Eugene Kan is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of MAEKAN, a digital media experiment that celebrates creative culture. He also co-founded Adam Studios, a creative agency, with his creative and business partner Alex Maeland. Together, they’ve also produced Unexpected Connections, a conference series that brings together inventive people who are thinking across industries and bringing positive change.
Which three books would you recommend?
The Art of Happiness the 14th Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler
I read this book relatively early into my career. I would say when this book was recommended to me, I wasn't exactly in the happiest place for no reason other than a lack of understanding of how relationships work in our lives. At least that's the reflection I took away from it.
What I mean is that often times, our inability to empathize or understand the reasoning of others leaves us speculating over what we believe are bad intentions. After reading this, I soon realized that a lot of behaviors, when framed differently, reveal some other approaches that might be unseen as they're in your blind spots. The outcome I arrived at, was a bit more peace and understanding of the world around us. Sometimes it might result in me being over lax on certain things, but at least it's a largely balanced perspective.
When I read it, arguably life was simpler before the whole ramp-up of social media. But I think the psychology-shifting insights are still valid today.
Hit Makers Derek Thompson
Anybody who dabbles in marketing and culture would enjoy this book. It identifies how trends are made/created and the subtle art/science of how timing is so crucial.
There are some fun examples that outline how something became popular and while I lament how everything is about "selling" these days, it does give you perspective on how to make something relevant.
It's kind of a book... “Jootsing”: The Key to CreativityDaniel C. Dennett
This post highlights a book called Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking, by philosopher Daniel C. Dennett. I never read the book but the article speaks about a framework around creativity.
I like to approach the world around us as a series of "sandboxes" we create. These sandboxes are parameters and within those parameters is where we operate, coming up with interesting and compelling outcomes.
So the idea of "jootsing" is a nice way of describing how to set up this framework.
Whose reading list are you most curious about?
I don't often look at recommendations from people per se. I usually get fascinated by topics. I read a lot, I just don't find extended readings of books the most engaging way for me to learn about something. Instead, I really enjoy the intersection of YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, indie publications as the way to provide me 50 different POVs that I then attempt to make sense of.