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My Favourite Content (2021)

Here is a list of my favourite content that I consumed in 2021.
My Favourite Content (2021)

I thought I'd share a list of the different content and creators that I've enjoyed a lot over the past 12 months. This ranges from influencers on YouTube, to TV shows on Netflix and books on Audible. Enjoy!

YouTube Videos

  1. $456,000 Squid Game In Real Life! (Mr Beast). Whether you've watched Squid Game or not, you must watch this video. There's a reason it has 186M views (at the time of writing this) It's incredible what exists on YouTube these days.
  2. CARNIVAL SCAM SCIENCE- and how to win (Mark Rober). I never take my phone into the shower, but I started watching this video before I went in and I just couldn't put it down.
  3. The Day I Almost Died (Casey Neistat). This is such an entertaining story told by one of the greatest storytellers on the platform.

TV Shows

  1. Squid Game. I was late to the hypetrain and I only finished it a couple of days ago (over two days). It really is as good as everyone says it is.
  2. New Girl. This is the second time I'm watching New Girl and it's up there as one of my favourite TV shows of all-time. It's just one of those easy watch shows that makes you feel warm inside as you watch it.
  3. Vampire Diaries. Now I don't necessarily think this is the best TV show of all-time... I mean it's definitely entertaining, and if you can get past the cringe it's an enjoyable watch. I think it made the list because of the memories I have associated with it—it's the TV show that my housemates and I all watched together during lockdown this year. It definitely gets worse as the seasons progress though so I'd probably stop after season four or five.

Movies

  1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Wholesome, great soundtrack, fun watch.
  2. The Pursuit of Happyness. An oldie but a goldie. Will Smith is an absolute king and the fact that his kid in the movie is his actual son makes the storyline all the more beautiful.
  3. She's the Man. Living with four female housemates meant that I watched more rom-coms than I ever had before. And who would've known, they're actually genuinely enjoyable to watch? This movie's a classic and the fact it had soccer in it just elevated it even more.
  4. Jojo Rabbit. This was a really unique movie where a kid was the protagonist and I really enjoyed seeing the world from a different perspective than what is traditionally represented in movies. A great mix of comedy and seriousness, I'm definitely going to watch it again to extract more of the nuance that I missed the first time.

Books

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I must preface this section by saying that I didn't read that many books this year, which is why the list is so short.

Physical

  1. Gratitude (Oliver Sacks). A short book that can be devoured in an hour. In it, Oliver Sacks, a well-renouned neurologist, shares his reflections on life after being diagnosed with ocular melanoma.
  2. Trauma Room Two (Philip Allen Green). This book brought me to tears on occasion as it reminded me just how fragile life is. The stories are exquisitely written, emotive and show an honest look into what life as an emergency doctor is like.

Audiobooks

  1. Oathbringer: Book Three of The Stormlight Archive (Brandon Sanderson). The Stormlight Archive is an amazing fantasy series. The books are the longest I've ever come across, rich with details and a unique storyline. This 3rd book took me 6 months to finish. If you like fantasy, you'll like this series.

Blog Posts

  1. How many lives does a doctor save? (80,000 Hours). I stumbled upon this article after Ali Abdaal mentioned it in one of his videos and it really changed my view on scale of impact. I went into Medicine because I thought I'd be able to help many, many people and it's definitely true that you do help people. But when I think about the individual impact I would have versus if someone else with the same qualifications was doing the same job, my individual impact would not be much different to theirs. Instead, perhaps donating to certain charities would have a greater positive impact on the world than I could as a doctor and so by increasing my wealth I'd be able to help more people. Obviously this isn't all there is to being a doctor though, but I think this idea is an interesting one.
  2. 25 Lessons from 25 Years (Jennifer Vermet). There are lots of articles like this one where an individual shares insights they've learnt throughout their life and they all tend to be useful. This was no different. One of the key messages that resonated with me was: "your beliefs are implicit in your actions."
  3. How to Become the Best in the World at Something (Tomas Pueyo). If you want to really excel in this modern day you should try and learn a combination of skills, that are similar but also unrelated, well.

Tweets

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If you're not already on Twitter, you should sign up for it right now. If you follow the right people, you can learn so much about any topic that you want to and connect with people who share similar interests.
1. An interesting thread on why talking to a friend about a product makes an ad for that product appear in your Facebook newsfeed.
2. A great thread on some principles to live your life by
3. Lmao

Thanks for checking the list out.

In 2022, I plan to spend more time reading books, taking notes from podcasts and being active on social media. Be sure to follow me on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram to keep up to date!

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