Good morning to all new and old readers! Here is your Wednesday edition of Faster Than Normal, exploring one short story about a person, a company, a high-performance tool, a trend I’m watching closely, and curated media to help you build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself.
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Today’s edition:
> Stories: Vannevar Bush & Sonos
> High-performance: Steve Jobs on the value of remembering death
> Insights: Failures of kindness
> Tactical: Unshakeable self-confidence
> 1 Question: Daily fantasy
Cheers,
Alex
P.S. Send me feedback on how we can improve. I respond to every email.
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Stories of Excellence
Person: Vannevar Bush
Vannevar Bush was a visionary engineer and science administrator who shaped America's scientific landscape in the mid-20th century. Born in 1890, Bush made his mark as an MIT professor and inventor before leading the wartime Office of Scientific Research and Development. He oversaw the Manhattan Project and pioneered the concept of federally funded research. "No American has had greater influence in the growth of science and technology," wrote Jerome Wiesner, former MIT president. Bush's 1945 essay "As We May Think" predicted personal computers and hypertext. He wrote with clarity and purpose, often dictating or using a tape recorder. Bush received the Atomic Pioneers Award in 1970 for his contributions. His legacy lives on in modern computing and science policy.
Key Lessons from Vannevar Bush:
On science: "Science has a simple faith, which transcends utility. It is the faith that it is the privilege of man to learn to understand, and that this is his mission."
On focusing on the right problems: "Just finding out something new is not by itself sufficient justification for research. It needs to mean something when we find it."
Company: Sonos
Sonos was founded in 2002 by John MacFarlane, Craig Shelburne, Tom Cullen, and Trung Mai in Santa Barbara, California. The idea sparked from MacFarlane's frustration with existing home audio systems. With backgrounds in software and music, the founders set out to create a wireless multi-room audio system. They raised $1.6 million in seed funding in 2004. The first Sonos product, the ZonePlayer 100 and Controller, launched in 2005. The company grew steadily, introducing new speakers and expanding globally. In 2018, Sonos went public, raising $208 million in its IPO. By 2025, had over 32 million products in 12 million households worldwide.
Key Lessons from Sonos:
On design: Make it invisible. Sonos speakers are designed to blend into homes, not stand out. This philosophy extends to the user experience. "The best interface is no interface," said Mieko Kusano, former head of product management.
On sound obsession: Hire audiophiles, not just engineers. Sonos built a team of sound fanatics, including former DJs and audio engineers. They even created a dedicated "Listening Room" for testing. "We're all about the emotion of music," said Giles Martin, Sound Experience Leader. This obsession with audio quality set them apart in a market full of tech-focused competitors.
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Try asking: "How did Steve Jobs think about product focus differently than his peers?"
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High-performance tool
⎯
Steve Jobs On The Value Of Remembering Death
"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
—Steve Jobs, Founder of Apple
Insights
George Saunders on failures of kindness:
What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.
Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded . . . sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.
Or, to look at it from the other end of the telescope: Who, in your life, do you remember most fondly, with the most undeniable feelings of warmth?
Those who were kindest to you, I bet.
It’s a little facile, maybe, and certainly hard to implement, but I’d say, as a goal in life, you could do worse than: Try to be kinder.
Now, the million-dollar question: What’s our problem? Why aren’t we kinder?
Here’s what I think:
Each of us is born with a series of built-in confusions that are probably somehow Darwinian. These are: (1) we’re central to the universe (that is, our personal story is the main and most interesting story, the only story, really); (2) we’re separate from the universe (there’s US and then, out there, all that other junk – dogs and swing-sets, and the State of Nebraska and low-hanging clouds and, you know, other people), and (3) we’re permanent (death is real, o.k., sure – for you, but not for me).
Now, we don’t really believe these things – intellectually we know better – but we believe them viscerally, and live by them, and they cause us to prioritize our own needs over the needs of others, even though what we really want, in our hearts, is to be less selfish, more aware of what’s actually happening in the present moment, more open, and more loving."
Tactical reads
⎯
> When building unshakeable self-confidence
Performance Psychologist Dr. Nate Zinsser on Building A Confident Mind (with Ryan Holiday) (Read it here)
> When exploring cutting-edge health optimization
Biohacking with Bryan Johnson (Read it here)
1 question
What does a perfect day look like to you?
That’s all for today, folks. As always, please give me your feedback. Which section is your favourite? What do you want to see more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.
Have a wonderful rest of week, all.
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