Maintenance manifesto / Funeral for a tree / Budget earbuds

Recomendo - issue #499

Maintenance manifesto

Everybody dreads the chores of maintenance; Stewart Brand is trying to make maintenance cool. In his new book Maintenance: Of Everything, Brand celebrates the value, methods, even the joy of maintaining things – from cars to homes to bodies – in a series of stories, digressions, lessons, and brilliant insights. Turns out civilization is basically varieties of maintenance. Stewart Brand’s books famously change people’s minds, and this one changed my mind. I now look forward to my maintenance duties, and I learned some how to do it better from this book. — KK

Funeral for a tree

When a 65-year-old oak tree died from fungal disease, artist Steve Parker carved slices of its trunk like vinyl records, etching bird songs into the wood grain. These playable oak records are featured in a 3-minute video where you can hear the sounds of the birds that once lived in the tree’s branches. Parker also created a brass sculpture with medical ventilators that splays out like tree roots—a reference to his father’s battle with cancer. “Funeral for a Tree” is a beautiful meditation on grief that inspires me to find ways to transform what’s been lost into something that still speaks—or sings. — CD

Budget noise-canceling earbuds

My AirPods Pro started making a loud hissing noise. I tried all the different fixes the online hive mind had to offer, to no avail. They were out of warranty, and I didn’t want to spend $250 to replace them. Instead, I bought a pair of CMF Wireless Earbuds for 1/10th the price. To my ears, they sound just as good as the AirPods Pro with excellent noise cancellation and easy pairing with all of my Apple hardware. I use them for phone calls, listening to podcasts, and music. I bought the orange ones so they’d be easy to find when I drop them on the floor of a plane. — MF

Clothing fan podcast

One of my go-to podcasts these days is the non-fiction scripted show Articles of Interest, which investigates articles of clothing and other things that we wear. It is a spin-off from the legendary podcast 99% Invisible, and carries that program’s intelligence and the nerdy appeal of deep research. Now in its second season, each episode tackles the origin, history, and meaning of an article such as blue jeans, suits, wedding dresses, and even pockets! Illuminating worlds within small details is what this show is so good at. Recommended. — KK

12 distractions to leave behind in 2026

Rather than adding resolutions and goals to your new year, this article suggests 12 distractions you can leave behind — like scrolling for stress relief, push notifications for most apps, and constant background noise. When they’re listed like this, I can immediately see how leaving them behind would create more silence and space in my life, since a lot of these things seem to be the default settings for daily life. — CD

Our other newsletters

Did you know that Recomendo isn’t the only newsletter we publish? We have eight others!

• Gar’s Tips & Tools Useful ideas for home and workshop. (Weekly)
• Nomadico News, tips, and tools for working travelers. (Weekly)
• What’s in my NOW? In each issue, a person shares things and ideas that are important to them. (Weekly)
• Tools for Possibilities Curated, thematic picks from 20+ years of Cool Tools. (Weekly)
• Books That Belong On Paper Recommendations of visually striking books, with sample pages. (Weekly)
• Book Freak Each issue presents the core concepts from a selected self-improvement book. (Weekly)
• Recomendo Deals 5-10 items previously featured in Cool Tools and Recomendo that are on sale now. (Daily)
• Cool Tools All of our newsletters (besides Recomendo Deals) bundled in one issue. For true fans only! (Weekly)

In our humble opinion, they are all worth trying out, and they’re all free. — MF

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Book Freak #195: Eight Million Ways to Happiness

Hiroko Yoda on Finding Inner Peace Through Japan’s Living Spiritual Traditions

Get Eight Million Ways to Happiness

Eight Million Ways to Happiness: Finding Inner Peace Through Japan’s Living Spiritual Traditions by Hiroko Yoda is a memoir and spiritual guide that reveals how Japan’s ancient traditions — Shinto, Buddhism, and mountain mysticism — offer practical wisdom for healing and reconnection in modern life.

Core Principles

1. There Is No Single Path

The title refers to the Japanese belief in eight million kami—spiritual presences that inhabit everything from mountains to rice paddies. This isn’t polytheism so much as a recognition that the sacred shows up everywhere, in countless forms. There’s no single path to meaning or spiritual health. The practice is finding the ways that work for you.

2. Spirituality Can Be Seamlessly Practical

Japan’s spiritual traditions aren’t abstract philosophies locked in temples. They integrate so naturally with daily secular life that even natives sometimes forget they’re there — a charm on a backpack, a seasonal ritual, a moment of gratitude before eating. These small practices accumulate into something larger without requiring dramatic conversion or belief.

