Good morning, friends!

My great-grandmother was the Stephen King of children's bedtime stories.

When I was little, she used to tell me stories before I went to sleep. But if you think they were the nice, fluffy Cinderella-type, you, my friend, are wildly mistaken. There were monsters, murderous horses, and all sorts of imaginary things that are definitely not suitable for young children.

The tales may have been terrifying, but they were absolutely captivating. Like Stephen King, she created fictional worlds infused with a sense of right and wrong and good and evil. They were able to transport you to a different dimension and leave you shaking in your pajamas. As King says, "Books are a uniquely portable magic."

Although my great-grandmother's stories never became books (though they would absolutely dominate the horror genre), they were instrumental in developing my love for the art of storytelling. When I learned to read, I realized that even though I was a kid living in Bulgaria, I could peer into the lives of people all over the globe.

As I've gotten older, I've realized that books mean different things to different people. Stephen King believes books teach us how to think, Dolly Parton sees them as a ticket out of poverty, and Matt Haig claims that reading books is a form of therapy.

"[Books] are the most vital, intimate, personal, mind-altering, thought-twisting, friend-giving, empathy-strengthening, thrill-riding, emotional, world-shaking technology we will ever have," Haig says. "And in a world where we are increasingly connected via technology, but disconnected by society, books and stories can be the glue that bonds us."

Similarly, astronaut Scott Kelly says books provided him with a healthy mental escape through bouts of loneliness in the International Space Station. “The quiet and absorption you can find in a physical book — one that doesn’t ping you with notifications or tempt you to open a new tab — is priceless," he says.

When he was on death row for a crime he didn't commit, Anthony Ray Hinton started a book club for fellow inmates to help them experience the power of visualization. Reading helped Hinton transport himself from his prison cell into new, more exciting worlds. While in his cell, he traveled the world, married Halle Berry, had tea with Queen Elizabeth, and won Wimbledon — all in his mind. “I never used my mind for garbage,” he says. “I used it to cope through some lonely days.”

I use books to live different lives. I gravitate toward memoirs and biographies because they immerse me into the mental state of someone whose life unfolded quite differently from mine.

My heart shattered into a million pieces when I read the story of Hinton being arrested and wrongfully charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. His memoir The Sun Does Shine taught me that you can take away someone’s freedom, but their hope, imagination, sense of humor, and spirit can stay intact even after three decades of solitude.

I thought deeply about the fragility of life after reading about Edith Eva Eger's unimaginable experiences as an aspiring 16-year-old ballerina taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp in her memoir The Choice. It helped me understand the nature of trauma, anger, resilience, and the power of choosing how we see ourselves.

I marveled at Tara Westover's improbable thirst for knowledge even though she grew up in the mountains of Idaho, isolated from mainstream society. Her memoir Educated made me re-think and alter my own ideas of what we traditionally expect from an in-classroom education.

Books are tools of empathy. The stories inside allow you to live hundreds of different lives, experience a myriad of emotions, and go on an infinite number of adventures. So if you're looking for something to do on this lovely Sunday afternoon, put down the phone and pick up a book.

As King said: “Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent."

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THE PROFILE DOSSIER: On Wednesday, premium members received The Profile Dossier, a comprehensive deep-dive on a prominent individual. It featured Vince Gilligan, the mastermind behind the hit series ‘Breaking Bad.’ Become a premium member and read it below.

The Profile

The Profile Dossier: Vince Gilligan, the Mastermind Behind Hit Series 'Breaking Bad'

The hit TV series "Breaking Bad" was not an obvious success story. When creator, head writer, and showrunner Vince Gilligan pitched his idea about a 50-year-old high school chemistry teacher-turned-meth kingpin, he realized it wouldn't be an easy sell…

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4 days ago · 4 likes · Polina Pompliano

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For the first time ever, I have two highly recommended profiles. I think you’ll really enjoy both.

PROFILES.

— Silicon Valley's most prominent contrarian [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The world's most daring freediver [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— Europe's greatest adventurer
— The author hiding from the spotlight
— The life coach making wisdom go viral
— The startup reprogramming biology
— The university profiting off of sports drinks

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

Silicon Valley's most prominent contrarian: You may know Peter Thiel as the billionaire co-founder of PayPal and Palantir and arguably the greatest venture capitalist of his generation. He is perhaps the most important influence in the world’s most influential industry. Other Silicon Valley personas may be better known to the general public, including Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, but Thiel is Silicon Valley’s true idol. Here's how he became the cult leader of the cult of disruption. (New York Magazine)

“Musk thinks Peter is a sociopath, and Peter thinks Musk is a fraud and a braggart.”

The world's most daring freediver: The objective of freediving is remarkably simple: Go as deep as you can go on one breath and return to the surface without passing out or dying. Humans must train their lungs and brains to unlock secret sources of clarity and strength and oxygen and potential that are hidden within the body. Today, there is one diver who goes the deepest, who blends the physical and metaphysical like no one else in the sport — the 34-year-old Russian Alexey Molchanov. Seemingly anyone else attempting what he does would die. Considered the planet's best freediver, Molchanov says mindset is everything. (GQ)

“I can make this whole dive superhard or super successful just by having a different perspective.”

