This week’s post is coming to you live from a beach in Mexico. For the past week I’ve spent as much time as possible relaxing, reading, and sampling the local selection of tacos & tequila. In doing so, I’ve been surrounded by an incredible cross-section of the general population. From Texas businesswomen, to suburbanites from Wisconsin and travellers up from Central America, one thing has kept coming up for me: These people have very different perspectives than the people in my regular circle of information.

Now, I’m incredibly lucky to call Vancouver home – a place where nearly every country and culture is represented – but I’m sure that we can all find parts of our lives where the opinions and conversation, however global, come from a similar perspective on the world.

Case in point: In Vancouver, and the online communities that I find myself a part of, a few opinions are generally accepted:
-The internet is a generally positive force that brings people together to create positive change
-It is possible to have work and play run together into one enjoyable life
-Social media is woven within life as an expression of it and can enhance both connections and relationships

Those opinions were definitely not shared among many of the groups who I was lucky enough to meet. I make it a point to collect, consume, and consider information from a variety of perspectives, and this was a reminder to get out of my own informational bubble and broaden my views on the world.

This week, I thought that I’d share with you some of the accounts, news sources, people, and places that I use (and plan to use more) to keep my perspectives fresh, broad, and open. Here goes my email version of a #FollowFriday: Global Edition.

Books

A Curious Mind – Brian Grazer
Brian tells the story of how using curiosity helped him to go from the mail room to big shot producer. Particularly relevant because of his focus on meeting with people of all backgrounds and philosophies.

Undisputed Truth – Mike Tyson
I just finished this one and was blown away. Mike is as unapologetic, violent, and frenetic in his writing (or ghost-writing) as you’d expect, but it’s eye-opening to read about how where he came from shaped his worldview, and how even the most dominant fighter in the world felt ashamed and powerless at times.

What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars – Brendan Moynihan
This guy just wanted to be rich, and he did it through trading commodities. and built a massive ego along the way. And just as quickly, it was gone. He looks back at the assumptions he made and how his narrow perspective on the world stopped him from seeing disaster before it happened.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea – Barbara Demick
I’ve been reading this one by proxy as Sairah (my girlfriend) reads it next to me. It’s an eye-opener, revealing that there are people in the world who have literally never heard of Instagram, let alone freak out when it releases a new feature.

A Curious Mind

Twitter

@BBCBreaking
The latest world news from a UK perspective. Whoever runs the account does an awesome job of offering unfiltered, unbiased tweets that seem to focus on getting the right info out, rather than the tweets that will maximize clicks, scandal, or RTs.

@AJEnglish
Qatar-based, world-class journalism that digs deeper and offers the type of global perspective that very few other sources can, or will. Especially useful for getting a look at the world without an anti-Middle Eastern or Muslim bias.

@NeilTyson
Surprisingly funny and pop-culture-relevant opinions from one of the world’s smartest astrophysicists.

Email

Quartz Daily Brief
My #1 source for daily news that touches everything from markets to politics and technology. The email shows up every morning and helps me to get out of What’s Trending, and into What Really Matters.

The Daily Skimm
The Skimm is doing for email newsletters what Serial did for podcasts – millions of people are now getting their news in their inboxes along with the Skimmers’ unique blend of sarcasm, irreverence, and ability to give easy-to-digest context to even the most complex issues.

The only real difference between these two is that Quartz is more intelligent and in-depth, whereas Skimm is more fun. A lot of their stories overlap.

Other?

Where do you get your news? I’m going to be pulling them all into a blog post, so please reply, or tweet at @JunctionYVR with anything that you’d add to the list.

Thanks for reading. If you have any feedback/suggestions/sarcastic comments to throw my way, by all means call me out in public: @Conner_G, or just email me at conner@wearejunction.com.

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