3. You Are Part of a Bigger Natural System

We are all subject to forces beyond our control. But we are also part of a larger natural system that can strengthen us — if we learn to reconnect with it. The Japanese approach isn’t about conquering nature or transcending it, but about recognizing our place within it and drawing support from that relationship.

4. Grief Opens Doors

Yoda began her decade-long spiritual journey in the wake of her mother’s death. Rather than rushing through grief, she let it lead her deeper into Japan’s healing traditions. Loss can be a doorway. The search for comfort and meaning, when followed honestly, often reveals wisdom we wouldn’t have found any other way.

Try It Now

1. Notice one natural thing today — a tree, the sky, rain on a window — and acknowledge it silently. Not worship, just recognition that it exists alongside you.
2. Create one small daily ritual: a moment of stillness before your first sip of coffee, a breath before opening your laptop. Let it become automatic.
3. The next time you feel overwhelmed, step outside. Feel yourself as part of a larger system that has existed long before you and will continue after you. Let that perspective adjust your sense of scale.
4. If you’re grieving something, don’t rush. Ask what the grief might be trying to teach you or where it might be trying to lead you.

Quote

“When you visit a shrine, you don’t have to believe or disbelieve. You don’t have to swear any kind of loyalty, or refuse any affiliations.”

Gar’s Tips & Tools – Issue #208

Access to tools, techniques, and shop tales from the diverse worlds of DIY

Asian Street Food Videos

My latest maker video obsession is Asian street food vendors on Instagram. Not only is it mesmerizing to watch the videos and try to figure out what they’re making, but the various ovens, grills, hot-tops, and purpose-built tools are fascinating. One leit motif throughout them all? Eggs. Over 75% of the food items are egg-based. This reminded me of my friend Andrew Lawler’s amazing book, Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?, a surprising page-turner that details the history of the domesticated chicken and how it has literally fueled the march of civilization. (And it is apparently still fueling the street diners of Asia.)

Top Project Farm Products Tested Last Year

In his year-end roundup from 2025, Todd from Project Farm details his top ten highest-rated tools. It’s comforting to me to have folks like Todd in the world who are not only passionate about tools but who take the time to rigorously test them. Some of my favorites on his list: Wolfbox Air Duster, Civivi Folding Pocket Knife, Dreo Space Heater, and the Craftsman Screwdriver Set.

4-Color Prints from Rattle Can Paint?

There’s a particular kind of joy that comes from misusing a perfectly respectable technology. This Wesley Treat video scratches that itch.

Wesley applies the logic of CMYK printing (those tiny cyan, magenta, yellow, and black dots that trick your eyes into seeing color photographs) and scales it up. Instead of ink, he uses rattle can spray paint. Instead of printer rollers, he uses laser-cut blocks and Mylar stencils. Instead of precision registration, he embraces drift, overspray, and happy accidents.

What makes this especially satisfying is that it’s not a tutorial striving for a guaranteed outcome, but a series of playful experiments. Up close, the prints proudly announce how they’re made. Step back, and your brain obligingly creates the illusion of a halftone. Fun stuff.

Tested Team’s Best of 2025

Watching the Tested team’s favorite tools and miscellaneous geekery at the end of each year is always a treat. Tools, what they enable, and the possibilities they offer, are so very important to me, so it’s always fun to see what inspired other smart and thoughtful tool enthusiasts. For Adam Savage’s favorites, he includes some eye-openers, like UV glue and cabinet scrapers.

The big aha for me was the magnetic flexible LED work lights. These are cheap, corded flex-shaft LED lights that you can mount on machines via their magnetic base. I found out they’re also called “sewing machine lights” and you can get three of them for $20. They even come with adhesive metal disks so you can mount them to just about any non-ferrous surface, too. I added one to the side of a plastic parts cabinet for extra illumination on my workbench. You can also see last year’s favorites from Norm, Jen, Sean, Kayte, and the entire Tested team here.

Which Wood is Worth Burning?

In this Country Living piece, UK homesteader, Sally Coulthard, shares her advice on seasoning, stacking, and burning firewood. Here she shares the best four woods to burn:

Oak: The king of firewood, oak burns slowly and creates long-lasting heat right through to the embers stage. Needs two years’ seasoning.

Ash: Another excellent hardwood for fires. Burns well with no sparking. Needs at least 18 months’ seasoning.

Birch: Burns well but quite fast – best mixed with a slower fuel, such as oak. The papery bark is great for kindling. Needs at least a year’s seasoning.

Beech: Very good firewood – burns well with few sparks and one log can last for hours in the fire. Needs two years’ seasoning.

