Column – Suppose you can only read 100 books for the rest of your life. Which ones would they be? There is a world of articles and books that you don’t know yet, but should! And maybe you won’t find them via Google or social media. But where?
This is a question I ask myself every now and then, when I want to read too many books and have too little time. I read books that are recommended to me by friends, that I hear about on social media, or that I come across on Goodreads through my network.
Well-known tech critic Evgeny Morozov takes a slightly different approach… He asked himself the question: how can I read only really relevant books? And how do I determine the relevance of all books (and also papers, articles, podcasts and videos)? Long story short: he built The Syllabus .
I came across The Syllabus via an article by Maurits Martijn on De Correspondent whatsapp number list The goal of the platform: unlocking information based on quality, not popularity. Curated by algorithms and by people, including Morozov himself. You can register (for free for now) and then you will receive the syllabi of your choice by email every week. You can opt for fixed syllabi (with catchy names like The Intellectual and The Machinist ), but you can also compile your own collections. The syllabi then contain the latest and best academic papers, books, journalism, but also videos and podcasts of that week.
The Syllabus: Machinist screenshot.
Screenshot of The Syllabus: The Machinist.