Isolated but Not Bored: What We're Reading and Listening to Now

What are you reading? What are you listening to? Eager to make the most of our new normal, we asked our RBC colleagues what books and podcasts they're enjoying right now. From informative to inspirational to distracting, here are their recommendations.

Information Station

Not surprisingly, some of our colleagues are tuned in to the latest about Covid-19 and all its impacts. As our News Desk editor aptly puts it: "Does reading Twitter count?"

Inspired Investor's founding editor and associate producers don't miss an episode of The Daily from the New York Times, which provides them with a smart and succinct summary of what they needs to know on any given weekday. "For a Canadian perspective, I also listen to CBC's Front Burner," says the founding editor.

A member of our operations team is listening to Ted Talks Daily. The most recent episodes are all about the pandemic, he says. "The best one so far is the one with Bill Gates, who has warned about pandemics for many years now. He is extremely knowledgeable on this subject, as he has extensive experience with vaccines and eradicating polio."

For my part, I've been listening to Science Vs, which has built a reputation of sorting fact from fiction on the top issues of our day. (I'm not ashamed to geek out and admit that my favourite part is that the host ends each episode by revealing the number of reputable sources the fact-checker used to confirm all the details therein – typically topping 100.)

New Horizons

Remember life pre-Covid-19? Some of our colleagues are taking this time to broaden their knowledge of some existing areas of interest. Our director of product strategy has been reading The Man Who Solved the Market by Gregory Zuckerman. "This book is about Jim Simons, who founded Renaissance Capital and essentially launched the quant revolution in systematic trading," she says. "As it relates to our current environment, it's encouraging to see that even the big guys are susceptible to incredibly costly mistakes and, while you may think you have a sound strategy, a black swan event can negatively impact even the most sophisticated traders."

Our director of client experience is a long-time fan of How I Built This, where host Guy Raz brings listeners into the mindsets of business leaders and entrepreneurs. "I like how nearly every story is one that was a result of staying true to one's passions and beliefs regardless of challenges faced, and also making decisions in times of uncertainty," says our co-worker. "While the guests didn't build their businesses in the time of the pandemic, there is still much to learn."

And, of course, all of us have been keeping up to speed on the latest episodes of the Money Moves podcast, brought to your by RBC Direct Investing and the Globe and Mail, which features our very own CEO, John Bai, among other investing-savvy guests.

The Great Escape

Other colleagues are using books and podcasts to escape their current reality. One of our data geniuses is listening to old episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience. "The podcast is diverse, well made and timeless, and the older episodes keeps my mind away from work and Covid-19," he says. While our digital marketing guru is reading Lady in Waiting, the newly released memoir of Anne Glenconner, a long-time confidante of Princess Margaret. "Everything is so stressful and serious lately that any excuse to transport myself to a land of princesses, queens, crowns and secrets – I'm in!" he says.

If you're also keen to tune out for a little while, Inspired Investor's associate producer, a veritable bibliophile, has a couple of suggestions. She recently finished Educated, the memoir of Tara Westover, who grew up in a Mormon fundamentalist household in Idaho. Her current read is Amita Trasi's The Color of Our Sky, which she describes as "a heart-wrench page turner." And next on the docket is YouTuber Hank Green's debut novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. "He's like this brilliant nerd. And his brother is John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars, so I think this is going to be good."

Gaining Perspective

As tough as today seems, there have been more difficult periods in history, says a colleague on RBC's InvestEase team, who's using a novel to stay grounded. Set in the 1530s, Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light (the third in a trilogy) details the life of Thomas Cromwell, who — before he was beheaded — was the chief advisor to King Henry VIII. "Reading it, I realize that the characters living then must have had many of the same concerns we do now," says our co-worker. "Cromwell worries about his son's education; he thinks about how printing presses make it difficult to disseminate truthful information (social media parallel); a plague even features prominently (Cromwell's wife and daughters both died from it)." Knowing that her concerns have been the concerns of people for centuries reassures her. "It also makes me appreciate that my life in 2020, even in isolation, is way easier than it would have been in 1530."

Outside the Box

Our French communication expert has had his nose in a Star Wars graphic novel, but he's also been spending time on his smartphone learning a new language. "Before the Covid-19 outbreak, I had begun to book a trip to Italy. I started to learn Italian with an app called Duolingo," he says. Although that vacation looks less and less likely to happen each passing day, he says he's kept up his lessons. "Not only is it keeping my brain active, but seeing my progress has been encouraging. More importantly, it's increased my sensitivity to the struggles of people in Italy right now."

My head is spinning with ideas, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to change out of my work sweatpants and into my leisure sweatpants and search my Libby app for a new read.