Makers Gotta Eat!

Food tips too good not to share

The moment bread, cake, crackers, chips, and similar foods are exposed to air, moisture starts escaping out, and air creeps in, and “fresh” quickly turns into “why are we keeping this?”

Paper bags, cardboard boxes, foil tents, and loose cling film might give the illusion of preservation, but they aren’t airtight. Drying and going stale aren’t just about time; they’re about airflow.

Example: A loaf of French bread left in its paper sleeve turns into a Stone Age club by the next morning. The same loaf, cut to fit and dropped into a Ziplock bag, stays soft for days.

If you want food to last, think about sealing it, not covering it. Push the air out. Seal it tight. Air will win eventually. Your job is to make it work harder (and your food — and your dollars — last longer).

Waterproof Pants/European Nomad Visas/Cheapest Places to Live in 2026/

Nomadico issue #190

Lightweight Waterproof Hiking Pants

I seldom pack waterproof pants since they’re often bulkier than regular travel/hiking pants, but I took the Kiwi Pro Expedition Pants to Patagonia late last year and was really glad I had them. We got caught in multiple drizzles on land and at sea and even ran into some snow at altitude while trekking, but these didn’t make my legs sweat and they didn’t take up extra room in the suitcase. Head to CraghoppersUSA to get them (there’s a women’s version too) and use code TL15 to get a 15% discount.

The Cheapest Places to Live in 2026

Each year I do an updated in-depth article on the cheapest places to live in the world where you’ll find at least a smattering of other foreigners and a good quality of life. This year there’s a divergence since U.S. fiscal policy has tanked the dollar against nearly all other currencies while the euro has risen as a result. Very few countries cost as little as a year ago if you’re earning greenbacks, but there are still plenty of places to live a better life for half the price. Don’t forget that some nations use U.S. dollars as their own currency or have a strict peg in place, so your meal of the day is still roughly the same price in Panama or Ecuador, for instance. See the full rundown here.

Earn Hilton Points for Apartment Stays

Coming soon: 3,000 furnished apartments for rent by Hilton. The hotel brand is apparently tired of losing remote worker business and inked a deal with a company called Placemakr that will put thousands of rental apartments into its reservation system, branded as Apartment Collection by Hilton. From studio to 4-bedroom places, in the beginning these will all be located in the USA. You’ll be able to earn points if you’re part of their loyalty program and double-dip on earnings if you also have their credit card. Unlike that Airbnb where the owner won’t respond to your WhatsApp messages about the door code not working, Hilton says they will have “dedicated team members available on-site 24/7 to provide support and ensure guests feel cared for.”

All the European Digital Nomad Visas in One Place

I’ve read more articles about digital nomad visas than I’d like to count, but this one by Substack newsletter Nomag does the best job I’ve seen for running down all the options in Europe. In a model of concise writing, it gives a few short sentences on each while still managing to touch on all the key points: income requirement, length of stay, tax implications, and where to apply. Start here, then dive in deeper elsewhere for places from Albania to Iceland to Cyprus.

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

What’s in my NOW? — Jayme Boucher

issue #239

Outside of Jayme’s day job (product marketing), she loves cooking, reading, and screaming at Premier League broadcasts. She’s an amateur photographer and birder who volunteers for Birdability, which helps ensure that nature and the outdoors are accessible for people with disabilities and health challenges.

PHYSICAL

• Penzy’s Spices are one of my go-to gifts. I love encouraging my people to feel more comfortable in the kitchen, and these are an easy way to uplift even simple foods. Sunny Paris and Fines Herbes are my to-go (salt-free!) choices for eggs, and the Vietnamese Cinnamon blows grocery store options out of the water.
• I bought this wave study from an artist named Jean Wichea, whose work I found at a gallery in Maine. It looks eerily similar to my favorite cliffside spot, and I find myself staring at it a few times a day, since it pulls me out of my anxieties and helps me reset.
• I’ve been slowly replacing all of my lower-quality pots and pans over the last couple of years, and I saved up for this braiser after seeing someone else cook with one and instantly coveting it. Although I probably could have gotten away with a similar, cheaper model with a glass lid, I don’t have any regrets. It cooks really evenly, and the bright yellow makes a big, happy focal point in the middle of the kitchen.

DIGITAL

• Dungeon Scrawl is an awesome tool for building fantasy maps, perfect for D&D and other tabletop RPGs. You don’t even need to make an account to use it (unless you decide you want the premium features). Design a Dungeon next time you get bored in a Zoom meeting!
• Hanif Abdurraqib is one of my favorite authors and poets, and overlaps just enough of my friend group and special interests that I sometimes find myself thinking, “oh yeah, we’d be pals” before feeling creeped out at myself for skirting a parasocial hypothetical. His posts are always interesting, whether deep-diving into a song or album, basketball lore, or life in general. They’re a welcome addition to an increasingly fraught social landscape.