Europe's greatest adventurer: Every year for the last 40 years, travel guru Rick Steves has spent 100 days in Europe. 2020 was poised to be the best year ever for his company, whose offerings now encompass guided tours abroad, books, podcasts, TV shows, blogs, and lectures. And then the pandemic hit. Steves had to cancel 24,000 bookings for European tours and dramatically rethink what he would do as long as the world remained clamped down. Here's how Europe’s greatest adventurer found adventures in his own backyard. (For more, check out Rick Steves' Profile Dossier here.)

"COVID can derail our travel plans, but it cannot stop our travel dreams."

The author hiding from the spotlight: Sally Rooney's first two books, “Conversations With Friends” and “Normal People,” made her more famous than she liked. Rooney, who lives a largely secluded life in the countryside, has become the kind of best-selling, critically-praised author whose popularity somehow eclipses the books themselves. For her latest, “Beautiful World, Where Are You,” she asked herself what a novel is and why she’s taking on another one. (The New York Times)

“My life has become so crazy I can’t even put it in a book.”

The life coach making wisdom go viral: Jay Shetty is a fascinating guy. In his early 20s, Shetty moved to India and lived in an ashram for three years in hopes of becoming a monk. Although he never reached the upper echelons of monkhood, he's used the mindfulness techniques he learned there to build an empire of purpose through his wildly popular podcast, On Purpose With Jay Shetty. Here's how he makes wisdom go viral. (Wall Street Journal)

“I believe we become better people, better partners, better professionals, better parents when we know our purpose."

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The startup reprogramming biology: Proponents of synthetic biology say the field could reprogram biology to increase food production, fight disease, generate energy and purify water. Thanks to companies like Ginkgo Bioworks, this is no longer the stuff of pure science fiction. Here's how the company is navigating the challenges — and opportunities — in the synthetic biology space. (The New York Times)

“The Ginkgo team has spent years building out this technology. It has a lead, and we’re in the infancy of synthetic biology.”

The university profiting off of sports drinks: Every bottle of Gatorade sold in the world signals a win for the University of Florida. An undisclosed share of Gatorade’s profits flow to a Gatorade Trust. The trust then sends 20% to the university, which employed the professor who invented the drink nearly 60 years ago. In 2015, Florida announced it had accumulated approximately $250 million from the royalties, and its annual take over the last few years has been roughly $20 million. (The Hustle)

"Gatorade was about to blow up — and so was the inventors’ relationship with the university."

✨ This installment of The Profile is free for everyone. If you would like to get full access to all of the recommendations, including today’s audio and video sections, sign up below.

AUDIO TO HEAR.

Todd Simkin on the value of asking good questions: Todd Simkin, an associate director at Susquehanna International Group, knows a thing or two about making good decisions in uncertain environments. "I've been thinking so much about tribalism lately," he says. "When people hear information that comports with whatever their tribe believes or supports, they're willing to accept it without doing a lot of digging into the quality of the information." Here's how to make sure you don't fall into common cognitive biases when making important decisions. (Link available to premium members.)

Kris Jenner on becoming an entrepreneur: Kris Jenner believes that the key to being a successful entrepreneur is the ability to fall, brush off the failure, and get back up on your own two feet again. "Always have a Plan B," she says. "I'm really great at adapting to different situations quickly. You need to always be ready to pivot." Mistakes are acceptable, Jenner says, so long as you are intentional about learning from every single one of them. (Link available to premium members.)

Matt Haig on the moment that changed his life: At age 24, author Matt Haig was working in Ibiza with his then-girlfriend when he experienced a panic attack for the first time in his life. "You think of a panic attack as something you have for 10 minutes, and you breathe into a brown paper bag, and you're fine, but this didn't end," he says. "It was a total physical experience." In this podcast, he details his slow road to recovery and acceptance. (Link available to premium members.)

VIDEOS TO SEE.

Alexey Molchanov on how he trained his body and mind: Diving is a family tradition for Alexey Molchanov, whose mother, Natalia, set 41 of her own world records and won 23 world championship titles. Her life came to a tragic end during a presumably routine training dive in 2015 when she disappeared. She never resurfaced—just literally vanished into the sea. In this documentary, we see Molchanov and fellow freedivers as they prepare for the world freediving championship. (Link available to premium members.)

Jay Shetty on finding your passion: In this interview, podcaster Jay Shetty shares his thoughts on how anyone can find their passion. He says, "I've been thinking that purpose is like an adult, passion is like a teenager, interest is like a child, and curiosity is the womb. So the birthplace of passion is actually curiosity and interest." In other words, passion can take you years to figure out, but you can start now by asking yourself the question: "What am I curious about?" (Link available to premium members.)