Recommendations are one of the best features of Substack. But right now recommendations are mostly a step in the subscription flow, which leaves existing subscribers out in the cold. This page is my attempt to fix that.
Below you will find a list of my favorite Substacks organized by theme with a short blurb about why each one is part of my regular reading rotation.
Here’s a list of the categories in case you want to jump to a particular section:
Josh’s Favs
gave me the idea to start my Substack. I am regularly inspired by Austin to tap into my creativity and think you will be too.
I love
’s insightful takes on a variety of issues. His book Range remains one of my favorites with lots of great insights into why it makes sense to develop our skills broadly.
I first stumbled on
’s writing early in my Substack days when I read his piece about ChatGPT not killing anything worth preserving. John taps into his passion for seeing education thrive—perhaps a little too deeply sometimes!. I always appreciate getting a chance to engage with what he is thinking.
Education
has become my go-to for thinking about ideas to adjust and improve assessment in my courses. If you’re an educator, I would strongly encourage you to read what and along with their guest authors have to say. has been writing thoughtfully about writing and its role in education. In the recent past, he’s been writing a lot about AI too. Lots of thoughtful analysis here. will help you learn how to write more effectively in a world where a lot of people will tell you that the answer to that question is to use generative AI. Jane won’t necessarily tell you not to use generative AI, but she’ll help you to understand why you should or shouldn’t use it.
What I like about
’s Substack (second only to the thought-provoking ideas) is the way he highlights not just his thinking as an intellectual and a professor but as an embodied person. I appreciate reading his takes on academia and the news, but it is refreshing to feel like I get to step inside his kitchen and see what he’s cooking or to see through his camera lens as he hones his craft as a photographer. Very much the vibe I hope to bring to my writing, although I can’t imagine posting anywhere near the volume that Tim does!
Technology & AI
Ever since I heard him on
’s podcast a few years ago, I’ve been a religious reader of ’s Substack . He tackles so many important issues that are at the root of much of what we struggle with in our modern technology-saturated world.
It’s hard to keep up to speed with what’s going on in AI these days and that’s one reason why
is a great part of your diet. and help to curate the most significant developments and put them in bitesized digests to help you stay on top of a dynamically changing field. writes where he explores issues related to AI and education. What I appreciate about Rob is that he thinks about these issues in the way I often try to: looking beneath the surface to find the fundamental ideas which are driving the symptoms that are visible to us. He’s also a regular, thoughtful commenter on my posts and I always enjoy dialoguing with him. has been one of the leading voices on generative AI since we crossed the rubicon with the release of ChatGPT in late 2022. I don’t always agree with his takes, but I always appreciate reading his considered analysis.