INVISIBLE

“Now will never come again.”

One of my best friends recently shared this quote with me (shoutout to the nerds that know the source), and it’s influenced my decision-making dozens of times since. Sometimes, we need a reminder of the obvious.

Irving Harper: Works in Paper / Where’s Warhol?

Issue No. 102

IRVING HARPER – THE GENIUS FURNITURE DESIGNER CREATED STUNNING PAPER SCULPTURES FOR FUN

Irving Harper: Works in Paper
by Irving Harper (artist) and Michael Maharam (editor)
Skira Rizzoli
2013, 176 pages, 8.3 x 10.3 x 1.1 inches

Buy on Amazon

Anyone familiar with the American version of the hit comedy The Office might remember a scene in which Michael Scott attends an art show where Pam exhibits her paintings. Struck by a painting she made of the office building, Michael buys it and muses, “It is a message. It is an inspiration. It is a source of beauty. And without paper, it could not have happened.” The quote could just as easily be said of famed designer Irving Harper, an alchemist who transforms paper into works of wonder. One look at Irving Harper: Works In Paper will be sufficient to astonish those who are not yet acquainted with the genius of design, and to further amaze those who are already fans of his.

Irving Harper was famous primarily as a furniture designer who championed the modernist style, becoming famous for the “Marshmallow Sofa” which comprises 18 plush discs arranged on a wire frame, and the “Ball Clock,” which resembles an asterix with multi-colored balls punctuating the tip of each line. Harper was not a sculptor by profession, but he created paper sculptures at home as a pastime to relieve himself of the stress of his regular job. This book features the astonishing results of someone who was ultimately more artist than hobbyist. Within these pages, a series of masks with graceful, Kabuki-like features can be found alongside vivid and striking depictions of wildlife including a wizened owl with expressive eyes, a snarling wolf hovering over its prey and a stoic elephant made with spare grace. A lavish cathedral skillfully depicts a stained glass window with a seraph in an arched doorway, while a sparse rendition of a scowling soldier on horseback offers a remarkable contrast. A series of abstract sculptures reminiscent of some of Robert Rauschenberg’s bold experiments also capture the reader’s attention.

The book offers a brief introduction to Irving Harper and discusses his design career in some detail, but the majority of the pagers are devoted to stunning full-color and black-and-white images of his paper sculptures. One photograph stands out: Harper, surrounded by his magnificent creations in his living room, idly scans a newspaper from his easy chair. The image remains in the mind even after closing the book as a quiet and powerful document of a humble genius who gave shape to his imagination with the simplest of resources. It is, as Michael Scott suggested, a source of beauty. And it couldn’t have happened without paper. – Lee Hollman

WHERE’S WARHOL – A VISUAL NEEDLE-IN-A-HAYSTACK PICTURE BOOK INSPIRED BY THE WHERE’S WALDO SERIES

Where’s Warhol?
by Catherine Ingram and Andrew Rae
Laurence King Publishing
2016, 32 pages, 9.8 x 13 x 0.5 inches

Buy on Amazon

Andy Warhol was known for both “making the scene,” literally turning “scenes” into improvised art, and for being impressively awkward and shy within those scenes. So, there really is something fundamentally right about the concept of hiding Andy inside of iconic scenes from history, both art history and beyond.

In Where’s Warhol? art historian Catherine Ingram teams up with artist Andrew Rae to create a visual needle-in-a-haystack picture book inspired by the Where’s Waldo? series. In a series of two-page spreads, Andy, in his iconic striped shirt and shock of silver hair, is hidden within massive crowd scenes. The scenes range from actual places where Andy did hang out (e.g. Studio 54) to historical places and events such as the French Revolution and Germany’s Bauhaus art school. The fun is not only in finding Andy, but in trying to identity all of the other historical figures drawn into these scenes. In the back of the book, many of these characters are pointed out with little anecdotes. And other known people are there, but not identified (like Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith). It’s fun to see just how many characters from history you can identity. There is also enough going on here to reward repeat scans of the pages.

This would be a fun gift book to get for anyone who’s a Warhol fan, a fan of art history, or who just enjoys these kinds of visual puzzle books. Everyone who’s seen this on my coffee table has gotten a big kick out of it. – Gareth Branwyn

Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.

What’s in my NOW? — Jayme Boucher