I’ve subscribed to his newsletter for years(?), and for years I included his excellent book How to Think as assigned reading in my AP Language and Composition course, but I’m always surprised—and delighted—when I rediscover his wisdom and insight by reading his blog.

Thanks to a shout-out from Austin Kleon, I jumped over to Jacob’s blog this morning and read for about forty-five minutes, scrolling through and dipping into the posts that looked most interesting, and reading more than half a dozen fabulous ones, from his thoughts on technology to medicine to reading to writing to politics (“small p” politics), and now I’m on fire with my own ideas and thoughts. Which is what great blogging—heck, great writing in general—often does. It opens up new trails for us to follow, new vistas to see, new tonics to imbibe. These tonics quench dry throats, give us voices to sing again.

Anyway, I hate how I forget to read some of my favorite writers, but there’s such a joy in rediscovering them too. It’s like meeting an old friend in an unexpected place. It’s not a good thing to have lost touch with this old friend, but there’s something wonderfully fulfilling about finding them again. It almost makes up for having lost touch.

Now that I’ve rediscovered Jacob’s blog, I don’t want to lose touch again. The joy in re-finding his blog has given me surprising pleasure, but there’s also the ordinary pleasure that comes from reading a good writer every day. That’s what I’m looking forward to tomorrow.