well-informed from a wide variety of sources. It's extremely rare that I read only one piece on any given topic, and this helps me form a more whole opinion.
Is it a perfect system? Probably not; at least it's organized, structured, and useful.