Ways of Looking #14 (October '25)
In this issue: fixing toxic homes, a lay bodhisattva, barefoot shoes, and woodworking.
Welcome to Ways of Looking. Roughly every month, I send my friends links and summaries for anything I’ve written recently, plus a few things I’m enjoying.
Check out my more regular writing and reply to this email anytime. Thanks for reading.
What I wrote last month
Lightwork Home Health: functional health for modern homes — on the launch of Lightwork, and why homes have gotten so much more toxic in the last few decades. Check it out if you’re interested in home health & environmental toxins!
AI Captain’s Log — usual updates on my usage of AI, including an impressive performance on arguing a legal bill.
The trick to changing router bits on a Laguna Shaper — extremely low-TAM blog post targeted towards people cluelessly searching for the same thing I was a month ago.
What I’m enjoying
Book: Vimalakirti Sutra. Vimalakirti is one of the somewhat-uncommon “lay bodhisattvas” in Mahayana Buddhist literature. He’s a wealthy businessperson / homeowner / father, as opposed to the more common “monastic bodhisattvas.” The sutra is a quick read and entertaining and pretty irreverent. And it makes much of the question of living the dharma while being a layperson doing “normal” things successfully in the world and not following the path of renunciation.
Was reminded of this text by Johnathan Bi’s excellent interview of Francis Pedraza. Well worth the watch!
Product / Experiment: Barefoot shoes. I’m five months in to almost entirely wearing barefoot shoes (90%+ of the time), and loving it. It feels so much more natural, and I have less tightness after very long walks. It took probably 4-6 weeks to get used to, and was completely worth it. I’ve been mostly wearing Soludos espadrilles, Vivo Barefoot Primus Lite Knit running shoes, and Aviary Footwear sneakers. I also hear good things about Birchbury sneakers and Bahé hiking boots, both of which I am going to try.
Barefoot shoes, as I understand it, are characterized by having “zero drop” (no height difference between the heel and the toes), and a wide toebox, and minimal stack height (very thin sole). I hear some people see big benefits from just switching to zero drop shoes, even with a more normal stack height (more sole padding). But I’ve been loving barefoot.
Article: Four Types of Disagreement by silentbob (?). An instructive post suggesting that disagreements can be about one of four things — facts, strategy, values, or labels — and that often, the friction in resolving the disagreement is that the parties don’t have the same view of which one it is. Adjacent to the oft-cited “Facts vs. Stories” approach to conflict, but with greater depth.
About me: I’m a multi-time founder (Eco, Lightwork Home Health, CoinList, Sidewire). I’m currently spending time on: Eco, Lightwork, building interface0, investing at Amity, supporting FreeWorld, hacking on a few other products, and advising great companies and founders.
Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.
— Andy
You are on my wavelength! I learned about Vimalakirti in a book recently, and reading that sutra is on my to-do list! On another note: did you hear about the AMA's declaration that recommends fragrance reduction in hospitals and other public facilities?